2010 – Issue 2 of 4

MARCH MEETING;
It was pleasing to see a better attendance at this meeting.
Around 30 members and guests gathered to support a presentation by
our member John Jones. John gave us a tour of Wales using slides of
buses all taken in just one year, 1990. It was surprising to see the changes
that 20 years has brought to both the bus operators and the vehicles.
After the break Chris Taylor presented an informal quiz on some of the
operators and buses we had seen. Many thanks were given to John and
Chris.
APRIL MEETING;
Bob McCoy was the speaker for the April meeting, who although an
Englishman, entitled his talk ‘Travel in the Valleys’. Mr. McCoy recalled
the travel situation at Merthyr Tydfil in the early 1920’s when the town
was served by the B.E.T. owned tramway and independent bus operators.
In 1924 the Merthyr Council began operating buses, which Mr. McCoy
said was a brave move in a depressed area with so much unemployment.
After a break his theme moved on to the post WW2 years in Cardiff
when the tramway system was on its last legs. We heard that politics
played a part in retaining electric traction in the city including the
trolleybus extension to Ely as late as 1955.
MAY EVENING ROAD RUN;
The first road run of the year was in Gwyn Gardiner’s pristine former
National Welsh Leyland National 2, BUH 240V. We travelled up the Ely
Valley to Porth to where this bus was first allocated in 1980. It later
worked at several other depots including Cwmbran.
The Mark 2 National was arguably the best version of a maligned model
that certainly exudes a flavour of the 1980’s.
N/Welsh only bought 3 examples whereas they bought over 200 of the
original version. By 1988 N/Welsh were in dire straits and the 3 Mk 2’s
were sold to Burnley & Pendle while they were still worth some money.
Please turn to the back cover for a photo taken at this event.
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