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Topless in Rhyl... and Crosville Memories
“Sunny Rhyl” as it has always been known, has been home to open-top buses for many years. It was the mid 1920’s that Crosville Motor Services made it it’s home. During the last 50 years the main type of open top bus associated with the town has been of the Bristol/E.C.W. combination. From 1956 right through to the early 1980’s it was the Bristol Lodekka in both convertible and permanent open top form. These in turn were replaced by second-hand Daimler Fleetlines. In latter years the Bristol VRT has been the representative.
This video programme celebrates
the types, starting with footage taken in 2003 of the VRs’ in service.
We then go to 1st May 2004 when Arriva, the company that absorbed the final
incarnation of the once mighty Crosville empire – Crosville Wales, ran
their final Bristol VR bought by Crosville, OVG 512 (YMB 512W) for the
day.
We follow the bus during
the day, travelling on both decks and filming many parts of the route between
Rhyl and Pensarn with some spectacular results. Just for good measure
there are also a few interesting visitors, as this was the day before the
Llandudno Festival of Transport!
For the second part of
the programme we are in for a rare treat!
We have some 35 minutes
of cine footage taken in the late 1970’s and early ’80’s from the camera
of Graham Thorogood. This features many Crosville vehicles in service
throughout the territory as well as the open-toppers on the North Wales
coast.
To compliment this film we finish with a ‘Photo Gallery’ of Lodekka open-toppers from our own archive. Taken between 1971 and 1982 this will surely bring back many happy memories.
| Filmed : | 2003/4 |
| Duration : | 84 minutes (approx). |
| Price : | Within UK - £16 |
| Rest of world - £18 | |
| Format : | DVD -R |
| Order Ref : | D065 |
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