Grand National – 2

Happy Birthday Leyland National 1972-1985 Grand National - 1

Leyland Nationals first arrived in that Bristol Commercial Vehicles stronghold-of-strongholds, the city of Bristol, in late 1972, for service early in 1973. They were something of cuckoos in the nest, and rather like John Wyndham’s children of Midwich, would wheedle their way into the city’s fabric, though with no happy ending for the Bristols they replaced.

Officially, Bristol the operator welcomed the National. Unofficially, it was far from happy with it - to start with, at any rate. After all, Bristol bus chassis were manufactured only about a mile from the city centre, at Brislington. The operator and vehicle manufacturer were once one (till 1955), as the Bristol Tramways & Carriage Co (by 1972 known as Bristol Omnibus). The bond between operator and chassis manufacturer was still strong.

But the ties between operator and its new National Bus Company parent were by now stronger, such that Bristol Omnibus was compelled to take the National, along with all other NBC bus subsidiaries.

So it was, then, that operationally from the new year in 1973, the National came to Bristol, in the form of dual door 44 seaters, for Bristol Joint Services and, later, to Bath and Gloucester. Yet, Bristol Omnibus was still accepting delivery of the RE chassis, up to 11 months later.

Although the long association between operator and manufacturer was set to continue with the VR double deck till BCV’s closure in 1981, Bristol Omnibus was henceforward obliged to chose NBC’s standard single deck, the Leyland National.

The oddest thing about Leyland National operation on Bristol city services was not the Tilling era Bristol scroll rather than standard NBC block (still permitted because Bristol Joint Services was part-owned at the time by the city council).

No, if we recall correctly, it was the juxtaposition of the National alongside a substantial remainder of Bristol Omnibus’ once large fleet of ancient Bristol/ECW KSW buses. The design of the space-age Leyland National was so prominently non-ECW that it looked out of place against the exposed radiator KSW with an ECW design dating back to 1937, elements of which transferred to other double decks in the city – the LD, FLF and VR.