Cheltenham Gold
Cheltenham 75
Blog
12th September 2009...
Cheltenham 80 Celebration
 Bristol FLFs were also the mainstay of the 549s between Cheltenham & Gloucester, predecessor to today's 94s, till quite late on. Strengthened at peak, the 549s (and the occasional 559 via Bamfurlong Lane) operated at every 15 minutes (whereas the current 94 operates every 10). Former times are recreated as best we can in this shot near the Hare & Hounds. Note the illuminated advertising panel on the FSF, the first to be so fitted  Fresh from a lower half repaint and complete with Stagecoach Wayfarer 3 for driver only operation, is the Stroud RE Group's 49-seat dual purpose Bristol RELH no. 2062, one of the four REs deployed on the 97/8s on 12th September. Passenger reaction to the vehicle was positive. It's interesting, too, how fashions change and not just within the transport industry. The lower attire as worn by this gentleman would have been considered vulgar in the late 1960s when 2062 was new, other than on the beach or while competing at a sports fixture  Former Bristol Omnibus RELL 1332, now a heritage vehicle with A Bus, took on a quarter of the 97/8 service. Numerically one of the last of 341 RELLs at Bristol, it dates from 1974, though Cheltenham District's final RELL arrived in 1972. The last new RELL for the country fleet at Cheltenham arrived some years before that  From 1972, poppy red replaced traditional 'Cheltenham' red on Cheltenham's town buses. After a series of fleetname styles, Bristol Omnibus eventually alighted upon a single word 'Cheltenham' without 'District' or the town crest, with a simple white 'Double N' logo. Though the Double N was later replaced by a red and blue version on a white square, by then Cheltenham's town buses actually wore the Bristol name on a company-wide leaf green livery. As such, they became indecipherable from (and interchangeable with) the country fleet. Such was standardisation. All this changed in 1983 upon the hiving off of the former Northern Division to Cheltenham & Gloucester, whence the Cheltenham District identity and poppy red livery were reintroduced, as seen here on 3531, a 52-seat 1980 Leyland National 2. By then, the Cheltenham District name appeared on buses on both town and country routes  Reflected in the windscreen of one of Stagecoach West's new Scanias is this distorted line up of vehicles celebrating Cheltenham 80  As things might've been has the world stood still. Smartly outshopped in Cheltenham District anniversary livery is this Plaxton bodied Dennis Dart. This version has the wider cream band introduced from 1969 to signify a one man operated bus. Stagecoach used this very bus on the occasion of CDT's 75th celebrations. This livery style was arguably the best to find its way onto Cheltenham's and Bristol Omnibuses' vehicles, though it perhaps suits older rather than newer buses
|