A FLEET of old buses travelled through Brecon and Radnorshire to celebrate 40 years since a cross Wales bus service was launched.

The long-distance coach route brand TrawsCambria, the forerunner to today’s Traws Cymru bus service, was launched in June 1979.

To mark the anniversary some 20 privately owned heritage coaches followed the route from Liverpool to Merthyr Tydfil on Saturday,

June 22.

The oldest coach participating was a 72-year-old Bristol L, which ran with several from the original Royal Blue firm, one dating from 1950.

Several coaches from the former Chester-based Crosville firm and Red & White from the 1960s joined in first to run from Chester via Wrexham to Newtown in Powys.

After a break, they departed in convoy south and over the Brecon Beacons to Merthyr Tydfil.

Jonathan Radley, owner of a preserved Red & White 1968 coach, said: “My first job was as a ticket clerk in the National Welsh express office in Cardiff Bus Station.

"I remember how busy TrawsCambria coaches were, especially in the summer season with services often being duplicated. The idea of a road run to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this iconic network of cross-Wales services came to me whilst on holiday in Machynlleth in 2016.

“All the coaches participating on Saturday displayed TrawsCambria logos as we took the journey times of 40 years ago.

"Everything went well and perhaps it was a mark of how well the Welsh Government has improved the roads in Mid Wales in that we made good time getting to Merthyr Tydfil.

"I am very grateful for the support of Colin Billington, Chairman of TV&GWOT, and all the coach owners. At the places we stopped en route, many members of the public were asking what we were doing, as many had not seen coaches like ours since their childhood days."

‘TrawsCambria’ was the first government attempt at improving public transport links within Wales and was kick-started by the UK Welsh Office.

TrawsCambria also had the UK’s first electronic ticket machines with functioning passenger data capture, something that now exists on nearly every bus in the country.

Today, the Welsh Government have taken on and refined the approach with their re-branded “TrawsCymru” coach network. To mark this both Lloyds Coaches of Machynlleth and Stagecoach in South Wales, both partners in today’s TrawsCymru network, took part with modern vehicles.

Back in 1979, the TrawsCambria bus routes were the longest in England & Wales with Route 700 covering 200 miles Bangor–Caernarfon–Newtown–Cardiff and was quickly joined the following year by 701 Rhyl–Aberystwyth–Swansea-Cardiff and 702 Liverpool– Wrexham–Newtown-Cardiff.

By 2014 only the Aberystwyth route remained commercial and the Welsh Government policy was to reinvigorate rural transport links where Dr Beeching had closed all the internal Welsh rail network, back in the 1960s.

The aim was to link places to towns where railways still existed, generally this meant shorter but much more frequent routes and passengers could still connect to make the longer journeys.

Dr Colin Billington, chairman of the Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust (TV&GWOT) and Royal Blue coach owner said “The Royal Blue Run is an annual

event held by historic and heritage coach owners to retrace the routes operated by Royal Blue, which was established in the horse drawn era in 1880 and became the largest express coach operator in the South of England, and Associated Motorways (which was established in 1934 jointly with others including Red & White)”.

“This year Jonathan Radley who owns a former Cardiff-based Red & White coach, asked us to join him in marking the 40th anniversary of TrawsCambria. This fitted well with our plan to run on two former Royal Blue routes from Coventry to Liverpool on Friday, then from Treherbert to Cheltenham via Pontypridd, Pontypool and Monmouth on Sunday.

"Both routes were established by Associated Motorways in the early 1930s.

“Cheltenham was the main hub of the Associated Motorways coach operation, in which Royal Blue participated, prior to the development of the modern motorway network. There was tremendous variety in the cities and countryside we passed through on the overall 620 mile route we took, and it was a real pleasure to take our coaches through mid Wales and over the Brecon Beacons this weekend”.

The next Welsh Anniversary is being marked in September 2019 with events in both Cwmbran and Barry marking 90 years of Western Welsh. This was a very large bus and coach operator covering the southern half of Wales formed in1929 from the old GWR railway buses and a commercial firm based in Cardiff.