Albion Venturer Sp.CX19W

Albion Motors Ltd. of Scotstoun, Glasgow was established in 1899 and quickly became Scotland’s most important commercial vehicle manufacturer. They made lorries and buses which sold in greater numbers overseas than they did in their own country.

The Venturer CX19 was introduced in 1938 with a choice of Gardner or Albion engines, but after the war only Albion engines were offered. Around the time of Albion’s decision in the late 1940s to stop production of double deckers, the CX19 had just been replaced by the short lived CX37.

Therefore, with a production life spanning 11 years, the Albion CX19 became Albion’s longest lived and most successful double deck chassis and more popular overseas than in its home country. Glasgow and Sydney ran sizeable fleets of these buses. By 1961 all the Glasgow examples had gone, but in Sydney they remained in service till 1971. Some then went on to provide even more service with independent operators.

One such bus was m/o 1877, chassis number 60023C, which was one of 30 Venturer Sp.CX19W chassis ordered by the New South Wales Department of Government Transport on 21st May 1946 for delivery by 7th November 1946. In Sydney it was fitted with a 59 seat steel framed body by Commonwealth Engineering of Granville, being later converted to 61 seats by the removal of the canvas front door. It entered service in 1947 and was allocated fleet number 1877.

It joined the largest fleet of CX19s in the world, which, by 1949, numbered 143, in addition to 17 pre-war examples with Gardner engines. It was sold in 1970 to a succession of independent operators in New South Wales, being finally withdrawn in 1981 after 34 years service. It was then acquired by Australian preservationist Bruce Pinnell, from whom this Group acquired the bus in February 2004. 1877 has since been allocated British registration number GSU 378. This project is run by the Sydney Albion Venturer Group, a group of Scottish vintage vehicle enthusiasts. This is the first project in Scotland supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore a bus.