The History Of Wessex Coaches Ltd

The history of what was perhaps Bristol's biggest coach company.

Wessex Coaches of Bristol was certainly a company with two faces. The first was that of a very large concern operating day trips to the seaside, carrying out private hire work and operating many local contracts for schools, companies and local institutions. Bristolians still fondly remember the smart red and grey/green Bedford Duples which were a common site for a period of 26 years over the whole of the West Country with depots at Clifton, Kingswood and Chard (Somerset). The other face was that of an anonymous fleet of mainly second-hand Daimler and AEC double deck contract buses carrying workers to power station and motorway construction sites at Hinkley Point, Berkeley, Sizewell, Wylfa (Anglesey), Hartlepool and Heysham etc. on behalf of blue chip companies. Besides the Bedfords there were many interesting older vehicles still in the fleet in the 1960s and very many unseen photographs of these have been obtained from the family archives and other sources to illustrate the story.

Bedford Buses and Coaches provides a detailed review of the entire range of purpose-built Public Service Vehicle (PSV) bus and coach chassis that carried the Bedford name from 1931 until production ceased in 1986. Bedfords were once a familiar sight on the roads not only of the United Kingdom, but throughout the world. They were produced in such volume that the advertising slogan 'You see them everywhere' was quite legitmately adopted by Vauxhall Motors, the manufacturer of Bedford vehicles. Fully illustrated thoughout with hundreds of photographs, the majority in colour, the book includes detailed descriptions of the Bedford petrol and diesel engines and other manufacturers engines used in Bedford bus and coach chassis. Detailed specifications and production histories are given for all the full-size passenger chassis including the WHB/WLB, WTB, OB/OWB, SB, VAS, VAL, VAM, Y-series and the Venturer. Road tests and owners' experiences are covered along with advice on buying and restoring a Bedford bus or coach. This book will be of great interest to all bus enthusiasts and historians and is superbly illustrated with 200 colour and 50 black & white photographs.

Rare and previously unpublished images of the Wessex bus scene. This, the second in a pair of books, covers the local authority fleets, independent companies, and the Isle of Wight.

With rare and previously unpublished images of the mainland national bus company fleets around Wessex.