A 1978 bus known as the "Manx Cat" has been shipped to the Island to take up residency at the Jurby Transport Museum.
The Ulsterbus Leyland Leopard, which was converted for use as a towing bus in 1999, was shipped from Belfast to Birkenhead with DFDS Seaways and then from Birkenhead to Douglas on the Ben-my-Chree.
Richard Davis, chairman of the Manx Transport Trust which operates the museum, said: "We saw that the Leopard had been converted for towing duties and when it was withdrawn from service we thought it would make a very useful engineering support vehicle at Jurby.
"It has no Manx connections as such but interestingly was known in Northern Ireland as a 'Manx Cat' since part of the conversion process had involved shortening it by just over a metre – meaning that it has no tail!"
Jurby Transport Museum opened during Easter this year following the efforts of local vintage transport enthusiasts. The collection now has over 40 vehicles including buses, wagons, trams, cars and a bicycle which date from 1896 to 1995.
Richard explained: "Despite the Island's rich transport history road transport had been virtually ignored with no concerted effort made to save and display vintage vehicles.
"Our aim was to bring together many of the privately owned vehicles on the Island and combine them in a display with government owned vehicles which were gathering dust in the former Homefield bus garage in Douglas."
The Steam Packet Company has assisted the museum in bringing over five historic buses to the Island from the UK.
Richard continued: "By the start of December we'd clocked up more than 11,500 visitors to the museum many having travelled to the Island with the Steam Packet Company for the specific purpose of visiting the museum.
"We are now looking at the possibility of taking some of our exhibits off-Island to take part in vintage vehicle events in the UK and we look forward to continuing our close links with the Steam Packet Company to enable us to do this.
"Our aim is to promote Jurby Transport Museum, the Steam Packet Company and Manx tourism at these events."
Mark Woodward chief executive for Isle of Man Steam Packet Company said: "The Island has a long-held fascination with all forms of transport and the hard work put in by the team at Jurby has created a fitting tribute to public transport.
"There is a fascinating range of vehicles on display and we're pleased to support such a worthwhile community effort. As Richard says the museum is helping boost visitor numbers to the Island and that’s something in which we're always keen to play our part."
