Great Western Coffee Shop

Just had a email informing me that First are preparing to withdraw:

 Bristol VRT, 39971 (MOD571P) from service  on saturday 26th september.

As  some of you may know this is the last Bristol VRT left in  regular  service with First group in the UK.

  I have been told that the bus should be used on saturday providing nothing goes wrong.

This is probably heresy, but good riddance! I never saw the attraction of those horrid, draughty uncomfortable old buses, give me a nice new, shiny, air-conditioned Mercedes Citaro (assuming it's not on fire, obviously) any day.

Picture, and background information, available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/markamis/4722310802/  ;D

Um, blakey.... the bus to which anthony215 refers is intended to be draughty. It's the open topper that plied its trade around Weymouth in the summer.


There is a newer, recently converted, model of bus that First Hampshire & Dorset could use next year. Conversion carried out in Glasgow:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=7427.msg74013#msg74013


 ;D

OK, touch^!

I was referring to my memories of catching those old rattletraps home on the 358/359 services from Bristol 10 or 15 years ago. Their only saving grace was that they made a better fist of getting up Rownham Hill than the newer vehicles.

No wonder they are draft  :o :o     No roof  ::) ::)
I guess very effective aircon though  ;D

 Found out today that this particular bus has now appeared in Swansea for use by First cymru on a open top service aroud Mumbles

definitely not the final one as well, there is on that operates between penzance and st ives via lands end still as well by first devon and cornwall

The open top VR's were taken off the 300 (PNZ-Lands end-Siv) a few years back.

yes sorry my error, although as i was pretty sure i had seen one operating locally recently, i contacted a bus driver friend, and he has informed me western greyhound operate JWV259W on a regular basis on 1 or 2 of their routes,
he also informed me that JWV259W won best in class at plymouth bus rally 08.
he also said roselyn coaches of st austell also have one in their fleet, but that only gets used for school runs, although you could call this regular i guess being once a day to school and once home at the end of the day?

The same friend also believes, but cannot be 100% sure western greyhound still have open top Bristol VR Reg DSU107 (ex CJH119V) in occasional service!

Bristol VRTs being sent overseas as promotional vehicles:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/aboard-Bristol-buses-world/article-3431978-detail/article.html

"We are always buying in the old buses and refurbishing them and there is an incredible market out there, there is a lot of affection for the double-decker and we can pretty much do anything with them. Quite a lot of our customers want them without the roof and that is no problem at all."

We know a few good bridges for doing that, don't we, chaps!  ;D

Cornwall bus preservation society doing a running day tomorrow Sunday 17th, including Western Greyhounds Bristol VTR  "LFJ 858W".
Check out westerngreyhound.com for a link