OAX9F a 1968 Bristol RELH with Leyland 600 engine and Eastern Coach Works body.

Ruby's story

OAX 9F

A 1968 Bristol RELH with Leyland 600 engine & Eastern Coach Works body

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OAX 9F was new to RED & WHITE in March 1968.

Like most buses & coaches, Ruby was built in two parts: a chassis & then coachwork.

These are the companies that built our coach.

Ruby's chassis was built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles. She's an RE LH: Rear Engine Long High frame. Finished 16 Sept. 1967, the chassis cost £3,358 (£/S/D).

Read & see more >

Ruby's coachwork was hand-built at Eastern Coach Works, Lowestoft in January 1968. Finished on 10 February that year, the body cost £3,600 (£/S/D).

Read & see more >

How did Ruby's chassis travel the 250-miles from the Bristol Commercial Vehicles factory to Eastern Coach Works in Lowestoft?

Tens of thousands of new Bristol bus & coach chassis made this long road trip as their first run.

Yes, the chassis were driven, often overnight, by chaps who had little protection. Just a thin canvas in front of them & many layers of warm clothing!

The drivers were issued with leather caps, goggles & leather jackets. It must have been a bumpy, cold & noisy journey.

Photo by Oldbusman (flickr)

Luxury Travel, Sixties Style

Ruby's luxury interior had:

47 leather-trimmed seats*,
arm rests, ashtrays & footrests*;
individual fluorescent reading lights;
forced-air ventilation;
opening sky-lights;
floor-mounted heaters;
electric power doors;
a red aisle carpet.

View more photos.

* Current spec has been changed slightly during restoration.

View photos of Ruby during her 12-years in preservation with me.

From 1963 to 1970, Eastern Coach Works built 413 bodies on BRISTOL RELH chassis like Ruby.

Today 24 survive in preservation. 11 are restored and roadworthy.

Brand New

RED & WHITE received our coach on 5 March 1968.

Two days later they registered her in Monmouthshire OAX 9F & allocated her fleet number: RC.968

RED & WHITE had three batches of Bristol RELH/ECW mk-1 coaches:

eleven in 1966, registered: GWO 1D - 11D;
ten in 1968, registered: OAX 1F - 10F;
eleven in 1969, registered: SAX 1G - 11G.

View historic colour photos of them.

Photos: RELH/ECW coaches at Bulwark by Alan Dorrington; OAX 9F at Victoria by The KDH Archive.

15-Years Service

Initially, Ruby worked from Aberdare garage, but soon transferred to Tredegar, from where she worked for 11 years. She also worked periods from Chepstow & Monmouth.

From new Ruby wore the RED & WHITE coach livery of ivory & currant red. In 1974 she was painted into NATIONAL Bus Company all-over white. She was down-graded to a dual-purpose bus in 1979 & painted half poppy-red & half white.

Ruby mainly operated express coach services, day-tours, excursions & private hire duties. In later years she operated local limited-stop bus routes. During 15-years Ruby covered over one million miles. Between 1968 & 1983 a great deal of fascinating economic, industrial & social history took place.

Ruby was withdrawn by National Welsh in July 1983.

Photo: Andrew Mann (flickr)

Preservation & Restoration

Ruby was bought from National Welsh by Roger Annetts in Sept. 1983 for preservation. Since then she had 6 owners.

Over 12-years (2012 to 2024) a lot of restoration work had been done. It was never our intention to restore Ruby to brand new condition. Instead, we presented her as she would have looked in her early years in service, around 1970.