The Bristol RE was a rear-engined single-decker bus or single-decker coach

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

built by

Bristol Commercial Vehicles Bristol Commercial Vehicles was a vehicle manufacturer located in Bristol, England. Most production was of buses but trucks and railbus chassis were also built. The Bristol Omnibus Company, Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company started to buil ...

from 1962 until 1982. It is often considered the most successful of the first generation of rear-engined single-decker buses. Initially, the RE was only supplied to subsidiaries of the nationalised Transport Holding Company (THC), by which Bristol Commercial Vehicles was wholly owned. From 1965, when Leyland purchased a 25% shareholding in Bristol and the company's products became available to non state-owned bus operator customers, the RE also gained popularity with companies in other sectors, including the

British Electric Traction British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Ren ...

(BET) Group and many municipal operators. From 1972, sales to the National Bus Company (NBC), which had taken over the operations of both THC and BET) began to dry up, due to the introduction of the

Leyland National The Leyland National is an integrally constructed British step-floor single-decker bus manufactured in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries – the National Bus Com ...

. From 1976, the RE remained in production only for the Northern Irish state-owned bus companies

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink (Northern Ireland), Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transpor ...

and Citybus, and for export to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

Transport Board, New Zealand. In

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, the RE was most commonly fitted with bodywork by ECW, but several other manufacturers also built bodywork on the chassis. Some coaches were fitted with Duple Commander, Plaxton Panorama Elite or

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

M Type bodywork. In Northern Ireland, the RE was bodied by Alexander (Belfast), with the X Type bodywork. Three of the ex-Citybus REs from Belfast were acquired by Pinewood Studios in October 2005, where they appeared in movies such as '' Children of Men'' and '' St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold''.IMCDB Bristol RELL in St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold - http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_301596-Bristol-RELL.html

Variants

* RELL - long (36'), low frame (bus) * RESL - short, low frame (bus) * RELH - long (36'), high frame (coach or dual-purpose) * RESH - short, high frame (coach or dual-purpose; rare) * REMH - maximum length (12m), high frame (coach) These designations were suffixed by a code indicating the type of engine fitted: * 6G - 6-cylinder Gardner diesel (6HLX) * 6L - 6-cylinder Leyland diesel (O.600/O.680) Bristol RELL6G chassis TOI2288 underfloor engine

Bristol RELL6G chassis TOI2288 underfloor engine

What was to be the first production chassis (212.001) was changed to a pre-production model (number REX.003), with a coach body built by ECW but devoid of any seats and fittings. It was used by

at its Brislington Experimental Shop for a few years. It was fitted and ran with a horizontal version of the contemporary Bristol BVW engine, and also fitted with a turbo-charger. Later the Gardner engine was refitted, the body completed and sold to West Yorkshire as their fleet number CRG1 OWT241E. The most popular model was the RELL, with 2,839 constructed; there were 976 of the RELH model and 698 RESL. The two least successful models were the REMH, with 105 sold to just three customers, and the RESH with 11 built for four customers. A sixth model, designated REML, was advertised from 1968 but none was built. This would have had the wheelbase of the REMH but a low frame suitable for a bus body.

Customers

Of the 4,629 Bristol REs built, 3,242 were sold to subsidiaries of the NBC and its predecessor groups, THC and BET; 148 were sold to members of the Scottish Bus Group; 405 to British municipalities and PTEs; and 834 to other operators. The biggest customers were: Bristol Omnibus Company (439); Crosville Motor Services (288);

/ Citybus (620);

United Automobile Services United Automobile Services was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear, England. It provided bus services across a wide geographical area, stretch ...

(470); West Yorkshire Road Car Company (259).

References

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External links

Website about one Bristol RELH coach (UK registration OAX9F)YouTube video of OAX9F in action
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bristol Re RE Vehicles introduced in 1962 Bus chassis Step-entrance buses Coaches (bus)