The British Commercial Vehicle Museum displays antiquarian
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es, early
fire engines
The Fire Engines were a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Fire Engines were an influence on many bands that followed, including Franz Ferdinand and The Rapture, with Meat Whiplash and The Candyskins both taking their names from Fire ...
and other historical and
commercial vehicles
A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers.
The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to t ...
produced by the
British manufacturing industry.
The museum is located in King Street,
Leyland, Lancashire
Leyland () is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, six miles (10 km) south of Preston. The population was 35,578 at the 2011 Census.
The name of the town is Anglo-Saxon, meaning "untilled land".
History
English Leyland was an a ...
on part of a site previously occupied by the
Leyland Motors
Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1 ...
factory, the source of many exhibits.
Funding methods include the admission charges and membership tickets. More recently, a major investment by the Heritage Lottery Fund has contributed to a major refurbishment and website redesign by local digital agenc
Fertile Frog The museum is now open throughout the year, six days per week ( see website for details ).
Events include Classic Vehicles, Model Makers Exhibition and the Spring Transport Show.
In 2010, the museum was one of three featured on
Richard Macer
Richard Macer is a British documentary maker who has made over fifty films whose subjects include singer/songwriter Shaun Ryder, model Jordan, dyslexia, morris dancing, British Vogue magazine, department stores and reincarnation.
He has won bot ...
's
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 series Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
[BBC4 - Behind the Scenes at the Museum]
Retrieved 10 March 2020
Exhibits
Exhibits include the purpose built
Popemobile
The popemobile is a specially designed motor vehicle used by the pope of the Catholic Church during public appearances. It is usually considered the successor to the antiquated and was designed to allow the pope to be more visible when greeting l ...
from the
Pastoral trip of Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom in 1982.
[ The 24-ton armour-plated vehicle was built for the visit by ]British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
.["Scots Popemobile to go on eBay for Pounds 1m", '']The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''; 15 May 2005
Other exhibits that have been displayed include a WWI Gun Tractor, a Leyland Tiger Cub, historic lorries, vintage buses and a Steam Driven Showman's Tractor.
References
External links
British Commercial Vehicle Museum
Entry
in the 24 Hour Museum
Local government information
Automobile museums in England
Museums in Lancashire
Bus museums in England
Buildings and structures in South Ribble
Leyland, Lancashire
{{UK-museum-stub