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November 2006 - 7th January 2007
Work has continued on YHY80 and RM1363. The Routemaster is now fully repainted, and the brakes have been overhauled ready for an MOT in due course. The front nearside wing was temporarily removed on 7th January to attempt to correct distortion between the radiator grille, the bonnet, and the wing, but we haven't yet been able to rectify this. Here's what a Routemaster looks like without the wing:
6th - 12th November 2006
Over Friday and Saturday 9/10 November, Group members participated in rescuing the remains of a Bristol 'B' type bus from woods near Raglan in Wales. This vehicle has now been taken to Scotland where it will be restored.
The date of next year's open day has been fixed for Sunday 12th August 2007. As usual there will be a large display of vehicles, with sales stalls and free bus rides around Bristol and to the Avon Valley Railway for steam trains and boat rides on the river Avon. If you've enjoyed our open days in previous years, please come again.
30th October - 5th November 2006
On Sunday 5th November 2006 we took our sales stand to the
Lincolnshire Road Transport Museum's open day
. We didn't take any of our buses for the long journey. Meanwhile, painting continued on
RM1363
, which now has (amongst other things) a complete set of gloss black wheelarch surrounds after the front nearside was repaired, filled, sanded and painted.
15th - 29th October 2006
Work continues on
YHY80
and
RM1363
. The latter is receiving new stairtreads, while damaged rexine on the lower deck is being repaired, and a complete set of new tyres have been fitted, and the wheels are being repainted.
9th - 14th October 2006
Unfortunately our visit to Oxford on Sunday 15th October has been cancelled as we weren't able to get a sales stand. Apologies if you had hoped to see us there.
We've loaded a few more examples of
modern bus photos
, this time of (mainly) independent operators in the Chipping Sodbury area. You'll have to scroll through the Cambridge pictures in the photogallery to get to them.
2nd - 8th October 2006
Members of the Group went to the
Winkleigh
rally on Sunday 1st October, and took our sales stand. We've posted some
photos
of the event on the site.
On Sunday 8th October,
AHU803
visited the
Beaufort Arms
at Hawkesbury Upton with friends of a member who is celebrating his 70th birthday shortly.
We have loaded on the website a small selection of the 14,000
lorry photos
we have in stock - if you're interested in lorries dating from 1900s to the present day, we may have something to interest you.
25th September - 1st October 2006
We've loaded a small selection of our
photos of modern buses
as an example of the sort of pictures you can pick up on our sales stand if you're not interested in pictures of vintage buses in preservation. At present this consists of 9 photos, but it will gradually be increased. Of course, if you want decent quality prints, you'll need to come and buy them from us, or you can
e-mail
us with details of anything you're interested in. We don't have a stock list, unfortunately, but we do have (literally) thousands of photos.
4th - 24th September 2006
On Sunday 10th September
RTW29
attended the rally at the Royal Forest Hotel in Chingford, and on 17th
FTT704
went to the
Exeter
rally (follow the link for photos of the event).
We have also arranged to attend the
Oxford
Bus Museum open day and bus gathering on 15th October. We'll be taking
AHU803
. Any Group Member who would like to come along should
contact the Webmaster
.
21st August - 3rd September 2006
On Saturday 26th August,
GHT127
took part in the
Hawkesbury Upton village show
and carnival procession. This event used to attract more vintage vehicles, but this year only GHT127 a steam traction engine and a small steam lorry took part. If you live in the Gloucestershire area and would like to take part next year,
contact the webmaster
for details.
On Sunday 3rd September,
AHU803
attended the Merthyr Tydfil rally. We hope to be able to load pictures of the event on the site shortly.
14th-20th August 2006
Some changes have been made to our rally calendar. We won't now be running the park and ride service at RAF Colerne for the annual CTP road run, as the venue has been changed and there is no need for our services. Instead, on 3rd September we'll be taking
AHU803
to the Merthyr Tydfil rally.
RTW29
will be attending the Royal Forest Hotel rally in Chingford on 10th September. However, it will not now be at the Hawkesbury Upton village show on Saturday 26th August, which will only be visited by
GHT127
.
The rubber windscreen seals have been replaced on
RM1363
and the lower windscreen has been re-fitted. The stair treads are now being replaced.
7th - 13th August 2006
Our Open Day took place on 13th August. Have a look at the open day page for more details, and if you came, please let us know what you thought by leaving us some
feedback
so that we can plan next year's event.
All our buses were there, except
RT1599
.
RM1363
and
TD130
were available for viewing by special request, and we apologise if you had been hoping to see them and weren't able to. If you come again next year the Routemaster, at least, will be on the road.
24th July - 6th August 2006
Unfortunately we weren't able to take
RTW29
to the
Bishop's Lydeard
rally as planned. Apologies if you were hoping to see the bus there.
RT1599
has now passed its MOT, but has now suffered a defect with the hydraulic system, and will therefore not be available at our open day on 13th August.
RTW29
,
GHT127
and
FTT704
have been prepared for their MOTs this week.
RM1363
has received a coat of burgundy paint to the lower panels in the interior of the upper deck.
10th - 23rd July 2006
Major road works at Saltford on the A4 between Bath and Bristol may affect you if you are coming to our open day and would normally approach from Bath.
More info.
FTT704
attended the
Plymouth
rally.
3rd - 9th July 2006
Details of the
running from our base on our open day (13th August 2006) are now available on the site, along with a map showing our
location
, and the Park and Ride site where the majority of the rally exhibits will appear.
26th June - 2nd July 2006
Painting continues on
YHY80
and
RM1363
.
12th - 25th June 2006
Painting of
YHY80
continues, and most of the bus has now received a coat of topcoat.
