The Bristol VR (an abbreviation for Vertical Rear referred to the layout of the engine) was a rear-engined bus manufactured by Bristol as a competitor to the Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline.
Bristol VRT at Courtenay Place Wellington
The Bristol VR was originally designed for single-deck or double-deck bodywork, in July 1967 Bristol introduced a new version, the VRT, with a more conventional transverse-engined layout. The chassis was only available as a double-decker, there was also a choice of two frame heights. Like most Bristol buses, most VRs were bodied by ECW (Eastern Coach Works), however some were bodied by Northern Counties, Alexander and East Lancs. The first production vehicles entered service with Eastern Scottish, a member of the Scottish Bus Group, in December 1968. Later versions of the VR remain in service with many independent bus operators across the United Kingdom untill 2010.
Ooops!
Production
A notable number have been exported to other countries, one of thease is the ECW bodied Stagecoach Wellington Bristol VRT ZF9122 (our paper model) used in yellow livery of Wellington City Circular sightseeing service. This bus was new to Cumberland Motor Services in 1980 as KRM436W. In March 15, 1982 in Whitehaven (a town situated on the west coast of Cumbria) at the end of service the bus was returning to its home depot. The driver took this route under Sunnyhill Bridge instead of the normal route and the result can be clearly seen on the side photo. The bus was repaired and put back into service.
In 1999 was exported to New Zealand, registered ZF9122 locally and used by Wellington City Circular. Damaged (again!) by a fitter driving it under the depot canopy it was withdrawn from service in 2/2003. (Sources: bcv.robsly.com and Wikipedia.com)
Bristol VRT
