Albion Venturer Type 80 - 1187

Entering service in 1935, 1187 was one of 15 Albion Type 80 double decker buses operated by the Department of Road Transport & Tramways. In 1937 eight very similar Albion Type 81 buses entered service. 

1187's body was the first double decker bus body built by Waddingtons of Camperdown, the company later moving to Granville and becoming Commonwealth Engineering.

The body is steel sheeting on a timber frame, and the design is a forerunner to the 'standard' Sydney double decker bus design. 

Originally delivered to the DRTT's Woolloomooloo depot, it was then allocated to Randwick and in 1940 to Burwood. After a short stint at Manly in 1946 it returned to Burwood for the rest of its career. The DRTT's operations in this time were mainly feeder services to the tramways, and a few longer routes to areas not served by trams.  

It was taken out of service in August 1948, and in 1949 sold to Punchbowl Bus Co, who ran it for a short time as m/o 076. Punchbowl then sold the bus for use as a Mobile Totalizer at Moe Racecourse in Victoria. In 1968 it was then sold to a family, who used it as shed and kid's cubby house.

A Museum member put a lot of effort into locating this bus, and in 1982 located it. Long and protracted negotiations culminated in the bus being sold to the Museum in the mid-1980s. 

The body, in poor condition after an entire lifetime spent outdoors, required major structural bracing and other preparations before a marathon 36-hour tow from Moe to Sydney, with many stops along the way to check the condition of the bus.

1187 underwent a complete body restoration in 1988 with the aid of a Bicentennial grant. The vehicle is non-operational at this time.