 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
"Do they run every Friday?" asked a lady at London's Victoria Coach Station on Friday morning, gesturing to the eight vintage coaches which had just pulled onto the stands as if fifty years had slipped down the back of the sofa...
"And where do I book a ticket for next week?"
As it happens, there's only one Royal Blue & Associated Motorways long distance coach run each year; it takes much of the remaining year to recover and plan the next one! But it's an opportunity for drivers and passengers to experience what was once an every day occurrence for the coaches and the people they served.
 |
| Photo: Keith Valla |
In case you missed our run last weekend, here's a virtual run for which no booking is required. We begin at Victoria Coach Station, nowadays the start of almost 10 million journeys each year, so we were delighted to be invited back and accommodated so well by Transport for London (TfL).
 |
| Photo: Keith Valla |
Ahead of our 1030 departure, coaches assembled in familiar surroundings for the public to view, while drivers received their briefing for the day ahead.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
This year's journey - using authentic Royal Blue routes wherever possible - was to take us from
London to Bristol (Day 1), from
Bristol to Bath and Bournemouth (Day 2), then on an excursion to
Lulworth Cove and the New Forest (Day 3). The days would be long, as they would have been in bygone days of coach travel, with refreshment stops en-route.
 |
| Photo: Keith Valla |
The assembled coaches departed
Victoria Coach Station at 1030, with the lead coach - Royal Blue Bristol LL6B 1250 (LTA 729) - driven from the coach station by Leon Daniels, TfL's Managing Director of Surface Transport.
 |
| Photo: Keith Valla |
Passing through the coach station's famous exit onto Elizabeth Street, coaches travelled via Buckingham Palace Road onto the Embankment and along the River Thames. Picking up the A4 at Earl's Court, they negotiated heavy traffic through Hammersmith and Chiswick before moving out onto the open road towards
Heathrow,
Colnbrook,
Slough,
Maidenhead and
Reading.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Here are some hungry coach drivers, assembling for a canteen lunch which was very kindly hosted by our friends at Reading Buses. Best of all, it was Fish 'n' Chip Friday! The more hardy photographers worked through lunch as can be seen, as 1250 receives attention from one of Reading Buses' off-duty drivers. The variety of traction can be seen, with dates of manufacture spanning 1947 (Lionel's Bristol L6B on the right) to 1968 (the Bristol RE coach in the centre, flanked by two slightly earlier REs, including Ruby complete with lipstick).
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Whilst the route is meticulously planned and documented, we have to respond to live traffic conditions and we were kindly tipped-off about some delays in
Thatcham which would affect our proposed route out of Reading along the A4. Consequently, coaches (mostly good for 50mph or more) followed the M4 for a short stretch to Junction 13, where we picked up the A4 at
Newbury.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
At
Marlborough, the pretty town scene is often dominated by cars, but fine sights such as this were to be recorded as RE 2351, enjoying a break, is passed by an energetic 1460. (The latter has a semi-automatic gearbox, while the former has constant-mesh, so the need for a left-leg break is quite understandable.)
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Typical of the view enjoyed by passengers, the open road and rolling countryside are seen here from Wilts & Dorset Bristol L6B, 279 (EMW 284), very at home bowling through the Wiltshire countryside near
Calne. The weather for Day 1 was mixed but generally kind, with coaches remaining clean after days of polishing before the run.
 |
| Photo: Stuart Turner |
We're very grateful to the many photographers who share their roadside shots with us, as the weekend can be very intense for drivers who often don't get the chance to observe the coaches in action. Here, in a superb shot by Stuart Turner, newly restored Bristol LS6G 1286 (MOD 973) - on loan to the Trust - is caught ascending
Sidbury Hill having unusually claimed pole position from LL6B 1250 back in Newbury. 1250 gives chase, as does enthusiastic Bristol Greyhound Bristol MW 2138 (BHU 92C).
 |
| Photo: Stuart Turner |
Beyond
Bath, late MW 1423 is seen reaching a summit towards Newton St. Loe.
In
Bristol, we were welcomed to the City's fine M-Shed museum, celebrating its fifth anniversary that evening with a special on-site party for staff. The arrival of the coaches (by now swollen in number to fourteen) was kept as a surprise by their Managing Director and we
duly delighted both staff and public alike.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
279 is seen beneath the dockside
cranes while below, items of Bristol's maritime past rise from behind a line-up
that is very much 'Made in Bristol'.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Whilst
M-Shed was our official destination for Day 1 of the run, several coaches
completed a tour of the famous Downs en-route to their hotels. Seen 'up on the
Downs' (an expression which makes perfect sense in Bristol), 2270 makes a
fine sight alongside the Avon Gorge and Brunel's Clifton Suspension bridge.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
The
route for Day 2 was designed to commemorate 50 years since the final train on
the Somerset & Dorset railway, a much loved and mourned route that ran
through Royal Blue heartland from Bath to Bournemouth.
