RMweb Gold 46444 Posted March 30, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2016 Looking through pictures of the Forest the regular appearance of Red & White buses in them is quite common. Looking out for a suitable model I noticed BT Models produce a rather lovely Red & White Bristol Lodekka with 2 choices of destination screens. I chose the version on Route 76 to Beachley which cost in the region of £20. It's a well made model of all plastic construction which is crisply moulded along with neat flush glazing. The destination screens, number plates and other markings are nicely printed on a deep paint finish. I'm planning on using this set of destination screen transfers from Fox along with a suitable number to make it more appropriate for a working in the Coleford area: http://fox-transfers.co.uk/destination-screens-red-white I wonder if anyone knows route numbers from Coleford/Gloucester during this the early 1960's? In addition to this I'll add crew, passengers and seal everything with a coat of satin varnish to tone things down slightly. Overall a useful model for those modelling a Forest location and I also understand an MW coach in Red & White livery(2 versions again) is being released in the same range shortly. Cheers, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 They aren't bad models at all, especially for the price.B-T have already produced the MW bus in various liveries (avoid the first two models as they were 2mm too tall, and it showed). EFE already produce the earlier style MW coach, while Oxford Diecast are to produce the later style MW coach. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Derails Models Posted March 31, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 31, 2016 Nice looking item, can't help on the route number I'm afraid though! Coleford to Gloucester nowadays is either the 23, 30 or 31 depending on which route you want to take, I see them passing the window here every day! However unfortunately the vehicles used now are not as nice as that one... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenway Park Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 I think the 76 was a local route from Bulwark to Beachley through Chepstow town centre. Prior to the opening of the Severn Bridge, Beachley was where the Aust Ferry terminated. The other BT Red & White Lodekka is 147 to Abergavenny via Badminton, anyone know where this started? There was a long route from Lydney to Hereford via Coleford and Monmouth. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
5050 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Beachley was where the Aust Ferry terminated. I remember using the Aust Ferry once when I was a lad. It was on our usual summer holiday return journey from Somerset to North Wales (a long way in one day in a Morris 8 or similar!). We usually went via Gloucester, Ledbury, Leominster etc. but on this occasion Dad decided to have rest and take the route straight up to Hereford via the ferry, Chepstow, Wye Valley etc. I remember that there was a long wait to get onboard as it was very busy being a summer Sunday and the ferry wasn't very big. At least it was something different for a young lad to experience - even if it did make the journey a lot longer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Nice looking item, can't help on the route number I'm afraid though! Coleford to Gloucester nowadays is either the 23, 30 or 31 depending on which route you want to take, I see them passing the window here every day! However unfortunately the vehicles used now are not as nice as that one... Route number 31 seems to be a longstanding route number here is a MW at Cinderford in 1967 showing 31 https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheltonian1966/7079607273/in/photolist-bMAQAn-a5wMah-nEdFqh-a5tUU6-qeMhg8-9WGM5g-bTPMm2-4H4Tsr-bAYzYg-bft2a8-q4q6E1-6Fc6CZ-9uiwLH-6YrLB9-ESar38-4pkacM-anURTk-e988At-zazpUC-49GirJ-ftpWVf-bx5nzG-7CGzcE-b8s9Sn-7kpDvu-9aCuCk-9dM8XB-8Pu5Mk-nKVKdP-bbsGb2-aUhb3a-p5dT3d-cCcSTW-pVm6hm-baCdGz-cSnAG5-rvgBsH-dEgiJL-pXeFjk-7Zu4oZ-6NMCFV-oMhJbu-cTh7WU-5JDedh-aaM9t3-axPuu3-97qwZ3-9HZ28K-bvCuHK-dG98En cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 46444 Posted April 6, 2016 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 6, 2016 Route number 31 seems to be a longstanding route number here is a MW at Cinderford in 1967 showing 31 https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheltonian1966/7079607273/in/photolist-bMAQAn-a5wMah-nEdFqh-a5tUU6-qeMhg8-9WGM5g-bTPMm2-4H4Tsr-bAYzYg-bft2a8-q4q6E1-6Fc6CZ-9uiwLH-6YrLB9-ESar38-4pkacM-anURTk-e988At-zazpUC-49GirJ-ftpWVf-bx5nzG-7CGzcE-b8s9Sn-7kpDvu-9aCuCk-9dM8XB-8Pu5Mk-nKVKdP-bbsGb2-aUhb3a-p5dT3d-cCcSTW-pVm6hm-baCdGz-cSnAG5-rvgBsH-dEgiJL-pXeFjk-7Zu4oZ-6NMCFV-oMhJbu-cTh7WU-5JDedh-aaM9t3-axPuu3-97qwZ3-9HZ28K-bvCuHK-dG98En cheers That's excellent Kevin. A very useful photo and the MW does look rather nice. Cheers, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointstaken Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Don't forget that London Transport also had a batch, one was route 127 from South Wimbledon through the skew arch at Raynes Park to "can't remember where". Some of the LT ones were on another route somewhere. Dennis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 There's an ongoing restoration project on one of the former Aust- Beachley ferries, the Severn Princess; http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/news.php/620/restoration-begins-on-historic-severn-princess-car-ferry Not sure of the current status, it's been talked about for years, that article suggests something more concrete started in 2014. They had the curious feature of a car turntable on the deck allowing tight parking of the cargo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted April 7, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2016 Don't forget that London Transport also had a batch, one was route 127 from South Wimbledon through the skew arch at Raynes Park to "can't remember where". Some of the LT ones were on another route somewhere. Dennis London Transport never operated