BUS enthusiasts have been treated to a spectacular show featuring 80 single and double deckers.
The 60th anniversary bash for Buses Magazine took place at Wroughton Airfield on Sunday .
More than 2,000 people turned out to view a selection of vintage and modern buses and take rides on the vehicles.
The buses on show included a 1939 model from Exeter City Transport, a PD2 model that helped transport an English folk band around the world and one vintage bus which travelled from Dublin to attend the show.
Event co-ordinator Paul Appleton, from Ian Allen Publishing, the owners of Buses Magazine, said the one-off show also went a long way towards saving a rebuilt RT1 bus, the prototype for London’s Routemaster, from going abroad.
“We raised £4,500 towards purchasing a bus from restorers before a private bidder from Switzerland buys it,” he said.
“We are running a campaign to raise £30,000 more now to help the bus remain in Britain at the Cobham Bus Museum.
“People had a great time.
“There are about 30,000 enthusiasts across the country, so to get 2,000 there for a one-off show was quite impressive.
“A local Swindon collector managed to bring over two six-wheeler double deckers from Hong Kong, that was fantastic.
“Transport history is very important for a lot of people.
“It is about nostalgia, yearning for a time when everything was British built.
“Keeping those old British-built vehicles is important.
“Most people used to travel on buses before cars so it is very interesting for a lot of people.
“A lot of care was taken when building these machines and a lot of care was taken restoring them, too.
“These things are far from the modern boxes that ride around now.”
Ken Mumford, a bus enthusiast from Stratton St Margaret said he had a great time reminiscing.
He said: “We had free rides in two of the old buses, a single decker coach and a double decker bus – rickety old things but just fantastic.
“The Swindon Vintage Omnibus Society and Thamesdown Transport also turned out with a number of local vintage and modern buses.”
Stagecoach and Thamesdown Transport also provided free services from the bus stationfor local people attending the event.
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