Bristol Tramways 2088 bus, in the centre of Coleford, 1948.

Registration number: FAE 82 or FAE 62

Peter Essex wrote (Dec 2008): "Does anyone know what a BTCC bus was doing in Coleford?. I never saw one in Lydney in the early years after the war (whereas country buses could be seen in London in those days because, for example, bus depots had been bombed) and yet the destination blind looks to have" NEY" as the last 3 letters of the destination. The roof route number box is blank and the Red & Whites didn't show a route number. Makes me
think this vehicle was on fairly long term loan to the Forest. Did any Red & White garages or vehicles suffer war damage?".

Terry added (July 2009): "... B.T.C.C. had a garage in Coleford until 1950, when it was transferred to Red & White, with an exchange of buses between Stroud and Coleford. Bristol ran these services:
101 Coleford to Ross,
102 Monmouth-Coleford-Tidenham-Chepstow,
104 Coleford-Cannop,
105 Monmouth-Coleford-Tintern-Chepstow,
106 Monmouth-Coleford-Bream-Lydney (interworked with Red & White 5, Hereford-Lydney),
121 Coleford-Symonds Yat
122 Coleford-Dilke Hospital.
172 Cheltenham-Coleford also operated one service each way on Sundays out of Cheltenham.

More local bus photos can be seen on Terry's web site

Peter Essex added (August 2009): "...Thanks for that, Terry. I've now seen the commmentary under the photo of Coleford BTCC garage as well.  I had never realised BTCC ran that side of the Severn, particularly as I can remember Red & White ran a service all the way between Gloucester and Cardiff.   I do remember the two-hourly Hereford
bus at Lydney, also that Bevan ran a bus between Cinderford and Blakeney via Soudley, but I'd thought that was the only interloper in the Forest which I had thought was always a Red & White preserve.   Didn't Watts of Lydney have a had in founding the Red & White?" .

Terry Harper added (August 2009): "... John Watts was one of the founders of Red & White, starting in the Valleys on the Monmouthshire/Glamorgan border, in the 1920s. I understand that the PSV Circle are working on a history of Red & White, but it is not yet published".

Alan O Watkins added (September 2013): "... 2088 was one of the first Bristol L-types to be built. They were a type which started prewar and were still being built in the 1950's. One of the batch - registered FAE 60 - survives today in the guise of an overhead inspection vehicle. Lovely, noisy brutes they were, too".

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