On the 20th May was the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust’s first annual bus running day which took part at their premises in Kirkby, a lovely day with many a vehicle to ride on, the organisers of the event should be proud of themselves as organising an event takes a lot of behind the scenes work, time and effort.
A short video of the nice route we take on our way back from the POPS Running Day and Rally at the Wedgwood Pottery Museum.
Today we where lucky enough to be invited to visit the premises of the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust based in Kirkby, Merseyside, we decided to invite some of the 201 Bus Group’s members and friends along as we took Birkenhead Corporation FBG 910 the Leyland Titan PD2/40 married to a Massey body to visit.
We departed Hooton Aerodrome at approximately 10:45 in order to get to Birkenhead, Pacific Road Arts Centre to pick up our members at our usual boarding location for events. We arrived at Pacifc Road Arts Centre at around 11:15 for our onward journey towards Liverpool via the Queensway Mersey Tunnel, as we exited the tunnel we then had one more pick up point for our Liverpool based members before onward travel towards Kirkby.
After a pleasant 45 minute drive past towards and along the East Lancashire Road, Ten preformed faultlessly after the winter maintenance work was preformed on it before this outing.
Arriving at the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust’s “HQ” as they call it exactly at midday, we where greeted by Rob Wilson and James Rowlands trustees of the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust, we where then invited to bring Birkenhead Ten into their secure outside compound for some of their members to have a look at our bus.
Our members where then taken on a guided tour of the building and the facilities that are available to all vehicle owners and volunteers alike which include an underground pit, overhead lighting, power outlets around the building, canteen facilities, storage rooms and also the toilet facilities.
After a while our members where able to roam free around the building, leisurely taking photographs of the 30 plus vehicles that are currently stored in a trust owned basis or privately owned basis too.
After a while our members where invited into the canteen where we all had tea and biscuits with members of the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust’s Trustees and many volunteers that where present on the day.
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust, all of our members thought it was a better environment than that of where our vehicles are currently stored and we look forward to attending their Bus Running Day on the 20th May 2012.
On an ending note we’d like to say a big thank you to Rob Wilson and James Rowlands and all the other members of the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust for making us feel very welcome indeed, and we would of cause like to thank you for the the tea and biscuits, they went down a treat.
Although we haven’t exactly been very busy on-line over the last few months we’ve been busy behind the scenes to rectify some small problems with two of our buses that have gained the same problem, work that has been done over winter period includes; the flushing of the radiator of Birkenhead Leyland Titan PD2/40 FBG 910 twice and we’ve yet to give her a good run to see if this rectify’s an overheating problem.
Wallasey Leyland Atlantean FHF 451 has had a water pump changed, this also needs a good run to see if it to stops overheating frequently, we’re also intending on repainting Wallasey 1 before the end of the year.
Merseybus Leyland Atlantean B926 KWM is now in top running order with many of the things seen to since the last list was compiled late last year, our continued investment to our buses means that they can be enjoyed for many years to come.
As posted on Spetember 14th 2011, we reported that John Craven and Jules Hudson visited Hooton Airodrome to film for their new television show called British Heritage Heroes, if you didn’t see here’s the link, BBC’s John Craven visit’s Hooton, it features 201 Bus Group’s FBG 910 a Leyland Titan PD2/40 with the curvaceous Massey body built in Wigan, with John Craven giving a brief history of the bus with John Nolan driving, it also features the other two buses in our collection which include Leyland Atlantean’s FHF 451 and B926 KWM. It was aired on Monday 13th February.
If you missed the program, you can still watch until Friday 2nd March on the BBC iPlayer - British Heritage Heroes Episode 6
Over the last few years we’ve held our membership to the 201 Bus Group at £20.00 per annum, this year we’ve decided that it is to remain at £20.00, that’s less than £1.66 a month! But we need you’re continued support.
