The Oxford Bus Museum is what I would call notionally in Oxford given that it is ten miles north of the city. However, it is just 15 minutes by train, which is how I arrived. Google Maps had said that from Hanborough station it was a seven-minute walk to the museum, but it turned out that it was more like 30 seconds. Google obviously wanted to take me the scenic route.
Morris Cars
Due to the timing of my train, I arrived bang on opening time and caught them on the hop a bit as all the shutters to the sheds were still down. Arriving at ten did mean that for the next hour I pretty much had the run of the place to myself.
The museum is almost entirely indoors which was just as well as it hammered it down outside while I was going round. There are three sheds – one that has buses (unsurprisingly), another that has a Morris Motors exhibition as they were based in Oxford and a third for restoration work. I went to the Morris shed first.
It was completely chock-a-block with not only some Morris cars and vans but also loads of memorabilia, pictures and other Morris related items. Some of it was difficult to read as it could only be seen from the stairs! There was a small amount of coverage of MG Cars but not much as they weren’t part of the main Morris works.
These were all beautifully preserved and while I was in there a volunteer was carefully polishing the cars.
Buses
Opposite was a much larger shed with a number of buses, some of which you could go onto and get a feel of transport in the olden times! Interestingly, there were also some fairly recent buses too including an electric bus, from when the electrification of public transport was tried the first time. There were also examples of the Nipper and the London Tube, the former had been donated by Stagecoach.
And the walls were again covered with memorabilia, including bus stop signs, route rolls from the front of buses, and lots of photos of transport in the Oxford region, including a panel showing the Wantage Tramway that at one time went past the house where I lived. Long before I lived there I should add.
Volunteers
Like many niche, regional museums the Oxford Bus Museum is staff entirely by unpaid volunteers. People giving up their time to man the ticket desk, polish the cars and bring these vehicles back to life with careful restorations. It is amazing what they have done here and £8 seems a small price to pay to support their work.
