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Morris Minor Rally - Sandtoft Trolley Bus Museum

Easter Monday 2004
by John Cooper

This was our Morris Minor’s first show and it turned out to be a great day held at a great location.

It was organised by the North Lincolnshire branch of the Morris Minor Owners club from Scunthorpe. About 7 other clubs also attended with about 45 Minors turning up along with a number of other marques. Naturally, the full spectrum of Minor derivatives was represented including one of the 70 known surviving Minor Millions (of the original 350 produced).

It was held at the Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum (www.sandtoft.org.uk), which proved to be a fantastic setting for the show, and the weather was kind on the day. The £2 entry fee included entry to the museum.

By the very fact that you are reading this then you probably already appreciate the pleasures of classic car ownership and maybe restoration. Like me, you may in the past have wondered about what sort of people own and run classic buses. We can probably all see the fun in having your own bus but you can’t start to imagine the logistic problems of keeping one. What is the spares availability like? What are the running costs? What sort of a license do you need? And of course, the big question, where on earth would you keep it?

Sounds daunting doesn’t it, so imagine if you can having a bus which you can’t take on the public roads, but which instead you have to use on a small oval circuit. This is the plight of the trolleybus owner!

To be honest, these are exactly the sorts of owners that I have the ultimate respect for – those who bring variety into our lives.

We can all see the obvious pleasures in owning an E-type or an early Ferrari, but how dull would it be if these were all you ever saw at every show you visited. No, I have more respect for the Austin Allegro owners! This is a much berated car and interestingly has been mentioned a couple of times in our ‘Hot Seat’ features in response to the question about what is the worst car regarded as a classic. I’m not going to defend the Allegro, but I will defend the Allegro owners and the owners of all other equally unglamorous cars!

You may think it financial madness to lavish money on a car that will only be worth a few hundred pounds at the end of it, and of course, financially speaking, you would be completely right. But they obviously don’t do it as an investment.

But returning to Sandtoft and trolleybuses, this is a great working museum. Whilst it is primarily a trolleybus museum they do have much more including a number of motorbuses, a souvenir shop (naturally), trolleybus simulators, a small café and of course large workshops.

I won’t go to great lengths explaining how it is run and what they have as this is all covered on their own website which I would strongly urge you to visit (www.sandtoft.org.uk).

There are just a couple of points I would make. The museum has set open days throughout the year rather than being open all of the time so you will need to plan you visits. These do however tend to include bank holidays. Once again the website will give you details of the dates.

Entry to the museum includes unlimited rides on the trolleybuses around their own circuit. In addition to this they also provide 30-minute tours around the local villages in one of the motorbuses also housed at Sandtoft.

If you ever get a chance to get a chance to visit Sandtoft then I would strongly recommend it and would stress that you don’t have to be a bus-spotter to enjoy it! Combine it with Morris Minor’s and you have all the makings of a great day out.

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