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Devon
General 88 (VOD 88K) - 1972 Bristol LHS with Marshall bodywork
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The Bristol LHS was a small, lightweight chassis
specifically designed for rural routes and was ideal for the narrow,
windy, Devon lanes. 88 was one of six ordered by Devon
General before the company was absorbed into the National Bus Company
and was one of the last buses to be delivered in the famous maroon and
ivory livery into which it has recently been restored. It is
unusual in having the rather angular Marshall body which very few
operators bought. 88 spent most of its time at Newton Abbot
depot before passing to an operator on Guernsey and later worked as an
airport bus on Jersey. Recovered to the mainland for
preservation, restoration work commenced in 2005 after several years in
storage, culminating in 2009 with a full repaint into traditional Devon
General maroon and cream as delivered when new.
Full vehicle
history Read the story of 88's resoration
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Devon
General 563 (ATA 563L) - 1973 Bristol VRT with ECW bodywork
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After buying Altanteans in the
late 1960s, Devon General then switched to Bristol for their
double-deckers and bought a large number of VRTs. 563 was
part of the second batch and is an early Series 2 bus and one of the
first to feature curved windscreens. It worked all over the
Devon General area including spells at Torquay, Sidmouth and
Exeter. Whilst at Torquay in the late 1970s, it was painted
yellow to advertise the now defunct Torbay Aircraft Museum.
It later worked for East Yorkshire Motor Services and Spa Motors of
Strathpeffer in the Highlands of Scotland. It is now back in
the South West and has been returned to the poppy red and white livery
carried when new.
Full
vehicle history
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Devon
General 584 (VDV 123S) - 1978 Bristol VRT with ECW bodywork
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584 is a Series 3 VR and one of many purchased by
Devon General throughout the 1970s. Initially it operated
from Exmouth depot in NBC poppy red livery but gained notoriety at
first repaint by being selected to receive an overall advertisement to
the order of Tesco Supermarkets. As a result, it was painted
in Tesco's red and white colours and was transferred to Newton Abbot
depot where it operated services to the local superstore, a role it
carried out until withdrawal in 1989. After sale, 584 spent
fourteen years in Scotland with Moffat & Williamson, later
moving back south to West Kent Coaches, who painted it in the
traditional Devon General livery which it still carries. It
was purchased for preservation in 2006 and is currently undergoing
restoration.
Full vehicle
history
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Devon
General 913 (913 DTT) - 1960 Leyland Atlantean with Roe
bodywork
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 913
is an example of a very early rear-engined double-decker and is an
Atlantean PDR1. It is part of Devon General's second batch of
23 buses. Between 1959 and 1961 a total of 62 Atlanteans
entered service in Torbay, the final nine of those, being the famous
'Sea Dog' class convertible open-toppers. Only two of the 53
closed top buses still exist and this is the only one currently on the
road. 913 ran in public service until 1983, albeit the last
few years were spent working in Plymouth for Western
National. After withdrawal, it passed through several
preservationist owners and the current owner has, over the past few
years, thoroughly restored the bus back to near original condition.
Full vehicle history
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Devon
General 928 (928 GTA) - 1961 Leyland Atlantean with
Metro-Cammell convertible open-top bodywork
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928 'Sir Humphrey Gilbert' is one of Devon
General's famous 'Sea Dog' class convertible open-top Atlanteans, all
of which were named after famous historical sea-farers. When
new, the batch of nine identical buses were painted in a reversed
livery of cream with maroon bands in the usual Devon General
style. Having convertible tops meant that they could run as
open-toppers during the summer and as conventional roofed buses during
the winter and were the first rear-engined double-deckers so
built. After retirement from service in Torbay in 1983, 928
spent a few years operating for Lincolnshire (as AFE 387A), before
passing through a number of different hands until acquired by the
present owner in 2005. Since then it has undergone quite an
extensive internal refurbishment (including replacement of the upper
deck floor) and preparation for re-paint. It is currently in
store whilst attention is given to other vehicles in the Group
collection.
Full vehicle
history
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Southern
National 1159 (AFJ 766T) - 1979 Bristol VRT with ECW bodywork
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1159 is a Series 3 VR, new to Western National at
Weymouth in 1979. Remarkably, this bus managed to stay at
Weymouth and Bridport depots for its entire career of over twenty-five
years, despite ownership passing to the reformed Southern National in
1983 and later to First. Interestingly, it should have been
one of very few VRs in the country to receive First 'Barbie' livery but
somehow, when the time came, it emerged in Southern National green and
cream! Finally withdrawn in the summer of 2005, it was
secured for preservation and given a fresh coat of green and cream a
couple of years later.
