As we are now midway through the second year of the Three Counties Project a critical look at ourselves is justified. Our membership has grown steadily, with a wide range of vehicles now being represented. Our move to Chalgrave Village Hall for our meetings has been a success judged by the attendance figures, which have been in the fifties for several of our meetings last season.
We are still researching possible sites for a permanent Three Counties Museum, but before we can progress in this direction, charitable status must be obtained, and museum registration will also be necessary. Unfortunately without the Heritage Lottery funding and other grants it will not be possible and full business rates would be payable on any premises bought or rented.
The Committee have persuaded member Mike Francis, an accountant by profession, to guide us through our application to the Charity Commissioners. A volunteer is needed to act as Curator to deal with the procedures involved in obtaining Museum registration. This is a lengthy procedure involving accurate documentation of all the artefacts accredited to 3CBCVM - we also have the added problem of a number of the number of exhibits which are privately owned. These problems are not insurmountable, but need to be properly addressed at an early stage.
Members who were present at the April meeting will be aware that we now have our own mugs for sale at £3.00 each, details of which can be found elsewhere on the site - initial sales figures have been encouraging, so get one before they all go!
The Spring meetings have been notable for the high standard of speakers, including Group Captain Peter Garth of the Airship Heritage Trust, and Colin Curtis OBE, whose talk about the development of the Routemaster was most enlightening. It is pleasing to note that Colin has agreed to visit us again next year, on March 25th. Future meetings include presentations by Sam Mullins of the London Transport Museum, and Dennis Talbot of the Manchester Museum of Transport, and also slideshows by Michael Trew and John Hambley. Anyone who can recommend new speakers for the future will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to the efforts of Nick Doolan and Jonathan Wilkins, the Three Counties Website is going from strength to strength, and has given us a world-wide web presence - we have received contact from people as far away as Canada supporting our cause here in the Three Counties.
Finally, thanks must go to Carol Warren and Avril Chapman, who between them have served the refreshments at the Chalgrave meetings. Thanks must also go to Mick Rolley for his supply of refreshments, and to all members who have donated prizes to and taken part in the raffles, the income has allowed us to cover our meeting expenses comfortably.
Dave Johnson
The Bristol RE6B
If you know little of Bristols this will mean nothing. If you know a great deal you might suspect that the writer is talking through his hat. True, a Bristol 'RE' with a Bristol engine was never catalogued. All production examples had Gardner or Leyland engines and were listed as type RE6G or RE6L accordingly. But there was an almost official 'RE6B' once. I know - I drove it.
Bristol's 'own make' AVW oil engine was common enough in the K, L, and LD in their various varieties.A reasonable number of the later LS underfloors were also Bristol powered using the horizontal version of the AVW engine which was known, correctly if you are familiar with Bristol designations, as the LSW.
The next Bristol single-decker, the MW, was never made with a Bristol engine, probably because Bristol were now involved in developing the larger BVW engine for the flat floor Lodekka. Therefore not many expected the next flat engined Bristol, the immortal RE, would appear with a Bristol engine. However, Bristol management was well aware of production economies due to standardisation - why else did the RE have an LS front axle and a Lodekka rear axle?
Shortly before the first pre-production RE, chassis number REX-003, had joined the Experimental Department a stock BVW engine was turned on its side and fitted with a 'one-off' welded up sump to suit. Not many other changes were made, or even found necessary on a prototype, which is amazing in view of the difficulties some much wealthier firms encountered when they 'horizontalised' previously well proven vertical engines.
It is difficult to remember now how slow the early RE's were. Admittedly, they were not quite as slow as an LS or an MW but they would only just touch 59mph when the contemporary Bedford SB and corresponding Ford would do a clear 70 (on the clock - and slightly downhill!) The top management were mortified and wanted 'sixty' for the first Bristol road test for years - the company had just returned to the open market after being restricted to the nationalised BTC and its successors.
Gardner's, we found, had taken adequate precautions against people souping-up their solidly
reliable engines - not without reason, because they tended to come to pieces in important places
if over-revved. A change in gear ratio was out of the queston in the time available so we fitted
over-size rear tyres and pumped them up rather hard. We got 59.5mph for our efforts.
When we put the 'horizontal' BVW in our RE it was a different story. The standard BVW was limited to Gardner revs, presumably to stop FLF6B's gaining an unfair advantage in drag racing events, but our horizontal BVW did what we told it to do, which was 2000 revs instead of 1700. After all, the warranty was on us and if the plot came apart it would be us who had to tell Gloucestershire CC why there was a huge blodge of sump oil on the A38. Now we had a seventy mile an hour Bristol, genuine, full power and on the level - as amazed Bedford SB drivers discovered as we swept past them.
Why we got away with this I cannot imagine because both AEC and Leyland, with vastly greater resources, had all manner of trouble getting their highly developed engines from 1800 up to 2000 revs per minute. Perhaps we were lucky, perhaps we were brilliant. Personally, I think it was the name on the front - or rather the people who worked there.
