Bournemouth Bus Rally 2019
A warm welcome to our
DVD programme of the third Bournemouth Bus Rally. The independent transport videos cameras
were proud to be asked back by the organising team to produce this official DVD
of this super event that took place in King’s Park, Bournemouth on Sunday 9th
June 2019. As a supporter of the event,
we were on site very early in the morning to record the arrival of the buses
and coaches as they took up their positions on the rally field. As always the event was keenly supported by
the two main local bus operators, RATP Dev UK – Yellow Buses and Go-Ahead
South Coast - ‘morebus’. This year
the celebration was for 117 years of public transport in Bournemouth and the
marking of 50 years since the last trolleybus ran on the streets of
Bournemouth. Unfortunately there were no
trolleybuses present, but to make amends Yellow Buses displayed their ‘History
Bus’ - 30 (YX65 RGZ), an Alexander Dennis Enviro200, in which the interior is
adorned with images of trams, trolleybuses and buses of Bournemouth Corporation
in years gone by. The exterior is also
suitably lettered to mark the occasion.
You can see Bournemouth Trolleybuses in action on our DVDs entitled
“Bournemouth Trolleybuses” and “Bournemouth Buses”.
Yellow Buses sent a good selection of their
current fleet, each one representing a route that they travel on. Quite a colourful sight, as all routes
operated by Yellow Buses are colour coded.
The older order was not forgotten as a good number of preserved Bournemouth
Corporation buses were in attendance.
These included Leyland Tiger Cub PSUC1 – 266 (RRU 903), Leyland PD3 –
159 (8159 EL), Leyland PD3A - 167 (6167 RU), Daimler Fleetline - 184 (CRU
184C), Daimler Roadliner - 55 (KRU 55F), Leyland Atlantean - 230 (ORU 230G) and
Dennis Dominator 262 (H262 MFX). Most of
these buses had travelled a good distance to get to the rally. Open-top Daimler Fleetline 184 was
undoubtedly one of the main stars of the show.
It had not been seen for many years and it is a tribute to its owner,
Nick Jackson for all the hard work he has put into it, getting this bus up to
the high standard we see today. Driven
by Nick, 184 was used to take the Mayor on a brief tour of Bournemouth and
later in our programme our cameras also take a ride reliving many memories of
these lovely buses from the mid-1960s.
Preserved buses and coaches from the Bournemouth area and beyond were
also in attendance. Some of the fleets
represented were Hants & Dorset, Southampton Corporation, London &
Country, London Transport, Wilts & Dorset, Ribble, Damory, Southern Vectis
and many independents, to name but a few.
Current operators also joined in with Stagecoach and Go South Coast’s ‘Salisbury Reds’ showing off their latest vehicles and liveries! We film the action throughout the day in and
around King’s Park including the buses and coaches leaving for home.
Final scenes are filmed on Bath Road, close
to the sea front as a cavalcade of Bournemouth buses, both past and present
make their way through the town. A big thank you to all concerned for
organising the 2019 Bournemouth Bus Rally.
We hope that you enjoy our record of the day.