The Barry heritage bus group held their Autumn Running Day event on Sunday 8th September. With 70% rain forecast all day visitor numbers were fortunately well above expectations. The Cardiff Transport Preservation Group, which mixes SE Wales transport history with classic buses, marked 100 years of Newport motorbuses.
Free trips on five different routes were operated for visitors and despite the damp start to the day the open top bus ran in the afternoon. The heritage collection has four former Newport buses, two unrestored and two were operating on the day. These were new in 1966 and 1988 whilst other buses such as Western Welsh a firm that also ran in Newport, were from 1961 and 1971. With grateful thanks, Newport Transport supported our event and brought along their 1958 Leyland Titan and a modern 2024 Battery Electric bus – highlighting that the internal combustion engine motor bus days are numbered and why heritage collections are of importance.
Newport Council, by Act of Parliament, took ownership of the towns tram tracks in 1894, 130 years ago, but did not run it themselves until 1901, in 1924 the first motor bus was bought to run as a feeder to their trams. As the Barry transport “living museum” is full of motor buses it was felt a good opportunity to mark the milestone.
A star attraction for many was the opportunity to take a free ride in the 1958 Newport Titan PD2 whilst still owned by Newport Transport and often seen, it has only been used only for special hires like weddings. Another star of the day was the first operation by a 1971 Western Welsh bus which last had passengers on it 39 years ago, on withdrawal it had is back cut-off and converted into a tow bus.
Considering the rain last week and the forecast we were pleased some took the effort to visit us on Sunday and they were not disappointed. Yes a lot were enthusiasts coming from Aberdare, Reading, Stoke-on-Trent and Pembrokeshire, but a number came from Newport and locally here in Barry and Cardiff too. I am especially grateful to Newport Transport and we hope we can support things they arrange in Newport in the future
Mike Taylor, chairman of the heritage bus group
The heritage bus group will be holding their second Twilight Event on Saturday afternoon 2nd November 2024, when heritage buses will be running free trips again at Barry, this time marking 50 years since the end of Urban District Councils who ran their own buses until 1974.
