Yatin S Angare’s face lights up like a child’s at the mention of double-decker buses and, to some extent, trains. The 46-year-old’s two-storey mansion opposite Dahisar railway station is a veritable depot for model double-decker buses of almost every class in the world as well as literature and loads of old cuttings on the vehicles. The man himself is into crafting precise-looking models of every double-decker that ever plied in Mumbai. But the hobbyist feels his collection is doomed to remain incomplete unless it includes an authentic one.

Ever since he heard that the city’s iconic double-deckers were on their last legs two years ago, Angare has been distraught. The transport undertaking usually auctions off buses in bulk to scrap dealers, as per established procedures, and Angare did everything in his capacity to buy a vehicle from a scrap dealer in 2021 but in vain. This time, he is determined to get his hands on a double-decker.