Author: admin
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Vegas, Super Vegas, and Vega Lookalikes – Part Two
Neville Mercer Duple Bodywork on Bedford SB chassis 1950-1962 FS56 VEGA/SUPER VEGA The FS46 Vega had retained most of the styling of the original FS32 range albeit with slightly revised corner glazing at the front end. In October 1953 Duple did a more thorough re-design and came up with the FS56. The “Big Bedford” radiator…
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Vegas, Super Vegas, and Vega Lookalikes – Part One
Neville Mercer Duple Bodywork on Bedford SB chassis 1950-1962 The work of the PSV Circle in maintaining fleet records for operators throughout the UK (and beyond) has been little less than magnificent, and most authors (myself included) owe the organisation a tremendous debt. However, being English, that doesn’t prevent me from having one small gripe…
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The day in 1961 when the Bradford trolleybuses stopped working equals an examination of the motorbus fleet in 1961
Stuart Emmett In the early evening of Thursday the 8th June 1961, I noticed a motorbus was operating on the trolleybus route that went past our Eccleshill home. We lived alongside the 33 Eccleshill/City/44 St Enochs Road Top route and normally had four trolleys operating a 15-minute headway. But that night, motorbuses were operating.Something clearly…
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United Automobile – Bristol SU – AHN 901B – S1
United Automobile Services1964Bristol SUL4AECW B36F The Bristol SU series had a limited following amongst THC Companies. This example is in Ripon Bus Station in July 1968 about to set out on the lengthy run to Masham. I would imagine the Albion 4cyl engine would be quite noisy although probably not as bad as the Gardner…
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Eastern Counties – Bristol VR – NGM 157G – VR 316
Eastern Counties Omnibus Company1969Bristol VR/SL6GECW H43/34F We don’t yet have any pictures of the Bristol VR on OBP, so here is one of the early examples that earned something of a dubious reputation. Sitting in the 1976 spring sunshine at Ely depot is Eastern Counties VR 316, NGM 157G, a VR/SL6G with ECW H43/34F body.…
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Crosville – Bristol SC4LK – 803 FFM – CSG 623
Copyright Ian Wild Crossville1958Bristol SC4LKECW DP33F Here we have Crosville CSG623 seen outside the small depot in Llanwrst, Conwy, Wales in September 1967. This is one of 24 Bristol SC4LK with Eastern Coachworks DP33F body supplied to Crosville but by the time of this photo it had acquired bus livery and was ending its days…
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Booth and Fisher – Bristol SC4LK – 612 JPU
Copyright Ian Wild Booth and Fisher1957Bristol SC4LKECW B35F Booth and Fisher operated a selection of stage and works services from their depot at Halfway on the South Eastern outskirts of Sheffield. Whilst their staple stock for many years were Bedford OBs, they also bought AEC and Leyland single deckers new and amassed quite a collection…
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Eastern Counties – Bristol SC4LK – VVF 540 – LC540
Eastern Counties Omnibus Company1957Bristol SC4LKECW B35F Before researching the facts about the Bristol SC for this caption, I had somehow presumed that Crosville would have been the largest customer for the type. In fact I was surprised to find that they were only the third largest, having bought a total of 79. 323 were built…
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Eastern Counties – Bristol SC4LK – 3003 AH – LC 556
Eastern Counties Omnibus Company1959Bristol SC4LKECW B35F I have the only fully restored red and cream Bristol SC4LK! It is ex Eastern Counties LC 556 (3003 AH). It was new to ECOC in Jan 1959 and served the company for 11 years. Following withdrawal in 1970, it passed via Ben Jordan, the famous Norfolk bus dealer,…
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Crosville – Bristol SC – 782 EFM – SC 12
Crosville Motor Services1957Bristol SC4LKECW B35F Crosville was one of the main users of the Bristol SC4LK model, with a total of seventy nine examples, of which fifty five were buses and twenty four were coaches, although the latter were soon downgraded to bus status, without being greatly modified. The first batch were new in 1957,…