Having owned the OB for several months, we decided that a slightly larger coach would be required for the launch of Valley Rambler and so started on a shortlist of suitable vehicles.  Ideally, it would be something that was familiar and fit the character of a 1950's "classic" coach.

Essentially, in the 1950's, there were 3 main manufacturers building coach chassis for the general market: Bedford, AEC and Leyland .  There were 4 main coachwork builders - Duple, Plaxton, Harrington and Burlingham.  Additionally, the Bristol Bus Company were building chassis that were bodied by Eastern Coach Works, but these were  not on the general market.

Remembering back to the late 50's and early 60's in the Southern area, the two major coach operators were then Southdown and Royal Blue, both of whom used distinctive fleets - Southdown being almost exclusively Leyland by that time with Harrington bodywork and Royal Blue being a Bristol / ECW operator.  The smaller independent operators that we have used as the model for Valley Rambler were using Bedfords bodied by Duple and AEC or Leyland chassis with the distinctive Burlingham "Seagull" coach body.

Bedfords have the advantage of mechanical simplicity and robustness proven by being the supplier of choice to the UK military until quite recently.  Duple built very stylish coachwork all through the 50's and so quickly the decision was made to look for another Bedford.

In the early 1950's, the so-called "Big Bedford" was launched.  More formally known as the S type, this was the successor to the O type and using the same model naming system as before, the bus and coach chassis was naturally the "SB".  In addition to the S models, Bedford also built the R model with 4 wheel drive, which became the familiar British Army vehicle from the early 50's until the late 70's.  The SB chassis continued to be built by Bedford into the 1970's and was seemingly the most prolific coach chassis ever built.  Which is quite surprising as so few have survived into preservation.

The classic body style on the SB chassis is the Duple Vega, first introduced in 1951.  This immediately became the replacement for the OB / Vista.

All pictures on this page, unless otherwise noted were taken by Kevin Warrington.

Seen here, photographed at the 2002 Bedford Gathering held at Cambridge in August 2002 is an example of an SB with the very rare original Duple Vega body style.  It has a strong family resemblance to the S and R series lorries being built by Bedford and retrains traces of the Vista style bodywork used on the OB.  This coach is owned by Geoff Heels and has been restored in the style of its original owner who are now better known as Epsom Coaches

Later, Duple introduced a more modern and strikingly designed version of the Vega, of which our coach is an example.

In this model, the most striking feature is the large chromed radiator grille - so characteristic of 1950's vehicle design.  Not surprisingly, these attractive vehicles are known as "butterfly grille" models. This picture was taken by Martin Lear - former owner of the vehicle.

Originally, our SB was a petrol engined version, but was converted to diesel in the 1960's when the relentless rise in petrol prices to over five shillings per gallon (or about 5p per litre!) made continued operation of a 5 litre petrol engined vehicle too expensive.

The interior of the Vega is a little more luxurious than the Vista, especially for the driver who gets such modern creature comforts as a proper comfortable and adjustable seat, light steering (at least, when moving) and a synchromesh gearbox.  It retains its 1950's appearance as can be seen from the picture here (courtesy of former owner, Martin Lear, who is seen sat in the driver's seat)

Delivered originally to Stringfellow Brothers of Wigan as CJP 813, our SB went through a number of owners in the north west of England before it ended up at Kimes of Folkingham in East Anglia in the early 1960's.  It was here that it gained it's diesel engine and was used continually until 1989, when it was placed into storage. Not for long, though as by 1991 it was back on school contract work, eventually being sold into preservation around 1995.  It narrowly escaped being converted into a burger bar. During its life, RSJ 422 was subject to a degree of component replacement. As well as the new diesel engine, at some time in its life the gearbox was replaced with a 5 speed overdrive box that gave an impressive turn of speed with 60 mph still being attainable.  Although not too often as Bedford's are notorious for their brakes.  Or lack thereof!

You'll see from the picture above that this SB had lost its original seating over the years. We managed to acquire a set of genuine seats that were refurbished and put back in.  The refurbishment was completed just a few weeks prior to selling the coach.  Compare the new seats with those shown above.

A few days after it's 46th birthday, we took RSJ out on a couple of trips.  A few more pictures...

First, a trip to Southsea in connection with a photo shoot for a national magazine (look out for the June 2003 edition of "Bus & Coach Preservation")

Lined up along South Parade, close to where the trip coaches would have touted for business until recent years, our SB is passed by something a little more modern and bearing a remarkably similar name.  Notice how modern coaches have become taller over the years.

Our very first "Corporate" hire took us to Victoria Coach Station on Saturday 12th April 2003.  Probably the first Bedford SB / Duple Vega coach to enter VCS in 25 years.  Needless to say, we were treated like Royalty by the management of VCS, who all appeared with cameras to record our arrival

This booking took us to Kent - a total trip mileage of over 250 miles; all of which was covered without incident and without the coach missing "a beat".  The return journey took us over Westerham Hill  - a long climb at 1 in 7 which did slow us down a little (and our apologies to anyone caught behind us - but not to the impatient few who thought that passing us on a bend on a hill against double white lines was a smart thing to do).

Steep hill climbs became a bit of a theme with the SB during the summer of 2003.  As well as getting over Westerham Hill,  wedding engagements also saw us climbing two of the steepest hills in the South Downs around Midhurst and Petworth.  We became very adept at changing down into crawler gear without loosing any more speed.

This coach earned its keep transporting guests on wedding duties most Saturdays.   It is a very eye-catching vehicle when dressed up for this service as the following pictures show:

In 2005, our SB gained national fame when it was hired by GMTV (Breakfast time television) to transport their "Life Coach", Pete Cohen,  across England.  Seen on national TV every morning for a week, this coach, now nearly 50 years old covered over 1,000 miles in six days.