Leyland Worldmaster “Royal Tiger” #905 has finally returned to South Australia for preservation, arriving in SA on 6 March 2022.

Built in 1958, 905 has had quite the long life!

It ran from 1958 to 1971/2 with the Municipal Tramways Trust, where it was subsequently stored at the ETSA depot on Grand Junction Road.

In 1974 it was reactivated, repainted, and renumbered #7914 to operate with Henstridge Bus Service under ownership of the State Transport Authority, the successor to the MTT.

In the late 1970s, it was reverted to being #905 and repainted back to its iconic Silver livery. By 1978/9 it was noted to be running a Para Hills service for the STA.

905 was most famous in 1979 for being the State Transport Authority's first bus to reach a million miles, a substantial achievement. This was recognised in the STA in house magazine “Among Ourselves”.

This led to it being seen as a historically significant vehicle for the STA and as such was added to the STA Heritage Fleet at Hackney Depot in 1985.

After the destruction of the heritage workshops, it was then transferred to the History Trust at Birdwood, who later made it available for heritage preservation in Queensland. From there it moved to a group in New South Wales before being secured by a BPASA member for preservation and returned to South Australia.

905 is nearly complete, but does require some engine work – it donated its engine to the Coastal Clipper (ex 946 and later 111 as Coastal Clipper) back in STA days to ensure that the Coastal Clipper met it scheduled services following a breakdown. The extent of the engine work is at this stage unknown, and from observation there are a small number of other fittings that are missing that will need replacing before the Leyland Royal Tiger ‘bruuuuuump’ can resonate again.

In the interim it is stored securely awaiting movement to a facility that will allow restoration and hopefully reactivation to be undertaken.

More importantly it is back home in South Australia, where it belongs.

The member preserving the bus also has a personal family connection with 905 which encouraged him to ensure its preservation.