Heritage bus roundup: Spring 2018

Early Spring 2018 brought a flurry of heritage bus activity for me. Although we’re now well into a very hot summer, here’s a sample of what I was up to earlier.

This is a very attractive Bedford OB coach which was once operated by the original Crosville Motor Services in north Wales and now resides in Weston-super-Mare. It is now up for sale but I was asked to drive it up to Bristol to have its analogue tachograph calibrated as part of preparations for sale.

I’ve have driven this delightful vehicle several times before and I savoured the sounds from the very tuneful and distinctive gearbox. However I didn’t much like the steering, which is very heavy! I don’t know if this is typical of OBs because this is the only one I’ve driven (so far).

I saw this OB in Dorset recently, during on a birthday treat visit to Ringwood Brewery. I would have volunteered myself as a driver but Ringwood is quite a trek from Weston-super-Mare! If it had a canvas tilt on the back it would have looked exactly like the Bedford OB van that my grandfather used to operate (there’s a tiny me standing next to him). That was green as well!

One of the stalwarts of the Crosville fleet in recent years has been ex-Crosville Bristol FSF6G 891VFM and this is seen here having a thorough steam clean prior to its first outing of 2018. This was a trip down to Minehead to spend the day giving free rides to people who attended the Paw Patrol special event for children put on by the West Somerset Railway. I’ve driven at several of these events before and I was happy to be rostered as the driver. I really enjoy driving this Lodekka because I find it easy to drive it smoothly. It also has a good turn of speed (45mph+ on the level) thanks to having a rear axle from a coach fitted.

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Wilts & Dorset Buses book published

After many months of preparation, my new book ‘Wilts & Dorset Buses’ has been published.

Regular readers will know that my bus driving roots go back to my childhood days watching and riding on Wilts & Dorset buses in Salisbury, Wiltshire. My interest was mostly inherited from my father, the late Derek J Dawkins, who also passed on a large collection of photographs to me. The new book is based on this collection but also includes some of my own photos.

The albums I inherited had been carefully annotated by my father but I have had great fun expanding on these with my own knowledge and research to create more readable captions. There’s a ‘Postscript’ section at the end which gives a more personal view of a couple of commemorative events in Salisbury in which I took part. You may have already seen that I covered these in my blog in 2014 and 2015.

I have to admit that I’m not the world’s best authority on Wilts & Dorset buses (although I know a man who could take that title) and I didn’t set out to write a reference work. I hope you’ll see that it’s a personal impression of the bus fleet as it was when my Dad was growing up in Salisbury and later, as he started his working career.

The softback book has 128 pages and the images on the inner pages are black and white. It can be obtained through Amberley Publishing and I commend it to you!