Amberley Museum Southdown Bus Garage Project

Amberley Museum's Southdown Bus Garage Project recreates a typical country bus garage in the style used by this much loved and lamented Company.
The collection aims to show the development of the motor bus in the South East,
concentrating on the period up to the 1940s.
It is supported by an extensive archive recording the history of Southdown Motor Services Ltd.

Visitors since 17 May 2001

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The Museum's oldest bus is former Worthing Motor Services Tillings Stevens IB552. It has petrol electric transmission - i.e. the petrol engine drives a generator which provides traction current to an electric motor which drives the bus. (The same principle as a modern diesel-electric railway locomotive). Amazingly, the main structure of the Newman 41 seat body is original, and remarkably so, down to the painted body number (B20) in the cab, and the original Worthing Motor Services paint and lettering, which was applied in 1915, under the repair patch on the side - they certainly built things to last. The bus is considered somewhat delicate (as indeed it looks) and although it does operate on the Museum bus service on occasions, its use is restricted. The bus did make it to the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society's London - Brighton run in May 1993.

Probably the bus most associated with Amberley is Leyland N type 125 (CD5125) which dates from 1922. The 51-seat bodywork is by Short Bros and was the second carried by this particular bus. The first, a single deck open top bus body by Harrington's of Hove was replaced by the current double deck open top construction in 1928. After service with Southdown the body passed to a private owner for use as a summer house until discovered by bus enthusiasts who purchased it and, using a similar chassis to the original, restored it to working order.
125 had operated the Museum's bus service ever since the Museum opened in 1979. This hard work for such an old vehicle (the body was probably only built to last for 10 years) took its toll on the integrity of the wooden structure and in 1998 the bus worked its last journey around the Museum before it was stripped down and rebuilt. Work included the reupholstering of the lower deck seating together with a complete mechanical overhaul. The standard of the work carried out is evident in the photograph taken shortly after 125's restoration which was completed in time to for it to take part in the May 2000 HCVS London - Brighton run.
The driver and conductor converse briefly before setting off on yet another journey around the Museum. All bus rides at Amberley are free although if the visitor feels that he or she would like to make a donation towards the upkeep of the fleet and the restoration of more vehicles then this is not discouraged!

When the Museum is not very busy - or sometimes when it is(!) - out comes BP9822 which is a Shelvoke and Drewry Tramocar. A fleet of these small buses served the town of Worthing on the Sussex coast during the 1920s and 1930s. The Tramocars were operated by a Mr W R Gates until the company was bought by Southdown Motor Services Ltd in 1938. In fact the last Tramocars ordered were delivered direct to Southdown after the takeover. The former Tramocar garage in Wordsworth Road, Worthing is still extant and is now a tyre and exhaust centre.
Representing the earlier type of Tramocar, this bus is actually a replica built by the Museum volunteers. The chassis was formerly a Truro (Cornwall) dust-cart. No plans of the bodywork were available so new ones were drawn up using old photographs and "eye-witness" evidence from former Tramocar employees. One still lives in East Worthing and he has a fine collection of historic photographs of the Tramocar company. The canvas "blinds" on the bus were pulled down during inclement weather (like that in which this photograph was taken) as the windows (apart from the rear one) were not glazed. Steering is with a tiller rather than a wheel and the gear-change is clutchless.
Believe it or not, the Tramocar, which has a maximum speed of 12mph took part in and successfully completed the HCVS London - Brighton run in May 1998.

Much of the time the Tramocar is garaged in the Museum's country garage which has a space just the right size.
Photo by Jim Collins

The Dennis 30cwt bus is a rare beast. Only three are known to exist (well, roadworthy ones anyway) in the UK and one of these is owned by and resides at Amberley Museum. UF1517 was new to Southdown Motor Services in 1927 and was used on lightly trafficked rural services in mid and west Sussex. Like many old buses it was sold out of service for use as a garden shed until rescued for preservation. The Short Bros all metal alluminium body is so rare that the Museum was able to get special funding from the Science Museum in London for the restoration work, which has been carried out by volunteers to their usual high standard.
The restoration was completed early in 1997 in time for, yes you've guessed, the HCVS Brighton run.

