When Stroud's buses were green
(and even red)
9th Stroud Bus Running Day 2009
2009 Running Day Report
Page 5
More will follow
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We continue our retrospective of the 9th Stroud Running Day in words and images
 Will these rarities be tomorrow's classics? Both are from 1987. That on the left is a 61 seat Leyland Tiger BTL11 new to Fife Scottish and used by Ebley Coaches as a school bus; that on the right is an ex-Badgerline DP53F Volvo B10M, one of a dozen or so bought to upgrade Bristol-Weston and similar services, and retaining the then Swift Link local express name and style. It now belongs to North Somerset Coaches and is a reserve vehicle. Both carry Alexander P-type bodywork, a design available during the difficult years immediately before and after deregulation, whose lack of popularity was also not assisted at all by its angular nature Relevance to Stroud: 0/5  Continuing both the Badgerline and a-product-of-its-time themes is this Mercedes minibus which for the first year operated a 20-minute shuttle between Stroud College and Cheapside car park. Not especially well used, parking was nevertheless difficult on site this year at adjacent Stratford Park owing to activities at the park and leisure centre. Also representing the minibus genre was a static Metrorider in the Cotswold Green fleet Relevance to Stroud: 4/5  Bristol FLF Lodekkas are very much a welcome sight at Stroud Running Days. There returned after a year's gap a closed top example of this much-loved type, with a Bristol engine to boot, here seen with an open top FLF following. FLFs were, of course, common on Stroud's backbone trunk routes during the 1960s and 1970s, the last examples of which were withdrawn as late as 1981 Relevance to Stroud: 5/5  Nearest the camera is the Stroud RE Group's Bristol/ECW RELH6L, former Stroud 2062, which will probably soon return from the leaf green & white to Tilling green & cream livery. 2062 is, of course, well known in preservation circles as is the former Stroud RE Group's former Cheltenham RELL6L 1003, seen left. Compare these body styles to the earlier examples seen on the two ex-Southern Vectis RESLs Relevance to Stroud: 5/5  Rears of Yesteryear. Compare these rears with the angular fronts above on the Alexander P types. The coach nearest the camera is a Bedford OB/Duple. In spite of the Bedford being relatively local, this was its first outing at Stroud, now restored Relevance to Stroud: 2/5  This Bova Futura of Johnson's, Henley in Arden, was in the car park adjacent to Stroud College Relevance to Stroud: 0/5 |
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