The Dewsbury Bus Museum will hold its spring running day on Sunday 22 March between 1100-1600hrs, where a display of classic coaches and buses alongside rides on vintage vehicles are set to be part of the line-up.
Those will sit alongside refreshments, trade stalls, and a tombola. The museum advises that coaches and buses present will date back to the 1950s, with entry forms still available to download from its website.
Entry to the museum and display areas is by programme only at £5, with accompanied children under 15 admitted free. Parking is available in Wellington Road car park adjacent to Dewsbury railway station, from where a free shuttle to and from the museum will run.
Among the buses to be on static display are the two Guy Wulfrunian double-decks that are resident at the museum, including the one pictured above. The front-engined Wulfrunian debuted in the late-1950s with high hopes of its front-entrance arrangement permitting competition with other models where the power unit was at the rear.
Despite that early optimism, the Wulfrunian soon proved to be unreliable and costly to operate. The Dewsbury Bus Museum has an extensive description of the model on its website written by Basil Hancock, who has also authored a definitive book on the type.
Some Wulfrunians are said to have departed for scrap before reaching five years of age, with the two at Dewsbury being the sole known survivors of the type. Both are local to the area, having served with operator West Riding.
Of those, one entered preservation directly from service in 1972. The other spent 40 years out of commission before completion of restoration and a return to the road in 2022. The example that entered preservation in the early-1970s is credited as being “the start of what has led to the Dewsbury Bus Museum.”
