Visit to William Nicol Collection

Kenny Mac and myself went on a scouting mission up to Portlethan last night (16th Nov) to see how this collection (we had been told a "small" collection) worked.

Wow .. These were pristine vehicles in the very best of surroundings. Pampered springs to mind and believe me the vehicles deserve it.

They have all been restored to top condition and the way they are being looked after they will remain in this condition for a long time to come.

The spread that had been laid on for us visitors was truly fantastic. Tea, coffee, juice, beer, you name it. Crisps, sandwiches, and the best, fresh from the barbie lumps of beautiful roast beef on a roll I have had in a long time.

This is a class club and a class collection. We will remember this visit for a long time to come.

  

Thanks for the photographs

A number of contributors very generously gave us permission to display their photographs in our recent exhibition and it's only right we acknowledge them here.

Many thanks then to:

George Bett, Dick Gilbert, John Law, Andrew Macintosh, Donald MacRae, Paul S A Redmond, Nettletea, North East Bus Photos, Derek Simpson, Donald Stirling, Taybus Vintage Vehicle Society (John Fraser, John Mackie and Jim Patrickson), Tayport Dave, D. C. Thomson (Barbara Briggs and Derek McKimmie), Keith Till and Michael & Peter Waller.
  

Now you have longer to view our exhibition

We are delighted with the number of people who have taken the time to contact us after viewing our first ever exhibition in Dundee's Central Library within the Wellgate Centre.

Not only have we had a number of people wanting to help us in our quest to open a permanent Museum of Transport but we have also had a number of important items offered for future display.

Due to the popularity of the exhibition it won't now be ending until Wednesday 10th November 2010. Full details of the extended opening times are available by clicking here (external link).

We would like to build on the success of this exhibition by mounting an even bigger one next year and hopefully have it open for much longer as well. If you know of a possible location we could use, ideally with enough space for some of our vintage vehicles, please get in touch either by leaving a comment below or through our contact page.
 

The photograph that got away

When we were compiling the near 100 photographs for Dundee's City Buses in the 20th Century we were extremely lucky to have the support of many people who generously gave us permission to use their images.

This allowed us to cover most of the important developments ranging from Scotland's first trolley bus service in 1912 through to Scotland's first low floor double deck bus in 1998.

However one memorable photograph still managed to elude us. Taken to mark the start of the Tayway service towards the end of 1980 a Northern Scottish coach, a Tayside Ailsa bus and a British Railways diesel train were lined-up to mark the launch of this new joint service.

To date the only copy of the photograph we have is from the front of the inaugural timetable which isn't of a good enough quality for us to use.

If you have a copy of the original photograph taken for this event, or know where we could get a copy, please get in touch through our contact us page or leave a comment under this post.
 

Our first exhibition is now on in Dundee's Central Library

After months of planning Dundee Museum of Transport's first exhibition in the Wellgate's Central Library opened on Friday 22 October and runs until Saturday 6 November 2010.

Dundee's Lord Provost John Letford opened the exhibition by unveiling a special visitors book and said that the plans for a Transport Museum have the full support of Dundee City Council. Pictured below with Mr. Letford are Terry Small (left) and Jimmy McDonell (right).

In addition a restored Tayside Regional Council bus was on display in the City Square to publicise the exhibition and to hand out copies of the Museum's promotional leaflet to those hardy shoppers braving the heavy rain.

Many of the early visitors commented on how well the exhibition has been put together and wished the project well. Over the course of the next few weeks some of the items on display will be changed as the limited space meant that it wasn't possible to include everything at the same time. So a repeat visit will certainly be worthwhile.