1222 Gallery, page 1

Other pages will be added later.

1222 was delivered new to the Bristol Omnibus Company in March 1971, registered AHT 206J. Allocated from new to Lawrence Hill depot (LH), she was one of 152 dual-door REs in the Bristol City fleet. During the late 1970s, she received a Unibus advertising livery of green and orange for a van hire company in Bristol, Hire-Rite. In the early 1980s, many dual-door REs were withdrawn, replaced in the main by double deckers, or made redundant by service cuts, however 12 of the City REs were converted to single door B50F layout. In general, these outlived their dual-door sisters, being used on Country services. 1222 was the last of these REs to be converted, being modified in June 1984.

After conversion, she was transferred for the first time in her career to Weston-Super-Mare depot (WM). After an uneventful career there during which time the Country division became a separate company - Badgerline, she was one of 15 REs transferred to a new company in September and October 1987, formed jointly with Southern Vectis to provide competition in Poole, Dorset. The company was named Badgervectis, and 1222 carried the additional fleet number 46 in black numerals.

This operation was unsuccessful, and was closed down in March 1988. Several of the REs went back to Badgerline, but 1222 along with 3 others was transferred to another Badgerline group company, Western National of Plymouth. These four REs remained with Western National until November 1990, when they were sold to a small company called Smiths, of Portland. There, they were relentlessly thrashed between Weymouth and Portland Bill for several years. Eventually, the four were sold to a Welsh operator, Phil Anslow, but on the morning they were to be collected, 1222 would not start and was left behind.

Smiths carried out a lot of work on her, and advertised her for sale, but no purchase arose, so she was put back into service again. Eventually, the Smiths operation was acquired by First Group, as Badgerline had merged into, and 1222 found herself to be the last RE with First Group. This situation only lasted a short while though, as the Smiths operation was closed down, and the majority of vehicles were put into storage at Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton. From there 1222, along with several other buses, was sold to Ripleys of Carlton, Barnsley; for scrap. On arrival, the owner recognised the rarity of 1222, and set her aside from the scrapping area.

The story continues, with my nephew Matt Tarling purchasing her for preservation, doing so on the 20th June 2001. Her restoration continues.....