The

No 318 February 1999

Bus Museum of Western Australia

M o n t h I y N e w s l e t t e r

RATTLER 318 February 1999 ne Rattler is published monthly and circulated to members of the Bus Museum of Western Australia (Inc) as part of their subscription. It is not sold separately, through newsagents Or booksellers, so does not have a cover price. Copyright © 1998 Bus Museum of Western Australia (Inc) and individual authors. Material published in ^e RATTLER May not be reproduced in any form unless prior written approval is sought and received from the Editor, except in the case of information extracted from news items Which may be used in kindred enthusiast publications provided that acknowledgment is made of the source. The opinions expressed in articles in f» RATTLER are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect or coincide with the views of the Bus Museum of Western Australia or of the Editor.

Editor » Colin W Davison

Editor mail K i ­lt will be appreciated if material for use in n. Rattler, including news items, articles and photos, is sent to

PO Box 58 Burswood WA 6100

Distribution » J im Bond

BMWA mail M -Membership, general enquiries and other matters to

Secretary c/- PO Box 58 Burswood WA 6100

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* After some delay, the first of Transperth's new * Volgren CR225L bodied Mercedes Benz O405NH low * floor buses finally reached Perth in January. It was * officially unveiled at a ceremony in Forrest Place on * Monday 25 January. 1140 [TP1140] is seen two days k later, travelling along Hay Street near His Majesty's £ Theatre, during one of several demonstration runs * made on the Red CAT route. Its silver and green livery was seemingly * inspired by the silver applied to the DAB midibuses normally used on the * £ CAT system. *

* CW Davison photo * * • •kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk-kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

February 1999 Ths RATTLER 318

General Meeting The next General Meeting will be held on Friday 26 March 1999 starting at 20:00.

The venue will be the PATH Transit Depot, Alexander Avenue, Malaga. Entry is gained via Truganina Road; turn into the small carpark to the west of the main depot entrance, not into the main bus parking yard. The meeting will be held in the Training Room in the 'Atco' hut (demountable building) in the carpark - there is no need to enter the main depot building.

Other General Meetings in 1999 will be on 21 May, 23 July, 24 September and 26 November. (September date subject to confirmation.)

Whiteman Park Depot/ Workshop The next two regular workdays are on 14 March and 11 Apri l , starting from about 10:00.

Classic Car Show 1999 This annual event is almost upon us again. Sunday 14 March (the regular workday) is the date, Whiteman Park Village is the venue. As in previous years, BMWA will have some exhibition space and proposes to display up to i buses, including Metro 81 and WAGT 38. Any member who wishes to volunteer assistance in either

preparing display vehicles on the preceding day (13/3), or staffing the exhibition itself

should contact Jim Bond on 9341 4209 as soon as possible.

Information Request Member Cameron Bell of South Perth is seeking any information available on the history, etc, of a Commer (see photo top of page 4) observed recently in Bassendean, WA. Now a camper registered (SA) [SAT418], it seemingly

The RATTLER 318 February 1999

still has its original Humber 6-cylinder petrol engine, and is thought to have been with a firm called All's Bus Service somewhere in South Australia for part of its passenger carrying career.

Any reader who can help is asked to contact Cameron Bell direct -Correspondence : 119 Angelo Street 'Phone : (08) 9367 7016

South Perth WA 6151

On 22 February 1959, the routes and 9 buses of Emu Bus Company Ltd, of 140 Onslow Road, Shenton Park, were acquired by the Metropolitan (Perth) Passenger Transport Trust, formed the previous year as an instrument of the state government with the specific function of taking over financially troubled private bus operators.

Emu was one of Perth's earliest bus operators. In 1926, the depot was in Derby Road, West Subiaco - the suburb was later renamed Shenton Park and has retained that identity to the present day - and two principal routes were operated, Perth - North Perth and Perth - Subiaco - West Subiaco. During the 1930s, a direct route linking Shenton Park and Subiaco with

February 1999 The RATTLER 318 5

City Beach was also run. The Perth - North Perth route was relinquished to the Northern (North Perth) Bus Service in December 1935. For a time, Emu Buses operated the Perth • West Subiaco service in competition with Molloy's WA Omnibus Company, until the two services were merged under the Emu name in May 1939. Molloy's 4 buses were green, but later used the same shade of red as Emu.

