First Find the Bus to Restore

Years after its sale in 1963 by the Department of Government Transport, as the DRTT had become, 1379 sits quietly mouldering in the bush at Yeoval in central western NSW, after its discovery by enthusiast David Wilson on 13 October 1976
PHOTO: DAVID WILSON

As best as I can discover, m/o 1379 was the oldest bus in the DGT fleet when it was withdrawn. It had been retained longer than other TD4s because it became a driver training vehicle at Burwood Depot, used to train drivers in the tricky art of operating a crash gearbox. Such a box has no synchromesh, no automatic assistance of any kind, and if you time the shift wrongly you get a "crash". I was to discover years later that many such 'crashes' had taken their toll. Other driver trainers were Leylands m/o 1235 (until 1961) and m/o 1378. (Thanks Vic Hayes for this info).

1379 sits at the Department of Government Transport Bus Workshops Roberts Road, Chullora, unregistered, awaiting disposal after being withdrawn from service. The date is probably 1961 or 1962.
It went to an individual at Wellington, NSW where it operated as a mine haulage engine by the simple expedient of attaching a cable to the front cross-member and reversing the bus to raise a skip or bucket from the base of the mine shaft.
When David Wilson tracked it down it had acquired many dents and a certain amount of rust in the body framing, but it had the virtue of being a TD4, therefore rare, and fairly complete, and able to be driven albeit without its hydraulic foot brakes.
Afterwards it went to a wool and wheat property at nearby Yeoval where it appears to have been used as accommodation, possibly for shearers. (Note the frig and cabinet in the photo above).


AFTER A MOVE OF SEVERAL MILES FROM ITS LAST LOCATION THE LEYLAND LOOKS RATHER SADDER. EVEN THE CONDITION OF THE FARM NOW LOOKS RUN DOWN


EVIDENCE THAT THE INTERIOR WAS USED AS ACCOMMODATION; STOVE, BED AND KITCHEN CABINET. NOTE THE LAMP FITTINGS STILL IN PLACE, THANK HEAVENS


THE HOT CENTRAL WESTERN SUN HAS FURTHER FADED THE GREEN PAINT, AND THE FRIG, AT RIGHT, IS VERY MUCH OUT OF USE.


ALL THE RADIATOR TUBES HAVE BEEN REMOVED PRESUMABLY FOR THEIR SCRAP VALUE, AS THEY ARE BRASS AND COPPER. THE ROOF HAS ACQUIRED A GOOD SIZED DENT, LEFT.



IN THE MOVE TO ITS NEW SITE THE BUS MUST HAVE BEEN REVERSED INTO THIS BANK OF EARTH A BIT ENTHUSIASTICALLY BECAUSE THE REAR PLATFORM AND FRAMING AT THE REAR WAS BADLY BENT AND NEEDED COMPLETE REBUILDING. THE UPSTAIRS EMERGENCY EXIT HANGS BY A THREAD All five photos above: BRIAN MANTLE

David Wilson and Brian Mantle arranged its recovery and it was towed back to Sydney to an open field full of preserved buses at Kellyville, the nucleus of the Sydney Bus Museum collection. When the Historic Commercial Vehicle Association was granted the lease of the former Tempe Tram Sheds in 1986 it went there, where I became aware of it.
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