Restored and Historic Buses at Classic Bus Depot.com

Excellent pictures of what I feel to be a classic vehicle.
During the years 1974-76 I drove for Eastern National at Basildon Depot. If memory serves me correctly three of these vehicles were based here and I think their depot numbers were BN1510, BN1511 & BN1512.
When on late turn I would try to obtain one of these for my shift instead of the vehicle allocatted.This was not always possible because of the limited seating capacity compared with other vehicles at the depot. After having taken my meal break I would then go down to the shed yard and pester the running forman to allow me to comlpete the shift in one of these as after the evening peak loadings were always very light.
A particular favourite route of mine for one of these was the route to Tilbry Ferry ( can't remember the number)as this was of reasonable distance and contained some straight stretches on which it was possible to acheive a reasonable? turn of speed.
Some of the drivers at Basildon either could not or were reluctant to engage 6th gear. It always gave me a sense of achievment and pride when I engaged 6th because then I knew we were off and running! I was equally at peace trundling about Wickford, Ramsden Bellhouse, Ramsden Heath, Billericay, etc,etc as long as I had one of these under me.
Compared to the other OMO vehicles at Basildon at that time,i.e the "trams" (Bristol LS's & MW's) an RELH6G was the height of luxury with it's power steering and air bag suspension and 6 cylinder engine and high gearing.
Eventually along came the bus type RE's and Leyland National's but nothing ever "done it" for me like an RELH6G
I wonder if I will ever get to sit in one again and maybe, perhaps maybe, be invited to sit behind the wheel again and take one for a spin.
Why does nobody make a model of this classic vehicle or does somebody out there know different

yep, great bus, the Bristol RELH......... i was the first Eastern National OMO driver based in Wood Green to drive this type on route 400 between London Kings Cross and Southend...... and yes, i did drive the above mentioned vehicles but the fleet nos. were in the 16xx range, with 1608 as allocated to Wood Green Depot[WG] and 1610 Basildon [BN] etc...
They featured the manual gearbox which was not an easy box to handle, especially when cold, could be difficult to actually locate the required gear at the right time
I do have a friend of mine in the Ely, Suffolk area that has a nice example of an ex Eastern Counties RELH with a semi automatic gearbox and i have driven that one a year or so ago, goes very nicely, thank you very much

I too drove these buses and many other Bristols. I was based at Wood Green and operated flf's on crew duties on the 251. My favorites were the vrt and these were used exclusively on service 400 omo. This service from King's Cross to Southend Central was limited stop and one could 'get a move on'. I think they were hourly. Omo 251, by comparison, was a slow route and I was actually passed by the crew operated bus behind on at least two occasions

Still a few of us old ENOC drivers about then!As I'm sure you are aware there is now a model made by Exclusive First Editions of a Bristol RELH coach in Eastern National colours and yes I do have one!

Keep the bus on the road for as long as you can. In order to show the kids, what sort of bus the Granperants rode on.

I am an old stager too, worked for enoc for almost twenty years. Part of my time was driving these wonderful vehicles. they were indeed 1600s the vehicle at basildon, my depot was 1610, the semi, this went like the wind and often exceeded the speed limit, so im told, the service to tilbury ferry was service 155. i am now an NVQ assessor for a major bus company in the s. west.
I chat a lot about the old days and speak with great fondness about these great vehicles. thanks for reading. Steve.

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