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IVIEIVIOR
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ES II ON
The UK commercial vehicle preservation movement has never beer
stronger — we asked Bob luck to find the best places to see the
sights and soak up the atmosphere during 2005.
Listing all the places where you can see classic and vintage vehicles would be a huge project. but here are some of the highlights from a rich, n ationwide seam of historical wonder.
Museums You have to start with the British Commercial Vehicle Museum at Leyland.Normally open Sunday,Tuesday,Wednesday, andThursday from April to October, the BCVM also runs monthly events throughout the year. Signposted off MO/ .128, it's a must-see for any bony buff Many of the UK's transport museums cover all aspects of transport, and this brings some delightful bonuses. For example, the Grampian Transport Museum in the centre of Alford (about 25 miles west of Aberdeen) is right next door to the narrow gauge Alford Valley steam railway, which offers half-hour trips.
Museums are often portrayed as stuffy, but at least they can be a haven on a wet day. One of the best coffee shops we've encountered is at the GlasgowTransport Museum at Kelvin Hall. No surprise as it's been welcoming visitors for 40 years (daily, throughout the year).We're told that Kelvin Hall is being refurbished and will be closed until 2006 but Glasgow has no less than 13 museums so ring the general number below for details.
Having just undergone a £7.5m, four-year revamp and a name change — the Coventry Transport Museum (originally the Museum of British Road Transport) on Hales Street. Coventry, is said to be three times the size of Beaulieu and twice the size of the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon. It's open daily throughout the year and it's free. On 3-4 September the museum will be involved with the revamped Coventry Festival of Motoring.
Inevitably London has the biggest variety of museums and the LondonTransport Museum on Covent Garden Piazza (39 Wellington Street) is a haven for bus buffs. But there's far more to it than that and the vast majority of its stock is held at a depot inActon.This is only open on a few weekends, but they do offer a guided tour on the last Friday of every month.
Road runs
The London to Brighton run is one of the longest established events organised by the 4.000-strong Historic Commercial Vehicle Society; the 44th outing is scheduled for Sunday 1 MayThe 37th Trans Pennine Run (from Manchester to Harrogate) takes place on Sunday 7 August; another HCVS favourite is the Tyne Tees Run fromTeesside to South Shields:the 23rd run will be held on Sunday 5 June.
Another active club,is The Commercial Transport in Preservation (C113). Its season kicks off on 27 February with the Gillingham Gathering, which incorporates a small road run from Warminster.The 112-mile A-Z run from Salisbury on Sunday 3 April is the CTP's first road run proper ;the season finale is the Bournemouth to Coleme run on 4 September. This year the CU is also organising a Great Pre-War Road Run on Sunday 5 June, which is limited to vehicles made before World War 2.
When Ted Hannon started organising the Northern Road Run about 1990 (this year it will be held on 7-8 May) he broke the mould by saying no prizes and no plaques.To ensure that only true enthusiasts do his run (he regularly had 100 or so entries) Ted now shrouds his event in secrecy and has began changing his route.
However, there's no secrecy about many of the great runs held in Scotland.
Ally Shaw's and Stuart Walker's North East Road Run (normally 12 June) takes in the superb north-east of Scotland, If you love Ayrshire you'll love the Ayrshire Run organised by Robert Laidlaw and Bill Reid in mid-July.The East to West Coast run (from Fraserburgh to perhaps Ulapool) is usually scheduled for the last weekend in September, and another long-time favourite on the same weekend is Jim Doig's West Coast Run.This year Jim has promised to do something entirely different; he's hoping to organise the Heartbeat Run from Lockerbie to Whitby.
Contacts
Runs
Please confirm date and venue of all events before travelling to them.
Historic Commercial Vehicle Society: 01580 892929/ www.hcvs.co.uk The CommercialTransport in Preservation: wwwthectp.orguk Northern Road Run: 07866 685400 North East Road Run: 01467 643103 Ayrshire Run: 01292 442324 West Coast Run or Heartbeat Run: 01387 721082 Museums British Commercial Vehicle Museum: 01772451011/ www.commercialvehiclemuseum.co.uk Grampian Transport Museum: www.gtm.org.uk
Glasgow Museum general information: 0141 2872720 / VOW/ glasgowmuseums.com CoventryTransport Museum: 02476 832425/ www.transport-museum.com
London Transport Museum: 020 7379 6344 / www.ltmuseum.co.uk For details of 3,000 UK museums try www.24hourmuseum.org.uk