Cheltenham District Bristol RE KHW 306E

1960s STATE SECTOR SINGLE-DECKER BUS

Underfloor engined single-deckers, with their high floors and difficult entrances, became unpopular by the mid-1960s. Operators called for rear-engined single-deckers.

Manufacturers rushed out poorly developed models which were mostly disasters. One reliable exception was the Bristol RE with variants covering two chassis frame heights for bus or coach work, two engines (Gardner or Leyland) and three lengths. This bus is to the most popular length of 36 feet (11 metres). The RE remained available to home market customers until the mid-1970s, by which time Bristol was owned by British Leyland which insisted on its replacement by the Leyland National.

The first four bus bodied Bristol REs delivered to the Bristol Omnibus Co. were allocated to its Cheltenham District subsidiary. No 1000 was first licensed in June 1967 and, like Bristol's other early REs, was rebuilt in 1969 to front entrance and centre exit, popular at the time for urban driver only buses. It remained in Cheltenham until withdrawal in 1981, by which time it carried standard National Bus Company green livery.

Preservation

No 1000 came directly to Wythall and was rebuilt to original single door form and returned to Cheltenham livery.