MIKE'S BUS PAGES

MUNICIPAL BUSES

 

 

Northampton Corporation Daimler CVG6/Roe 263 of 1968. The last of this batch, 267 (JVV267G) has been preserved as has 266 (as an open-topper in Malta!) 267 has a special claim to fame as it was, I believe, the last 'traditional' normal-control double-decker supplied to a British operator. 263 is seen in 1975 at the then Mereway terminus. This road is now a fast dual-carriageway.

 

The 1960s can perhaps perhaps be regarded as the Indian summer decade for this fascinating sector of the British passenger transport scene. At the start of the decade close to a hundred town hall fleets throughout the land, owned some 20,000 vehicles. All these colourful fleets went about their business daily, efficiently stamping their own local identities on the communities they so ably served.They included trams still at Glasgow, Sheffield (not for long though), and of course Blackpool. The once extensive Leeds system didn't quite make it.

I personally managed to visit less than two-thirds of them between 1962 and 1975, from the smaller fleets such as Hartlepool and Lowestoft to the four-figure giants like Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. I suppose best memories for me must include surviving TD4's (still with their tops on) at Portsmouth, numerous rides on ex-London and other utility Guys in Burton-on-Trent in 1964,including the now beautifully restored ex-London G351 (HGC130), the amazing variety that was Colchester Corporation's fleet at this time and an (old 1d) penny ride in Grimsby on one of the ex-LT post-war STL's. The joint Grimsby-Cleethorpes fleet was another one for great variety then.

Towards the end of the 1960s however, individuality and character was all but being squeezed out of many of them as the all-conquering Passenger Transport Executives were starting to cut swathes through them. South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Tyneside and Clydeside were major areas that fell victim to this 'Gigantomania' Someone once remarked in my hearing that everything would eventually be turquoise blue with yellow ends!  (mirroring then current railway practice) Thank God he was wrong but I'll bet some faceless civil servant suggested it.

For the sake of argument my definition of Municipal for this page will include those after 1974 which had lost their 'Corporation' identities but still remained in some form of council ownership. Indeed, a select few have clung onto this best of all solutions even today.

 

Take a look at this initial offering.. I have tried to replicate the main livery colour (as I remember it anyway) in the caption lettering for each operator. Had colour photography been as cheap and cheerful in the 1960s as it is now then these might have been self evident here but it is important, in these days of bland Stagecoach and First Bus omnipresence to recall just how colourful it all was. I shall be adding to this regularly so if your favourite/local system is not shown or has only a small number of views then keep looking. If I ever got there then the photos will eventiually appear.

The large number of photographs that follow are in no particular order

BIRKENHEAD CORPORATION - 1967

 

 

This was  No.374 a Guy Arab IV of 1956 with Massey bodywork

 

 

No.113 was a 1965 Leyland PD2, its bodywork again by Massey

 

 

An earlier PD2 of 1951 No.214 also had a Leyland built body

 

 

No.249 was somewhat older than it looks here, or at least the chassis was. Its two-letter registration provides a clue. It was originally a utility specification Guy Arab II that was new in 1944 - the body it carried here was a replacement Massey one of 1953 

 

 

 

At this time (1967) Birkenhead 's fleet of almost 240 units included only four single-deckers, these Leyland Loepards of 1964 

 

 

East Lancs bodied this 1961 delivered Leyland PD2

 

 

Also in 1967 there were only eight rear-engined vehicles, in the shape of these Weymann bodied Daimler Fleetlines, new in 1964

 

 

Virtually new when photographed  in 1967 was No. 135, a late Leyland PD2 sporting the then current style of Massey bodywork eliminating that company's characteristic curves to the front dome area

 

 

..........and here are those curves again. No.293 an older Guy Arab relegated to training duties

 

WALLASEY CORPORATION MOTORS

 

Main livery was actually a rather pale yellow which I cannot reproduce accurately above

 

 

 Wallasey's claim to fame was that it was the first municipality to place the Leyland Atlantean in service with the first of a batch of six in 1958. This is No.5 which came early in 1959

 

 

Very traditional and also rather attractive in its pale yellow colour was No.53 from a batch of 24 Leyland PD2s with Metro-Cammell bodies delivered in 1951. That seemingly unnecessary embelishment to the shape of the foremost upper deck side windows, assuming it's actually the glass, must have made for an expensive repair if ever they were broken.  Did one get saved - can't say that I've ever seen one subsequently? It would be a great shame if not.

