The North Midland Transport Collection

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Welcome to my website.

My name is Simon Lang. I live in Dublin but my vehicles are stored in County Leitrim in the North Midlands, hence the title of the collection. This website has been put together as a source of information on my collection of preserved vehicles so that enthusiasts worldwide can see what I have collected and read a little bit about their history. I hope to include a photo of each one and to give people an idea of its overall condition as well as a bit of service history. I don’t know the full history of some of them and while I will continue to research it I would be delighted to hear from anybody who can help fill in the gaps. If you have a photo or just memories of any of them I would love to hear from you. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions to ask or if you can add anything to the history of the vehicles. I have adopted a very open policy with the collection, nothing is hidden away and everything I own is listed on this site, the photos are all recently taken and reflect the vehicles in their current state.

My Background

I have been interested in buses and coaches for as long as I can remember, back to the days of travelling to school on CIE Leyland PD3s and Atlanteans and of trips down the country on the various classes of Leyland Leopard where yellow and white Bedford school buses were in abundance. In the fleets of smaller operators many interesting vehicles existed and earned their living on school contracts and private hire. All of this was fascinating stuff and played a huge part in what was later to become an absorbing and rewarding hobby for me.

From as far back as my late teens I was interested in getting involved in bus preservation. At the time I had no job, no money and no storage but even these seemed like minor obstacles at the time. At nineteen years of age I bought a half share in an ex Blackpool PD3 which turned out to be a millstone in more ways than one. It turned out to be in very poor condition and we were unable to get affordable storage for it. After a few months the PD3 was sold to another preservationist for spares. I made several attempts to buy a CIE Atlantean but all of these were unsuccessful. It was to be another eight years before I got involved in preservation again.

Back to preservation and my collecting policy.

I have always been a big fan of the CIE M-class Leyland Leopards, I grew up with them and found all the body and engine variations to be fascinating, and in their later years no two were the same. When they were nearing the end of their very long lives I decided that I wanted to preserve at least one of them. I should point out that my mechanical knowledge at the time was almost nil and although it is improving all the time I still have a long way to go, my job in a large university library is very different to restoring a bus. I got off to a bad start in my quest to preserve an "M", my offer on the first one I tried to save was unsuccessful and the second one was burnt out by vandals just as I was about to buy it. My third attempt was more successful but the coach turned out to be in very poor order and not a realistic project, however almost immediately I came across another example in much better order and could hardly believe my luck when it became mine. Even them things didn’t exactly run smoothly especially when my new purchase rolled across a yard and hit a wall smashing its windscreen (it took a year to source a replacement). I went on to buy two more "M’ types but have since passed one on for further preservation.

The once very common Plaxton Supreme and Duple Dominant bodied coaches (to name but two) were dwindling in number and nobody seemed interested in preserving them. As they were a very big part of the bus scene at one time, I felt that a selection should be given a secure future as a memory for those of us that have fond memories of them and for future generations of enthusiasts to look at and compare. Lastly I felt that lightweight chassis types such as Bedford, Ford and the Bristol LH were being passed over in favour of heavyweight types and I have tried to preserve as varied a selection of these lightweights as I can. Contacts in the bus industry have been invaluable in sourcing suitable candidates for preservation and also locating valuable spares often in the form of derelict vehicles, which are towed over and carefully dismantled for parts. I had always been a fan of the Leyland Atlantean and a friend sourced a 33-year-old example that was withdrawn in Wales in late 2002 and it is now a valuable part of the collection and my second oldest bus.

At the end of 2004 I knew that I had some important decision making to do as regards the future of the collection. By now several more vehicles had been rescued and it had got to the stage where the collection had outgrown the available storage space and the surplus vehicles were lying around in various yards awaiting removal. I have also found myself in the position where I am looking after the vehicles basically in a solo capacity, the only help coming in the form of other enthusiasts who I have to call upon in times of severe need. As a result I have decided to trim the collection by at least five buses and coaches and I’m currently seeking good preservation homes for these.

Another decision that I have come to is that vehicles with local histories or that were new to Irish operators would form the bulk of the collection with the remainder coming from types or designs that I have a particular interest in and in view of my interest in Welsh operators I also hope to hang onto most of my Welsh buses too. Lastly some important future acquisitions have been identified and room has to be made for these. A plus point of these movements is that the collection will be much more varied and balanced in its make up with new types of chassis and bodywork being represented and most of the duplicates moving to new homes. By the end of 2007 the collection will probably present more or less its final line-up that will be retained and restored as time and funds allow, although I hope to leave some scope for a couple of future acquisitions in case anything special turns up, as it often does.

A big thank you

While this is a personal collection I could not have achieved the levels of success that I have without the help of a great many people some of who deserve a special mention.

My family especially my mother Dorothy who keeps an eye on things when I’m not around.

Shane Conway and Dick Gilbert who are responsible for the existence of this website.

Paul Horgan, Johnny Duffy and Milton C. Hardcastle who help / helped me with the collection.

Carroll Coaches of Drogheda especially Paddy Carroll for moving and sourcing buses and spares.

All the maintenance staff at Bus Eireann particularly at Ballina depot.

Wharton’s Travel, Crossdoney especially Andrew Wharton.

Donnelly’s Pioneer Bus Service, Granard especially Pat and Michael.

McCormack’s Coaches of Drogheda particularly Christy and Brendan.

Thank you for your interest and I hope you enjoy your visit.

(Please note all photos are strictly copyright)

Links to other historic bus and coach sites

Due to the vast amount of websites covering buses and coaches only the ones most relevant to this collection have been chosen. All of them have at least some historical content and cover preserved vehicles or classic types in their heyday of operation. A much more comprehensive links page can be found at Steve Annell’s Bus Station including sites covering the modern scene which are outside the scope of this website.