2010 – Issue 2 of 4

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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. 4
CARDIFF’S BUSES by Andrew Wiltshire Here today gone tomorrow……………the brief Excel era Fleet numbers: 201-215 Registration number: R201-215DKG Chassis type: Optare Excel L1150 Engine type: Cummins 6BT 6 cylinder turbocharged Gearbox: Allison B300R “World” series Overall length: 11.5m Brakes: Air Suspension: Air Body manufacturer: Optare integral Seating layout: B42F Year built: 1997 Date of withdrawal: May to July 2000 The Optare Excel was to be the first purpose built low-floor single decker to be produced by this Leeds based bus builder. It was a full-size bus launched in 1995 and replaced the more conventionally built Delta. It was constructed as a fully integral vehicle and the styling of the body, whilst quite obviously Optare, was very striking and incorporated a very deep windscreen above a simple flat front panel. The bus was available in four lengths, 9.6m, 10m, 10.70m and 11.50m and given chassis codes L960, L1000, L1070 and L1150 respectively. Seating usually ranged from 27 in the L960 up to 45 in the L1150, but varied to suit individual customers’ requirements. The first example was N330 EUG, a 10 metre demonstrator built for Optare’s own use in 1995. This was followed in 1996 by four 9.6m examples for Thorpes of London and eight 10.7m models for Blackpool Transport. The Excel became very popular with orders coming from both large and small operators. The bus was updated in 1999 with the launch of the Excel 2, which offered the Mercedes Benz 900 series engine as an option but retained the same Allison gearbox. This was available in three lengths 10.7m, 11.5m and 11.8m (L1180). The new long 11.8m version was favoured by Wilts and Dorset and Trent Buses. 5
Page 1 and 2: FREE TO MEMBERS £1 TO NON MEMBERS
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Page 7 and 8: on all four sides which featured th
Page 9 and 10: Life after Cardiff The first of the
Page 11 and 12: all ten from being advertised for s
Page 13 and 14: GROUP VEHICLE STATUS LIST; (CTPG ve
Page 15 and 16: DEREK’S LOG; (Now that we are app
Page 17 and 18: chassis. Around the wing needed a h
Page 19 and 20: found and welding into place. At th
Page 21 and 22: DATES FOR YOUR 2010 DIARY; 6 th Jun
Page 23 and 24: A SLICE OF THE CAKE (2) Swansea bas

2010 – Issue 2 of 4

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