VR20 Revival - Penzance - Saturday 5 December 2026
The Bristol VR Buses and Routes
Remembering Bristol VR buses and some of their local liveries (c) L Farley
Join TV&GWOT, CBPS, and as many Bristol VR buses as we can muster, for a celebration of these much-loved double-deckers, once the mainstay of bus operations in Cornwall, on Saturday 5 December. There will be FREE RIDES out and back from Penzance Bus Station to Land's End, St Ives and Helston from 10am - 4 pm for an authentic VR experience.
A Souvenir Programme explains the significance of the Bristol VR buses and, in particular, their enduring role transporting local people and visitors across Cornwall for decades. It will also give details of the vehicles attending and timetables for the services. Souvenir Programmes can be purchased in advance so you can prepare and plan your day.
After the public rides, vehicle entrants (with family, friends, Trust Supporters and Society Members) may continue running late into the evening repeating the final day of VR operations in 2006 and giving photographers the opportunity to hone their twilight skills.
Bristol VR owners are warmly invited to take part enjoying a weekend with fellow VR enthusiasts - please complete the online entry form. Bristol VRs entered are listed below and will be added to as the day approaches.
To read more about the background to the event on 5th December click here.
The annual Penzance Vintage Bus Day will return in 2027, as always, on the third Sunday in April, 18th April 2027, for another day out with free vintage bus services on a wide variety of buses and coaches around the West Cornwall peninsula.
Background to VR20 - in brief
60 years ago, in spring 1966, Bristol Commercial Vehicles launched the prototype 'VR' double deck bus with its Vertical Rear engine. It addressed the demand for a one person operated front entrance design while retaining the distinctive low floor, low height, flat floor innovation of Bristol's earlier FLF model.
The first VRs were delivered to Western National in 1969 and the company in its subsequent guises across the West Country went on to operate some 400 Bristol VR buses over the next 38 years. The distinctive Bristol VRs with Eastern Coach Works bodies were firmly established as the familiar face of Cornish buses. Cornwall was the last bastion of VR operations with major operators in the UK.
However, 20 years ago, on Saturday 9 December 2006, First Devon & Cornwall bid a fond farewell to the final three of its iconic VR double deckers. The service buses (VDV141S - Fleet No. 1003, AFJ749T - 1147, LFJ873W - 1226) were joined by a further nine VRs , some in service with local operators and others already being cared for by private owners in preservation:
The service VRs were given a fine send-off with preserved vehicles shadowing the services and passengers eager to experience the final scheduled VR trips right through to the early hours of Sunday morning.
Enthusiasm for the VR marque endures and while some have found further service with independent operators covering schools' work, providing festival transport and fulfilling multifarious other roles, many are now in preservation appearing at rallies and providing free rides at vintage bus running days.
The VR20 event on Saturday 5th December, will celebrate the significance of the Bristol VR buses both for the vehicle design and their role in Cornwall's passenger road transport heritage.