I've just found my perfect vintage passenger ride. It's an historic British steam bus in which, for a few quid, the owner takes tourists on nostalgic trips through the English seaside town of Whitby. Imagine combining the joys of steam power with a "charabanc," a classic open air bus, and perhaps you can understand my enthusiasm. On the other hand, if you're a bit skeptical, I highly recommend reading this amusing tale by Mike Dole, who bought himself a position as acting fireman on the world's only three axle steam bus. Mike makes it sound like fun but I imagine that "lowering the grate and raking out the ash pan followed by lighting the boiler, which is done from the top using a paraffin soaked rag, wood and a layer of coal" can be rather demanding. He then says that "having ensured that the fire had taken hold we left Elizabeth to warm herself and adjourned to the nearby restaurant to undergo our preparation for a day's work by way of a full (and I mean full) English breakfast, during which Vern (the owner-driver) briefed me about the day ahead."

Preparations following that delicious hi-chlo breakfast included "coaling, oiling round and topping up the fire, by which time we had sufficient boiler pressure to set off for our passenger pick-up point by the harbour-side bandstand." Mike goes on to declare that "if you have never been to Whitby I can tell you that after leaving the harbourside there is an extremely steep hill with a tight left-hand-bend just after the start called The Khyber Pass (yes it's true).This is a real test for any form of transport but I was utterly amazed how Elizabeth majestically powered away from that bottom bend with what to me was total disdain, or to put it more crudely - two fingers to the 21st. century!" Elizabeth is not just a curiosity, though, for she's a working vehicle carrying fare paying passengers and so is operated strictly on a commercial basis and, as Mike writes, "with an annual coal bill of between £12,000 and £15,000 you'll understand why!"

Me, a car guy, take the bus? I most certainly would if it looked like this. Elizabeth is owned by Whitby Charabanc Rides, which also operates a 1929 Dennis Charabanc with a conventional bus engine. To enquire or book a ride e-mail steamydaze@aol.com.