GWR Publicity

GWR Publicity: gwrpublicity3874

In addition to the Day Tours described previously (see 'gwrpublicity3876'), the Great Western Railway introduced three land cruises on 20th June 1927, as depicted in the poster. They included:

Land Cruise 1 (black route) a six day Land Cruise from Stroud to Oxford, via Forest of Dean, Wye Valley, Malvern Hills and Shakespeare Country. Operated 1927 and 1928 seasons. This Land Cruise was subsequently handed over to and operated by ‘Midland Red’ Road Motor Coaches.

Land Cruise 2 (blue route) a six day land cruise transversing the Vale of the White Horse, the Mendips and the Cotswolds, from Didcot to Gloucester. Operated 1927 and 1928 seasons.

Land Cruise 3 & 4 (red route) a thirteen day Land Cruise in both directions between Fishguard and Chester along the Welsh coast. Only operated in 1927 season, being replaced in 1928 with a circular Land Cruise from Bath through; the Cheddar Valley, Exmoor, Torquay, Dartmoor, South Devon and the Avon Valley.

The photograph shows a Maudslay ML3 Charabanc (GWR Fleet No 1222) at Stroud station (start of Land Cruise 1 which traversed Shakespeare Country). In the first season (summer 1927) all these Land Cruises used Maudslay ML3 vehicles, but in subsequent summers the Thornycroft A6 charabanc was the preferred transport option (see 'gwrpublicity3875').

The Maudslay ML3 chassis was fitted with an all-weather charabanc body, providing seats for 32 passengers. A variety of bodywork manufacturers were used and the last six charabanc bodies (provided by John Buckingham) had two extra passenger seats. The Maudslay ML3 had a 60hp 4 cylinder overhead valve petrol engine and a four speed gear box with a cone clutch. Details of all these forty Maudslay ML3 charabancs are given in the following table:

Robert Ferris

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