Service 511 – Baltic wharf
Also started in April 1991 was the 511 Baltic Wharf to the centre of Bristol,
which ran every 30 minutes. 16 seat Freight-Rover D806KWT was the first
bus used, but was not very
suitable for the arduous
traffic
conditions
encountered.
As
an
experiment,
20
seat
D760JUB was fitted with an
automatic gearbox from an FX4 taxi, but this
was abandoned once the more suitable Dodge S56 C825CBU was bought
from Greater Manchester. The Dodge was the regular bus for several years
on the 511. In March 1994, the
route was changed (at our
suggestion) to operate as a
circular service, returning from
the Centre via Clifton and
Hotwells. We were asked if we
could provide a vehicle in a
distinctive livery for this new
route, and Dodge Reeve
Burgess D109OWG in all-over
lilac was the result. It was
certainly distinctive, but not
universally appreciated.
The final purchase for the 511 was a
later Renault S56 Northern Counties
G693SNC from Heaton of Wigan. This
model had improved suspension (much needed!) and disc brakes to the front.
It was also rather livelier than its predecessors. It is seen at the 1994 Bristol
rally at Whitchurch Airfield – an event now sadly missed.
Paulton services
In September 1991 Somerbus took on the 747 / 748 Paulton to Radstock
service, provided to replace commercial services previously operated by A1
taxis of Radstock, who
suddenly
ceased
business. As A1 had
been operating a lowfloor Omni bought new,
we tried to provide the
best practical alternative
in the form of Talbot
Pullman E325LHG. This
was very popular with
passengers, but not very
robust. It was replaced
by another Manchester
Dodge D890MDB (pictured
here on an early morning
Saturday 554 journey to
Southmead). The 747/8 was
lost when re-tendered in July
1992,
to
be
operated
commercially
by
Clapton
Coaches from August. The
route passed with the Clapton
bus business to Badgerline in
1994, to emerge once again
with Somerbus in 2000 – more
of that later.
In May 1992 we started an experimental contract for service 746 which ran
from Valley View to
Paulton
Gateway
twice a week for
shopping, a distance
of about half a mile. It
averaged around 2 or
3 passengers, and
lasted for a year.
Toyota
Optimo
C618JHS is seen
outside
Gateway.
This was bought from
NDY Coach Sales
with
re-trimmed
interior, but suffered typical Optimo reliability problems, and so did not remain
in the fleet long. It features here a destination box taken from a Manchester
Dodge mounted on the dashboard, with a home- made destination blind.
Clevedon services
May 1992 saw the start of the most successful period of Somerbus operations
when we started the 694/5/9 routes from Bristol to Clevedon. These were
tendered
services,
previously operated by
Badgerline, running via
the
Portway
to
Avonmouth, over the
M5 to Portishead, and
then along the coast
road
to
Clevedon.
Three
buses
were
required at peak times,
and as Avon County
Council were insistent
they did not want
coaches on the route, two short Leyland National 2’s were bought from
Stevensons of Uttoxeter, and a Bedford YMT automatic with Wadham Stringer
body ex Metrobus. From the
start, the Nationals gave
considerable trouble, and
were sold a year later. A
rather
more
successful
vehicle was the superb 11
metre
Olympian
coach
YPJ502Y (later HJI3932)
bought for the service when
peak loadings started to
exceed the capacity of a
single
deck
vehicle.
Unfortunately, the very size
of
this coach caused
problems at one tight turn in
Walton-in-Gordano, and this
too did not last long.
Bristol
LH
ECW HJT37N
entered service
as a spare
vehicle after a
good deal of
tidying up, but
was very noisy
on this rather
fast route, and
not
popular
with
many
passengers, or
drivers (other
than me).
It soon became clear that coaches would be much more suitable and 12
metre Leyland Tiger
automatic Duple 53
seat DCM552X was
the first purchase. I
was then delighted
to be able to buy
immaculate Leopard
MNM35V from the
well-respected fleet
of Denis Oates of
St. Ives (Cornwall),
with
its
sister
MNM31V following the next year.
These two Plaxton Express 53 seat coaches had been new to British Airways,
and lovingly cared-for by Denis Oates. Star oddity of the Somerbus fleet in
1993 was Leyland Royal Tiger Doyen B261AMG, which was fitted with 16
seats around tables at the front, a servery and toilet in the middle, with a
lounge area at the rear, complete with televisions. It was used on some of the
lighter-loaded journeys to Clevedon. It passed to Andy James in 1994.
