Taking Bristols to Bristol Vintage Bus Rally 2022

One of the local bus events I attended this summer was the Bristol Vintage Bus Rally. Fittingly, I drove a Bristol-engined Bristol L to the event but the Bristol theme didn’t end there!

I was invited by Jonathan-Jones-Pratt to take one of his many Bristol buses to the rally and I arrived at his base with Mrs Busman John to find a brace of Bristols standing polished and ready to roll. We gave our vehicle, Crosville Motor Services KW172 (Bristol L6B LFM753) the once-over before setting off in convoy with the others. In front of me were Jonathan, driving open top Brighton, Hove & District 992 (Bristol K5G GHT127) and his father, driving Crosville KG131 (Bristol L5G KFM893) which has recently been restored to showstopper condition by experts at The Revivist in Yorkshire. Following me was none other than Ashley Blackman (the highly skilled coach painter at The Revivist), driving Hants & Dorset TD895 (Bristol K6A HLJ44).

This event hasn’t run for several years due to the pandemic but it was back again in 2022, firing on all cylinders. A wide variety of buses and coaches attended but the flavour was definitely Bristol. Among the entries (seen here 3rd from the left) was a very familiar open top Lodekka, Western National 1934 (Bristol LDL6G VDV753). I have conducted on this bus many times during its service with Quantock Motor Services on the 400 service ‘Exmoor Explorer’. It is now part of the Bristol Vintage Bus Group collection.

The AEC marque was represented by this excellently presented 1964 AEC Reliance with stylish Harrington Grenadier bodywork. It had been brought up from Cornwall by its owner, Roger Thomas.

As per usual, the rally site (which normally functions as the Brislington Park & Ride on the east side of the city) was well managed, with marshals directing incoming vehicles to appropriate parking areas and controlling a near-constant flow of free bus rides from the bus stop on the access road. As well as spending time wandering among the static exhibits I was determined to fit in a couple of rides so I looked out for suitable half-cab buses.

Prototype Cave-Browne-Cave cooling installation

Many of you will have seen, photographed, ridden in or driven Bristol buses fitted with the unusual Cave-Browne-Cave cooling system. So here’s a photo of one of the prototype buses.

This is Hants & Dorset 1068, a 1940 Bristol K5G carrying an early version of the cooling/heating system invented by Wing Commander T. R. Cave-Browne-Cave. He was Professor of Engineering at Southampton University at the time. The photograph comes from my own collection and came to light while I was looking for images for a new book I’m writing.

In a nutshell, the traditional radiator mounted in front of the engine is omitted and two – smaller – radiators are fitted either side of the destination display. These also act as forced air heaters for warming the upper deck. In summertime, when the saloon heating isn’t necessary, the warm air can be deflected through vents on the sides of the bus.

I’m not sure why the Wing Commander was commissioned to create this system because the traditional cooling system had been working reasonably well for decades previously and indeed continues in the same form to this day. Anyway, his first prototype installation was fitted to a Southampton Corporation Guy Arab. The test went well evidently and the second installation was fitted to a Hants & Dorset Bristol K, as shown above. The front cowl, obviously from a Lodekka, was a later modification because the original front was more obviously based on the standard PV2 radiator shape.

Cave-Browne-Cave obviously sold the idea to Bristol Commercial Vehicles/Eastern Coach Works and it was widely adopted as an option for Bristol LDs and F-series Bristols as we all know. Some more of Southampton’s Guy Arabs were also fitted with CBC, as were a few Bristol Ls of West Yorkshire Road Car.

Warminster Vintage Bus Running Day 2014

So I finally made it to the Warminster Vintage Bus Running Day! It was a long but satisfying day as I drove a shiny Bristol L bus around the country lanes in the county of my birth and also carried a Very Discerning Passenger.

I’ve known about this high profile event for some time but have not managed to attend until this year. As some of you will know, on most Sundays you will find me in church but I like to make one or two exceptions during the year and this time it was Warminster’s turn to make it onto the calendar! I didn’t manage to take many photographs (too busy driving) but the best of the bunch are here, starting with this peaceful scene outside the Parish Church at Sutton Veny.

My day started early, arriving at the Crosville depot at 08:15 to prepare Crosville KG131, a 1950 Bristol L5G. The management had very kindly agreed to let me take this fine looking bus to Warminster. They had cleaned and polished it especially – even the tyres were shiny! Paul, a fellow driver with whom I’ve been teamed up before, was already busy preparing Southern National 2700, an early Bristol RELL. He too was going to Warminster but left ahead of me (as did a Bath Services KSW6B in the hands of a former owner) as his first duty on the extensive programme of free services was earlier than mine.

Everything on the bus was ticketty-boo so, after topping up the fuel tank, I set off. My route took me through Cheddar, Wells, Shepton Mallet and Frome, and the long journey provided a useful opportunity to brush up my driving technique. These events are fun but I do find them a bit daunting because of the high percentage of enthusiast and bus-owning fratenity that they attract. These guys flock to the older vehicles to ‘sample the ride’ but really they’re dying to see the driver make a pig’s ear of the constant-mesh gearbox! But having driven this particular gem several times this year on private hire duties for Crosville I was quite confident I could give my passengers a good ride.

With at least 40 vehicles attending, including this charming 1930 Albion lorry, the small-ish car park which served as the centre of operations was run with military precision. Full marks to the organisers and marshals, who knew just where every bus (each one carried a running number) was supposed to be, just by checking it on a list.

I was directed to a parking space near the exit, which gave me a chance to freshen up and meet up with my conductor. He’d been for a ride on a Silver Star Atlantean and got to our bus in the nick of time! Fortunately I’d sent him all the route and timetable details previously so our briefing was, well… brief! I noticed another Bristol L lurking in the car park with the same destination and route number as ours and discovered that we were to run together. Just as well, because the queue at the departure stand was huge!