Worthing buses on display at Amberley Museum

The replica Worthing Tramocar has undergone engine repairs, a blind replacement and a full repaint ahead of its return to Amberley Museum.

The Tramocars, dustbin lorries converted into buses, were a crucial part of Worthing's transport network in the 1920s and '30s serving routes across the town.

Other buses on display at the museum (Image: Amberley Museum)

They were introduced in 1924 by businessman Bill W R Gates, who noticed a gap in the market for lower-floor buses which were easier for elderly people to get in and out of.

He initially bought two Shelvoke and Drewry Freighters, first used for waste collection, to be converted into buses with room for 18 passengers. They first hit the town's roads on Easter Sunday, 1924.

The replica Tramocar visiting its former depot in Wordsworth Road, Worthing (Image: Amberley Museum)

After more than a decade of passenger service, additions to the Tramocar fleet and technical improvements, Southdown Buses - now Stagecoach - acquired Gates' company and his fleet.

The vehicles were slowly phased out until 1942 when more modern buses became available.

The museum acquired a 1920s Shelvoke and Drewry chassis, belonging to a Truro dustbin lorry, in the 1990s and built a replica Tramocar on top of it for visitors to experience the rickety vehicles for themselves.

An example of a Shelvoke and Drewry freighter used for waste collection (Image: Essendee)

Visitors to the Autumn Bus Show at Amberley will be able to enjoy a showcase of buses from the museum’s own collection, the Southdown Omnibus collection, and a number of visiting buses. 

The earliest bus at the museum is a 1914 petrol-electric, and there are several buses from the 1920s and 1930s. There will be bus rides all day, transporting visitors around the museum grounds with either the 1914 or a 1928 open-topped bus in service.

"Peter" the 1918 Bagnall steam locomotive will also be running on Amberley's narrow-gauge railway to carry passengers around the site. 

The museum has told visitors to book for its Autumn Bush Show on September 22 in advance.