Cornwall Bus Preservation Society

Just a week after the WHOTTThe West Country Historic Omnibus & Transport Trust rally was held in Exeter, it was time for the big bus event at Duxford in Cambridgeshire on Sunday 26 September 2010. Our chairman and I had decided to attend the event following an invitation from 'friend' Colin that we could break the journey by staying at his home in Maidenhead on Saturday night and the Sunday night after the event. It was our intention to take the 'Royal Blue' Bristol RELH 1460(OTA 632G) but on the day of departure, a severe air leak from the braking system was found so the RE was returned to store and a trusty car was used instead. On the Sunday morning, we set off from Maidenhead in Colin's immaculate 'Royal Blue' Bristol LL6B 1250(LTA 729), a 1951 half cab, in brilliant sun shine heading for Duxford on the M11. We were not alone as various other buses and coaches were making the trip but unfortunately as we headed north, the skies were getting darker. As we entered Duxford airfield I was aware that everywhere I looked, there were buses and coaches of all ages and colour schemes. The photographers were very interested in our 'Royal Blue' as we parked in amongst over a hundred vehicles, old and modern. If your particular interest was in London Transport, then you could not fail to be inpressed with the number of RT's, RM's and RF's to name but a few. Mostly in red but a good number in London Country green, even I (a Bristol bus man) could not fail to be inpressed with the line-up so photo's were taken and I will endeavour to get some on the site. It was nice to see two Bristol VR's there that were based in Cornwall which both now live with their new owners hundreds of miles away from the 'Duchy'. The first was 1106(SFJ 106R) in the green National bus livery with Western National fleet names that she wore in the late seventies and early eighties. She moved around the depots a bit with spells at St Austell and Camborne, where she ended service. The other, I think formerly 38897(UAR 597W) came to us from the Thamesway/Eastern National area and worked for many years in west Cornwall. She was also in National green but now with Eastern National fleet names as she returned home to the south east after finishing 'active service' in Cornwall. After a couple of hours looking around the huge site, the heavens opened and the rain fell heavily for the next three hours. We turned our attention to the tented traders stalls before splashing our way back to Colin's LL to make the run back to Maidenhead. It was a shame about the rain which obviously caused vehicles and the public to depart earlier than normal but one thing is not in doubt, the EFE Showbus event is very big and if you are interested in all sorts of buses, old and new, you need to try and get there next year as I hope to do. A big thank you to Colin and Helen for their hospitality.