News for 2014

Just a quick update on CBPSCornwall Bus Preservation Society - formed by a group of bus and coach enthusiasts who are involved in maintaining, restoring and preserving a number of buses which saw operational service in Cornwall that have been bought, donated or even loaned to members of the group. The main interest this month has been to work on our Bristol LHBristol Commercial Vehicles Light Horizontal engined single-decker bus chassis LH at 30' (9.1m); nearly 2,000 were built between 1967 and 1982 716Bristol LH 6L with 45 seat ECW bodywork was one of 10 new medium sized buses delivered to Western National in the summer of 1968 MUO 328F | Bristol LH | Fleet No. 716 | CBPG(MUO 328FBristol LH 6L with 45 seat ECW bodywork was one of 10 new medium sized buses delivered to Western National in the summer of 1968 MUO 328F | Bristol LH | Fleet No. 716 | CBPG) and get it ready for an MOTMinistry of Transport test. Work has also to be done on Bristol VRT 1003Bristol VR with fleet number 1003 (VDV 141S) is a 1978 convertible open topper, one of 11 delivered to Western National/Devon General between November 1977 and March 1978(VDV 141SBristol VR fleet number 1003 (VDV 141S) 1978 convertible open topper, one of 11 delivered to Western National/Devon General between November 1977 and March 1978; was originally numbered 941 and named 'Illustrious' VDV 141S | Bristol VR | Fleet No. 1003 (ex 941 'Illustrious') | CBPG) to get an MOT. Our VarioMercedes-Benz Vario (model designation W670) is a heavy van manufactured by Mercedes-Benz is now out of MOT but we do not anticipate a problem when it comes to the test. Read more

During August, our Bristol VRT 1141(AFJ 706T) continued working alternately with Bristol FLFFlat floor, Long, Front entrance bus of low floor “Lodekka” type, giving passengers one step entrance and flat floor long before present generation of accessible buses 2019(824 KDV) on the 300 service Lands End-St Ives- Lands End. Also, we covered the Free Bus trips from Camborne, Falmouth, Penzance and Truro to and from the West of England Steam Rally at Stithians. The vehicles used were Bristol RELHRear-engined single-decker bus or single-decker coach chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles 1962 until 1982; widely considered most successful of first generation rear-engined single-decker buses; available in low (for bus) or high (for coach) versions; eventually totalled five variants: RELL and RELH (long), RESL and RESH (short), and REMH (maximum length) 14601969 Bristol RELH6G with ECW C45F coachwork; New to Southern National March 1969, transferred to Western National, remained in service until May 1981 when became part of BaMMOTT collection at Wythall. Purchased by WHOTT May 2005 OTA 632G | Bristol RELH | Fleet No. 1460(OTA 632G1969 Bristol RELH6G with ECW C45F coachwork; New to Southern National March 1969, transferred to Western National, remained in service until May 1981 when became part of BaMMOTT collection at Wythall. Purchased by WHOTT May 2005 OTA 632G | Bristol RELH | Fleet No. 1460), Bristol VRT 1147Bristol VR AFJ 749T 1147/38749(AFJ 749TBristol VR AFJ 749T 1147), Dennis Dart 401Badgers and Flags Pointer Dart L401 VCV | Dennis Pointer Dart | Fleet No. 401 | CBPG (L401 VCVBadgers and Flags Pointer Dart L401 VCV | Dennis Pointer Dart | Fleet No. 401 | CBPG) and Mercedes VarioMercedes-Benz Vario (model designation W670) is a heavy van manufactured by Mercedes-Benz 52529529 became 52529 in national numbering system, fitted with 27 seats and soon received her current livery; S529 RWP | Mercedes Vario | Fleet No. 52529 | CBPG(S529 RWP). After some repairs, 1141 was substituted for 1147 on one trip which seemed to please the passengers. Read more

Here's my update for July 2014. With the addition of Volvo Olympian K801 ORLIn July 1993, First Western National purchased four new Volvo Olympian's with Northern Counties coach seated bodies. Sporting the then new 'badgers & flags' livery with the red bordered destination boxes K801 ORL | Volvo Olympian | Fleet No. 801/34001 | CBPG, our collection of vehicles now totals 9 but the storage situation is still critical. Come on guys, find us some sheds please? The OlympianModels of double decker bus built by Leyland and Volvo: * Leyland Olympian * Volvo Olympian * Volvo Olympian (low-floor), also known as Volvo B9TL is stored in Devon with sister Olympian A754 VAFFormer Western National 'Bristol' Leyland Olympian, A754 VAF in Barbie 2 livery and displaying fleet number 34754; This represents a very important 'save' for the CBPG as is last vehicle from initial batch of 8 first introduced in Plymouth in November 1983 to come out of service in Cornwall A754 VAF | Leyland Olympian | Fleet No. 34754 (ex 1807/1754) | CBPG and Bristol VRT LFJ 873WNovember 2009, CBPG took over ownership of Bristol VR 38873(LFJ 873W) from Western National Preservation Group. Originally numbered 1226, she was the last new Bristol VR bought by Western National in 1981 LFJ 873W | Bristol VR | Fleet No. 38873 (ex 1226). Our Bristol LHBristol Commercial Vehicles Light Horizontal engined single-decker bus chassis LH at 30' (9.1m); nearly 2,000 were built between 1967 and 1982, MUO 328FBristol LH 6L with 45 seat ECW bodywork was one of 10 new medium sized buses delivered to Western National in the summer of 1968 MUO 328F | Bristol LH | Fleet No. 716 | CBPG has been recently moved but needs work on the clutch and our Bristol VRT VDV 141SBristol VR fleet number 1003 (VDV 141S) 1978 convertible open topper, one of 11 delivered to Western National/Devon General between November 1977 and March 1978; was originally numbered 941 and named 'Illustrious' VDV 141S | Bristol VR | Fleet No. 1003 (ex 941 'Illustrious') | CBPG needs work for an MOTMinistry of Transport test. Our Mercedes VarioMercedes-Benz Vario (model designation W670) is a heavy van manufactured by Mercedes-Benz S529 RWP and Dennis Dart L401 VCVBadgers and Flags Pointer Dart L401 VCV | Dennis Pointer Dart | Fleet No. 401 | CBPG are on the road as are Bristol VRT's AFJ 749TBristol VR AFJ 749T 1147 and yes, AFJ 706T. Read more

Just got time to update things before yet another month disappears! A big thank you to all of you who turned out to support us on our Running DayEach year in April CBPG holds an Annual Running Day with free bus trips around West Cornwall - check our Events for more information last month even though the weather took a turn for the worse after lunch. Getting all the vehicles together and out of Long Rock for the 'road run'was a challenge however it all went smoothly in the end. I believe the number of passengers carried is up again on last year so that makes all the hard work worthwhile. Our programme sales are also up which is important as this is our only way of offsetting the costs of putting the event on. Read more

Just found a few minutes to update this section. Since the 18 January 2014, I have been part of a team from west Cornwall that has been involved with Rail Replacement services in Devon & Somerset while Whiteball Tunnel was refurbished. Unfortunately, while this was happening, the main rail line at Dawlish got washed away and also the main line between Taunton and Bridgwater disappeared under water. This has meant that this article was not updated in February and I have only just scraped in with March! Read more