About

The origins of this website go back much further than its creation. They begin in February 1977, when two lads from Chester became friends. Obsessed with model railways and trains, we spent Saturdays spotting at Crewe station and, eventually, added buses to our list of obsessions.

1981 was memorable for many reasons — Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as US president, Poland declared martial law, the space shuttle Columbia took its first flight and MTV was launched! Much less dramatic but equally impactful (in the world of bus preservation), was that Matt Davies (or Matthew as I’ve always known him) discovered Chester City Transport buses!

This story would also not be complete, without mention of David Clarke and H. G. Dibdin’s book celebrating 100 years of the ‘Trams and Buses of the City of Chester’.

My dad, once an avid bus enthusiast, received a copy of the book in Christmas 1979. After he had devoured the book several times, and truly inspired, he wrote to David Clarke to share memories of CCT from his youth. David replied and invited my dad and I to the depot. Late in 1980 we were sitting in his office on two old leather chairs with enormous arms, looking through photographs while he spoke enthusiastically about the fleet and the arrival of new buses. He presented me with my first fleet list — beautifully typed and duplicated on a Gestetner machine.

He also told us, in confidence, that he knew the location of the last surviving Chester tram. It turned out to be in H. G. Dibdin’s garden. After many twists and turns, its remains found their way to Hooton Park Hangars, where they are now being restored — and what a magnificent job the team are doing too!

We finished our visit with a depot tour, where I spotted my first two CCT buses: No. 32 and No. 45, parked up awaiting scrap.

By January 1981 I was enthusiastically explaining the CCT numbering system to Matt. I vividly remember us watching the ‘10’ head towards Hoole Lane and the ‘11’ heading down Green Lane. I’m certain the first bus we spotted was No. 40, because we discussed the difference between the fleet number and the route number….

True to form Matt ran with it… and fast….! I’m convinced that he had seen almost the entire fleet within a month!  Before long, he was teaching me about Crosville numbering system and the ‘green’ buses he had also seen moving about the city.

Over the next few years, Matt and I cycled to the depot whenever we could, noting withdrawn Guy Arabs alongside the garage wall and watching the arrival of the Dominators. We always had a soft spot for No. 36 — and for No. 40, which still carried its 1973 livery. We swapped bus queues at school whenever a Guy Arab appeared on the school service, even though queue swapping was strictly forbidden!

No. 99 on 7th February 1981, and No. 36, withdrawn and just before reinstatement – Matt and I visible in both pictures.

This is where the story takes its first twist, which I’ll return to later.

On 4 September 1981, for my 13th birthday, I was given two tickets — one for Matt and one for me — to travel on No. 1’s first public journey after restoration from its time as the training bus. It was touch‑and‑go whether it would be ready, and I remember my mum anxiously ringing the CCT office on my behalf for updates. The journey followed the old tram routes as far as possible and paused at St Michael’s Church, where we watched newly discovered film footage of Chester’s trams taken shortly before the system was closed. We had our photograph taken in front of No. 1 – Matt proudly holding his copy of ‘the book’. Dave Dennis, later the owner of No. 4 and other buses, was also on the trip and would become a great friend of Matt’s later.

And that was that: the die was cast. Through until the mid 1980s we regularly visited the depot, spent our school dinner money travelling into Chester for a bus ride (and a pasty), and generally made a nuisance of ourselves around the garage.

Times change. Other interests took over, and Matt and I lost touch in 1987 when I joined the Royal Air Force. Little did I know that Matt was about to take his passion to another level. In 1989 he bought his first CCT bus, No. 50!! Years later he told me he parked it on the driveway of his parents’ house in Vicars Cross, walked calmly into the kitchen, and told his mum he’d just bought a double‑decker. Her reply said it all: “I knew he would….”

In 1992 Matt met Tim Wright, another CCT enthusiast, after placing a letter in the local paper asking for old photographs of Chester buses. Matt turned up at Tim’s house, was invited in, and spent hours poring excitedly over Tim’s extensive collection. They’ve been firm friends ever since. Tim’s knowledge, research, and photographs — with his permission — will play a huge part in the creation of this website as its development progresses.

Matt’s list of bus purchases over the years is extensive, and will be told elsewhere on this site. Suffice it to say he owns, or part‑owns, one of the finest collections of municipal‑operator buses in the country — and they deserve a museum of their own!

Fast‑forward to the pandemic. Like many, we spent too long scrolling Facebook, learning how to use Teams, Zoom and Google Meet, and repeating the phrase “you’re on mute.” By then I had left the RAF and settled in Shropshire. One day, I came across a photograph of Chester 6A Midland MPD, showing Class 40 No. 40135 arriving from Manchester with a rake of Mk 1s. Among the comments was one from a “Matthew Davies,” recalling playing on the shed site (with me and others) before it became a housing estate.

A quick reply later, and within half an hour we were chatting on the phone as if the previous 40 years had never happened. A month later, Matt was sitting in our garden and we spent hours catching up.   They say true friendship never dies — in our case, that is absolutely true. Soon we were taking railway trips and enjoying far too many beers, just making up for lost time.

And then the story’s twist came full circle. In September 2021 Matt asked my dad and me to join him for a visit to St Helens to see the old Chester buses at the museum. He opened the garage doors of the North West Museum of Road Transport — and there stood No. 1.

We toured the depot, and Matt produced his copy of David Clarke’s book and said we needed a photo in front of No. 1. I didn’t grasp the significance until he also produced a newspaper clipping showing the two of us, as boys, standing in front of the very same bus — exactly 40 years to the day earlier. I was speechless, which if you know me is saying something! Matt explained he had spent months, with the museum’s blessing and with Clive Arnold’s support, getting No. 1 roadworthy so we could recreate that journey from 1981.

Matt and Andy – 4th September 2021

And the rest, as they say, is history — or will become history. I eventually started to help Matt restore the buses whenever I could and was soon co‑opted into helping finish No. 50 in time for Chester BusFest 2025, commemorating the 35 years since No. 35 was withdrawn.

So that is the story of how this website came about!  I will never have Matt’s technical expertise, but preservation takes many forms. I can build websites (albeit badly), so this is my tribute to Matt — for everything he has given to bus preservation — and to Chester City Transport in the past, the present, and whatever the future holds.

Finally, although I am building the website, it belongs to both of us, and we hope you enjoy it as it evolves into the definitive collection of everything “Corpy.”

Matt Davies & Andy Lowe