Buses
and coaches produced by Bristol Commercial Vehicles Ltd. have always
been high on the list of favourites of the British bus
enthusiast. We are also fortunate to have a number of events that
feature these fine vehicles. This DVD programme covers both of
these aspects as we visit Bristol, Warminster and the Transport Museum
at Wythall in the West Midlands to see these buses and coaches in
action.
Our programme starts at the Harbourside rally in
May 2015. Here we record the buses taking up their duties at the
site and follow some of them around the streets of Bristol. These
locations include Cannons Way, Anchor Road, The Centre and back at the
rally site. Bus companies represented are the Bristol Omnibus
group, Crosville, Western National and Abus. We also see some
non-Bristol types from the fleets of South Wales Transport, Warrington
Corporation and Bristol Cityline. Our second rally visit is also
in Bristol. This time at the Brislington Park & Ride site in
August 2015. Here we record the vehicles arriving in the bright
morning sunshine, including Bristol Lodekkas, ‘K’ and ‘L’ types, REs
and MWs, as well as non-Bristol buses and coaches. Again former
Tilling fleets are represented, but the majority are from the Bristol
Omnibus group of companies. Our cameras also take a brief visit
to the city centre to see the preserved vehicles in action.
Filming concludes at the rally site with plenty of action for you to
enjoy!
Our third event was billed as the ‘Warminster
Bristol RE Running Day’, but due to some non-available REs, other
Bristol types were substituted making it a most enjoyable event.
Filming is centred around the ‘Coach Station’ and Station Road in the
Wiltshire town of Warminster in April 2016. Here we see many
Bristol RE types, such as RELL buses and RELH coaches in action.
Fleets represented include Crosville, Hants & Dorset, Wilts &
Dorset, Bristol Omnibus, Southern National and Royal Blue. We
also see a Bristol MW and a Bristol LH from Bristol Omnibus and a
Bristol VR from Damory Coaches. Our cameras take two rides on
Bristol RELH coaches for comparison. The first is to Beckington
onboard former Red & White RC.968 (OAX 9F) a RELH with a Leyland
0.680 engine. The second trip is to Codford and Heytesbury
onboard former Crosville CRG103 (AFM 103G), which is a RELH with a
Gardner engine – hear the difference! Our filming concludes in
the Market Place and at the ‘Coach Station’, a most enjoyable day, I am
sure you will agree!
To conclude our ‘Bristols Preserved’
programme we take a brief ride on former Cheltenham District 1000 (KHW
306E), which was the first Bristol RELL6L with ECW B53F body to enter
service with the Bristol Omnibus group. This bus is now resident
at The Transport Museum, Wythall in the West Midlands. We hope
that you enjoy this review of preserved Bristol buses and coaches as
they come back to life at these lovely events.