When we were setting up Valley Rambler, we were considering the types of historic coaches that we'd like to operate.  Our initial thoughts were a Bedford OB or a Bristol MW.  The thinking was quite simple here - OB's were everywhere when we were kids, but the really exotic coaches were the Royal Blue from London to the West Country, or Associated Motorways (Bristol Greyhound, Black & White, Red & White) travelling into Portsmouth and Southampton from exotic and far away places such as Bristol, Gloucester or Cheltenham.  

After our long search to find our OB, we thought that they were quite rare. Almost a year to the day after purchasing our OB, we found a former "Red and White" MW for sale.  It's the only MW we've ever seen advertised for sale and is in exceptional condition, so the decision to purchase was an easy one and it was bought over the phone, sight unseen. We took delivery on Sunday, 3rd August 2003 at the Bristol Gathering held during the Kemble vintage show.

In common with all our vintage coaches, this was purchased as a "preserved vehicle" and we  completed the tasks to restore it to full operational PSV service.  Not much was needed - just a tachograph installation, a few new signs and work to the brakes.  The actual certification is an amusing process as there are numerous exemptions from regulations introduced in the 1980's.  For example, we need only two emergency exits, not three as on a new vehicle and we don't need a speed limiter.  "Everyone" knows this, but it still has to be checked against the book.  So the certification process takes nearly a whole day to complete.  Since we've stopped trading, we no longer need the certification and PSV class MOT, but will continue to maintain this coach to that standard.

We're frequently asked if our MW is the one that regularly appears in the ITV programmes "Heatbeat" and "The Royal".  The answer is "no" - although they are both the same colour, if you look very carefully you'll see that the one on the Telly is a bus and not a coach - it has electric doors, bigger destination displays and smaller windscreens

Here's a few pictures of our MW.  All pictures by Kevin Warrington, except where otherwise stated:

Taken on 3rd August 2003, and getting over the obvious schoolboy puns and humour straightaway our MW is parked between a nice pair of Bristols.

The double decker is, we think, a K model (looks like the sort that Reg Varney drove in "On the Buses" - at least in the TV series) and the coach is either an RE or something a little later like an LH.  Someone is bound to tell us.  The blinds were set for the return journey to read "Associated Motorways" and "Portsmouth".  We had a few people try to join us when we stopped at Membury Services.  I know National Express run some old coaches from time to time, but really.....

Red and White were a little obvious in their choice of colour scheme, which seems to be a theme amongst many of the Associated Motorways group (Black & White and Royal Blue being two other examples of companies whose livery reflected their name).  This is now in the dual-purpose livery that these vehicles finished their working lives in. A "dual purpose" vehicle being one that is suitable for either coach work or usually longer distance express bus work and was a common way of using the last years of a coach's working life.  In fact, this vehicle had an extended life because it saw its final days out as the National Express Enquiry Office at the motorway services at the English end of the old Severn Bridge.  Well, pedantically, the whole of the Severn Bridge in in England - but you know what I mean.

New in 1958 and therefore one of the first batches of MW's, this particular coach had an easy life, starting in South Wales and being used on express runs to London via Cheltenham.  This only lasted for 3 or 4 years and a long saga of being shunted from one depot to another commenced, seemingly surplus to operational requirements.  In fact, it seems to have spent more of its life as a de-registered vehicle than in operation.  Finally, conversion to dual purpose came for the entire 1958 batch of vehicles - but uniquely, our one avoided having bus type destination boxes fitted. Again, several trips around the depots of South Wales before finally coming to rest at Aust Services.  An ignominious end to life, but at least it was saved from being used as a contractor bus on motorway construction work, or even worse, as a wrecker!  

The destination blind indicates that it would have been used on weekend holiday trips to places as far apart and exciting as Scarborough, Liverpool, Exeter and Eastbourne, as well as more mundane express coach services from South Wales to London and the South Coast.

Rarely the most elegant view of any vehicle, Eastern Coach Works did a good job of making the best of the back end of their buses.  A familiar sight to anyone who sat in traffic jams to the West Country in the early 1960's

Compared with our modern coaches, the driver has a very simple control panel and instrument panel to worry about.  Instruments are just a speedometer and air vacuum gauge (for the brakes) and all the switches are grouped together on the silver panel.  We needed to fit a tachograph while we were using this coach on hire and this remains as the electric speedo was, in any case, broken. Steering is by brute force and the transmission is a 5 speed, crash gearbox.  The engine is a massive 8.5 litre Gardner six cylinder beast that will happily allow the coach to cruise at 52 mph all day.  It will easily keep up with modern traffic on the motorway.

One "fun" feature of these vehicles is that the gearbox has two neutral positions - one where you would expect and one between 4th and 5th gears.  If you should come to rest  in 5th gear, you have a bit of a problem as it is not usually possible to select a lower gear.  Our mechanic, who worked on these vehicles in mainstream service, tells many stories of being sent out to remove a half-shaft to rescue an otherwise stranded vehicle.

On the other hand, conditions for the passengers were quite luxurious, with leather trimmed seats.

The seats were a little worn in places and the leather cracked.  So we've completely refurbished the seats in the same style but using new materials. The next picture shows the result of the refurbishment. Very stylish and well worth the £5,000 that it cost us...

We had a few days of crisp winter weather in December 2003 and so took the opportunity to go out with the MW and camera to get a few nice pictures to share. 

We can now reveal the reason for the photo-shoot - take a look at the March 2004 copy of "Bus and Coach Preservation" where you may find some strikingly similar photographs...

The railway viaduct in the background and modern office block give the location away here as being the A27, just east of Fareham town centre in southern Hampshire.  Fareham is about half-way between Portsmouth and Southampton and is the nearest town of any size to our garage in Wickham. There is now a road bridge at the same level as the railway line and sometimes it is possible to obtain a picture of a large lorry seemingly being driven across the railway viaduct.  We are, naturally, showing "Portsmouth" in our destination blind - which caused a little amusement later in the day.

Same location, different shot. This is close to the Delme Arms, a regular coach stop for services coming into the Portsmouth area from the west.

Later, we drove into Portsmouth for a few shots to be taken at one of our favourite photo locations - the seafront at Southsea.  We thought that we might set up a shot representing a luxury coach parked outside the areas grandest hotel as would have been seen in the early 1960's or late 1950's.  No doubt a party of affluent business people from South Wales have hired a coach from Red & White for a conference weekend in Southsea ...
And so here we are, outside the Queen's Hotel in Southsea on a gloriously sunny December day, a week before Christmas.  Other than the density of the shadows, you could quite easily think it was summer.

The "amusement" came driving through the gridlock of Portsmouth.  On at least 2 occasions, an arm was raised to stop us at a request stop.  Had we been driving a Leyland of similar vintage with a Weymann bus body and had it been a deeper red, we might have understood why.  Maybe we should have stopped, boarded a few passengers and pocketed a few coppers?

Since returning our MW to PSV operation in May 2004, we covered over 10,000 kilometers in service use, travelling all over the south of England.  It has even been out as a substitute for a modern coach to cover for an unplanned maintenance operation (much to the delight of the hirers!)  It's no longer available for hire, but you will see it and maybe have a chance to ride aboard at various running days around the country 

For more information on Bristol MW coaches, including a complete history of UC758, take a look at Gerry Tormey's extensive web site here

Despite much searching, I have never found any photographs of SWO 986 in service. If you should happen to have any, I'd be very interested in seeing them