Episode 34 | Friends of King Alfred Buses - The Original King Alfred Running Day | 06/05/24

The first bank holiday in May for 2024, known as the Early May Bank Holiday, saw a Running Day in Winchester organised by the Friends of King Alfred Buses (FoKAB), 14 former King Alfred buses that are part of the Friends of King Alfred Buses (FoKAB) home fleet ran free vintage bus services from Winchester Broadway to villages in or out of Winchester and to some of the suburbs in Winchester in addition to short trips around the city of Winchester including HOR 811 (temporarily registered as YKG 961T), a Leyland Titan PD2/10 originating from the Isle Of Man which was operated by Isle of Man Road Services (IoMRS), is painted in the King Alfred colours was on static display for most of the day, but did run limited short trips around the city of Winchester.
There should have been 16 former King Alfred Motor Services (KAMS) vehicles that are owned by the Friends of King Alfred Buses (FoKAB) attending this event, however the list was shortened to 14 vehicles running as JAA 708, a rare Leyland Olympic HR40 built in 1950 that became Hampshire’s first underfloor-engine bus was tragically destroyed by fire at a storage unit on Staddlestones Farm in Penton Mewsey near Andover overnight from Thursday 7th to the morning of Friday 8th December 2023 and 326 CAA, a Bedford SB3 with the bodywork of a Harrington Crusader C41F built in 1961 failed its pre-operation test the day before. This was replaced by CCG 704C, a Bedford VAL 14 built in 1965 which had the same operator as 326 CAA.
Numerous visiting vehicles attended the bus rally as well, which usually had their services start from St. Catherine's Park & Ride and ran trips to a number of locations and villages in and around Winchester that the King Alfred buses do not usually serve, with most of the routes calling at Winchester Guildhall in addition to Route 22, a free regular shuttle service between St. Catherine’s P&R and Winchester Broadway, or were just on static display at St. Catherine's P&R. Two feeder services were used to get people to the event, with both of them calling at Winchester Broadway. One feeder service ran from Bristol provided by Kelvin Amos using PWS 492S (2098), a former Badgerline Leyland Leopard PUS3/4R coach with the Plaxton Paramount C45F bodywork built in 1972 and owned by Kelvin Amos was initially built with a Plaxton Supreme Express C49F body but was rebodied after a serious fire in 1982, and the other feeder service ran from Bishops Waltham provided by The Provincial Society using PUF 647 (547), a former Southdown Guy Arab IV with a Park Royal H33/26RD body built in 1956 and owned by David Morgan.
Some of the visiting vehicles that were listed in the programme did not turn up or run due to unknown reasons that were either replaced by other buses or coaches or not replaced by other buses or coaches; one of the visiting vehicles that should have run on the day was CCF 648 in the former John Woodhams Vintage Tours Livery of Ryde in the Isle of Wight (IoW), a former Mervyn Coaches Bedford OB with a Duple Vista C27F body built in 1950. This did turn up on the day, but should have run trips on the Route 12 service from Winchester Broadway to East Stratton, but it broke down as it failed to start on its first trip to East Stratton. It was replaced by 741 UKL, a Volvo B7RLE operated by Mervyn's Coaches with a Plaxton Centro body built in 2007 in the umber & cream livery, which was the first low-floor bus acquired by the operator and was originally registered as CN57 EFD. The original 741 UKL, a Volvo B10M with Van Hool bodywork built in 1995, was sold in 2018. The registration was then passed onto CN57 EFD, formerly operated by Veolia Cymru and GHA Coaches in North East Wales.
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