Subject: Western Welsh 1342 (DBO 342C)
Chassis: Leyland Tiger Cub PSUC1/11
Body: Park Royal DP41F
Location: Aberaeron, Lampeter Road
Date: Jul-1966

Whilst this photograph doesn't quite fit the theme of the gallery it is important on both a historical and personal level.

Western Welsh's express services were for many years largely limited to a series of services which ran to West Wales with several running to Aberystwyth. The X13 was one of these and actually ran to Cilfynydd. This will be a duplicate and my recollection of the occasion is of a large number of vehicles passing almost in convoy. One feature of these Aberystwyth services was that they all left at the same time and followed the same route for some considerable distance. These routes were the precursors of the link to Aberystwyth made by the TrawsCambria 701 service.

1342 would almost certainly have been based at Aberdare at the time although it wasn't based there when the depot shut on 1-May-1971.

On a personal level this trip was my first proper encounter with Western Welsh and I purchased a 1966 timetable which for the first time also included the routes of Rhondda Transport. This booklet sowed the seeds of my interest in a valley of which at the time I had no mental picture, but now forms the subject of this gallery.

An original photograph by David Beilby