In the early 1930s, the Department of Road Transport and Tramways developed a standard single deck bus design for the replacement of private buses acquired on takeovers. The body was designed to be suitable for fitting to the various chassis then being manufactured by suppliers in the UK. The bodies had 34 seats for passengers and front and rear entrances. With the driver being located in a separate cabin forward of the passenger saloon, the buses soon became known as the "Half Cabs". The first of these buses commenced operation in 1934, while the last remained in service until 1953. There were 79 examples, built on AEC, Albion, Dennis and Leyland chassis.

Twenty A.E.C. Regal 0662 single deck chassis were purchased and bodied during the years 1937 and 1938. Seven chassis had bodies built by Syd Wood of Bankstown, Sydney and were of composite construction, with timber framing and metal panelling. The vehicles were numbered 274, 278, 435, 436, 441, 442 and 445 and entered service in 1937. The remaining 13 had metal framed bodies built by Waddingtons of Granville, Sydney. These buses were allocated fleet numbers 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 454, 460, 463, 466, 470, 474, 477 and 480. The 380 series entered service in 1937 while the remainder commenced operation in 1938. The corresponding registrations were m/o 1583, (fleet No. 383) etc. that is plus 1200. From Feb 1940, the registration plates issued to vehicles in service were changed to be numerically 1000 higher than the fleet number. No 383 was then reregistered m/o 1383, etc. In 1948 all buses in the fleet had 1000 added to the fleet number and fleet and registration numbers then matched.

This exhibit entered service on 23 March 1938 as fleet number 477 and registration number m/o 1677. In February 1940, the registration was changed to m/o 1477 and in 1948 the fleet number was changed to 1477 to match the registration. The bus covered a total of 419,307 miles before withdrawal on 3 May 1952. It is interesting to compare the mileage figure with that of the Dennis Lancet II No. 1492 which clocked up only 137,584 in its nine year career. 1477 covered three times as much mileage in a period of 14 years, a service life of only 5 more years.

When new, 1477 was allocated to Woolloomooloo depot where it operated until transferred to Randwick when the new depot opened on 9 September 1939. The bus was transferred to Burwood on 29 November 1948 for a short period before being returned to Randwick on 25 May 1949. When the bus was withdrawn it went into storage for a period of about nine months before being sold to Stone Brothers Bus Service of Auburn, Sydney in Jan 1953. This company then removed the front route number box and the rear door before reregistering the bus m/o 4155 in April 1953

The bus was withdrawn by Stone Brothers after breaking down in September 1968. In the late 1980s the body shell and chassis were discovered by a member on a property at Kurrajong in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. What was left of the vehicle was recovered in 199? and towed to the museum for eventual restoration by Association members. Work on the project commenced late in 1998. It is anticipated that the restoration scheme will take a number of years to complete.