Sadly, it all came to nought when new, pro - Leyland management decided to stop Bristol making their own engines. However, before that happened, we had one glorious summer because after the 'ordinary' RE6B we went on and made ourselves a turbo-supercharged Bristol RE6B. And that, my friends, was a bus.
Francis Tresham
Vehicle Notes - The Midland Red Leyland Leopard
It might be useful, and helpful to others in the group, if members who own vehicles are able to provide a brief 'round up' of what they've been up to with their vehicles, problems encountered, even pleas for help. If you can offer something, please contact one of the committee. As Secretary and part-owner of Midland Red 674, I guess I should set the ball rolling.
Since the start of 2000, 674 has had two sections of exhaust replaced, one after the pipe failed just before the silencer box, making a normally throaty Leopard highly vociferous! In this respect we are fortunate that many replacement items are still available 'off the shelf' for Leopards, and we fitted a new exhaust section the weekend after the failure.
More persistent problems were with flat batteries, as a check by a local coach operator suggested all four were OK. After cleaning the terminals we still had starting problems so I removed the batteries and sought a second opinion. This showed that two were OK, but two had very much died. Needless to say, since replacement of said batteries, 674 has started on the button every time.
One item not on the agenda was the failure of the quick release valve in second gear, resulting in an alarming hiss of air whenever second gear was engaged. This prevented 674 from attending the pub meet at Quainton in May, but a replacement was soon procured through a local coach operator and the offending item replaced.
674 is perhaps unusual in that virtually throughout her preserved career she has had a full PSV Class VI test. This year, we asked Chassis Developments to conduct a pre-MOT inspection, and 674 duly came back with a list of mostly minor faults. I spent an enjoyable day tightening spring clamps and learned (I think) how to use (and how not to use) heat in loosening recalcitrant nuts and bolts.
The most serious problem was that the step light did not come on when the doors opened. My co-owner The Pilot spent an equally enjoyable day or three trying to work out why. Around 10 hours before the test he gave up and re-wired it so the light now comes on whenever the doors are open and the battery isolator is on (we had thought it should be wired through the sidelights). It turned out that it is correct as it is, which is something of a relief to Pontius. We also needed to adjust the headlight beam, which we did 9 hours before the test against the garage doors, fully expecting to have to re-adjust it at the Test station.
674 passed her test with no problems - we didn't even have to adjust the headlight beam! Since then the boot door has been adjusted for a better fit, and some routine tasks carried out. Thanks go to the lads at Milton, Northants, who let me rob some items from a Ford / Plaxton, which will go for scrap if they can find anyone who will have it. In particular, with the seats and windows already out, it was a chance to look at how some of the interior trim goes together. This is an area where 674 is giving some concern, and where I think the next major work will take place.
Matthew Gamble
Vehicle Notes - Derrick Bonfield's Fordson E83W
FMJ 87 was purchased by Derrick from J.Wood of Eaton Bray who had used it as a business vehicle
until 1976. After this time it was kept in an open cart shed until the late 1980's when Derrick
purchased it. On aquisition it was in a very poor condition, Derrick has carried out a complete
restoration in his garage apart from a crank regrind and a rebore which was done professionally.
The vehicle has been restored as a working example of this model, it has a full MOT and has
just undergone a fifty year service. Derrick believes that the vehicle has worked in the area
throughout its life, and he would be interested to know of any previous history before it was
owned by Mr Wood.
Nick Doolan
'ANORAKS' DAY OUT'
at the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway
It has been judged that the TCBCVM rally held at Leighton Buzzard on July 16th 2000 was very
successful. Months of planning had been put into the event by Dave Johnson, Ian Pearce and
Colin Bassett and their expertise ensured that the rally was well publicised and patronised.
The connection with the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway (LBNGR) was felt to be another
attraction, and well loaded trains ran up the line all day. Vehicle entries on the day were
encouraging and there was a good ratio of buses to commercial vehicles - the majority of which
belonged to members. A bus service ran between the railway and Leighton Buzzard town centre,
this was initially run by the Midland Red Leyland Leopard and later by London Transport GS
class GS32.
President Ian Pearce broadcast his Sunday lunchtime radio programme from the event and
interviewed many vehicle owners as well as providing a general overview of the days proceedings.
We were also graced with the presence of Mr Cyril Toms, one time Chief Examiner for London
Transport who entertained us with reminiscences and also examined John Clarke's driving - he
passed, just! Mike Sutcliffe brought his newly restored London & North Western Railway
charabanc over from Totternhoe and apart from this, a traction engine and several fire engines
were present which gave us some good variety.
From the feedback we received, everyone seemed to think it was a good day, and it has done much to improve the image of TCBCVM in the minds of many influential people. We hope it will be the beginning of a yearly rally at Leighton Buzzard, and hopefully it will gain strength as the years go on.
Nick Doolan