Subject: Pontypridd UDC 27 (HW 6634)
Chassis: Bristol B
Body: BBW B32F
Location: Raglan
Date: 1980s

Three of the Bristol Bs bought from Bristol Tramways were withdrawn in 1943 and went to Morlais in Merthyr in 1944. Everyone thought that was the final chapter of their story but instead a remarkable find ensued.

Phil Sposito recounted how he drove lorries for most of his life and was talking to a bus enthusiast son of a lorry driver. He had said how his father had stopped at this cafe near Raglan and went down into the woods for a pee and there was this old bus there with a cast chassis plate with a B prefix.

Phil thought it was worth looking into and found the cafe which by now was long derelict as it was only ever a shack and was by now covered with bushes. At this time (in the eighties) it was possible to walk about in the body. It seems the bus had been lived in for many years by a lady that worked in the cafe.

In 2006 the chassis was extracted but by this time the body had collapsed. The chassis has been cleaned and painted but is still lacking an engine and the innards of the back axle. It is hoped to restore it in time to original condition, the sole remaining representative of this very successful model, see http://www.bristolbuses.co.uk/b557.html.

Photograph courtesy of Phil Sposito.