King Alfred CCG 704C in Winchester - 1 Jan 2004 (518-11)

Thursday 1 January 2004 – ‘Friends of King Alfred Buses’ (FoKAB) Running Day at Winchester (and surrounding area)

Preserved former King Alfred Motor Services CCG 704C Bedford VAL14 with Plaxton Panorama 49 seat body new 1965. The coach passed to Hants and Dorset when KAMS was taken over in 1973. Sold in 1976 to a company in north-east England. In 1982 it became a transporter for a vintage vehicle losing most of its body in the process. In 1996 it passed into the ownership of the ‘Friends of King Alfred Buses’. A new body was found from another coach (LAL 547E) and transferred to the chassis of CCG 704C in 2001. It made its first appearance at the FoKAB running day on 1 January 2002, an event which sees different preserved buses and coaches running a network of fully timetabled free services to create a 1960s atmosphere. Seen at 0930 in the village of Sutton Scotney when working the 0900 ‘express’ service from Andover to Winchester, a ‘positioning’ trip. The coach then worked 40 minute tours all day returning to Andover at 1700.