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Our classic coaches all dated from the 1950's and have been sympathetically restored. Of course, while operated as public service vehicles, they were all subject to stringent safety standards. Actually, not all quite from the 1950's - look at the "Atlantean" link on the left and you'll see what I mean... Clicking on the picture of the vehicle will take you to some further information on each coach, as will the links in the left side-bar. |
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Sold - and now living in New Zealand with Mr Gordon Taylor who has exported this vehicle along with a Morris Commercial char-a-banc to provide tours.
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This 1950 Bedford OB with Duple
"Vista" 29 seat luxury touring coach body is the classic British
coach of the immediate post-war years. It's exactly what you think
of when you imagine a classic coach.
We use this vehicle mostly for weddings, but it is available for private hire in the summer. It is powered by a 28 hp petrol engine and has a "crash" gearbox that makes a very distinctive sound. It takes a great deal of skill to drive properly. Top speed is around 50 mph, but we rarely get above 35 mph with a load. This particular coach worked all its first life with a single operator in Worcester until 1967 and was featured in the November 2002 edition of "Heritage Commercials". Although, we've been told that it may have originally been owned by a coach company in Kidderminster.
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Sold to Lianne Coaches for continued preservation
picture by Chris Bowles |
This is a 1957 Bedford SB with
Duple "Vega" 41 seat luxury coach. Widely used from
the early 1950's, this was the successor to the OB for many coach
operators. Our coach was in daily revenue operation until 1996 when it was
retired for the first time.
This coach has a 6 cylinder diesel engine and is much easier to drive. Originally from Lancashire, it spent much of its life in East Anglia before we obtained it. This coach is in great demand during the summer for weddings and was GMTV's "Life Coach" in April, 2005 |
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Still with the owners of the former Valley Rambler business and now retired into preservation
picture by Kevin Warrington |
And now we come to the newest addition to the
fleet, a 1958 Bristol MW6G with Eastern Coach Works C39F express coach
body, seating up to 39 passengers in great comfort.
Originally operated by Red & White from the South Wales borders this coach would have travelled to the south coast area as part of Associated Motorways services. It is, apparently, the only survivor of this style of MW coach from the Red & White fleet and has probably survived as it ended up as an Enquiry Office for National Express before preservation. Powered by a Gardner 6 cylinder diesel engine and with a 5 speed overdrive transmission, it will run quite happily at modern vehicle speed - well, almost. This vehicle obtained its PSV re-certification in May 2004 and has been very busy since on longer distance private hires and weddings. |
I hope that we'll still be able to take the Bristol to various rallies and running days.
Amongst others, we try to make the following:
 | Friends of King Alfred Running Day, New Year's Day |
| Basingstoke Festival of Transport, May |
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Watercress Line Running Day, Alton, July |
| Wessex Festival of Transport, Ringwood, August |
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Gosport Rally, August |
| Bournemouth to RAF Colerne Run, September |
We operated tours on 1st January 2003, 2004 and 2005 in Winchester as part of the "Friends of King Alfred" running day. More details, including photographs, on the FoKAB web site .
