Aintree Coachline Proprietor John Cherry’s newly-restored Ribble Bristol RE has made its public debut, reports Nick Larkin
Aintree Coachline Proprietor John Cherry is celebrating completion of his latest restoration, a new to Ribble Bristol RE.
HRN249G has been completed in the year that celebrates 100 years of Ribble Motor Services. It was one of 20 Gardner-engined RELL6Gs with dual-door ECW (Eastern Coach Works) bodywork delivered in April 1969, serving at Bootle depot on Merseyside until 1982. It was then, said John, “pulled from the withdrawn pile.”
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Refurbished, the Bristol was then sent to the Standerwick depot at Blackpool for 12 months so it could operate a works contract. It then served for the next 16 years or so as a mobile tea room with Age Concern. The seats were taken out (four Blackpool tram seats being fitted in their place) and most windows panelled over.
Around 1996 it was acquired for preservation and passed between groups before being stored at the Merseyside Transport Trust’s Burscough premises. John acquired the bus, which had not run for two decades, last year.
The interior was stripped and seats fitted from a former Ulsterbus Bristol RE that also provided mechanical parts. The brakes and electrics were overhauled and new window pans fitted.
Bodywork attention, including paintwork, was carried out in house at Aintree Coachline. The bus was ready to make its post-restoration debut at the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust’s Open Day in Kirkby on 2 June.
“A lot of people have fond memories of Ribble and I’m really pleased to see restoration of the RE completed,” said John, who is Chairman of the trust.
A week before saw another vehicle restored by John appear at the Ribble 100 event. A major commemoration of the operator’s centenary, it was organised by the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust and held in Morecambe.
RRN423 is a 1962 ‘White Lady’ Leyland Atlantean with Weymann bodywork that was one of 20 double-decker coaches used on Ribble’s express services. It was displayed next to a Ribble White Lady of a previous generation, DCK219, a 1951 East Lancs-bodied Leyland PD2/3 owned by Sir Brian Souter.
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