| River Bann: Is it a bus? Is it a boat? The former Citybus taking to the water Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 03:08, 23rd August 2026 |     |
I'm posting this item here, simply because it doesn't seem to fit into any of our more formal Coffee Shop forum boards.
From the BBC:
Is it a bus? Is it a boat? The former Citybus taking to the water
The final destination on this journey is Portadown
Steamed-up windows, lumpy seats and heating that often did not provide much warmth - all familiar memories of the journey to school for generations of children. But in retirement, one former Citybus is proving that it has hidden talents.
Thanks to the artistry and captainship of Paddy Bloomer the vehicle has been turned into a boat and is making its way on a journey along the River Bann.
"I'm interested in cobbling stuff together out of bits of junk and my scale has been increasing recently so things have been getting bigger," he said.
Paddy describes himself as an "artist, inventor, explorer and plumber based in Belfast".
His previous projects have included installations in sewers and abandoned factories, while his workshops and talks have taken him as far afield as the US, Portugal and Slovenia. In 2018, he contributed to the BBC's Make It series.
Paddy was inspired for this, his biggest project, by journeys he made on buses when he was younger. "A bus was a kind of social space," he said. "You went for a trip and your friends were on the bus and you looked out the window and you met people. I met some very weird people on buses I suppose, but also had plenty of craic on them."
Paddy's vessel once carried passengers on the streets of Belfast
He came across the bus that would become his boat in a scrapyard and first got to work on making it float as part of the Belfast 2024 festival of creative arts. It started work as a Citybus - the forerunner of Translink's Metro service - in the mid-1980s into the 21st Century before being bought by a company in County Donegal and later offering sightseeing tours of Belfast.
Paddy made the hull out of the mast from a scrap wind turbine before welding a bow and a stern on and then adding an engine. "The reason I did it was because I had the idea in my head and I had to get it out," he said. "It seems like a very simple thing doesn't it? Make a boat and set a bus on top. It's just a boat and a bus, it's only two parts, it seems simple enough."
(BBC article continues)
The final destination on this journey is Portadown
Steamed-up windows, lumpy seats and heating that often did not provide much warmth - all familiar memories of the journey to school for generations of children. But in retirement, one former Citybus is proving that it has hidden talents.
Thanks to the artistry and captainship of Paddy Bloomer the vehicle has been turned into a boat and is making its way on a journey along the River Bann.
"I'm interested in cobbling stuff together out of bits of junk and my scale has been increasing recently so things have been getting bigger," he said.
Paddy describes himself as an "artist, inventor, explorer and plumber based in Belfast".
His previous projects have included installations in sewers and abandoned factories, while his workshops and talks have taken him as far afield as the US, Portugal and Slovenia. In 2018, he contributed to the BBC's Make It series.
Paddy was inspired for this, his biggest project, by journeys he made on buses when he was younger. "A bus was a kind of social space," he said. "You went for a trip and your friends were on the bus and you looked out the window and you met people. I met some very weird people on buses I suppose, but also had plenty of craic on them."
Paddy's vessel once carried passengers on the streets of Belfast
He came across the bus that would become his boat in a scrapyard and first got to work on making it float as part of the Belfast 2024 festival of creative arts. It started work as a Citybus - the forerunner of Translink's Metro service - in the mid-1980s into the 21st Century before being bought by a company in County Donegal and later offering sightseeing tours of Belfast.
Paddy made the hull out of the mast from a scrap wind turbine before welding a bow and a stern on and then adding an engine. "The reason I did it was because I had the idea in my head and I had to get it out," he said. "It seems like a very simple thing doesn't it? Make a boat and set a bus on top. It's just a boat and a bus, it's only two parts, it seems simple enough."
(BBC article continues)
