Steven Knight reviews Delaine’s heritage plans for 2025
The Delaine Bus Museum in Bourne, Lincolnshire, is again welcoming visitors on the second Saturday of each month through until October. Admission to the museum, which is open from 1200 until 1600hrs costs £2.50 (accompanied under 16s get in free) and includes heritage bus rides to Rippingale at 1315hrs and Market Deeping at 1445hrs using a vehicle from the Delaine heritage fleet.
The museum contains photographs, displays and artifacts from the 135-year history of Delaine and is well worth a visit. Officially opened in 2019 the museum has become a popular attraction with visitors from the local area and much further afield. The first of the two running days will be held on Saturday 26 April when, Anthony Delaine-Smith says, there will be up to 17 heritage buses including the seven members of the Delaine heritage fleet operating over three routes. “We will have 54 departures from the museum in Spalding Road, Bourne during the day with the three routes offering 42 route miles of heritage bus running.”
There will also be a wide selection of guest vehicles spanning 53 years, which will also be used on the heritage bus rides. Admission to the event is £7 for adults with up to two accompanied under 12s being admitted free. Whilst previous events have been more focused on older vehicles, Anthony told CBW: “We are seeing a lot of younger visitors to our events who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s, and we plan to operate buses from this era more intensively alongside our much older half-cab vehicles.”
(KTL 780), the oldest bus in the museum collection. STEVEN KNIGHT MEDIA
Appropriately, this year marks 30 years since the first Volvo Olympian 116 (M1 OCT) entered service with Delaine and is planned to be in use alongside the latest addition to the heritage collection, which was the first low floor bus bought by Delaine, 2000 Volvo B7TL with East Lancs Vyking bodywork 130 (X7 OCT). The oldest bus in the collection is 45 (KTL 780), a Willowbrook-bodied Leyland PD2/20 now in its 69th year.
The running day timetable will include a bus every 20 minutes to Market Deeping between 0930 and 1630hrs; every 20 minutes to Rippingale between 0940 and 1600hrs and a tour around country roads via Greatford operating every 30 minutes between 1000 and 1530hrs.
There will also be a selection of stalls and light refreshments available at the museum. A recent addition to its collection is the little blue ‘Delaine’ bus that was previously owned by Bourne Lions Club. Built in 1978 by some of the Club members it is powered by a 1200cc 1957 Ford Popular engine. It was used by Bourne Lions for 46 years between 1978 and 2024, providing children’s rides at local fetes and events. It is now a static exhibit.
Vintage buses with tungsten lights create an atmospheric view at the twilight event. DELAINE HERITAGE TRUSTTwilight event
The now established end of season event is a mini running and twilight day. It will take place on Saturday 25 October this year and will feature the Delaine heritage fleet. This has proved to be a really special event giving the opportunity to travel on buses with tungsten lights during the early hours of darkness. “This is a really nostalgic event, and the shorter days enables us to recreate what it was like to travel on buses at night over 50 years ago,” said Anthony. This running day focuses on the use of the Delaine heritage fleet as the later finish means there is no space at the depot to accommodate visiting vehicles. Anthony told CBW that the event will be slightly revised this year, with the museum being open from 1130 until 1800hrs. Bus rides depart every 20 minutes from 1200hrs with an hourly headway to Rippingale, Market Deeping and Greatford until 1640hrs.
Further departures at 1700, 1730 and 1800hrs to Morton will use buses from the 1950s and 1960s to recreate the period night-time travel experience. The 1730 and 1800hrs departures will be held until the previous service has returned giving visitors the option to travel on all three Delaine vehicles from the period. Admission cost will be £5 with up to two accompanied children under 12 free.
