Oxford Diecast - NSEA001 - Bus, Bristol MW - Royal Blue Coach Service

Model Information: This tooling was launched by Oxford in 2019. Features a die cast metal body, window glazing, interior seats and realistic decoration.

Prototype History: The Bristol MW (MW stands for "Medium Weight") is a bus and coach chassis designed and built between 1956 and 1966 by Bristol Commercial Vehicles Ltd (BCV) at Brislington, Bristol.

It had a horizontally mounted engine under the floor between the two axles allowing an entrance ahead of the front axle and a flat floor for its entire length and thus suitable for "one-man" operation. The chassis then had a body mounted upon it by a bodybuilder, either a bus body or a coach body. The MW replaced the earlier LS (Light Saloon), which was designed to be built into an integral bus or coach only by sister company Eastern Coachworks Ltd (ECW) based in Lowestoft. This prevented the sale of the mechanical underframe to other bodybuilders when a change in control of the company allowed this to happen. A few chassis were sent to Alexander at Falkirk to receive bodies to the specification of companies within the Scottish Bus Group.

Road Name History: Royal Blue Express Services was a coach operator in the south and west of England from 1880 until 1986.

The Royal Blue business was founded in 1880 by Thomas Elliott in Bournemouth. The business, at first known as Royal Blue & Branksome Mews, included the hire of every kind of horse-drawn vehicle, as well as coach building, saddlery and blacksmithing. Elliott soon started a four-in-hand stagecoach service to connect Bournemouth to the railway at Holmsley. That service became redundant when the railway was extended to Bournemouth in 1888, but by then Elliott had started running Royal Blue excursions by charabanc and coach around Bournemouth and the New Forest. When Thomas died in 1911, the business was taken over by his sons John and William.

Manufacturer Information: Established in 1993, Oxford Diecast is a British Company that specializes in high-quality die-cast metal vehicles. Produced in various scales, the firm's models are marketed as collector items, gifts, and promotional products. Their largest production goes to OO scale (1:76) and in 2015 they introduced railway products under 'Oxford Rail' brand.
Their N-scale collection is using the 1:148 scale ratio as most British manufacturers.