BACK FROM THE BARN
Last year the Wolverhampton trolleybus returned from St Helens and this sparked Kevin Hill's idea to get the SOS Standard back from the barn where it has lived for almost thirty years.
It reminds me of the day we put it in the barn, a cold damp, overcast day when I was seventeen years old! We started our journey from Moseley Road bus depot, Lloyd Penfold driving CKO988, the tow truck, myself on the back. Bob Archer steered the bus, sitting on a blue 5-gallon drum, John Seale rode shotgun.
We arrived at the barn, unhitched, then the four of us pushed it through the mud into the barn to join the Morris Dictator. Many years later we brought the Dictator back, leaving the Standard.
So last year plans were hatched. Several points needed to be addressed, such as where to park it when it came back. Many nights were spent with the magnetic board - a layout of the buses in the two halls - moving pieces about like a game of chess. Can we get a pint into a quart pot? Well I did find a hole, so on the days before the 'Two Museums Day' we'll have a move around.
I hope my calculations are right.
Next, how to move the bus? It lived in Chadwick End through country lanes, so a low loader was out of the question. It will have to come out the way it went in, on the back of a tow truck.
So plans started, we contacted the owner of the barn and said we will work on an arrangement to remove the Standard. Myself, Kev and Alex arrived on the 7 May with bits of ply, wood, screws and a Fleetline driver's seat.
Alex started inflating tyres and checking things over while Kev and I started to fix ply on the sides to strengthen the body. My memories of being seventeen reminded me this job needed doing. So Kev screwed the panels on, telling me to hurry up. At the end of Saturday most of the job was done, on Sunday I returned to fix a few more brackets and apply a coat of red paint to make it look better for the tow.
We arranged to get the bus to the front of the barn on the 14 May and tow it back on Sunday 15 May at 7 o'clock in the morning.
On Saturday, Alex and Dave Potts, James Munro and I arrived at the farm to find a refreshing sight, 37 round hay bales outside. This made the job a lot easier so the four of us manoeuvred the bus round two columns, a jeep and more hay bales. The bus was peeping out of the doors when Kev arrived.
James and Kev looked at each other and asked 'why not tow it today?' So off they went back to the Museum to get the S15 to act as a moving roadblock and Kev's Harper Bros. Leyland PD2A tow truck, SBF233.
The remaining three got the bus out of the building and Alex fitted the tow clamp. SBF233 arrived and we had got the combination into the lane when James arrived with the S15, Maurice Collignon and, most importantly, chips!
So, off we go. James in front with the S15 as the blocker, followed by SBF233, Kev at the helm, Alex steering the Standard, Dave at the rear in his van and myself in the Postman Pat van stopping traffic on junctions so the convoy could progress easier. At Earlswood we stopped traffic in all directions so the convoy progressed to Wythall.
When we arrived through the gates of the museum we were met by Mike Jordan, Paul Gray and many other members. We cleared the bus of scrap timber and swept out. On Sunday it was treated for woodworm. Only one job outstanding, getting it into the top shed. It went into its allocated slot in the Scania Hall on the following Saturday.
A big 'well done' to all involved, and to Mr Goode for the safe storage of the bus for the last twenty-eight years. When we put the bus in the barn Kevin was only two years old, while James and Alex weren't even born!
Peter Murphy
HA3501 was the last of the Museum's vehicles to be in long-term storage off site. The Morris Dictator had been stored alongside the SOS Standard for many years, while the trolleybus was brought back from St Helens in autumn 2004. Nevertheless, there will still be occasions when a vehicle may be away from the Museum on a short-term basis.
HA3501 was the third acquisition by the erstwhile Birmingham Omnibus Preservation Society in mid-1974, the story of which was the principal article in the very first edition of 'Omnibus'. Considerable work was done to both the mechanical units and the bodywork - the latter including a new sailcloth cover for its tongue-and-groove board roof - while it was in Moseley Road Works in 1976 to mid-1977. But because it has been in store ever since, maybe 90% of members have never had the opportunity to see it before the last open day.
Meanwhile, two Bristol REs have left the Museum:- OTA632G, the Royal Blue coach, and TCH274L, the Trent dual-purpose vehicle. Their departures are in line with the disposal policy outlined in 'Omnibus' no.162.
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