RM1363
has received a coat of topcoat on most of the nearside and is looking very much smarter than it has for many years. The repainting of the top deck interior ceiling has also begun.
RT1599
has been prepared for its MOT next week. Have you ever wondered what an RT looks like underneath? OK, few people have, but for those of a curious disposition, this is the answer:
GHT127
attended the
Swansea
rally on Sunday 18th June. This was more than a bus rally, and something of a treat for lorry fans in particular.
5th - 11th June 2006
FTT7704
attended the
Stroud
rally and running day on Sunday 11th June. There were plenty of buses working a good network of the old routes for the public to ride on, and many were from the newer generation of preserved vehicles, such as Leyland Nationals and Bristol VRs.
22nd May - 4th June 2006
RTW29
went to
Gaydon
on Sunday 28th May to take part in the "Best of British" festival which included the Routemaster 50th anniversary event.
FTT704
went to the
Aldershot
bus rally and running day on Sunday 4th June to celebrate the centenary of the first motor bus service in Aldershot.
RM1363
has now received a coat of red undercoat on the nearside, and is looking a lot more respectable. Also the lower deck interior ceiling has been repainted in the original "Sung Yellow" colour, instead of the cream colour it has carried for many years:
"
Sung Yellow" lower deck
Upper deck yet to be painted, showing the current cream colour
15th - 21st May 2006
Four of our buses attended the Bristol
Harbourside
rally on Sunday 21st May (
GHT154
,
AHU803
,
FTT704
, and
RT1599
). Despite heavy rain for much of the day, there were more buses present and more routes running than last year, and the public were undeterred.
8th - 14th May 2006
Our
membership
scheme has now been launched. Have a look and see whether you'd like to become a member - check out what
benefits
you would get in return for your membership fee.
RTW29
attended the
Basingstoke
Festival of Transport on Sunday 14th May, in company with hundreds of other vintage vehicles of all shapes and sizes.
Pictures
of the event.
It has now been decided that
RT1599
will now be attending next week's Bristol
Harbourside
rally, in addition to our other buses previously listed.
24th April - 7th May 2006
Work continues on
RM1363
, which is now completely sanded down externally and repainting with primer has begun.
RTW29
has been prepared for its trip to
Basingstoke
next week.
YHY 80
's nearside lower panels have all been fitted and then removed again for painting.
We have launched our new "
ask the expert
" service - if you have old photos of buses from the South-West of England that you want identified, follow the link to find out how we can help.
John Grigg, one of our members, is making enquiries to rent premises in the Weston-Super-Mare or Bristol area to store a Royal Blue Coach for which he is the custodian. If you are looking for somewhere tostore your vintage bus or coach, he'd like to hear from you to assess whether it will be viable to rent a building for this purpose.
16th - 23rd April 2006
RTW29
provided transport for guests at a wedding in central Bristol on Saturday 22nd April. It is pictured awaiting the guests outside Bristol Cathedral.
Our
rally
dates for this season are now confirmed and have been posted on the site.
GHT154
has been prepared for its MOT.
10th - 15th April 2006
More timetables have been listed for sale on eBay. Click
here
for details.
22nd March - 9th April 2006
The Group attended the
Cobham
rally on 2nd April, marking the start of the season for us. Unfortunately we weren't able to take
RTW29
, so apologies if you were hoping to see it there. Keep watching the site for details of the events this vehicle will be attending this year.
GHT154
(masquerading as TX7141) and several Group members were involved in filming for a production set in Cardiff. An appropriate destination blind was quickly manufactured, and Group members dressed in period costume for the occasion:
13th - 21st March 2006
Provisional information about the rallies we're hoping to attend this year now appears on the "
Rally dates 2006
" page. We haven't finalised all the details yet, so keep watching the site for details of where to find us this year.
27th February - 12th March 2006
Work continues on
RM1363
. The wooden strips beneath the cab door running track have been refitted, and two new tyres have been fitted. We're continuing to list timetables on eBay, but unfortunately haven't found time to link them from this site.
19th - 26th February 2006
RM1363's
new rear panels have been fitted. The wiring problem on
FTT704
has been rectified after many hours of work, and the bells (and all other systems) are working again.
After the successful sale of London Transport timetables on Ebay over the last couple of weeks, we are now selling
timetables
from other operators, and items of
uniform
.
13th - 18th February 2006
A replacement lower rear panel has been made for
RM1363
, which now awaits fitting. A new aluminium panel has also been riveted in place on the underside of the bus beneath the stairs, as longstanding accident damage had caused the old one to buckle and corrode.
6th -12th February 2006
RM1363's
opening windscreen has been removed to have the rubber seals replaced, and the lower rear panels have been removed to allow some dents to be repaired, or for replacement of the panels if necessary. Once the panels were removed, a huge amount of dried mud was found inside, along with a stores requisition for stair treads dating from January 1984:
The wiring problem on
FTT704
is still receiving attention.
Seat frames are being repainted on
YHY80
.
We have listed a number of old bus timetables for sale on Ebay as an experiment. The oldest of these is are two fascinating period pieces dating from 1943 and 1944, with the rest being from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
23rd January - 5th February 2006
Please note that the date of our
open day 2006
has been
revised
to 13th August to avoid a clash with another event.
16th - 22nd January 2006
Group members and friends travelled to the
Beaufort Arms
, Hawkesbury Upton, in
GHT127
for the annual Group lunch. The landlord has persuaded the Group to bring two buses along to the village show in August.
9th - 15th January 2006
The date of our
open day 2006
has now been agreed. It will take place on 20th August. More details will follow in due course, but please book the date in your diary, especially if you're hoping to bring your bus.
On Saturday 14th January, the celebrations took place of the 100th anniversary of motor bus operation in Bristol..
Click here for news items 2005
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