Kells Transport Museum

[WillPS]

On a random jaunt through Twitter, I encountered one of the strangest things I think I've ever seen:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=kells bus museum

Somewhere around 200 buses, parked and rotting away in a supposedly working museum.

What the hell!?

It would seem that the museum's official policy is to not dispose of ANYTHING. Official or otherwise, another policy seems to be to acquire EVERYTHING available.

The whole thing only gets stranger. There were apparently several coordinated bombs (!) exploded inside the on-site office and around several buses. The owner has asserted that this was the work of some NI-based paramilitary organisation, which I have to say smacks me as most improbable. There are various accusations surrounding these events elsewhere which I wont repeat here...

There also seems to be a case where the owner attempted to get an injunction against a bus company because they wouldn't let him have one of their vehicles (perhaps astutely raising concerns about the quality of 'preservation').

Has anybody visited? Anybody know any more!?

 

[trentside]

I've never visited, but have stumbled across their website before.

I think their hearts are in the right places - but the projects and number of vehicles involved seems overly ambitious. They seem to accumulate several vehicles of the same type, when surely it would be best to pick one and focus efforts on that? Most other transport museums use this approach which doesn't result in things sitting forlornly in a field.

 

[Flamingo]

Kells Bus Scrapyard looks to be a more accurate discription...

 

[90sWereBetter]

They amassed around 50 Ulsterbus Leyland Tigers before the "arson attack" in July 2011. Which is absolutely bonkers, when you consider that most of them are exactly the same, with the same bodywork, and most had the same sort of engine.

Of these, five were consecutively numbered from the same Ulsterbus depot. What was the point of that, preserving 5 exactly similar buses just because they're consecutively numbered. Not even the biggest of bus cranks would do that! :roll:

 

[WillPS]

It just seems totally bonkers - and more than that, it seems to be totally random what is and isn't kept running. From what I can tell, most of the Ulsterbus Tigers are runners - all almost exactly the same, yet they have a good number of Atlanteans and Fleetlines - all just rotting away doing nothing. What possible good are they doing? Keeping them as 'static exhibitions' is one thing, but if you're doing that you need some way of adequately ensuring their longevity!

It's like a hoarding issue which has got massively out of hand; "preserving" they most certainly are not!!!

Still, I *really* feel like I need to go and see it - it's obviously a total white elephant and as such holds appeal for an odd-bod like me.

 

[robertclark125]

There's an ex Fife scottish Leyland Leopard there somewhere.

 

[Qwerty133]

Are museum and scrapyard used interchangeably in Ireland?

 

[Flying Snail]

It just seems totally bonkers - and more than that, it seems to be totally random what is and isn't kept running. From what I can tell, most of the Ulsterbus Tigers are runners - all almost exactly the same, yet they have a good number of Atlanteans and Fleetlines - all just rotting away doing nothing. What possible good are they doing? Keeping them as 'static exhibitions' is one thing, but if you're doing that you need some way of adequately ensuring their longevity!

It's like a hoarding issue which has got massively out of hand; "preserving" they most certainly are not!!!

Still, I *really* feel like I need to go and see it - it's obviously a total white elephant and as such holds appeal for an odd-bod like me.

I didn't notice this thread at the time but you have given me a good laugh.

I have been there and I would say that anyone who happens to be in the Cork area that has an interest in buses should definitely go have a look, it would best be described as a unique experience. That is if it is still possible to gain access.

The Irish bus preservation scene could be summed up as a scene populated by a bunch of "characters" and the gent who owns Kells, Dr. Michael Grimes is most definitely one of the biggest around. Just take a look at the website and some of the non related topics, most involving legal action of some sort or threats of same (Grimes is/was a solicitor), if I hadn't actually gone there and met the guy I wouldn't have believed it.

Current rumour going round is that he has exited the country in a hurry and the taxman is closing in, I have no idea if that is true or not but nothing involving that set-up would surprise me. One massive pile of rotting vehicles it may be but a small fortune has been spent turning some remote fields into that pile.

It is probably a little unfair to dismiss it as nothing but a massive scrapyard as a good deal of the vehicles there actually do run, unfortunately in a lot of the cases not the ones that are unique and really deserve to be preserved.

The reason that all the ex-Ulsterbus types are in far better condition than much of the rest is because that is what they were like when withdrawn. They looked after their buses to very high standards and kept them immaculate right up to the end of their service lives, so much so that I would say a scrap condition Ulsterbus would be in better condition than the majority of the service fleets of many major operators in the UK or Ireland.

Joking aside my view on Kells was always that it was a daft folly of the highest order but eventually would be a good source of some rare vehicles and spare parts for the more grounded preservationists out there. If the current gossip is true and the revenue seize it, most likely the lot will be sold off to a scrapper and all will be lost which will be a great shame.

http://kellstransportmuseum.com/index.html