Other vehicles bought at this time
included one-time Wallace Arnold
Leopard NNW120P, and ex Stevens of
Bristol Ford R1114 EHW292W, neither
of which stayed in the fleet for very
long. The Clevedon services were lost
in April 1994, when Avon County Council
re-tendered the contract on a reduced
basis to save money. The result was a
“nil” bid from Badgerline, who were
obviously keen to see us out of
Portishead, where we were collecting a
great number of passengers.
Service 624 Severn Beach
We started the 624
from
Bristol
to
Severn Beach in
May
1993,
celebrating
the
award
of
the
contract by buying
our first proper new
bus, Wright Nimbus
Mercedes
709D
K29OEU.
Other
regular vehicles on
the service included
the lovely Royal
Blue
Bristol
RELH6G RDV423H,
and Leopard Duple
SWW130R, another
former
Wallace
Arnold
coach
bought from James
Bevan of Lydney.
This was later reregistered
as
JIL2213. It is seen
here emerging from
Bristol Bus Station.
The 624 stayed with
Somerbus
until
November
1994,
when
remaining
operations
were
sold to Badgeline.
1994 – a year of much change
Following the news of the loss of our Clevedon services, we were in the
position where we would have been left with only the Baltic Wharf and Severn
Beach routes, and were looking for alternatives. At the suggestion of Avon, we
decided to register commercially large parts of the Hartcliffe to Avonmouth
526/528 route. In preparation for this, a batch of 1982 Atlantean Willowbrook
double-deckers were bought from Merseyside. Badgerline intervened in the
meantime, by deciding
that they could do this
work
commercially
themselves
(losing
hundreds of thousands
of pounds worth of
subsidy), so we were
back to square one. I
contacted
Badgerline
head office, suggesting
that I was going to
operate Portishead to
Bristol commercially; the result, after an amicable meeting, was that the
673/4/5 Blagdon to Bristol was subcontracted to Somerbus from April to
July 1994. This, at least, gave us use
for the vehicles and drivers in the
short-term. Owned for a while was
this Volvo B58 semi-automatic
OWK202P, taken in part-exchange
for
Quest
Jonkheere
Piccolo
B490GBD, which had been a
restoration project. The Volvo was
sold to Vista Coaches as JIL2212.
The Blagdon contract expired at the end of July 1994, and sadly for all, was
won by Swiftlink. Our only gains were the Burnham-on-sea to Bristol 480/490
for Somerset, and Fridays only Bishop Sutton – Keynsham and Bath 640. It
was decided to register commercially from August the 120/121 Bristol to
Weston-super-Mare service, which, too, would have gone to Swiftlink.
To cut costs, some of
more
expensive
vehicles were sold,
and some Bedfords,
YLQ’s CTN635V and
LGR50T, and YNT
PNT825X
were
bought, all Duples.
The
YNT
was
normally used on the
Burnham
service.
Also acquired was
Leopard
XBF57S,
which was later sold
to the short-lived East
Devon Buses.
Commercial operation of the Weston-super-Mare services was not a complete
disaster, but did not
provide the kind of
income we had
achieved on the
Clevedon services.
Some
more
discussions
were
held with Badgerline
during November,
resulting in the sale
of all remaining
Somerbus services
at the beginning of
December
1994.
Only two vehicles
were transferred to Badgerline, the Baltic Wharf Renault G693SNC, and our
Mercedes K29OEU.
The wilderness years
The agreement signed with Badgerline banned my operation of buses for five
years, but did allow me to operate one minibus on schools and private hire. To
this end, an LDV 16 seat coach G376SNU was bought in December 1994, to
be replaced by the rather nicer Mercedes 508D H59GLP in June 1995. This
was
painted
in
Coombs livery as we
were, at the time,
covering a good deal
of work for them.
Later
re-registered
NIL2100,
this
survived with me until
February 1999, when
increased
numbers
on the school contract
operated forced the
purchase of a larger
coach. Taking a bit of
a gamble, a new
Mercedes 0814 Onyx 24
seat coach was bought,
S532GHT,
soon
reregistered 620UKM. It was
used to cover the Andybus
Sunday 682 Chipping
Sodbury
to
Cribbs
Causeway service until
excessive
passenger
numbers forced the use of
a larger Andybus vehicle.
Other work undertaken at
this
time
included
Shearings feeders, and
some services for Abus.