Corgi 1908-1989 2 Bus set Bedford OB Coach & AEC Regent Double Decker 'Barton Transport'

Diecast metal with plastic parts

The Bedford OB was a bus chassis manufactured by Bedford from 1939.

The Bedford OB was designed as a successor to the Bedford WTB. It had a wheelbase of 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m), and was a semi-forward control model, designed to carry 26 to 29-passenger bodywork. It was fitted with a 27.34 horsepower petrol engine, and had a four-speed manual gearbox and fully floating rear axle. The brakes were of the vacuum servo-assisted hydraulic type.

Although only 73 were built prior to the cessation of production due to World War II, it reappeared in a largely unchanged form at the end of the war, continuing in production until 1951. A total of 12,766 were produced, making it one of the most popular buses of its type ever.

Bedford co-developed with Duple the "Vista" coachwork for the OB, fronted by a classic bullnose. The ash framework was reinforced with steel, and the floor made from hardwood with softwood tongued and grooved boarding, with the exception of the cab area which was finished with alloy chequerplate. Seating capacity was normally 29 with overhead luggage racks provided for passengers, whilst the rear luggage boot was also used to store the spare wheel. The price of a complete coach, including finishing in a two-colour livery, was £1,314.10s for a 27-seater, and £1,325.10s for a twenty nine seater.

Geared to reach speeds of at least 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), which was fast for its day, the OB is remembered by many for its characteristic gearbox whine.

The AEC Regent III RT was one of the variants of the AEC Regent III. It was a double-decker bus produced jointly between AEC and London Transport. It was the standard red London bus during the 1950s and continued to outnumber the better known Routemaster throughout the 1960s.

The prototype (London Transport RT 1) was built in 1938 with an AEC 8.8-litre engine (a stopgap measure until the new 9.6-litre was available) and air-operated pre-selective gearbox. Finding a satisfactory British substitute for the German air compressor, bought from Bosch, was to cause problems for AEC, once war broke out. A prototype chassis was placed into service, disguised as an old vehicle. It carried a secondhand open-staircase body previously carried on Leyland Titan (fleet number TD 111), dating from 1931. Thus bodied, RT 1 entered service in July 1938 as ST 1140, even though it was nothing like a standard ST vehicle. It continued in service until December 1938.

While the chassis was on trial, a new body was constructed at London Transport's Chiswick Works. Its four-bay body resembled that of the Roe Leeds City Pullman body exhibited at the 1937 Commercial Motor Show, though the overall impression of modern design and the features included marked a big step forward. This body replaced the old one on RT 1 and the bus re-entered service in 1939.

In October 1908, Thomas Henry Barton used a Durham Churchill charabanc to start the company's first service, between Long Eaton and the Nottingham Goose Fair. (Many years later, in 1953, Barton built a replica of its original Durham Churchill vehicle, using a Daimler chassis dating from 1911.)

Barton had already had experience of operating a motorised bus, in Mablethorpe, some nine years earlier.

During World War I, the fleet was used to transport workers to and from the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell. Also during the War, Barton pioneered the use of town gas as fuel, converting the whole fleet to run on it. The gas was stored in a large "bag" on the roof of the bus, and the company also manufactured these bags for sale to other operators.

The 1920s saw fierce competition in the British bus industry. Barton imported Lancia chassis from Italy, which were lengthened and fitted with a patented tag-axle by Barton. The vehicles were known as "Bartons Gliders" and their speed and smooth riding provided a competitive advantage.

Barton scored a first by operating the first diesel-engined passenger-carrying road vehicle, a Lancia, in 1930. Barton had earlier been an engineer at Hornsbys where he had worked on the early development of "oil engines" (he always refused to use the term "diesel"). Leylands were purchased from the mid-1930s and made up a large part of the fleet by the beginning of World War II. Starting in 1939, a fleet of Leyland Titan TD5, TD7 and rebodied TD1 double-deckers with stylish, front-entrance, lowbridge bodywork by Duple and Willowbrook was purchased, which appeared very modern by the standards of the day.

Although Barton gained a reputation for having a varied fleet of vehicles during the 1950s and 1960s, from 1946-9 the vast majority of new chassis were from Leyland, and virtually all coachwork was from Duple. The Duple A type coach was chosen for PS1 Single deckers, some featuring a more compact front-design allowing up to 39 seats in the then maximum overall length of 27 ft 6in. The 40 postwar double deckers on PD1 or PD1A had an updated version of the forward entrance lowbridge body with more brightwork and power-operation for the entry door.[2] Barton was a prolific rebuilder of buses — between 1950 and 1955, fifty-eight BTS1 "Viewmaster" single-deck coaches were rebuilt from Leyland Titan, Tiger, and Lion chassis; between 1959 and 1961, seven BTD2 full-fronted double-deckers were created from the chassis of a Leyland Tiger and six Titans; and between 1969 and 1971, eleven AEC Reliance chassis were rebuilt as Barton BTS2 and fitted with new Plaxton Panorama Elite bodywork.[3] Many new and secondhand buses also joined the fleet, and Barton kept up its modern double-deck image with Northern Counties bodied AEC Regents, which had wrap-around windscreens on both decks. Also built to the same style was a unique vehicle, no. 861, which had lowbridge bodywork on a lowheight Dennis Loline chassis, and was the lowest ever roofed British double-decker.

During the 1950s, Barton had over 280 vehicles and 1,000 employees. Numerous smaller companies were purchased, especially in the 1960s, including Hall Brothers of South Shields on Tyneside (1967), and Robin Hood Coaches of Nottingham (1963), whose emblem was retained and applied to the whole fleet.