It isn’t often that Bengalureans can find an object of nostalgia in this ever-growing, fast-changing metropolis. So there is all the excitement of unearthing and resurrecting the past, in the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s showcase in Bengaluru of an independence-era model of their bus.
The bus, which was lying orphaned in a godown in Kengeri in the outskirts of Bengaluru for over 40 years, has been painted and polished by KSRTC officials to give it a few more days in the sun, standing showcase at the main KSRTC office in Shantinagar.
Managing Director of KSRTC, Rajendra Kumar Kataria told The News Minute that this is the only bus of that model preserved in Karnataka as the rest were scrapped.
“I visited the godown in Kengeri a few months ago and this one caught my eye. I asked them to maintain it, but the workers only cleaned it. On my next visit it reverted to its original withered state. I asked them to bring the bus to the main office in Shantinagar so that a part of history of KSRTC is known to public,” he said.
Banashankari, the vintage bus, was initially in use in the Vijayapura (Bijapur) Division from 1947 until 1968.
The tractor of the vehicle is a Bedford model, fitted with a modified Perkins P6 engine. The body of the vehicle was built by The Brond Ford Coach Body Limited, Canada.
After 1968, the vehicle was withdrawn from operation as a passenger vehicle and was used as a special vehicle for certain occasions like temple jathres and for other short-distance operations at Banashankari and Savadatti in northern Karnataka.