Bristol man has quite a vintage bus collection

You would have thought that after 25 years working for the Bristol Omnibus Company, Mike Walker might have seen enough of public transport to last him a lifetime.

But in his retirement, together with two of his former colleagues, Mike has built up a remarkable collection of 24 vintage buses.

"After I brought the first one home, my girlfriend said, one is okay – but no more," Mike laughs. "But one always seems to lead to another. She's been very patient.

"She's happy to put up with me spending tens of thousands of pounds on the vehicles, because she knows it's my passion, just as long as I don't line them all up on our drive at home."

Sixty-year-old Mike is standing in front of his pride and joy – a rare Bristol L6B coach. We're in the shadow of the Bath Bus Company building at Burnett, near Keynsham, where he stores the vehicle, just a few miles down the road from his Somerset home.

"The buses are spread out all over the county," he explains. "I hire space in bus company hangars and in farmers' barns. When you collect buses for a hobby, the problem is always where to put them – especially as half the collection are doubledeckers."

Bristol-born Mike worked his way up from an office clerk at Bristol Omnibus to become a director of the company, which had evolved into Badgerline by the time he was made redundant in 1993.

"I was in my early 40s, and I was in the fortunate position that I could afford to retire at a very young age, so I had to find a hobby that I enjoyed to fill my time. Buses had always been my life, so when I heard about a friend selling an old 1965 Greyhound coach, I couldn't resist," he says.

As his quirky purchase rapidly developed into a collection, Mike discovered that two of his former Bristol Omnibus colleagues had got into the same pastime.

Martin Curtis and Alan Peters had left the company at the same time as Mike. Martin is now the MD of the Bath Bus Company, while Alan owns A-Bus – the company that runs the Keynsham to Bristol service.

The three men pooled their private bus collections to make up the 24-strong Bristol Omnibus Vehicle Collection.

"The aim of the collection is to preserve the vehicles, records and artifacts of the Bristol Omnibus Company, Bristol Tramways and the Carriage Company," Mike explains.

"By bringing them together as a collection, it makes it easier for us to co-ordinate getting to events like classic vehicle rallies, fetes and steam fairs.

"It's never been our intention to run it as a business – most of our buses don't even have a licence to carry passengers anymore, so we would never consider using them for weddings.

"It's purely for the fun of it. Because we enjoy spending time tinkering with the buses, and trying to rebuild them in such a way so that they look as they would have done when they were new.

"These buses took the name Bristol all over the world for decades. They are a great part of the city's heritage, and something of which we should be proud."

The Bristol L6B is the pride of Mike's collection. He's spent the past two years renovating it into the pristine vehicle that he stands before today.

With its cream and green livery, and its plush Art Deco interior, the 31-seater veteran is like a Bentley of the bus world.

"It was built in 1950, and it's particularly rare, because they only made around 30, before they redesigned it for a longer model," Mike explains. "This is one of just two left in existence.

"The chap I bought it off had been restoring it since 1988, but had only just about completed the engine side of things. I had to set my focus on almost completely rebuilding the body and interior.Unusually, it has a wooden frame, so it's a heavy bus to drive. But now she's finished, I just love being out in her."

"I had to search through the old Bristol Omnibus archives to find pictures of the bus when she was new in order to find out the pattern that would have been on the seats. It cost me a considerable amount of money to get the seats recreated, but it's certainly worth it. It's just a pure labour of love."

But Mike has already set himself his next challenge.

"I've just purchased an early 1929 Bristol B-type bus," he says. "The only problem is it has spent the past 20 years decaying in woodland in South Wales.

"Finding all those authentic parts for it will be easier said than done. But it's going to be a lot of fun. It's rather like building an enormous three-dimensional jigsaw," he laughs.

"The real reward will be when we see the bus brought back to life. It's preserving a part of our history that would otherwise disappear forever."