Western National Omnibus Co Ltd
1948
Bristol L6B
Beadle C31F – ECW FB39F (1958)
A 1948 Bristol L6B, when it was delivered to Western National it had a Beadle C31F body. Ten years later it was lengthened to a LL standard and rebodied by Eastern Coachworks to this FB39F style, I presume both happened at the same time.
We see it in the Weymouth rally on 1 July 1979,
Photograph and Copy contributed by Pete Davies
15/05/17 – 07:44
The very fact that this is a Bristol L6B with an ECW body makes this a thoroughly good bus, but what a pity that ECW fell into the trap of the then-current "mouth-organ" fad! I wouldn’t insist that they had gone for a proper Bristol radiator, which would have been the best-looking option, but at least they could have tacked on an enlarged version of the shapely little grille fitted to the SC4LK. Just one of my fantasies…
Ian Thompson
17/05/17 – 07:51
I have a "bought" slide of a Lincolnshire SC in DP guise, with the same style of front end as this. You are right, Ian. The usual SC arrangement is FAR better!
Pete Davies
17/05/17 – 07:52
The "mouth organ" wasn’t designed specially for rebodied Ls. The entire dash panel, complete with grille, was the one used on the coach version of the SC4LK.
Peter Williamson
18/05/17 – 07:52
Peter is right, and OBP has a page showing this type of SC4LK body at :- this OBP link
Ian is right also, though. The grille is pretty horrible, though nowhere near as bad as some of the Detriot "inspired" excrescences that were to emerge from Duple in the years that followed.
Roger Cox
18/05/17 – 11:02
The front is virtually identical to the SC coaches but on the one CMS ECW re-bodied PS1 (JAO 837), the bulge is greater, as it seems to be on the L6B above.
JAO 837 also had a slightly bottom curved windscreen and the side window framing is also different from the above L6B
Stuart Emmett
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Red & White Services
1958
Bristol MW6G
ECW C39F
Here are two more views indicating what a difference a coat of paint makes, especially if it’s the same colours applied in a different style on the same vehicle. SWO 986 was new to Red & White in 1958. It is a Bristol MW6G with ECW C39F bodywork and – in the first view above – the fleet number is UC758. We see it in the Weymouth rally on 1 July 1979.
In this second view it is in what many of us would consider to be more of a coach livery, but with fleet number DS758. It is seen here leaving Winchester Bus Station on 1 January 2009.
Photograph and Copy contributed by Pete Davies
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Bristol Tramways & Carriage Company Limited
1951
Bristol LWL6B
ECW FC35F
NHY 947 is an ECW ‘Queen Mary’ coach body with the sort of chassis one might expect underneath – not the AEC Regal rebuild in Tilling livery submitted a while ago! This Bristol LWL6B was new in 1951, with ECW FC35F body. We see it on Southampton Common on the sunny morning of 7 May 1979, while taking part in the Southampton City Transport Centenary rally.
Photograph and Copy contributed by Pete Davies
16/01/17 – 06:29
The only batch of these bodies sold to a Scottish operator were on Daimler chassis.
Stephen Allcroft
17/01/17 – 07:03
This photo of fellow LWL6B, NHY 946, No.2814, was taken in Railway Place, Bath in August 1958. The term "Queen Mary" has been applied in enthusiast circles to a number of psv types, notably the full fronted PD3s of Southdown, though in that latter instance the accuracy of the sobriquet is strongly disputed in some quarters. I always understood that the intended analogy was with the low loading military articulated lorries designed for the carriage of tanks and heavy plant rather than the Cunard liner, and was meant to suggest a certain degree of ponderousness in appearance and progress. This style of ECW body did suffer from rather heavy frontal treatment, but it compared quite favourably with the dreadful full fronted efforts of some other contemporary coachbuilders on front engined chassis.
Roger Cox
17/01/17 – 07:05
NHY 946 is pictured in this thread Bristol Tramways – Bristol L6B – NAE 3 – 2467 this time in the cream and maroon livery of 1963.
Geoff Pullin
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