1967 BEDFORD VAL 14 TWIN STEER PLAXTON PANORAMA - LAST COACH FROM CHRISTCHURCH

"The Last Coach From Christchurch"... With the North Western VAL being moved a few months ago, today saw it's stablemate of 15 years leave it's resting place for the last time... A selection of pictures and videos depicting the move of RUW 990E (lately known and registered as KBD 435Y due to change of registration in 1982) from it's long term preservation spot. A coach with a very intriguing history - first supplied new to Sampson's of Hoddesdon and then quickly passed to London Transport and used on the XRM Project where for the majority of it's life it was parked in their Chiswick works whilst they evaluated the use of possibly developing a twin-steer London Bus. This never materialised, and was the only twin-steer VAL ever owned by London Transport. The distinctive 6.5 Litre Straight Six Diesel - "Leyland 0400 Power Plus" still sounds superb and commensurate of the low mileage covered (circa 87,000). Many thanks go to Billy Young and his superb Scania Jonckheere who today wouldn't of been possible without to help Geoff and I with this VAL's last journey...