The Membership renewal date is on the 1st April 2012, over the last few years membership to the 201 Bus Group has started to decline, it is increasingly starting to effect how the organisation is able to preform. We’ve recently had to invest nearly £1000 in the upkeep of our buses to ensure they’re perfectly road legal for everyone’s enjoyment, as there’s nothing better than riding a classic bus along the seaside on a warm summers day.
Without all our previous help and the generous people who have helped restore our vehicles in the past we wouldn’t be here today, that’s why we’re asking for you to join us, who will be there to save the first production Leyland Atlantean and the last production Leyland Atlantean along with our lovingly restored Leyland PD2/40?
All we can ask is that you at least consider joining us, even if it’s the odd hour of a weekend to clean out a bus, a small donation, or even if you’d like to help out at one of our many events throughout the year, or even if you’d just like to be a member and find out what our other members have been getting up to, that’s perfectly fine with us.
For more information please see our Membership page for more details.
Well it’s a new year, we hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, not much has gone on over the Christmas period, just the average time of year to get them little jobs done around the house, as the bus rally season in the North West doesn’t start until around March every year.
We start the year with exiting news from our friends from the Wirral Heritage Tramway and the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society, who have informed us that the Electric Tram service at Birkenhead has now resumed after an uncertain period which concerned both the Wirral Heritage Tramway and the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society and also Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council.
Our friends at the newly formed North West Vehicle Restoration Trust have informed us of their first annual running day, which is to be held on the 20th May 2012 with various bus services spanning over the Liverpool area’s.
The first event that the 201 Bus Group will be attending has also been added to the events page, the first one is a Model Railway Exhibition held at Pacific Road Arts Centre which will unfortunately be the last event of it’s sort held there before the building closes under the ownership of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council.
It’s December. The queues at the shops are long, the public transport system get’s stretched to near it’s bursting limits and a mere dusting of snow covers the relatively flat landscape of the Peninsula.
Yes, Christmas is fast approaching, and one of the greatest joys of this season is to take the opportunity to say thank you to all our members for their loyal hard work and support but also to wish you all the very best for the New Year.
‘Tis the Season everyone, but for those amongst up who don’t celebrate Christmas, happy Ashura to the Muslims, happy Bodhi Day to the Buddhists, Happy Hanukkah to the Jews and happy Yule to the Pagans.
Over the last few months many of our engineering minded members have evaluated our three buses in our yearly check of general maintenance, in this included quite a lot of work in actually keeping our vehicles up to our safe standard.
All three buses where evaluated in the process to make sure we’re not missing anything major with the buses although work has only been preformed on one of the three buses to date.
Things to do in 2012.
Things to do in 2012.
Things that have been preformed in 2011.
Things to do in 2012.
Although the lists are very complex, we ensure that all our vehicles are to a full road-worthy standard, so far this year Leyland Atlantean B926 KWM has received in excess of £850.00 in repairs and labour, with more work planned on all three buses next year the costs are sure to roll in, more news about the developments of the buses after the new year.
Our friends at the Wirral Transport Museum have informed us that a decision was made on the 19th October 2011 by Wirral Borough Council that electric trams at the Wirral Heritage Tramway will be suspended from 31st October 2011 due to there is now no regular shed electrician and until this is resolved, the trams cannot be operated.
We have been informed that The Wirral Transport Museum shed at Taylor Street is still open to the public as normal at weekends and there are normal tram and bus working parties between Wednesday and Sunday, as previously. Hopefully the tram operating situation will be resolved as soon as possible.
Enthusiasts are gutted at the decision made as the tramway at Birkenhead was traditionally one of the few places in which it was possible to enjoy a winter ride on a vintage tram in Britain, with many other Heritage Tramways like the the National Tramway Museum and East Anglia Transport Museum both closing down for a prolonged spell over the winter.
The Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society have worked hard to ensure the tramway has been a success over the years which also provide some of their own fleet of electric tramcars to be brought back to life on the tramway particularly in good weather.
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