Bristol Lowdeckers, they operated only one prototype Bristol MW and that mostly on country routes before it was returned to its makers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I'm not aware of any Bristol MW being operated by LT. There was an LS run on country and Green Line routes, with Green Line fleetnames applied. The EFE model has appeared in this guise in one of the LT Museum sets.Other Bristols operated by LT (but not necessarily in any LT livery) include some L and K buses from other operators to cover post-wartime shortages, and a few Bristol K utility buses that were in LT livery (memory says there were nine of these), plus the Bristol LH models bought to replace the long-serving RFs. To the best of my knowledge, no MW s or Lodekkas were ever operated or borrowed, although some hired later-style MW coaches were operated by London Country Bus Services after they were well and truly a separate entity from London Transport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
5050 Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 There's an ongoing restoration project on one of the former Aust- Beachley ferries, the Severn Princess; http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/news.php/620/restoration-begins-on-historic-severn-princess-car-ferry Not sure of the current status, it's been talked about for years, that article suggests something more concrete started in 2014. They had the curious feature of a car turntable on the deck allowing tight parking of the cargo. image.jpg Thanks for the link. I do remember it all being a bit cramped with a lot of 'shunting' of cars to get as many as possible on board - and the turntable certainly rings a bell. I think that at the time we used the ferry we had either a Triumph Mayflower or a Wolseley 4/44. The height of sophistication and comfort in those days! And far more room than the original Morris 8 - and the aroma of real leather upholstery when you opened the door on a hot day.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted April 7, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2016 Oops sorry, the LS is what I meant not the MW. I often get the Bristol single deckers mixed up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointstaken Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I often rode on the LT Lodekkas to school in Merton, so my memory is not at fault. Dennis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted April 7, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2016 I often rode on the LT Lodekkas to school in Merton, so my memory is not at fault. Dennis Whatever you rode on it wasn't a Lodekka, LT never operated Lodekka's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Confusion between "Lodekka" (the brand name) and "lowbridge" (the body style) perhaps? Traditional buses had separate chassis and body, often from different makers. Bristol chassis were usually fitted with Eastern Coach Works bodies. The standard height of a ("highbridge") double decker, with a central gangway upstairs, used to be 14'6". The "lowbridge" version reduced this to 13'9", by having the upstairs gangway on the offside, and sunken, and seats were 4 abreast. Not very popular with passengers or conductors. The Bristol/ECW combination later developed the "Lodekka" design to also be 13'9" but with normal gangway and seating upstairs. This was achieved by having a different chassis design with a lower floor downstairs, thus reducing the overall height. London Transport had their own designs of bus for many years. Post war, shortage of vehicles meant they borrowed new deliveries of bus that were destined for other operators. These included both normal "highbridge" and "lowbridge" variants. Eventually the borrowed buses moved on to their originally planned operators. No Lodekka buses ever went to LT. They did however have their own type of lowbridge bus, the RLH class. The Tilling group of bus companies (a complex history) were nationalised in 1948 along with the chassis manufacturer "Bristol" and body builder "Eastern Coach Works", and from then on Bristol/ECW became the standard types used by the Tilling companies, in fact due to competiton rules, they weren't supposed to be offered on the open market (though there were as always odd exceptions). Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted April 7, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2016 This website might help identify what buses they were. All you need is route number and when it operated. http://www.londonbuses.co.uk/menus/rl101-200.html If you want to look at another group of numbers click on routes and use the drop down box. When you pick your route it lists all types that worked the route and when. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wainwright1 Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Perhaps Pointstaken means an LT Scooter, the six wheeled single decker ? RB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 More likely the RLH (low height AEC Regent III) buses Merton operated. They definitely did not have Bristol Lodekkas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted April 21, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 21, 2017 This website might help identify what buses they were. All you need is route number and when it operated. http://www.londonbuses.co.uk/menus/rl101-200.html If you want to look at another group of numbers click on routes and use the drop down box. When you pick your route it lists all types that worked the route and when. Perhaps Pointstaken means an LT Scooter, the six wheeled single decker ? RB More likely the RLH (low height AEC Regent III) buses Merton operated. They definitely did not have Bristol Lodekkas. In fact the route in question operated both types, the 'Scooter' was designated LTL. Low height 'Utility' Daimlers replaced the Scooters which were in turn replaced by the RLH type. If you click on route 127 on the above link it lists the types operated on the route and when. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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