WIL2

AEC REGENT V 27 foot FORWARD ENTRANCE DOUBLE DECK,
WILLOWBROOK BODY – DEVON GENERAL, SOUTH WALES.

Willowbrook of Loughborough, which became a subsidiary of Duple in 1958, was a small scale bodybuilder on double deck chassis, mainly for the BET Group. The style of body as represented in this kit is based on the 1965 Devon General version, but is typical of forward entrance 27 foot Regent Vs delivered to City of Oxford, South Wales Transport, Devon General, Pontypridd UDC and Douglas Corporation during the ‘60s. Willowbrook had the distinction of bodying the last Regent Vs built for the home market, two delivered to Douglas Corporation in December 1968 and two delivered to Pontypridd Urban District Council in March 1969.

“The Best of British Buses, No 10, Post War Regents 1945-1968” by Alan Townsin (TPC 1986) is a useful source of information while Classic Bus No 60 has illustrations of the Pontypridd and Douglas versions.

• Devon General’s six 27 foot Willowbrook bodied Regent Vs were delivered in 1965. Illustrations of these can be found in “Devon General” by Leslie Folkard and Philip Platt (Roundoak 1994) in “Bus Operators South-West and Southern England” by Gavin Booth (Ian Allan 2006), in “Glory Days, Devon General” by Colin Morris (Ian Allan 2006) and in “Devon General” by Leslie Folkard (Devon General Society 2007).

• City of Oxford received ten in 1960. Modelling these will require a reduced skirt depth, divided windscreen, divided entrance doors and “square” front mudguards. One reference is “The book of Oxford buses and trams”, published by the Oxford Bus Museum Trust (1981), which was reprinted in 2003. A good black and white photograph of H980 at Aylesbury can be found in “Bus Operators 1970 – Midlands and Wales” by Gavin Booth (Ian Allan, 2006).

• South Wales Transport reverted from the 71 seat 30 footer to the 64 seat 27 footer in 1965. 21 were delivered in 1965 and a further 18 in 1966/67. Photographs can be found in “South Wales Transport” by Alan Townsin and Chris Taylor (TPC 1989). Unusually the windscreen wiper on these was mounted at the bottom of the (fixed) windscreen!

• Douglas Corporation received two in 1965 and two in 1968. An excellent colour image of Douglas No 4 (679 BMN) of 1965 graces the back cover of “The Heyday of the Classic Bus” by Gavin Booth (Ian Allan, 1994). These Douglas buses had divided windscreens.

• Pontypridd Urban District Council received two in 1969. In 1974, following local government changes, the UDC became Taff-Ely Borough Council and adopted a brighter shade of blue livery.

• Since I originally wrote these notes, I have discovered references to a similar bus, 6989 AD, which was new in 1960 to Cottrells of Mitcheldean in the Forest of Dean. It subsequently passed to The Delaine of Bourne in Lincolnshire, who added that company’s characteristic swoops to the beading below the windows, and in 1972 to Colin S Pegg of Caston in Norfolk. A photograph of it in Pegg’s service can be found in “Classic Bus 95, June/July 2008”. It is similar to the COMS buses, except that it has rounded front mudguards and exposed rear mudguards. Intriguingly the photograph shows the destination as Bourne!

The kit is based on the Devon General CTT-C series. If modelling other operators’ buses please check with photographs for detail variations.

Happy Modelling! ©  Tony Swift, Kirribilli NSW, Australia, 2008

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