page_title: Bedford OB
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bedford OB / History
caption_attribution_description: Bedford
context_page_description: The Bedford OB was a bus chassis manufactured by Bedford from 1939.
context_section_description: The Bedford OB was designed as a successor to the Bedford WTB. It had a wheelbase of 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m), and was a semi-forward control model, designed to carry 26 to 29-passenger bodywork. It was fitted with a 27.34 horsepower petrol engine, and had a four-speed manual gearbox and fully floating rear axle. The brakes were of the vacuum servo-assisted hydraulic type.
  Although only 73 were built prior to the cessation of production due to World War II, it reappeared in a largely unchanged form at the end of the war, continuing in production until 1951. A total of 12,766 were produced, making it one of the most popular buses of its type ever.
  Bedford co-developed with Duple the "Vista" coachwork for the OB, fronted by a classic bullnose. The ash framework was reinforced with steel, and the floor made from hardwood with softwood tongued and grooved boarding, with the exception of the cab area which was finished with alloy chequerplate. Seating capacity was normally 29 with overhead luggage racks provided for passengers, whilst the rear luggage boot was also used to store the spare wheel. The price of a complete coach, including finishing in a two-colour livery, was £1,314.10s for a 27-seater, and £1,325.10s for a twenty nine seater.
  Geared to reach speeds of at least 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), which was fast for its day, the OB is remembered by many for its characteristic gearbox whine.
caption: Preserved 1949 Royal Blue Coach Services Duple Vista bodied OB
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DXO Optics Pro v5", "Image DateTime": "2009:06:14 13:37:42", "Image ExifOffset": "242", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[51, 260061/5000, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[0, 257487/10000, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "163", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[12, 38, 31]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "12", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "", "GPS GPSDate": "2009:06:14", "Image GPSInfo": "8844", "Image DateTimeOriginal": "2009:06:14 13:37:42", "Image Tag 0x9216": "[1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9198", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "12332", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:06:14 13:37:42", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:06:14 13:37:42", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "995723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "141391/25000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "39/10", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "199/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "29", "EXIF SubSecTime": "43", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "43", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "43", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3705", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2821", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "43", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}