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Description: | Under the ÃCollecting Policies for Science and Technology in the East MidlandsÃ' (East Midlands Museums Service, 1994) the museum houses the regional collection of battery electric vehicles, which is one of the most important in the country. The collection contains vehicles made predominantly in Leicester and Leicestershire and spanning a period from the early 1900s through to the 1960s. The Battery Electric Vehicle Society acknowledges this collection as an important resource and their members have used it for research and held meetings at the museum.
The collection contains 15 items and includes unique vehicles, such as a 1919 Birmingham Corporation dust cart and an electric mini converted as an experimental electric vehicle by AEI in 1965. Other rare vehicles are a brush electric ambulance, milk floats, works vehicles and a Morrison ice cream van. Run during special events, they attract visitors world-wide.
The collections include two extremely rare public transport vehicles, a 1911 Leyland Tower Wagon and a 1939 AEC Renown bus. There is also a prototype Eddiomatic Torque Ranger diesel road roller built in the late 1950s by Eddison. The Tower Wagon was used to service LeicesterÃ's overhead tram lines and is the only example in its original and complete condition and one of only two in existence. The AEC Renown bus was one of a fleet commissioned by Leicester City Council in 1939. The vehicles were unusual for their time as they could carry over 70 passengers, which was essential for phasing out the CityÃ's trams. Because of its size the vehicles required a double rear axle. This vehicle is the only known surviving example. It is in working condition and attends vehicle rallies where it has won awards for its restoration and conservation.
Other buses and vehicles in the collection represent the important coach building industries in the county, such as Willowbrook and Yates of Loughborough and Goddards of Oadby.
The collection is one of the largest in the country, numbering 28 vehicles. It includes a late Victorian Hansom cab. Joseph Hansom, its inventor, was a local architect who designed the Leicester Proprietary School, which became the Town Museum.
Other important vehicles include a complete ÃhermaphroditeÃ' farm wagon, a rare Co-op Bread van and the Beaumanor Coach made for the Hastings family in 1740 and one of the oldest stately coaches in the country.
National significance | Subjects: | Road vehicles Electric cars Transport Motor vehicle industry Transport companies Bus industry Vehicles Motor development | Source: | Cornucopia - Discovering UK Collections | FAX: | 0116 299 5125 | Telephone: | 0116 299 5111 | Identifier: | oai:www.cornucopia.org.uk:5149 | Go to resource |
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