(Photo courtesy R Harrison)
This event was held on New Year’s Day and was a tremendous success. It was originally planned for January 2021 but it had to be postponed. New Years Day was chosen for this road run as there are no bus services running in the area on this day and therefore permission to use Bus Stations at Wrexham and Chester was easier to obtain.
The Organisers of the event need to be congratulated for their hard work that would have been necessary to produce such a well planned running day. The team involved behind this event are mainly those involved with Routemasters 4 Hire at Llay including the owner of the company and a number of others who also own former London Buses or drive for the firm. They clearly successfully utilised their network of enthusiasts and preserved vehicle owners to stimulate interest in the event.
One of the objectives of the day was to raise money for the local charity Nightingale House Hospice and it is believed that well over £1,600 was raised.
It was, of course, necessary that all Covid precautions were taken and major changes were made to the arrangements for the day following significant additional requirements brought about in Wales announced just before Christmas. These changes prevented Wrexham being used as a gathering of the vehicles. Therefore the route from Wrexham to Chester was split and the Chester City Park and Ride Car Park on the Wrexham Road was utilised and a new timetable was produced a few days before the day.
In essence a half hourly service was operated between King Street in Wrexham and Chester Railway Station with the buses calling in at the Park and Ride site. On the return journey from the Railway Station the buses called in at the Chester Bus Interchange. The frequency of journeys into Chester from the Park and Ride site was fifteen minutes by utilising additional vehicles. Journeys between Chester and Wrexham were organised such that vehicles passed a timing point in Rossett so that it was possible to swap vehicles mid route.
A detailed timetable was provided and duty boards for each vehicle were produced using industry standard computer software and an example of this for Chester 1 (RFM641) is available below together with the complex timetable and the allocation sheet.
Three ‘Crosville’ vehicles participated DFG157, ERG52 and SNG588 although from the programme of the day two others were originally expected - DVG521 and SLL620. Particular significant was that the D1 route between Chester and Wrexham was a normal haunt for DFG157 just a mere 57 years ago.
The oldest vehicle utilised was the magnificent Guy Arab IV / Massey Chester 1 (RFM641) which dates back to 1953. As can be seen from its running board this vehicle was restricted to the journeys within the City area and did not venture to Wrexham.
The youngest vehicle was Lloyds Coaches latest acquisition Volvo B8RLE/MCV eVoRa BV21OOW. Wyn Lloyd kindly supported this event by providing this vehicle which did a free feeder service from and to Dolgellau and was seen covering the whole route a number of times driven by Daniel King ably assisted by Charlie Williams who ensured, as usual, that there were suitable destinations displayed.
Naturally there were a number of former London vehicles involved including three Routemasters and former BL88 a Bristol LH that has been brilliantly restored by Tim Hines, one of the main organisers.
A full list of the vehicles to be seen on the day is detailed below. This list includes a number of additional vehicles that arrived at the various locations on the route during the day but did not fully participate in the running event.
A feature of this event has appeared in the local press and it was reported that plans have already started to repeat this event next year which is very welcome to see.