Unlike many of its contemporaries, Emu's growth tended to be stifled because its main route serviced the relatively well established suburbs of Subiaco and Shenton Park. These offered little scope for opening up fresh ^territory and there was an element of competition from train and tram services which ran in the vicinity of the Emu route.

Even so, as the route was comparatively short and traversed some well populated areas, a good ratio of passengers carried to distance run was achieved for many years and the operation remained reasonably profitable. By the same token, with routinely good loadings there was little incentive to upgrade the quality of the fleet to attract more patronage. Consequently, the only new buses bought during the last 10 years of operation were two Bedfords in 1j953 / 54.

From its inception, the company favoured buses rather than char-a-bancs. The early fleet included two Internationals and a Dennis, all bonnetted models, and was 5 strong by the 1939 merge with Molloy's. Leyland Lions and a Dennis Lancet Mk I were the mainstays during the World War 2 years, joined by an AEC Regal I, a Bedford OB and two AEC Regal Ills in the late 1940s. As the accompanying fleet list shows (page 6), there were no underfloor engined buses in stock when the MTT took over.

With the oldest bus having seen 25 years service and most of the other 8 being in somewhat rundown condition, a fleet renewal was quite urgently required, but would have involved a very substantial capital outlay. As this was difficult to justify at a time when revenue was being adversely affected by declining passenger numbers induced by post-war affluence, especially increased car ownership, and as operating subsidies were not forthcoming from government sources, the company's directors opted to sell out to the MTT instead. Only the 4 newest buses (the two Bedford SBs and two full front AEC Regal Ills) saw much further service with the MTT, the remainder being withdrawn within months of the takeover.

6

Emu Bus

Emu No

1 3 4 5 7 8 9

10 11

Company

MTTNo

226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234

Th" RATTLER 318 February 1999

Ltd •- fleet details (incomplete) at MTT takeover (1959):

Reg No

UAN3377

Make /Mode!

Bedford SB UAN342? Bedford SB

45.408

45.410 45.411

Dennis Lancet I Ley I and Leyland TS7c AEC Regal I Bedford OB AEC Regal III AEC Regal III

Body

CAC B33F CAC B33F

CAC Bolton FB31F Bolton FB33F

New

1954 1953 1935 1934 1935 1946 1948 1949 1949

Based largely on material supplied by the late Howard Cowell. Any additional information from readers would be appreciated.

Although: it Plight sometirhes seem sb;,ihot all school contract buses in WA are bodied by TOST (The Lirrjnibus Service Tjust) of Kojonup. [This isuzu |_Y;1 -1;1 P bp^tecl byG A fy ̂ A u ' d o f M t Helena has a 53-seat PMC 160 series bbdyJ When photographed St Fremantle near the Maritime Museum recently, [8AC181] appeared to be in pristine condition, although it is now about 9 years old. CW Davison photo

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February 1999 RATTLER 318

Latest addition to the Transperth bus fleet is a Volgren CR225L bodied Mercedes Benz O405NH, numbered 1140 [TP1140], in a revised livery of silver and green. The air conditioned, low floor bus was unveiled to the public on Monday 25 January at a ceremony in Perth's Murray Street Mall, near Forrest Place. As illustrated below, it was displayed there again the following day, the Australia Day public holiday, where it was inspected by crowds moving through the City to the Swan River for a fireworks spectacular later that evening. The Volgren CR225L aluminium body is broadly similar to the CR221L versions on the two Dennis Dart SLF units used on Transperth services by PATH Transit. However, the front and rear treatments are apparently unique to the Transperth batch ordered through Mercedes Benz. After its public debut, 1140 spent two days assigned to running demonstration trips on the free Red CAT route. Licensed to carry 30 more passengers than the standarcf CAT System DAB Midicity (82 as opposed to 52), 1140 had no trouble in coping with demand, although some of the tight turns on the route required the longer bus to manoeuvre at somewhat lower speeds. The upper photo on page 8 shows 1140 loading passengers at Stop 17 His Majesty's Theatre in Hay Street, enroute to West Perth during the afternoon of Wednesday 27 January. The ramp had been extended to

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RATTLER 318 February 1999

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provide easy access for a passenger in a wheelchair, a process which took roughly the same time as deploying the manually operated ramps on the DAB buses, but with considerably less effort for the bus driver. Below is an interior view of Transperth 1140 taken on 20 January during its pre-deiivery fitout at Diesel Motors' premises in Bentley.

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