I do hope you like my latest gallery of vehicles operated by Smiths Luxury Coaches (Reading) Ltd. There has been much written on this site about Smiths before now from people more in the know than I, so I will just show my shots. There will be no interesting questions arising in this gallery as in my recent Chiltern Queens of Woodcote gallery, although, on saying that, what would Smiths be thinking of doing with a six wheeler trolleybus?
Ray Soper
09/2011
September 2025 – The slideshow function is not available at present, so the images are displayed statically here.
24/09/11 – 11:34
Many thanks, Ray, for this evocative collection. I guess they were taken between 1963 and 1966: am I right? ACP 630 was the first preselector bus I ever drove; it and its stablemate ACP 627 went very well, partly thanks to their 9.6-litre engines, but I think both were withdrawn by the end of ’64. The 6-wheel trolleybus had probably just been towed to the yard by KJH 900, by then owned by Tony Belton. It worked hard for a few years towing withdrawn trolleybuses to temporary homes at Chiltern Queens’ and Smith’s yards before they were towed up to Sandtoft. The late Mike Dare had good relations with both CQs and Smiths, who were generous in the use of space at their yards. One snowy day in early ’65 (date open to correction) we were towing Derby 175 southwards through Charnwood Forest behind KJH 900. The road got steeper and steeper, finally defying the Lancet’s tractive effort. Fortunately both vehicles had good handbrakes. A friendly farmer in a Land Rover stopped in front of us, hooked a chain to KJH 900’s dumb iron (or had it had a front towing eye fitted?) and we crested the hill in fine style.
Ian Thompson
24/09/11 – 15:19
FXT 262 (RT87) looks unusual, in that the two front opening widows have been replaced by slightly smaller fixed ones, with the central pillars being thicker than the norm.
Chris Hebbron
25/02/18 – 07:42
I have just received my copy of Paul Lacey’s comprehensive history of Smith’s Coaches of Reading. This book is surely a must for anyone interested in this fascinating operator. See Page 12 on the following website:- www.paullaceytransportbooks.co.uk
Roger Cox
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