Bus gathering marks end of Portswood depot (From Daily Echo)

Bus gathering marks end of Portswood depot

1:50pm Monday 31st May 2010 in

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TYPICAL! You wait ages for a bus to turn up and then 20 arrive at once.

But these were double deckers with a difference as the classic fleet recreated some of the city’s routes from the 1960s to mark the closure of Southampton’s 130-year-old bus depot.

More than 20 buses owned by private collectors, ranging from the Guys of the 1950s to AECs and Atlanteans, took part in the “Farewell to Portswood Depot event” organised by bus enthusiasts Phil Blair and his son Gareth.

Phil said: “We’ve had about 1,000 people turn up and everyone likes it because it brings back old memories.”

They also raised around £3,500 from donations and programme sales for the Neuroblastoma Children’s Cancer organisation after Gareth’s three-year-old son, Alex, died from the rare disease last year.

The bus depot in Portswood Road will close in September to make way for a new Sainsbury’s superstore and 140 new homes.

First Bus, which bought Southampton City bus in the 1990s, is building a replacement depot in nearby Empress Road.