On Sunday 9th September, the Festival of Transport at Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre drew the visitors from many parts of The Valleys and some came from Swansea and Devon. Mike Taylor, the Chairman of the Cardiff Transport Preservation Group which organised the event said “It was a slightly mixed day weather wise but with enough sunny spells for us to run open top buses, we brought along several buses from our collection and these together with visitors saw over 40 heritage buses from the late 1940s up to the millennium. Nearly all the classic cars came along, on the day there were in the region 170 classic and more recent ones. It was good to see the 103 year old Model Ford T and some of the high performance models such as a Ferrari and Porsche. The cars of the1950s 1960s and 1970s made up many interesting vehicles. With sponsors bring new vehicles including hybrid powered there was something for everyone, and the free heritage bus services all did well. At the festival, a surprise visitor from the north was a 1949 built Leyland Titan PD2 open rear platform double decker that operated from 1949 for Todmorden J.O.C. of Calderdale, which served part of the West Yorkshire coalfield – their services ran to places like Rochdale. The Todmorden Joint Omnibus Board was unusual as it was run by a committee of the council and the railway from 1907 as the LMS up to BR in 1971. This was first time it had visited Wales. People attending the Festival could experience travel on a number of vehicles such the oldest were the half cab double decker’s as the orange and while 1960s Guy Arab V formerly with Cardiff, a blue and cream AEC Regent V from Pontypridd and a green and cream Leyland Titan from Caerphilly. Single decker’s and coaches also ran some of the longer trips using an late 1996 Cardiff Metrorider and later 2000 Dart. Jones International of Llandeilo who brought along their yellow coach helped out on trips to Rhymney Brewery. Mike Taylor, added “those that came were had a good day out with more at the show than last year. We would like to thank all those that came and to our sponsors, Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust, Stagecoach, Griffin Mill, Brecon Mountain Railway, Rhymney Brewery, 6060 and RT Williams”.
