1922 Petrol-Electric motorbus restoration

Time for another update. In some areas, we would appear to have gone backwards (in order to move forwards!) while in other respects, progress real and visible has been made.

The body has been very carefully disassembled, probably now since mid-June. The front bulkhead can be seen here laying flat on the saloon floor. 

The saloon roof/upper deck floor was the first part to be removed, followed by the intermediate pillars, then the front and rear bulkheads. The roof is probably the soundest part of the body, with a number of the roofsticks good enough to re-use, this happy status also being shared by the headers across the two bulkheads. While the pillars will all need renewed wood, the internal steel flitches are in very good order and can all be reused. Ransomes, famous for their agricultural equipment, clearly favoured very high quality steel as any rust penetration is almost negligible.

Further previously hidden pieces of internal detail have also been found and recorded, including the capacity transfers applied over the ironwork that runs along the top of the saloon entrance. Identical text, but in white or possibly yellow/gold, was also applied on the reverse (exterior) but this has long been weathered away.

I visited the project in early July to assist with the removal of the engine. This has run several times whilst in our care (the chassis was reversed under the body) but was not a particularly easy starter, despite refurbishment of both the carburettor and the magneto. So, we knew it had a few issues that needed sorting (mainly a question of improving the compression) and now seems to be the time to do it.

We are lucky to have a very talented volunteer that is taking the lead on this; hopefully new rings and/or valves will not break the bank but it could easily end up being a five-figure sum, worst case scenario. Just another facet of this restoration that makes our supporters' assistance so vital. The engine was craned out in an afternoon, and is now bolted securely to a pair of inverted cross members/mounts from our spare TS7 chassis. We decided against steam cleaning it, as that can be a bit agressive, and instead gave it a bit of a wash the old-fashioned way, with some stale petrol, rags and old paint brushes. Fortunately none of us are smokers.

The electric transmission controls for the chassis are contained entirely within the two aluminium cases attached to the engine side of the bulkhead. Thus they are nominally out of harm's way, under the bonnet. The bottom box carries a drum to switch polarity (forward, reverse, and to break the circuits/neutral), while the top box carries the resistances which are gradually cut in or out by a large wiper, running in an arc. Very clever stuff. On later chassis, these control boxes were moved to the outside of the chassis rails, under the cab, however they worked in exactly the same way.

Another piece of progress to report is that about 2/3 of the new wood has been bought, paid for, collected and delivered; about £10,000 worth. Thanks go to our volunteers Dave and Steve, for each putting in a mammoth 14 hr day in a hired 7.5ton box-van (further expense!). The currently outstanding items are the pillars, and some thin laminations for the new front and rear cant-rails. We were very lucky to be able to source some mahogany panels for the bus body. These are 20" deep, 3/8" thick, and run the length of the saloon; as continuous lengths of wood they must contribute to the rigidity of the body quite substantially. I was expecting to have to use marine ply as a substitute, and the availability of mahogany was a real surprise. It will almost be a pity to paint over it.

Just in case you were wondering what £10k worth of machined hard wood looks like in 2025..!

A good bit of news is that the Ipswich Transport Museum has just agreed the incoming loan of the 1922, Ipswich Corporation Ransomes tower wagon, with this vehicle now being on display in Priory Heath. This was built in the same workshops at about the same time as our bus body, so it should prove a good indicator of how to arrange hitherto missing items, such as the windscreens. Registered in the DX series just 42 vehicles later than DX 3535, it seems probable that these vehicles were in build at roughly the same time. DX 3535, No.43 in the ECRC fleet, entered service in August 1922.

On the theme of numbers and registrations, finally I'm very pleased to report the news received this week that the DVLA have agreed to re-issue us 'DX 3535'. My personal thanks go to Richard Hussey, the Winkworth Garage, and John Hinson from the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society, for their assistance in this matter. There was a fair bit of paperwork to fill in, backed up by the necessary pre-1983 evidence from the ITM's own archives, to achieve this.

That is just about all this time round- hopefully the next update will show us some reconstruction. Many thanks again to you all for your interest and support, your contributions continue to be very important to the project. New followers and donations, needless to say are always welcomed, so do spread the word if you can. 

Many thanks

Owen Phillips