Arbroath’s £65,000 seaside road train is up for grabs – for free.
Five years since the one-time tourist favourite was parked up for the final time, Angus Council hopes to hand it over to a group who can get it going again.
The road train was a familiar sight around town for almost 25 years.
It was one of the first of its kind in the country when it arrived in Angus.
The train is a road vehicle with two carriages which can carry around 30 people, with wheelchair access on one.
It can be driven on a Category D licence for buses with more than eight seats.
The road train doesn’t require road tax or an MoT certificate.
But it does need a special licence which will only be granted with an engineer’s certificate that it is safe for use.
And Police Scotland must have no objection to it being taken on the public road.
List of faults
The road train carried its last passengers in 2018.
A catalogue of problems with steering, suspension, brakes and electrics put it off the road.
Council chiefs say they are now looking to give the road train away.
“There is no fee involved, however groups must demonstrate they have a genuine use for the asset and are sustainable going forward,” say the authority.
But interested parties only have until Friday to express their road train interest.
Anyone wishing to take it on should contact the council’s community engagement unit.
Road train a tourist favourite
The road train carried tens of thousands of passengers in its lifetime.
Tourists loved boarding it for a tour along the West Links area into the town and a stop at the harbour.
But by 2014 it was costing three times as much to run as it was generating in fares.
The eastern end of the road train line took passengers to Arbroath’s miniature railway, operated by three generations of the Kerr family before its demise in 2020.
And in 2017, Dick Campbell’s League Two-winning Arbroath FC squad used it for a celebration tour of the town.
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