2010 – Issue 3 of 4

of L and MW left on their return journey to Ripon. The preserved buses
we saw that day seemed to be carrying more passengers than the local
service buses ...
A little later, we returned to Ravenstonedale and Bowber Head via
Kirkby Stephen. Even a whole day’s journeying, though, couldn’t prevent
my looking forward to yet another day on Cumbria Classic Coaches’
preserved vehicles. Last year, they’d introduced another route – to
Barnard Castle— and were running it again this year, so it was too good
an opportunity to miss.
The following morning, outside the depot at Bowber Head, stood ex-
Crosville DLB 978 (627 HFM), the convertible open-topper with its top
firmly fixed on – it was pretty windy that day. With Gordon again as our
conductor, but with the ‘boss’ himself, Will Hamer, at the wheel, we
bumped and bounced along the road from Bowber Head towards the
main road once more and having called in at Kirkby Stephen station and
the town itself, headed off to Middleton-on-Tees. I’d never been along
that road before and the views from the top deck were stunning. We
were very fortunate: the previous week it had been raining hard.
I’d noticed that the Lodekka (or ‘Harvey’, as it’s known to the company)
seemed to climb the hills with rather more zest than I’d remembered
from my own days as a Crosville passenger, so when we stopped in
Middleton-on-Tees I asked Will about this. He told me that the bus had
been re-engined with a Gardner unit but that it had itself been replaced
with a bigger (10.75 litre) one. No wonder it didn’t trundle along the flat
and slow to crawling pace on hills!
When I suddenly remembered that I’d hadn’t seen the company’s latest
acquisition, the ex-Bamber Bridge AEC Regent III, I asked about it and
learnt that it had gone to Brough for testing.
(A good reason to return again soon!)
Following a leisurely walk around the pleasant small town of Middletonon-Tees,
we got back on board for the journey down the valley to
Barnard Castle. I’d visited the place some years ago having seen a
television programme on the Bowes Museum, a French château built in
Teeside by a rich husband and wife who’d been avid collectors of art and
china, including a famous automaton of a swan. I’d have liked to
photograph the Lodekka posed in front of the château but unfortunately
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