Barry is a small town
in south Wales, alongside its well-known coastal neighbour Barry Island. Broad Street in Barry is home to ‘The Bus
Depot’ where the Cardiff Transport Preservation Group is based in this former
Western Welsh bus depot. In June they
hold a ‘Festival of Transport’ when ‘The Bus Depot’ is also open to the public
and there is a large display of buses at ‘The Show Ground’ at Barry Island
together with a display of classic and performance cars along the
promenade. Both sites are connected with
a regular bus service using heritage buses and coaches. The Group care for some 90 vehicles of which
most have a connection to south Wales, especially Cardiff. The independent transport videos cameras
attended the events in 2022 and 2023 featuring the buses and coaches.
Our programme begins at the 2022 event at ‘The
Bus Depot’ where we film some of the exhibits.
We take rides on three different buses for visits to the Show
Ground. First is on board a former
Southdown Bristol VRT/SL/510 with ECW bodywork, 583 (GNJ 583N). Here we see a good selection of buses from a
number of operators past and present such as Cardiff and Newport Corporations,
Bedwas & Machen UDC, Caerphilly Council, Red & White, Western Welsh and
many more. We take a ride on former City
of Cardiff Guy Arab V with an East Lancs (finished by Neepsend) body, 434 (ABO
434B), that was converted to open-top, for a circular tour to Barry town and
back with our camera in the front lower saloon window capturing the sites and
sounds of this lovely bus. We return to ‘The
Bus Depot’ on board 500 (WNO 484), a 1953 Bristol KSW with an ECW, converted to
open-top by Eastern National, body in the livery of United Welsh.
We conclude with more scenes at ‘The Bus
Depot’ as we see the buses arriving and departing in service including
Cardiff’s latest battery-electric Yutong E12 single-decker in a red and cream
livery celebrating 120 years of buses in Cardiff. Our visit to the 2023 event also begins at ‘The
Bus Depot’ where we see some of the exhibits both inside and outside of this superb
museum. Our cameras take a ride on 258
(G258 HUH), a 1990 Leyland Lynx mark 1 in Cardiff Bus livery for a ride to the
Show Ground at Barry Island. After a
review of some of the buses and coaches assembled we travelled back to ‘The Bus
Depot’ on board 72 (BJK 672D), a 1966 Leyland Titan PD2A with an East Lancs
body formally with the fleet of Eastbourne Corporation in its smart blue,
yellow and white livery. Back at ‘The
Bus Depot’ we film the buses in service and travelling over Gladstone Bridge
before a ride on former Red & White Bristol RESL6L with ECW bodywork,
RS.167 (LAX 101E), built in 1967 for another ride to the Show Ground. Our return to Barry is on board 36 (LNY 536D),
a Leyland Titan PD2 with a Massey low-bridge body formally operated by
Caerphilly Urban District Council. Our
cameras make a final visit to the Show Ground to see the buses and coaches
leaving the event at the end of the day. We end the day filming at ‘The Bus
Depot’ bringing to a conclusion a most enjoyable day. A visit to ‘The Bus Depot’ is recommended –
as you will see!