The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum hosts a handful of special events each year. The one that always appeals to me is the Festival of Historic Transport - featuring a range of conveyances (mainly cars) from days gone by. The gathering is organised by the Fife Historic Vehicle Club and today was the 43rd staging. I have attended a few times over the years and this time I took my dad along. Entry is £5 and we landed lucky when a member handed us a spare complimentary pass for two as we queued at the car-park entrance.
Since 1995, the Bus Museum has been based at the M90 Commerce Park between Kelty and Dunfermline, occupying half of the 90-acre site. The land was formerly utilised as a Royal Navy supply depot (Lathalmond) for the nearby Rosyth Dockyard and a rail connection existed until 1971. As the Cold War subsided, the MOD sold off the complex. The facilities were tailor-made for a large-scale transport museum, with wide tarmac internal roads and spacious sheds. Ample room is available for visitor parking and outdoor vehicle display. A free heritage bus service was operating to and from Dunfermline today and a horse-drawn tram offered trips around the museum compound. The weather was drizzly but bearable and a healthy crowd was present. Classic cars flanked both sides of the main access road and I noted a Ford Model T from 1925, one of the oldest motorised vehicles in the show. It was the first car to be truly mass produced, eventually selling over 15 million units. Most of the owners were sheltering inside their vehicles. On a nice day, they often set up camping chairs and enjoy a picnic in the sun. Along with the 150 entrants to the official categories, several car/transport clubs were in attendance from around the country and these vehicles could also be inspected by the public. The rally gives vintage motoring enthusiasts a chance to mix with like-minded people and display their pride and joy. Additionally, the bus museum halls were fully open and there was something for everyone on the sprawling site. We'll get to the two working railway lines in due course. Vehicles in line for judging were grouped by historic period. As a child, I loved the "I spy" pocket books that allowed you to tick off the various makes and models of cars whenever you spotted them. I also had an older copy of the Ladybird book of motor cars. The listings in these volumes were extensive and even included the exotic Volga and Trabant from the Soviet-controlled zones. Of course, quite a few motors from the late 60s and early 70s were still on the road when I car-spotted around 1980 to 1982. It does hammer home the passage of time to see them now regarded as rare exhibits. Surprisingly, the scope of the classic period extends all the way forward to the year 2000. Initially jolting, but the millennium is now a quarter century in the past and the lifespan of the average family car probably doesn't exceed 15 years in most cases. I remember Dad owning a Rover 2000, Triumph 2000 and Rover 80, all three of which were represented on the grass today. His Rover 80 (built 1961) was already nudging into vintage territory when he bought it in 1983. Finding spare parts proved increasingly problematic in the pre-internet age and he sold the elegant lady on after a few years.
The Rover 80 (pictured behind Dad) weighed almost two tons and was powered by a 2.3 litre engine. I loved riding in this car and the upholstery was genuine leather. There was one continuous bench seat in the front and two kids could easily squeeze in beside the driver. Seatbelts were not yet a legal requirement. Changing from first to second gear involved a double clutching technique with neutral being the intermediate step. The (huge) battery was located under the back seat and the windscreen washers were operated with a hand pump. I will remember the registration plate - 2320 SR - until my dying day. We walked all the way up and down the line and also checked out the motorcycles, commercial vehicles, fire engines and tractors. The longest car on display was undoubtedly the 1977 Chrysler New Yorker. It was an American monster with a seven-litre engine under the hood. A true gas guzzler that I wouldn't fancy trying to park at Tesco. We paused by the Fife Munitions Railway where "Big Dave" (pictured below) was preparing for departure. The steam loco was built in 2021 (Scotland's newest) and runs along a narrow gauge to the site boundary. Passengers also have the option of travelling on standard tracks behind a diesel shunter, the two lines being roughly parallel. The operation trades as the Lathalmond Railway Museum and began life in 1997 when a group of volunteers took over Shed 47 - the former rail workshop within the naval depot. A substantial internal network once existed and the enthusiasts have recreated a small section. The project has certainly come a long way since the days when it really was just a shed with a dilapidated locomotive inside and a tiny protrusion of track. Nowadays both railways offer trips of a quarter mile each way. The regular line features a platform, ticket office and souvenir shop. An exhibition can also be viewed. More power to them! The rain began to fall and we sought refuge inside the main museum building, which has a couple of dozen polished buses on permanent display. The café in the corner was doing a brisk trade and I opted instead to run out to a burger van, returning with quarter pounder and chips for two. We ate our lunch at one of the extra tables that had been set up in the middle of the hall and pondered our next move.
Meanwhile the downpour had become heavier and many people were scurrying back to their parked cars. At least the event had managed to get past the halfway stage before the bad weather kicked in. It was the first time the show had taken place since the pandemic and hopefully it will run again next year. You certainly don't have to be a petrol head to enjoy yourself here. Lathalmond is the perfect permanent home for the bus museum and hopefully the railway will continue to expand. We decided it was time to head and an announcement came over the tannoy to inform the owner of a Trabant that he had left his lights on. I've never seen a Trabi in Scotland and on a dryer day might have gone looking for it. A belated tick for the I-spy book.
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