TWO PROUD NAMES

摘要

Jonathan Jones-Pratt is having fun, giving Southern National 2700 'a bit of welly', as he describes it, around the streets of Weston-super-Mare. This is a 1967 Bristol RELL6G with 53-seat ECW bus body, a typical service bus of the latter years of the Tilling group, upon which he has spent a five-figure sum on mechanical restoration. If you know and love the RE, you will relish the transmission whine and the deep exhaust roar, especially as it echoes off the walls and sides of buildings. He certainly does. Hence the welly. The rocker switches on the dashboard may look a bit old fashioned after almost 50 years, but as he points out - and demonstrates by pulling away briskly at roundabouts - this Bristol stands comparison with modern buses on just about every other level, save for the lack of a step-free low-floor entrance. There is a contented smile on his face as the old girl draws curious glances from passing pedestrians.