The History of the Bristol K

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The Bristol K chassis was built by Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company Limited/Bristol Commercial Vehicles Limited with bodies by Barnard, Beadle, Brighton, Hove & District, Bristol, Bruce, Brush, Davies, Duple, East Lancs, Eastern Counties, Eastern Coach Works, Massey, MCW, NIRTB, Northern Coachbuilders, Northern Counties, Park Royal, Roe, Silcox, Strachan, Weymann and Yorkshire Equipment.  The K was produced between 1937 and 1957.

There were various types of Ks developed:

  Bus (Double Deck) CL27/26RD, CL27/28R, CL27/28RD, FDPL32/28F, FH30/24F, H20/26R, H20/28R, H24/24R, H26/26R, H26/26R, H28/28R, H30/24R, H30/25R, H30/26R, H30/28R, H30/32R, H31/25R, H31/28R, H32/26R, H32/28R, H32/28RD, H33/26R, H33/27R, H33/28R, H34/28R, L23/24R, L24/24R, L26/24R, L26/26R, L27/26R, L27/28R, L28/26R, L30/26R, L53R, L55R  

They were powered by an AEC 6 cylinders, Bristol 6 cylinders or Gardner 5 & 6 cylinders.

There were 4148 Bristol Ks built. The K's were delivered to the following operators:

Operator No of Vehicles
  Aberdare 8  
  Associated 1  
  Bath Electric 20  
  Bath Tramways 28  
  Brighton, Hove & District 150  
  Bristol Omnibus 28  
  Bristol Tramways 878  
  Bryn Melyn 1  
  Burrows 2  
  Caledonian 4  
  Cardiff 38  
  Central SMT 1  
  Chatham & District 46  
  Cheltenham District 13  
  Colchester 7  
  Coventry 1  
  Crosville 301  
  Derby 1  
  Doncaster Corporation 6  
  East Midland 1  
  Eastern Counties 258  
  Eastern National 209  
  Edinburgh 1  
  Gosport & Fareham 1  
  Griffin 2  
  Hants & Dorset 298  
  Harper Brothers 1  
  Keighley-West Yorkshire 38  
  Lincolnshire 36  
  Liverpool 5  
  London Passenger TB 29  
  Luton Corporation 9  
  Maidstone & District 226  
  Merthyr Tydfil 32  
  Moore Bros 1  
  North Western 64  
  Northern Ireland RTB 2  
  Notts & Derby 15  
  Oxford 1  
  Plymouth 1  
  Pontypridd UDC 21  
  Potteries 7  
  Rotherham Corporation 28  
  Silcox 7  
  Southern National 104  
  Southern Vectis 63  
  St Helens 7  
  Stockton 4  
  Thames Valley 182  
  Tilstone 2  
  United Automobile 196  
  United Counties 140  
  United Welsh 4  
  Warrington 29  
  West Yorkshire 123  
  Westcliff-on-Sea 74  
  Western National 214  
  Wigan 3  
  Wilts & Dorset 121  
  York-West Yorkshire 55