Introduction
A trip to South Wales meant that I had to go to this old bus graveyard. I have always had a bit of a thing for old buses/coaches so I’ve wanted to see since I started seeing it pop up in various places a couple of years ago. I appreciate this has been on the Facebook groups quite a lot recently, but I wanted to do my own take on the site. Note: This is a repost from when the previous thread was deleted due to the forum rollback a few months ago.
History
Surprisingly, I couldn’t actually find too much history about this site. The site does not appear on any historical maps from the fifties or older, which suggests it opened after this time. It also had a popular cafe on site.
The site consists of an old Service Station with a workshop/storage area out the back, and a coach yard rammed with derelict vehicles.
Based on the price of Unleaded on the sign being under a pound a litre, I would estimate that the sale of fuel at the site ceased anywhere between 2005 and 2008. Although fuel prices did drop under a pound a litre a couple of times after that, the oldest street view for the site is around 2008 and the pumps looked derelict even then.
If anyone has any interesting information and/or history about this place then I’d be very keen to find out more.
The Explore
The owner allegedly lives on-site, so I felt it would be appropriate to park fairly obviously out the front. We did some external shots and looked around, half expecting the owner to appear but he didn’t.
We continued into the covered workshop/storage areas and the owner then appeared. At first, he was disgruntled that we went in without permission, but later calmed down and he was a really nice chap. He let us stay and he spoke to us about the history of some of the buses. He still accesses the site often and still buys coaches and also sells some that he has, so if any of you are after an old bus or coach you wish to buy or do up, you know where to look.
We were highly appreciative of the owner letting us continue looking around, especially as we were there initially without permission.
The buses come from all areas of the country, he has bought them from auctions in the past and there was even a 20-year-old bus which was originally registered, from-new, with Mulleys Coaches in Suffolk, a good five hours from the site.
The only part we missed was a bit with some old vehicles in, this has now been sealed by the owner due to idiots breaking in and damaging stuff.
Onto the photos…
Starting with some exteriors of the service station and a few of the coaches outside.
A look in the old service station building, not much remains in this part, but I liked how the floor has turned green over the years and there were a couple of die-cast models of cars and coaches
The next part was the workshop and covered storage area. There was lots to see in here including an old Bedford coach from the late seventies which looks like it was last used by aircraft seat manufacturer Martin-Baker judging by the livery.
In addition, there were several other coaches from a similar era including a 1982 Seddon Pennine VII (reg: BNC 344Y) which has had its livery stripped. I found a photograph on Flickr of when it was in service and was used for National Express routes across the UK.
In another part, there was an old workshop which lots of old engine parts laid out neatly on the floor.
I liked the green interior of this little bus, most likely used in and around a city.
The bus below was completely stripped… don’t think this one will be on the road again anytime soon.
Some others...
Continued…
A trip to South Wales meant that I had to go to this old bus graveyard. I have always had a bit of a thing for old buses/coaches so I’ve wanted to see since I started seeing it pop up in various places a couple of years ago. I appreciate this has been on the Facebook groups quite a lot recently, but I wanted to do my own take on the site. Note: This is a repost from when the previous thread was deleted due to the forum rollback a few months ago.
History
Surprisingly, I couldn’t actually find too much history about this site. The site does not appear on any historical maps from the fifties or older, which suggests it opened after this time. It also had a popular cafe on site.
The site consists of an old Service Station with a workshop/storage area out the back, and a coach yard rammed with derelict vehicles.
Based on the price of Unleaded on the sign being under a pound a litre, I would estimate that the sale of fuel at the site ceased anywhere between 2005 and 2008. Although fuel prices did drop under a pound a litre a couple of times after that, the oldest street view for the site is around 2008 and the pumps looked derelict even then.
If anyone has any interesting information and/or history about this place then I’d be very keen to find out more.
The Explore
The owner allegedly lives on-site, so I felt it would be appropriate to park fairly obviously out the front. We did some external shots and looked around, half expecting the owner to appear but he didn’t.
We continued into the covered workshop/storage areas and the owner then appeared. At first, he was disgruntled that we went in without permission, but later calmed down and he was a really nice chap. He let us stay and he spoke to us about the history of some of the buses. He still accesses the site often and still buys coaches and also sells some that he has, so if any of you are after an old bus or coach you wish to buy or do up, you know where to look.
We were highly appreciative of the owner letting us continue looking around, especially as we were there initially without permission.
The buses come from all areas of the country, he has bought them from auctions in the past and there was even a 20-year-old bus which was originally registered, from-new, with Mulleys Coaches in Suffolk, a good five hours from the site.
The only part we missed was a bit with some old vehicles in, this has now been sealed by the owner due to idiots breaking in and damaging stuff.
Onto the photos…
Starting with some exteriors of the service station and a few of the coaches outside.
A look in the old service station building, not much remains in this part, but I liked how the floor has turned green over the years and there were a couple of die-cast models of cars and coaches
The next part was the workshop and covered storage area. There was lots to see in here including an old Bedford coach from the late seventies which looks like it was last used by aircraft seat manufacturer Martin-Baker judging by the livery.
In addition, there were several other coaches from a similar era including a 1982 Seddon Pennine VII (reg: BNC 344Y) which has had its livery stripped. I found a photograph on Flickr of when it was in service and was used for National Express routes across the UK.
In another part, there was an old workshop which lots of old engine parts laid out neatly on the floor.
I liked the green interior of this little bus, most likely used in and around a city.
The bus below was completely stripped… don’t think this one will be on the road again anytime soon.
Some others...
Continued…
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