Classic Bristol Buses - The Bristol MW

Blow the notes - take me to the pictures

Notes

The Bristol MW is a mid-engined single-deck bus or coach chassis 30' long and designed for bus or coach bodywork of 8' width. Introduced in 1957, it was delivered new only to members of the Transport Holding Company Ltd. which included the former members of the Tilling Motor Services Group, Red & White Group, Balfour Beatty group and some of the Scottish companies.  The MW was a ubiquitous chassis, manufactured for a captive market and would have been unlikely to have sold well on the open market due to its driver unfriendliness. On the other hand, both the chassis and the ECW body were made very well indeed and are a classic example of the dying art of engineering craftsmanship. The outstanding features were its fuel economy, delivered by the frugal Gardner 5-cylinder HLW engine with which many MWs were fitted, 15 mpg being easily achievable and an incredible robustness.  The coach version was usually fitted with the 6-cylinder version of the Gardner HLW engine which gave a slight edge in performance, enabling almost 60 mph to be achieved with the wind behind and a flat or downhill piece of road.  However, speed is not the MW's forte; longevity is.  Many have survived due to the fact that in use they appear to be almost indestructible! 

Pictures

Devon General bus (with early coach body)

Early MW service bus

Eastern National coach

Late model Royal Blue coach

Late model MW service bus

 

XUO 721

 

XUO 721

This MW was built as a Royal Blue coach for Western/Southern National.  It was later fitted with bus seats and passed to Devon General when that company came under the control of Western National in National Bus Company days.

924 AHY

 

924 AHY

924 AHY is a much-travelled 1958 MW bus.  Compare this bus with 357 MHU (below) to see the differences between the earliest MW bus body and the later style.

7017 HK

7017 HK

Another coach, this time for Eastern National.  This particular body was  comfortable, solid and robust. It was derived from an earlier body built on the Bristol LS chassis.  Unusually for ECW, this body could also be found (in small numbers) mounted on on Leyland and AEC chassis.

357 MHU

357 MHU

Formerly Bristol Omnibus 2522 is superbly maintained by Martin Southam and Calvin Everett.  It has a completely convincing appearance and patina of a Bristol Omnibus MW of the 1960s.  It is typical of MW buses of its time, however the four-track route number blind is unique to Bristol Omnibus (see 924 AHY, above).

HDV 641E

HDV 641E

This Royal Blue coach has the later and much more handsome ECW coach body developed for the MW chassis.  The early RE coach body was derived from this design.  The relatively high frame of the MW chassis made it suitable for coach bodies with locker space under the floor between the front and rear wheels.   

FHW 154D

FHW 154D

Another example of the later style of body is shown on this ex-Bristol Greyhound MW6G which belongs to another friend and colleague of mine. Contemporary  with my own MW service bus, by coincidence this coach  lives only 45 minutes drive away from where my bus is being restored in Essex.  I can vouch for this coach being in absolutely fabulous condition.  It has an interesting history as after it was no longer required by Bristol Omnibus it passed to Asian Greyhound who used it on overland trips to India!  So a much travelled Greyhound.

 

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Some other pages of interest:

The RE page

The Lodekka page

The K page

All photographs taken by me by -  Nigel Furness