Pontypridd bought eight new Bristol Ls after the war and they went on to give very good service. All had Beadle B32R bodies and they came in two batches with different styles of body.
The first postwar specification buses for the fleet were six Bristol Ls new in 1947. These were 47-52 (GNY 911-916), of which 47-50 had the L5G chassis whereas 51/2 had the Gardner 6LW engine which was more powerful but also longer. This caused some detail differences in the body design which are described in the caption to the photo of 52. 52 was withdrawn in 1959 after an accident but the others went on to lead long lives with Pontypridd, not least 51 which survived as a minor celebrity into the Taff-Ely era and still exists today, in semi-retirement, in Belgium.
Two further Bristol L5Gs were new in 1950 with a different style of Beadle body. 61/2 (JTX 522/3) were not finally withdrawn until 1969.
All these Bristol Ls had their bodies rebuilt to varying degrees, most visibly using rubber mounted windows and the removal of the original large destination box. The captions describe this in more detail.
© David Beilby
