Saved for Posterity

Keith A. Jenkinson tells the story of bus and coach preservation in the UK with an array of previously unpublished images.

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In the sixty years since the birth of the bus and coach preservation movement, the number of vehicles saved for present and future generations to admire has grown from a tiny handful to more than 3,000. From a small acorn has grown a massive oak, and those pioneers who planted the first seed never dreamed that their hobby would spread not only to every corner of the UK, but overseas too.

From purchasing and restoring a single vehicle in 1956, bus and coach preservation has now expanded to the setting up of transport museums across Britain, where vehicles of varying ages are displayed, to outdoor events where they can be examined, and ‘running days’ that allow the public to experience a ride on them.

The photographs included within these pages show how the hobby has developed and the variety of vehicles that are now preserved, as well as some that were once ‘saved’, but sadly failed to survive the passage of time.