And so our project was born...

A cold night in December 2013, and as the four of us sat around the table in Peachykeens World Buffet Restaurant in Nottingham having a laugh, enjoying our respective Chinese and Indian curries and becoming slowly more inebriated as the pints rolled in to celebrate Christmas, I can recall somewhere in proceedings Paul Waplington announcing to us that a chance conversation with a mutual friend of ours, Thomas Mitchell, a few days before while on a layover on a National Express run to Newcastle had revealed the possibility that an ex-Ulsterbus Bristol RE may be for sale. The vehicle in question was 2599 (BXI2599), the penultimate RE built and the highest numbered survivor of hundreds of such vehicles supplied to Citybus and Ulsterbus in Northern Ireland, after its sister vehicle 2600 was sadly destroyed in a terrorist firebomb attack on the Ulsterbus Depot at Ballycastle in 1995.

Therefore, 2599 is a significant vehicle. At the time, the bus was on a farm near Dorking (Surrey) and owned by well-known vehicle dealer Mike Nash. As the alcohol continued to flow, and our empty plates were cleared, the four of us discussed the pros and cons of possibly getting involved with the vehicle and purchasing it for preservation. As we did this, Paul and Peter fondly reminisced about a trip around the museum site at Lathalmond back in the Summer on board Ulsterbus RE 2438, and how much he enjoyed it, while Calum and myself spoke fondly of a trip the previous Summer around Central Bristol on a similar Ulsterbus RE (the number of which escapes me at this moment). So from this, it became clear we all had something of a soft spot for late model Irish Bristol RE's.

As the night progressed, the idea became stronger, and that burning desire to investigate more into the possibility of owning an Ulsterbus RE - a significant survivor at that - grew stronger. We stumbled away from Peachykeens in a drunken stupour with the idea still fresh in our minds, and before we knew it, contact was made by Paul with Mike Nash, and a date set of Saturday 28 December to pay 2599 a visit. Were we mad? Was it just the alcohol-induced musings of four bus cranks? Did any of us really know what we were taking on? Or was the pipedream of preserving an Ulsterbus RE about to become a reality? And so our project was born...