Mid Norfolk Railway ~ Vintage Bus & Coach Day

Five privately preserved Eastern Coach Works bodied Bristols at the Bus Day in Dereham Station yard

Sunday witnessed a very successful Vintage Bus & Coach Day at the Mid Norfolk Railway with a record number of vehicles attending and passengers too.

In addition to the ex Eastern Counties vehicles there was also a strong presence of former Ipswich Buses with open top Leyland Atlantean MRT9P proving to be a very popular attraction. The Roe bodied decker was new to Ipswich in 1976 but caught fire in the 1980's and reentered service as an open top bus. It has only recently been acquired for preservation.

Former Eastern Counties FLF6G JPW456D was making its first public appearance in the UK after spending 32 years in Belgium as a catering vehicle. New in August 1966, it is currently in the ownership of Julian Patterson.

Another interesting vehicle attending was ECW bodied VRT VPW85S. Ordered by Waveney District Council prior to takeover by Eastern Counties, it was subsequently retained by Bristol Commercial Vehicles for roller break testing prior to entering service with Counties in September 1997. It is now owned by the VR190 Preservation Group.

Marshall bodied Bristol RESL TCD490J made an appearance in its Southdown livery. It was new to the operator in October 1970.

Thetford based Coach Services sent along their ex Trent Barton Alexander (Belfast) bodied Volvo B10M-60 M51PRA. New in January 1995, Coach Services acquired it from Green Triangle of Atherton, Greater Manchester in October 2008.

The final photo shows privately preserved Eastern Counties RL516 EPW516K at Hardingham Station linking up with the Mid Norfolk Railway's Metro-Cammell Class 101 DMU L836.

My thanks to 'Reg Vardy' for providing the photos from the very successful event.

Roy