|
A rusty double-decker bus, which spent nearly 30 years parked up in Weir’s yard at Machrie, has been sold on the internet for £870.
The old red bus was initially purchased by the Western SMT Transport Museum in Kilwinning in December 2007 and the plan had been to restore it.
Sadly because of the pressures of the continuing global economic recession the museum couldn’t afford the planned restoration and it had to be sold.
Sharp-eyed Dougie Munro of Pirnmill stumbled across the bus for sale on eBay, the online auction site last month.
The advert online states that it is a ‘Bristol Lodekka, registration FS BXA 463B, in poor condition but could be restored or be used as a good source of spares as all units are there’.
It adds: ‘Radiator cover inside bus at present. Was latterly a play bus and was left outside for over 15 years, now in undercover storage, no MOT or tax.’
It also reveals that 27 different people had placed bids to buy it.
A year and a half ago The Banner ran a story about the bus being towed away to its new home on the mainland.
At the time it was reported that the former Western SMT bus would be fully restored to its former glory at a bus yard in Kilwinning and taken to a museum in the town.
Scott Hutchison, who works at the Western SMT Transport Museum, said that 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.’
- Road closed signs 'only for tourists'
- Road fatalities on the increase
- Murray's digger buried in Goatfell peat bog
- The sinking of HMS Dasher
- Hidden hazard of new seafront walkway
- Watch out, there's a red squirrel about
- Western Ferries' new Arran vessel on the dra...
- Cliff rescue for stricken Edinburgh holiday...
- Operation Caledonian Sunset for Arran ferry
- Dog walker makes a stink
