History and restoration of the Northern SOS bus

Ian Bean, Friends of Beamish Projects' Director, explains the history and restoration of the 1928 Northern SOS bus.

The bus has been painstakingly restored by the Friends of Beamish and features regularly during events.

The bus is one of 65 QL type buses supplied to Northern General Transport. Ours worked right through until 1949, retired from Consett Depot and was used for some time as caravan at Bardon Mill.

It was rescued for spares in the early 70s by Robert Atkinson, and that’s when the restoration began in the late 1970s. It’s powered by a 4 1/4 litre side valve engine of SOS’s own design. Engine & gearbox have rebuilt, new radiator, and the bus was stripped down to its chassis before being rebuilt.

Nobody is certain what SOS stands for, but the theory is it stands for Shire’s Own Specification – possibly!

The Friends of Beamish support museum projects via donations and volunteer time - over £800,000 has been donated since founding in 1967! You can be a Friends of Beamish member without being a volunteer - simply by joining you're giving vital support to the museum.

For more information please visit; http://www.beamish.org.uk/support-us/...