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A rusty double-decker bus which has been parked up in Weir’s yard at Machrie for nearly 30 years is heading to a museum.
The old red bus was towed onto the ferry and driven away from Arran to it’s new home in Kilmarnock last Thursday.
The former Western SMT bus will be fully restored to its former glory at a bus yard in Kilwinning.
When the work on her is completed the bus will be taken to a museum in the town.
Scott Hutchison, who works at the Western SMT Transport Museum, told The Banner the bus would undergo a lot of work.
‘It will take about six months to restore the bus and once the work is finished it will be brought to the museum in Kilmarnock,’ he said.
C.M Weir and Sons of Machrie acquired the bus 30 years ago and when the museum expressed an interest in it the garage donated it to them for free.
Mr Hutchison said: ‘One of our members spotted it at the garage on Arran about this time last year and recognised it as a former Western SMT bus.
‘It is important that these buses are restored because they are an important part of our transport heritage.’
The bus is an original Routemaster, which was designed in the 1950s, and is 30 feet (9.1 metres long).
They were the last buses to be wholly designed by London Transport and were built between 1958 and 1968.
The bus proved popular as the open platform at the rear allowed large numbers of passengers to get on and off quickly at stops.
The buses were gradually phased out of service with the last bus leaving active service in London in 2005 amid much fanfare and not many of the Routemasters have survived.
John Burnett, chairman of the museum, said it was delighted to get the Arran bus.
‘For many people, these buses evoke nostalgic feelings which have spawned a campaign to save the bus,’ he said.
‘Refurbished buses can be seen quite a lot doing city tours and heritage runs. They really are wonderful vehicles.’