Our route intertwined
with several famous S&D locations, recreating in part the former rail
replacement service that was created when the line closed in 1966.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Courtesy
of our friends at First, we were invited to begin the day's run at Lawrence
Hill depot, the former Central Works of Bristol Omnibus Company. By now
totaling fifteen, the coaches assembled amongst the contemporary First buses
not already out earning their keep on a Saturday morning, somewhat outnumbering
them in our corner of the depot!
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
A range of Associated Motorways operators was represented on the run, including Crosville and Bristol Greyhound alongside Royal Blue.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Comradery
is a big feature of the run, with high spirits prevailing over even the most
heated disputes about navigation! Below, Team Widdly Diddly (Wilts &
Dorset), confident in their impeccable route knowledge, recite lines from The
Titfield Thunderbolt as they approach an appropriate part of the world.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
 |
| Photo: Jeff Day |
Having
passed Bath Green Park station (the S&D's northern terminus), coaches
climbed Devonshire Hill (through which the S&D tunnelled) and descended
into Radstock, where they passed over the former level crossings of both the
S&D and the Great Western Railway. Climbing up Silver Street past Midsomer
Norton station (where a stretch of the S&D has now reopened as a preserved
railway) the two early-style MWs appear to be having great fun.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
The
former Evercreech Junction station is a place of pilgrimage for S&D
enthusiasts and the adjacent Natterjack Inn couldn't have been a more
appropriate venue for a lunch stop. Also highly appropriate, Mike Walker's
Bristol Greyhound MW is said to have been amongst those to operate the S&D
replacement service, so appears on familiar ground here as it crosses over the
site of the former level crossing towards lunch.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Evercreech
Junction is a remote location, defined where the S&D main line to Bath
diverged from the first-built line to Highbridge and Burnham-on-Sea. Much of
the station site is now an industrial estate, although previously it was used
for the storage of withdrawn Southern National vehicles in the 70s and 80s.
Paying tribute to its less fortunate ancestors, 1250 enjoys a break alongside
the former station buildings.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Driving
coaches burns many calories, and those of the bygone age must have been fit
men. (Unless, of course, they replenished with chips.) Our Natterjack lunch was
a 'Proper Job' and we're very grateful to them for such a warm welcome - plus
an excellent photo shared on their Facebook page.
 |
| Photo: The Natterjack Inn |
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Onward, via Castle Cary and Bruton, we tracked the
S&D through Henstridge and Shillingstone, where coaches ran for a time in a
pleasing convoy for photographers.
After
a stop for ice creams in Blandford, coaches travelled via Poole into
Bournemouth. Our destination here is known today as Queens Road Coach Park,
built on the site of the S&D's former terminus station at Bournemouth West.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Here, RE 1460 looks out to the former Midland Hotel (now flats), which derived its name from the Midland Railway who jointly operated the S&D. A
victorious line-up of smiling coaches concluded the route for Day 2, all
fourteen coaches having completed the journey without trouble.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Day
3 was to be an excursion from Bournemouth to Lulworth Cove, followed by a trip
across the New Forest to Lyndhurst. Tired but happy faces were in attendance at
the morning briefing, some passengers in dark glasses after a night out in
Poole...
Note the Co-Op's new medium-weight range on display in the window.
Something for slimmers.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
The
journey to Lulworth Cove was spectacular, as was the sight of the coaches
descending the hill en-masse.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
After morning tea in the secret garden (it was Sunday, after all), a walk to the cove itself gave participants an opportunity to swap stories about the route, nights out in Poole, all-night Birthday parties with the Village People or any other unexpected sidetracks from the Royal Blue Run!
If only all were as focussed as Team Widdly Diddly.
 |
| Photo: Tim Stubbs |
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
The
coaches attracted much interest from the public visiting Lulworth Cove, including
one who asked if they were "always here?"... perhaps a sister of
the passenger at Victoria?
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
The
penultimate leg of the run took us to Milford-on-Sea for lunch, where coaches
and passengers alike were able to enjoy a clear view of The Needles across the
Solent. Here, the two L-types perform a PV2 salute to their Southern Vectis
cousins, helped by a late MW plotting to steal its owner's picnic.
 |
| Photo: Tim Stubbs |
A
trek across the New Forest to Beaulieu Motor Museum brought natural hazards for
the drivers to negotiate, much to the enjoyment of their passengers, as well as
spectacular views of the kind that had once made these sorts of day tours so
popular.
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Reaching
Lyndhurst on time, all thirteen of the day's participants completed the run
without incident. Eight had made the full three day trip from London, with only
the journey home to locations as disparate as the Midlands, the West Country
and the Home Counties to make before a good rest.
Where
to next? A question for next year certainly - but definitely not for next
Friday...
 |
| Photo: TV&GWOT (DS) |
Our
thanks to everybody who makes the run happen, the owners and drivers, those who
allow us to use their facilities along the way and, of course, our Supporters
for their tireless work in researching the routes and preparing vehicles.
Thanks also to those who have shared their excellent photographs of the run so
far, many of which are featured here with kind permission - we hope you'll continue
to post on our Facebook page (using #RB16) or email them to the Trust via www.tvagwot.org.uk.
