On the fourth of July 1985 SRG191 would have started the day at Dolgellau. It was allocated to the 1345 S13 departure for Aberystwyth, meaning it would spend the best part of the remainder of the day being driven by an Aberystwyth driver before returning to Dolgellau for the evening. The vehicle would be exchanged at Machynlleth at 1430, would arrive at Aberystwyth at 1521 and would perform a school service before returning from Aberystwyth at 1625.

Perhaps Dolgellau's senior driver, who would have allocated the bus to its day's work, decided he wanted rid of the vehicle for the afternoon. It was a phenomenon noted elsewhere in the Crosville realm at the time, notably on service X1 [Chester-Manchester via Runcorn] where a vehicle exchange took place at Ellesmere Port each day ensuring that one Chester vehicle spent every other night at Runcorn and vice versa. I don't know which depot started the process, but it came to be seen as an opportunity to force an RE coach on the other depot for 24 hours. In those days, drivers preferred Leopards. All it meant from an enthusiast's point of view was that it could be almost guaranteed that both depots would send out RE coaches on the changeover working for fear of losing out, i.e. giving a Leopard to the other depot and getting an RE in return.

So the Aberystwyth driver would have found the dual door RE waiting for him at the foot of Machynlleth station approach. He probably scratched his head for a moment. I do know that in 1983 SRG133 made a brief visit to the South Cambrian area, so it cannot be said that the dual door RE was completely unknown in Aberystwyth, but I believe this to be only the second B48D RE to be seen there. And I stumbled across it, awaiting its return trip.

Still showing its school bus destination array, SRG191 was passed by ex-Ribble ERL529, also running off a school trip. ERL529 was one of three PTF-L registered RELHs allocated to the South Cambrian division. It had an exceptional exhaust sound, the sort that turned heads even in those days. Nonetheless, all three were a joy to ride.