Saurer bus type CRD, 1940. Chassis no. 20312/16, engine no. 81939.

In 1906 a vehicle made by the truck manufacturing company, Saurer, was put into postal service in the Swiss Alps. It wasn’t until 1956 that the Swiss post office had adequate vehicles to allow the horse-drawn service to be withdrawn. In 1916 the Swiss Post developed a standard Saurer char-a-banc-type Alpine car and by 1926 the busier routes had been taken over by new Alpine coaches with all-weather bodies, glass windows and a sliding roof operated by a crank. This example of a Saurer bus was made in 1940 and an important example of the type of vehicles used on these alpine routes, it was eventually brought to England in 1972 and acquired by the Science Museum in 1979.