“The Largest Bus in the world” – Nairn Transport Company’s Desert Bus built in 1933 for Crossing the Syrian Desert. It contained a kitchen, toilet and seating for 40.
by CalumRaasay
“The Largest Bus in the world” – Nairn Transport Company’s Desert Bus built in 1933 for Crossing the Syrian Desert. It contained a kitchen, toilet and seating for 40.
by CalumRaasay
9 Comments
I’m a bit obsessed with this topic as I think these are just come of the coolest vehicles ever made.
The ‘largest bus in the world’ was a one off, built by the Nairn’s for their Baghdad to Damascus overland service. They’d opened it in 1923 and it was a proper pioneering effort: the literally drove three cars (a Buick, an Oldsmobile and a Lancia) across the desert from Beirut to Baghdad and from then on began a regular service that grew to a pretty vast scale by the 1930s.
The huge bus was designed to offer a first class service larger scale than the previous cars and buses they had used to keep up with the increasingly competitive air services. It was a Marmon-Herrington all wheel drive triple axle tractor pulling a huge custom build coach with first and second class accommodation. The trailer was sealed from dust and had space for up to 40 passengers and over 7000lbs of luggage. There was a steward on board who would serve food from a small galley/kitchen at the front of the trailer, which had a cooking range and hot and (ice) cold running water. There was also a toilet on board but I don’t know where exactly. It was probably between the first and second class compartments.
The passenger trailer a telephone connection to the drivers cab which is where two to three drivers were based. There was a small bed in the cab so drivers could swap on the 15-20 hour drive and they were also armed in case of attack by desert raider (in the whole history of the company there were several robberies but only one fatality). It was eventually sold the RAF who used it for moving personnel during the Second World War, and after that disappeared.
In 1937 they commissioned two ‘Pullman’ coaches that were to be the successor to the Marmon-Herrington. These were smaller but faster and with one revolutionary new piece of tech: Air Conditioning! These were some of the very first vehicles to have on board A/C and probably the most successful: by 1956 each bus had apparently racked up more than a million miles in their journeys across the desert.
The company dissolved in the 1950s but the highway that now runs from Baghdad to Damascus follows the old Nairn route almost exactly! I actually made a [video](https://youtu.be/JlmpfHuLo14?si=ptgigoCxf0JfGZsI) all about them for my YouTube channel but I thought I’d share them here as the photos are just fantastic.
It’d be cool if this branch of technological development had continued and we ended up with Australian passenger road trains.
Likely had a toilet at the far rear. The kind old trains had, essentially a hole in the floor. They wouldn’t be wasting room and fuel carrying black water back and forth.
This would have been before air conditioning was available on cars. I imagine this was one hot, uncomfortable journey.
Just looking at it makes me want to grab some spray paint and die historic.
Mad Maxx
For anyone curious about the quote marks on the claim, it was the biggest at the time it was operating. Biggest being a broad term there are a number of contenders for the same non specific crown in later years. Biggest by weight, by width, by height, by length all could be argued to be different vehicles. Depends where you draw the line on non specific claims like this and it’s going to be a subjective one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoTram_Extra_Grand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_Gran_Artic_300
Though I don’t seem to be able to find any evidence in English that Volvo has delivered anything but concept art on it’s take on this. However some articles seem to point to it being tested in Rio de Janeiro. However, I’ve not found if it’s actually a real production model used by the city or a company or if Volvo have simply tested a concept model. I have found one image suggesting it’s posibly really in use and multiple exist.
https://kienthuc.net.vn/o-to-xe-may/xe-buyt-volvo-gran-artic-cho-duoc-300-hanh-khach-790879.html#p-8
http://www.autobusi.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/volvo_gran_artic_300_4.jpg
There was also the DerBus of which only one is known to exist as a converted motorhomes and no others apparently known to still exist.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/derbus-titanic-sized-articulated-bus-is-the-worlds-biggest-and-most-luxurious-motorhome-223231.html
Oh hey, I played Desert Bus.
Love your videos Calum!