Sunday 12 July 2026 – The Zero2 Bus Museum, located at Great Yeldham in North Essex, opened just a few weeks before the visit I made on Sunday 12 May 2026.

The museum has been created by Peter Newman, the former owner of the Ensign Bus Company/Ensignbus businesses which were sold to First Bus in March 2023. Since 1979 the Newman family have amassed a large collection of over 60 vintage buses and coaches which are now housed in the new museum. Other exhibits on display in the three buildings include ticket machines and around 10,000 model buses from all parts of the world.

Left: Former Southend Transport 250 (A250 SVW), a Duple Caribbean bodied Leyland Tiger new in July 1984.

Centre: Former Ensign Bus Company YYR 832 is an MCI (Motor Coach Industries) MC-9 new circa 1982 imported to the UK in early Summer 2016 initially registered YND 340X. It wears the Greyhound style colour scheme of the 1980s era and is available for film work and general hire. New to Kerrville Bus Service, Kerrville, Texas it later passed to Herrera School Buses & Coaches, Albuquerque, New Mexico and finally to Kraftours, Tulsa, Oklahoma where it was assigned fleet number 478. Kerrville built up a network of scheduled services across southern Texas in its own right from the 1920s. It formed a close working alliance with Greyhound using their terminals and connecting with their services in a number of Texan cities. In later years it became one of the Coach USA companies.

Right: Former Southend Transport 233 (MRJ 233W), a Northern Counties bodied Leyland Fleetline new in June 1981. Southend was very keen to have fleet numbers matching with registrations and since their local registration office was not accommodating in this respect chose to have vehicles registered in the Manchester area in order to get the matchings they wanted – even for new vehicles not supplied by Northern Counties.