The collection started 50 years ago with just one bus (an Eastern Counties Dennis Ace), and has grown into a most comprehensive selection of objects. Exhibits include trams, trolleybuses, motorbuses, lorries, fire engines, horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles, prams, ambulances, a police car, and even a funeral hearse. The collection is supported by a variety of small exhibits, display material and ephemera. The museum also houses the Ipswich Engineering Collection, which includes many items from well known companies including Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies, Ransomes and Rapier, Cranes, Reavell and Cocksedge. The display includes cranes, fork lift trucks, lawnmowers and agricultural equipment. Restoration of a Co-op horse drawn bread van was completed around 2018, and other ongoing projects at that time included a Dennis Ace bus from 1939 and a
Scammell Scarab mechanical horse dating from 1965. The restoration team then turned their attention to a Co-op battery-electric coal truck manufactured by
Morrison-Electricar, on which some work had been carried out from 2006. They managed to secure a grant of £7,000 from the Association of Industrial Archaeology in 2018, which would enable them to restore it to working order by refurbishing the motor and control equipment, and purchasing new batteries. Restoration of a Cambridge horse tram previously with
Bath Tramways and then
Bradford and Shelf Tramways, was completed in 2019. The car was built in 1880 for the -gauge Bath Tramways. That system was taken over by the Patent Cable Tramways Corporation in 1884, and was sold again to become part of the standard gauge Bath Electric Tramways in 1902. Car No.6 was sold back to Starbucks, and then to the Bradford and Shelf Tramway around 1886, where it was hauled by steam tram locomotives, until that system closed in 1903 to be replaced by electric trams. At some point the vehicle moved to the
Cambridge Street Tramways, probably in 1894, when a Starbuck vehicle became their No.7, and when that system closed in 1914, all eight of the trams were sold at an auction. It became a shed, and was rediscovered in 1988, when the lower deck was being used as a cobbler's workshop in
Ely. Faced with the possibility that it might be demolished, it was obtained by the museum, and a seven-year restoration began in 2012. Rubbing down of the bodywork revealed its former life in Bradford, while removal of the opening toplight windows revealed handwriting confirming that it had originally been built for Bath. Restoration was assisted by a grant of £49,000 from the
Heritage Lottery Fund. The tram was built with a single deck, with an upper deck added at Bradford in the 1880s, but as few details survived, recreating the upper deck was particularly challenging. The vehicle has been restored in the paintwork of Cambridge Street Tramways No. 7.
Early vehicles • Starbuck horse tram - Cambridge Street Tramways - built in 1880. •
Brush tramcar -
Ipswich Corporation Tramways No. 33 with open top double deck body - built in 1904. • Ransomes 3 ton 4.5 cwt electric dustcart - DX 1664 - that was originally hired by Birmingham city council in 1915 for testing purposes. It was returned to Ramsones in December 1919 where it was used as a work vehicle into the 1960s before being loaned to the museum. • Railless trolleybus -
Ipswich Corporation No. 2 with
English Electric equipment and 30-seat Short single deck body - DX 3988 - built in 1923. It was withdrawn in 1934 and moved to
Flatford, where it was used as a caravan. The museum obtained it in 1977 and it was cosmetically restored by 1981. Around 2007 it was fitted with an Estler trolleybase, where the two trolleypoles are mounted one above the other on a central pivot. • Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies type D trolleybus - Ipswich Corporation No. 9 with English Electric/RS&J equipment and 31-seat single deck body - DX 5610 - built in 1926. It originally has a front entrance and rear exit with 30 seats, but was rebuilt in the 1930s with rear access only. Withdrawn in October 1949, it then served as part of a house at
Theberton until it was acquired in July 1972. In 2007 it was exhibited in "as found" condition. • Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies type D trolleybus - Ipswich Corporation No. 16 - part of the same batch as No. 9 - DX 5617 - built in 1926. It was upgraded with pneumatic tyres in the 1930s, and withdrawn from service in June 1950. Only the chassis survives. •
Richard Garrett & Sons type O trolleybus - Ipswich Corporation No. 26 with Strachans & Brown 31-seat single deck body - DX 5629 - built in 1926. It was used as a summerhouse at Pin Mill following withdrawal in 1945, and was obtained for preservation by the Long Shop Museum at
Leiston, but was loaded to the museum in 1995 and subsequently donated in 2004. •
Tilling-Stevens B9B bus - Eastern Counties Roadcar Company No 78 - DX 6591 - built in 1927.
1930s vehicles • Chevrolet LQ coach - VF 8157 - built in 1930. • Bedford WLB bus - WV 1209 - built in 1932. • Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies trolleybus - Ipswich Corporation No. 46 with English Electric equipment and H24/24R double deck body - PV 817 - built in 1933. It was shown at the Commercial Vehicle Show in 1933, and was one of the first batch of four double deck vehicles obtained by the corporation. After withdrawal from service in August 1951, it was used as a caravan at
Needham Market before being acquired for preservation in 1971. All of the electrical equipment needed to restore the vehicle had been amassed by 2007, but there were no immediate plans to start restoration. • Dennis Ace bus - Eastern Counties - CAH 923 - built in 1938. • Leyland Cub Fire Engine - PV 4974 - built in 1938. • Bristol L5G bus - Eastern Counties - CVF 874 - built in 1939. • Dennis New World Fire Engine - EBJ 732 - built in 1939.
1940s vehicles • Ransomes MG Crawler tractor - built in 1947. • AEC Monarch tower wagon - Ipswich Corporation - PV 8580 - built in 1948. •
Karrier W trolleybus - Ipswich Corporation No. 105 with
Metropolitan-Vickers equipment and
Park Royal Vehicles H30/26R double deck body - PV 8270 - built in 1948. After withdrawal, it was used as a mobile Civil Defence showroom and then as a canteen, until it was obtained by the museum in 1971. An 11-year restoration project started in 2003, and the vehicle was returned to operational status in 2014, at a cost of some £25,000. •
Smith Electric Vehicles / Northern Coach Builders electric milk float - Ipswich Co-op E56D - PV 8337 - built in 1948. This was one of a batch of electric vehicles obtained in 1948 to replace the last horse-drawn delivery services operated by the Co-op. It was presented to the museum in 1975, following withdrawal. •
Vauxhall Omega police car - X428 LGV - built in 2000. • Renault Master ambulance - built in 2000. ==See also==