A shock purchase by Red Rover, after fleets of Reliances and Leopards was a batch of three Bedford
YMTs with Caetano Estoril bus grant specification coachwork. At the time, they were the first such UK
spec vehicles and had extra wide single leaf doors to meet bus grant legislation. Unfortunately the
door mechanism was linked with the clutch and drivers eager to pull away on stage services often
found passengers getting swiped by the hefty air operated doors. Indeed the mountain of three quite
narrow steps were something of an obstacle in themselves. On the runs to Bicester and Buckingham
they doubtless gave passengers a comfortable journey, though with the heavy Caetano bodies, their
performance was sluggish. Traded in for these 3 coaches were a number of long serving Red Rover
buses: Swifts 101 & 102, dual purpose Derwents 105 & 106, Bridgemaster 107, ex Safeguard Reliance
108, ex Devon General 'Rodney' ROD765 - 109 and Reliance 110. 129 is seen above at Quainton Green with driver Martin Isles, photo by Dave Buley.
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Several pictures follow of 129 at Quainton Green in the hands of driver Vic Priest on the the short working to clear the road ahead of the 1630 to Bicester.
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Vic with an empty bus.
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A passenger boards for the return trip to Aylesbury via Waddesdon.
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129 leaves the Green having completed its one way loop around the village. It heads along Station Road to what is now the Bucks Railway Centre.
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