Former bus repair man makes more than 40 replicas

Arthur Mansell worked for Midland Red for most of his life, and has a passion for buses, trains, and trams

A former bus mechanic has turned his hand to putting together exact replicas of historic buses, some of which he worked on himself.

Arthur Mansell, 86, from Worcester, used to work for Midland Red, one of the largest bus companies in the country until it shut in 1981.

He worked for the firm for 41 years, painting the buses and stitching the seats by hand if they became damaged as well as bringing buses in for repairs.

Over the years, he has built about 40 replica buses by hand, some from Midland Red, others more modern, but the attention to detail has been spot on, even down to the amount of seats on board.

An older style bus made by Arthur Mansell, which had to be started by a handle

Midland Red operated and manufactured buses between 1905 and 1981 across an area which covered Gloucester in the south and Derbyshire in the north, and from Northampton to the Welsh border.

Many of the replicas bring back memories for him especially of a Midland Red D9, which caused him some trouble.

"I had to go out to a breakdown at Malvern with one of those. The brakes had failed on it.

"I drove it back all the way to Worcester, to the garage, from Malvern with the hand brake."

The buses take hundreds of hours to make, he said. He has given some to museums, including a Worcester tram he built, and some to friends.

He starts out by drawing his bus of choice.

"I do a complete trace over them, put it onto a plastic sheet, and then you’ve got to cut it out with a Stanley knife, and gradually build them up.

"Put the chassis on the bottom, then you work out what the cab’s like, get that right, and the entrance door, and start from there."