517 attended the annual Worthing Bus Rally in July 2000 where it was met by its two sister vehicles. One of these is owned by Hampshire based Friends of King Alfred Buses (see link on my home page) whilst the other travelled down from Cheshire by low-loader.

The collection includes three Leyland Titan TD1s - this one,873 (UF6473), has the standard Leyland body of the time (it was built in 1931). Restoration of this bus, formerly owned by Michael Plunkett but now transferred into the ownership of the Southdown Omnibus Trust, has been an on-going project for many years and was finally completed when seats for the upper deck had finally been fabricated and fitted.

New in 1931, 928 (UF7428) was one of Southdown's most luxurious double deckers with 50 very comfortable seats covered in moquette and leather trim. In addition to 24 opening windows, it was fitted with a sliding sunshine roof which folded back along almost the whole length of the upper deck.
928 is a Leland Titan TD1 with overhead camshaft 6 cylinder petrol engine. Body is by Short Bros of Rochester. It was bought for preservation in 1959 having served with a company in Saffron Walden, Essex for much of the 1940s and 50s. It came to Amberley in 1987 after its previous home at Bolney was destroyed in the great 1987 storm. Restoration was completed in 1991 in time for an appearence in the London - Brighton run in May of that year.

The third TD1 arrived at Amberley in April 2003 and is on loan from Stagecoach. This bus, fleetnumber 813 (UF4813) and the oldest of the trio, had been stored at Portsmouth for several years and thanks to the foresight of senior management at Stagecoach the future for this historic bus is now assured. The bus was new to Southdown in 1929 and carries a Short 51 seat open top body, It has been in the ownership of Southdown and its successors ever since. It is a valuable addtion to the collection. It will also be used in service taking some of the strain of our other overworked vintage vehicles.
813 is pictured here in the yard of Stagecoach's Worthing garage.

Other vehicles in the collection include this Leyland Titan TD5 breakdown lorry, converted from a pre-war bus. It was, until recently, on long term loan to the Museum from Stagecoach South but ownership has now been transferred to the Southdown Omnibus Trust. After many years stored in the open, which has not done the old wooden body any good at all, EUF184 has now been moved indoors and restoration has been commenced. This vehicle is the only one fitted with a diesel engine in the Museum collection. No doubt this too will feature on the Brighton Run in the not too distant future.
Other items in the collection but which are the subject of a few more years' work are
CD4867, another Tilling Stevens petrol electric, which will eventually be fitted with a raked charabanc type body. This was formerly Southdown car 67.
UF6805, Southdown 705, is another Tilling Stevens but with conventional gearbox transmission and a Short Bros 31 seat single deck body. Some work has been carried out on the cab area of the bodywork but many hours labour are still needed to bring this one up to scratch.

Finally, our only non-Southdown resident is yet another Tilling Stevens, but this one was new to Thames Valley Traction. It was the only occupant of the rebuilt Southdown Storrington Garage when this shot was taken in 2002.

A recent non-vehicle restoration by the Bus volunteers was this former Southdown Inspector's kiosk. The kiosk was built at Southdown's Portslade Works and erected on the seafront at Southsea to the west of the South Parade Pier in 1937 to provide shelter for the duty Inspector controlling the bus departures. In 1940, Southsea sea front was closed for the duration of the war and the bus terminus was moved to "The Circle". After the war it was in constant use until the 1990's when Stagecoach moved the bus terminus east of South Parade Pier to the Canoe Lake.
It was rescued by the Portsmouth based "Working Omnibus Museum Project", but due to lack of resources for restoration it passed to Amberley Museum as being a more appropriate location. It was restored to its original glory in 2000.
Unfortunately it doesn't qualify for the HCVS run - unless they'll let us take it on a low-loader!!

l928 Morris Light Van - this is the latest acquisition for the Southdown Bus collection and "completes the set" so to speak. So our collection now has not only an Inspector's kiosk but a service van as well. Quite a lot of work needs to be done but preliminary investigation reveals that the framework is basically sound and in the not too distant future the van will be restored into Southdown livery. HCVS run? Yes - why not?
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© Amberley Working Museum - May 2003