A highly successful mini running day began 2024 for the Friends of King Alfred Buses (FoKAB), amid hopes that a unique group vehicle gutted by fire last month might just be save-able. Nick Larkin reports
Classic buses and coaches operated on a network of routes from Winchester for the New Year Mini Running Day organised by FoKAB, the Friends of King Alfred Buses – but one of the group’s vehicles not at the event was on the minds of many.
Eight members of the FoKAB collection, representing King Alfred Motor Services, the legendary independent which ran in Winchester prior to takeover by Hants & Dorset in 1973, were in use, joined by four ‘visiting’ vehicles.
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There was more than a hint of sadness at the event following a catastrophic fire at a storage unit on 8 December which gutted eight preserved vehicles including a Leyland Olympic, which was new to King Alfred in 1950. The bus, JAA 708, had been Hampshire’s first underfloor-engined single decker when new. Eventually ending up in Ireland, the bus had been rescued by FoKAB and underwent a meticulous and long term restoration, lasting from 2000 to 2012. To many it was the pride of the group’s fleet.
Although initially thought to be completely beyond saving, as sadly was the case with the other vehicles in the fire, hope has been expressed that there might be a chance that the Olympic might survive as a long term and extremely expensive project.
Event visitors were invited to buy a book about the bus, with proceeds going towards the Olympic’s restoration, a mammoth task beginning with its removal from the fire site and full inspection.
With no local Stagecoach buses operating on New Years Day, the FoKAB services, on which no fares were charged, proved popular with members of the public as well as being enjoyed by enthusiasts. The vehicles made an impressive sight on Winchester’s Broadway, with its statue of King Alfred, and also in the town’s bus station, where they were on layover, making an interesting contrast to buses on Bluestar’s service 1 to Southampton, which was operating normally.
For the first time, a direct link was provided between the King Alfred celebration and the Provincial Society’s Ale & Ride event based at Fareham and Gosport.
Visiting vehicles ranged from BRM 596, Steve Morris’s magnificent newly restored 1936 Leyland TD4 with 1950 Eastern Coachworks body, new to Cumberland Motor Services, to 1979 ex-Reading MCW Metrobus WRD 162T and Brighton Corporation 1963 Weymann-bodied Leyland PD2 23 ACD.
FoKAB chairman James Freeman said: “This was certainly the best New Year’s Day operation we have experienced for a good many years. The buses performed well, the volunteers did all that was expected of them and more, the passengers came in droves from all around and a good time was had by all.”
FoKAB’s next event is the original King Alfred Running Day on Bank Holiday Monday 6 May.
Olympic update: can it be saved?
Friends of King Alfred chairman James Freeman described the fire which gutted eight preserved vehicles on 8 December as ‘a tragedy,’ adding: “It’s changed our views. You can’t depend on anything.” The cause of the blaze, which spread from another building to a storage unit rented by FoKAB, is still unknown.
James emphasised that the Olympic needed to be fully inspected to find its true condition before any decision could be taken on whether it might be restorable, and the priority was to remove it from the present site. He added: “I am often accused of over-optimism but the bus is not destroyed. It’s badly damaged, but not a complete wipe-out.”
James said: “The fire has come from above. The monocoque is more or less all there. It’s survived, and the running units seem to be intact. Obviously restoration would cost a lot of money and practicality would put a lot of obstacles in our way, but who knows?”
