Darwen Transport Museum Trust

Home
United Kingdom
Darwen
Darwen Transport Museum Trust

Call Directions Website

The Trust aims to preserve part of the transport heritage of East Lancashire and the north west .
(1)

27/10/2026

Atlanteans on the move....

Today's activities included a shunt round in the yard involving no fewer than 4 Alexander bodied Atlanteans, 3 of which are shown here. Southport 88, fresh from its appearance at the St Helens Running Day, brings up the rear with its Merseyside-liveried sister 0682 just ahead of it, whilst heading the line is the doyen of the Atlantean collection, Merseybus, ex Merseyside PDR1A/1 1263. This one has to be moved rather gingerly due to some issues with the brakes which we're hoping to sort out in the near future as 1263 hasn't been seen out and about for a very long time and it would be nice to get the bus to some events.
Also moved within the yard but not featured in this post was another Merseybus Atlantean 1036, a former Southport allocated bus. This one's in need of a power steering fix and some decals, but could make it back on the road, perhaps next year, who knows?
Lots to do and more help always welcome!

26/10/2026

Beautifully restored Southport 87 and 43 at St Helens bus museum, yesterday

26/10/2026

These are some of the fine vehicles at the North West Museum of transport in St Helens managed to view yesterday, for those of you have not been to this museum there is a fantastic display of vehicles and also Darwen 17 is a resident there as well as the rossendale 58, and some more Beautifully restored Southport corporation PD, 87 and this lovely TD open topper43 Well Worth a visit , we plan to visit next year again.

25/10/2026

Here's a shot of preserved Southport Corporation Leyland Atlantean 88 outside the St Helens Museum shortly before setting out on the free service up to Moss Bank.

25/10/2026

Today saw the Trust attend the excellent St Helens Running Day organised by the North West Museum of Road Transport and following our decision to give Darwen 39 a rest after its recent exertions at Skipton earlier this month, we instead took Southport Atlantean 88, which we're pleased to say made the trip without incident despite some rather gusty conditions on the run down to St Helens this morning.
With a number of other fine Leylands in attendance, 88 did a run on the free service up to Moss Bank shortly after arriving at the Museum and given our liking for Atlanteans, our drivers also made the same journey on a rather nice Blackpool example, its last bus seated Atlantean with East Lancs bodywork.
Next year will hopefully see the return to action of one our own locally built buses, Blackburn 8, with its sister bus 18, also part of our collection but some way back in the queue for attention. With our small band of helpers we're always on the lookout for willing volunteers to help with keeping these historic vehicles alive for everyone to enjoy.

13/10/2026

The Trust was represented by trusty steed 39 and members of the supporting team at Skipton last Sunday. The bus did two runs out to Gargrave in the sunshine. It looked particularly good against the backdrop of the stone buildings which characterise the area. On both runs the bus was well laden and popular. Among the many other buses in service were examples of the powerful standard vehicles of that area of Yorkshire - there was a Bradford ex-London RT (with a 9.6 litre engine), another a Regent V (same), a Halifax Daimler (with a Gardner 10.45) and our PD2 39 well complemented them (with a Leyland 9.8).

09/10/2026

This week has witnessed a few activities at our premises as we endeavour to create more space in the yard for potential future arrivals but also to allow some of the long-term residents to be moved around in order to receive much overdue attention.
As part of these tasks, the most recent addition to the stock of vehicles on site (and the newest) in the shape of Scania L113CRL / East Lancs European N168PUT, was moved within the yard to occupy the space previously occupied by Merseyside ex-Southport Atlantean 0682, which has been moved just behind the Scania. The bus which 0682 replaced has been moved to another spot close by and will feature in a future post.
The Team have also been busy supervising the removal of a derelict articulated trailer that had resided here for well over 20 years and finally departed for scrap on Monday, freeing up more valuable space once the area has been tidied up.
More importantly, today we finally got round to tackling some overhanging tree vegetation on the approach to the yard, the extent of the growth now damaging the paintwork on our active buses and also threatening to knock out some windows. Following some delicate negotiations with the residents involved, we set to work this afternoon and made sufficient progress to allow Darwen PD2 39 to safely head out for refuelling in advance of its appearance at the Skipton Running Day this coming Sunday (11th October). Pleased to say that our efforts were successful and the cutting back in blustery conditions has certainly made a difference and should allow better access for the various vehicles in the collection, double-deck and singles alike. It'll also mean that we won't need to keep sweeping out foliage from the upper deck each time the buses attend events.

04/10/2026

A Fine vehicle out on our running day on the 20th of June was this 1949 Leland tiger From the very small fleet in Haslingden corporation. Just a little flashback of our previous running day in Darwen !

24/09/2026

Today, the Trust was pleased to support the family and friends of the late Peter Hopkinson, who sadly passed away earlier this month. Peter was a retired mechanic who worked for Blackburn Transport until the early 1990s and had a lifelong passion for buses, so it was rather fitting that Darwen Leyland PD2 39 was able to accompany the cortege on Peter's final journey, something that he would have appreciated.
Darwen's buses were merged with those of Blackburn as a consequence of the 1974 Local Government reorganisation and for a few years, 39 as 139 and later as number 57, wore the red white and green 'Italy' livery before it was returned to Darwen's red and cream, the guise in which it has been for over 4 decades. No doubt it and its contemporaries may have undergone some mechanical attention from Peter and his colleagues at some point in its later service life.
39 is pictured in the tranquil setting of Pleasington Cemetery in the warm Autumn sunshine, having carefully negotiated the overhanging foliage and drew some admiring attention from both Peter's family and the funeral director's team in attendance, one of whom recalled passing his PSV test on a former Darwen bus similar to 39 which was sold to Hyndburn Transport in 1986.

11/09/2026

Some Guy on the move.....
It's been quite a while since this beast has moved, but amongst today's tasks for the Team was the challenge of shifting 8 tons plus of brakeless bus in the shape of Blackburn Guy Arab IV 167.
Not helped by a temperamental Gardner engine and a tendency for the revs to get over excited, we had to coax the old girl from its space in the yard back into the double-deck shed where it is to receive some much needed attention following a kind offer to have its braking system examined which will entail the removal of the servo unit and related valve components for examination and, fingers crossed, overhaul and repair pending a refit that we hope will go some way to resolving the long standing 'no brakes' issue and overcoming a major obstacle to getting this rare vehicle back on the road after such a lengthy absence.
It's the only highbridge Arab with the Johannesburg front remaining in the UK so is deserving of the limelight once more. Getting it inside was a bit tricky with no brakes and not exactly light steering either but we managed it thanks to Paul F at the wheel and some judicious tweaking of the fuel pump linkage to control the revs. Not to be repeated any time soon !
As if that wasn't enough, today also saw Darwen 39 receiving a replacement lower deck window gasket to finally eliminate some unwanted additional ventilation through an increasing gap in the seal and further work on Blackburn Atlantean 8 to resolve the faulty indicators and hazard switch. Not quite there with it but getting a bit closer to having another Blackburn 'decker back on the road.

Address

Darwen

Telephone

+447888866318

Website

http://darwentransport.org.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Darwen Transport Museum Trust posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.