Full vehicle
history
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Bayline
701 (P701BTA) - 1997 Volvo B6LE with Alexander bodywork
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The first low-floor vehicles delivered to
Stagecoach SW were the Volvo B6LEs (P701-714BTA) during March 1997,
this marking the return to ordering full-size single deckers after a
period dominated by minibuses. 701 was the first of the batch
to be used for driver training ahead of the launch of the remainder on
the '12' service (Newton Abbot - Brixham) in April of that year.
The bus spent much of its early life in the Torbay area but
then moved to Exeter in 2002 and also saw service in
Exmouth during 2010. 701 has been acquired directly
from Stagecoach and retains many original features. A
re-paint back into 'stripey' livery with EasyRider branding has now
been completed..
Full vehicle
history
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Devon
General 1804 (A680 KDV) - 1983 Leyland Olympian with ECW
bodywork
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The last new double-deckers bought by Devon General
before the minibus revolution and later take-over by Stagecoach, were
seven Leyland Olympians such as 1804. The batch was split
between Exeter and Torquay, 1804 being one of the Torquay-based
ones. It spent much of its time working on the 'Riviera
Connection' express service to Plymouth before transferring to Exeter
depot. After Devon General, it worked for Southern National
at Weymouth, Isle of Man Transport and the coach company Sanders of
Holt in Norfolk. It is currently painted in the cream and red
livery which it carried in the late 1980s.
Full vehicle
history
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Devon
General 2883 (FDV 829V) - 1979 Leyland National 2 integral
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2883 was the first Mark2 National to be delivered
to the National Bus Company and was one of three for the Devon General
division of Western National. Delivered in green, which was
fleet livery between 1979 and 1983, it was based at Exeter depot for
most of its life in Devon before being sold to Stagecoach in
1989. It then spent three years at Winchester depot before
moving to Worthing for another nine and was the last operational
National to run for Stagecoach South. Sold for preservation
in the Midlands during 2001 and restored to original green livery, it
changed hands in 2008 and is now back home in the South West.
Full vehicle
history
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Midland
Red 5919 (RHA 919G) - 1968 BMMO S23 with BMMO bodywork
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Up until 1970, the Birmingham & Midland
Motor Omnibus Company (better known as Midland Red) built the majority
of their own vehicles in-house. 5919 is an example of their
final design of single-deck bus, the S23 and initially it served at
Banbury depot, later moving to Malvern in September 1971 and finally
Wellington in October 1976. It stayed at Wellington until
withdrawal in July 1980, when still only eleven and a half years
old. Quickly acquired by a preservation group, 5919 was first
used as a driver training vehicle before subsequently being preserved
in BMMO livery and later in NBC poppy red. 2009 saw the bus returned to
original Midland Red BMMO livery with gold underlined fleetnames and
very nice it looks too!
Full vehicle
history
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Devon
General 518 (CTT 518C) - 1965 AEC Regent V with Willowbrook
bodywork
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518 was one of a
batch of 6 identical vehicles (515-520) delivered to Devon General
during April 1965. All had the
smaller AV470 engine which was later superseded by the more powerful
AV590. 518, along with sister
vehicle 517, was immediately allocated to Exmouth Depot where it spent
most of its time operating routes 59 & 59A
(Withycombe - Littleham Village)
and route 5 (Exmouth - Crediton) on Sundays.
The bus later saw service in Sidmouth, Exeter,
Torquay and Newton Abbot before returning to Exeter for its final 12
months during which it was commonly used on route B (High
Meadows - Beacon Heath) and route 2 (Exeter - Newton
Abbot via Dawlish & Teignmouth, the doyen of Devon General
Regents for many years). 1977 and
1978 saw the gradual withdrawal of all 6 of the batch with 518 the sole
survivor by the time of its withdrawal in September 1978
Full vehicle history
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TYD
911W - 1981 Leyland Leopard with Duple Dominant bus bodywork
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New to the well-known Safeway Services of South
Petherton, Somerset, this is a typical heavyweight 'independent' bus of
the late 1970s/early 1980s and operated for Safeway for twenty years
before moving to Merseyside and working as a driver training
vehicle. The bus is unusual in having 3+2 seating at the
rear, to give a high capacity, thus avoiding the need for Safeway to
buy a double-decker to cope with heavy peak loadings on their key route
into Yeovil. Following the stint as a training bus, it passed
through a couple of preservationists before being acquired by the
present owner in 2008. A full re-paint into original Safeway livery was
carried-out during 2010.
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