The Bristol SU was a

single-decker bus A single-decker bus or rigid is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essen ...

and

single-decker A single-decker bus or rigid is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essen ...

coach chassis 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 ...

between 1960 and 1966. The bodies for these vehicles were built by

Eastern Coach Works Eastern Coach WorksCompanies House extract company no 318856
...

(ECW). Some of them were built as medium length chassis, whereas most of them were built as full length chassis.

Design

The Bristol SU ("small, underfloor-engined") chassis featured the same Albion EN250 engine and BMC rear axle as the

Albion Nimbus The Albion Nimbus was an underfloor-engined, ultra-lightweight (dry weight 2.4 tonne) midibus or coach chassis, with a four-cylinder horizontal diesel engine and a gross vehicle weight of six tons. It was largely operated on light rural bus duti ...

NS3AN with a David Brown overdrive-top five-speed constant-mesh gearbox and a front axle by

Kirkstall Kirkstall is a north-western suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. The area sits in the Kirkstall (ward), Kirkstall electoral ward, ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central and Headingley (UK Parl ...

. The major difference from the Nimbus was that the radiator was mounted at the extreme front of the chassis. EWT 386C (West Yorkshire's SMA17) was later rebuilt with a Perkins H6.354 5.8-litre engine to test its design for use in the Bristol LH, which superseded the SU as Bristol's lightweight chassis. The

ECW body was just wide and used some similar styling elements to those built for the heavier Bristol MW. The bus bodies were high but the coaches were a little taller at ; the length varied depending on the chassis and whether it was the bus or coach style (see table below). A forward entrance was provided opposite the driver's position. Seats were forward-facing in pairs, but where wheel arches protruded above the floor of the bus body, the seats were turned sideways to give sufficient leg room.

Operators

The SUs were concentrated in the south-west of England, with 73% of them being built for the shared fleet of

Southern National Southern National was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until 1969, and again from 1983 until 1999. History Original company (1929–1969) Southern National Omnibus CompanyArriva Northumbria Limited formerly Northumbr ...

and

Western National Western National (originally the Western National Omnibus Company) was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until the 1990s. Early history The Western National Omnibus Company was founded in 1929 as a joint venture between ...

(Southern National was formally merged into Western National in 1969). The remainder were sold to six other companies that were owned by the

Transport Holding Company The Transport Holding Company (THC) was a British Government–owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transpo ...

. The original operators generally kept their SUs running until the 1970s (Western National's last examples were withdrawn in 1979), afterwards selling many of them to independent operators such as

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

Motors. The last one in regular service was 280 KTA (originally Western National 430) which was operated by the

Tillingbourne Bus Company Tillingbourne Bus CompanyCompanies House extract company no 259480

until May 2000.

Preservation

16 Bristol SUs are known to be in preservation: 3 SUS, 6 SUL buses and 7 SUL coaches, although some of the later had their bodies modified in service to make them suitable for operating bus services. The SUL buses include EWT 386C, the Perkins-engined example. 416 HDV was driven from the United Kingdom to India. It then returned to the UK and was then taken to USA and Canada before being sold to a preservationist in Mexico.Billington (2008), p.50 At least five other Southern and Western National SULs survive, most of which have been converted to motor homes: buses 341 EDV, 351 EDV and EDV 531D; coaches 925 GUO and 276 KTA.

References

{{Commons category, Bristol SU SU Bus chassis Coaches (bus) Midibuses Step-entrance buses Vehicles introduced in 1960