Chambers G864 XDX (from on board G760 VRT) at Lavenham – 27 Sep 1995 (287-20)

Wednesday 27 September 1995 (approx. 1740) – H C Chambers and Son Limited of Bures, Suffolk has operated a motor bus service between Bury St. Edmunds and Colchester via Lavenham, Sudbury and Bures since the 1920s although the business began in 1877 with horse drawn vehicles between Bures and Sudbury.

The company re-introduced double deckers to their fleet in 1989 after a gap of around 17 years when three new Alexander RL bodied Leyland Olympians were taken into stock.

G864 XDX, new in November 1989, is seen here as it entered Lavenham when working the 1715 service from Bury St. Edmunds which would terminate in Chamber’s home village of Bures as would the 1815 departure. The last complete through trip to Colchester was the 1615 service.

The photograph was taken from the upper deck of Chamber’s G760 VRT (new a few months earlier in August 1989) which was working the 1615 service from Colchester to Bury St. Edmunds. Upon arrival at Bury St. Edmunds it would then work the last departure of the day, the 1815 service to Bures.

The location of on the Bury side of Lavenham. The new building on the left stands where the railway station stood and the rise in the road ahead leads to the bridge which crossed the railway tracks.