 

 

 

Weymann bodies graced this batch of twelve PD2's that also came in 1951. Contemporary with the delivery of London's RLH class AEC's (having the lowbridge version of this body) it is interesting that Wallasey's buses were also without the more usual curved outward skirt panels on these bodies.

 

 

Wallasey's single deckers were few in number and distinctly different. No.32 was one of four Albion Nimbus small 31 seat saloons of 1962 bodied by Strachans

 

DERBY CORPORATION - 1966

 

 

No.114 wasa Crossley DD42 of 1952. Derby obviously liked bodywork by Brush which supplied bodies like this on many buses in its fleet

 

 

More famous for its goods vehicles, buses by Foden were few and far between in the 1960s. Derby was one of a select number of municipalities to try them and took delivery of just five of these PVD6 models in 1952. Bodywork again by Brush.

 

 

With the exception of the above (and some wartime Guys and a Bristol still operational) Derby was very much wedded to Daimler for its fleet in the early 1960s. It even had a few pre-war trolleybuses of this make. No.97 was a  1952 CVD6 model with, just for a change, Willowbrook bodywork.

 

 

No.118 was a 1957 CVG6 with Park Royal bodywork

 

 

 

A later CVG6 with Roe body - almost identical I should think to the Northampton 263 at the head of this page 

 

 

No. 176 was a 1966 delivered Daimler Fleetline.

 

 

LEICESTER CITY TRANSPORT

 

 

Metro-Scania 286 when very new

 

READING CORPORATION

 

 

 

Dennis Loline III 138.  One of a batch bought 1962-64, they were in effect Bristol Lodekkas built under licence

 

 

Long before the end of the trolleybus era Reading began experimenting with high capacity single-deckers for one man operation

 

SWINDON CORPORATION

 

I never actually went to Swindon to see its buses in the sixties. These few shots are all I have and date from 1970 when I was passing through on the way home from a west country holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CITY OF PORTSMOUTH PASSENGER  TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT

 

 

Leyland TD4 of 1935 - still going strong in November 1962

 

LOWESTOFT CORPORATION - 1962 & 1966

 

 

Lowestoft Corporation AEC Regent II No.24 of 1947 crosses the swing-bridge in September 1962. Relatively few municipalities were able to place orders for ECW bodywork for their post-war fleet renewals, so this batch was a combination unique to the suffolk coastal town who obviously wanted to support local industry. Its fleet numbered under twenty vehicles.

 

 

Lowestoft was also still running a couple of these 1945 built utility specification Guy Arab 1's in 1966, albeit with some modernisation of their bodywork such as rubber mounted windows 

 

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SOUTHEND-ON-SEA CORPORATION

 

 

In 1954 Southend acquired the chassis of more than a dozen London Transport utility Daimlers which were sold by the capital when they were but eight years old. Rebodied by Massey they then went on to serve the Essex municipality well for a  up to a further twelve years. No.267 was the former LT D246. 

 

 

Similar re-bodying exercises were carried out on its own utility Daimlers which were in fact a couple of years older than the London ones acquired

 

 

 

Weymann front entrance bodywork completed No. 205 which was and Albion Aberdonian dating from 1960

 

 

The following year two Leyland Leopards had Weymann dual-entrance bodywork equipped to allow up to sixteen standing passengers

 

This rather bland tin front design became a standard for hundreds of Leyland PD2's supplied to the municipal sector during the 1950s. Southend's pale blue/cream colours made the style look better than those of many others. No. 279 had Massey Lowbridge bodywork and was new in 1954

 

 

Although badged as Leylands the ten Alexander front-entrance bodied buses of 1963 were licenced as Albions. In most respects they were actually Leyland PD3's

 

 

These two wartime Daimlers (from a batch of five) came from Eastern National in 1955 but each was different. 247 started life as a CWG5 (Gardner 5LW powered) but latterly had an AEC 7.7 litre engine. It was new to Birmingham City Transport. 246 though was a CWA6 (AEC engine) from new and had a Duple body. Both open-top conversions were carried out in the mid-1950s

 

MAIDSTONE CORPORATION

 

views from 1963...............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRADFORD CITY TRANSPORT 1963

 

 

 

 

Bradford City Transport AEC Regent V. It's April 1963 and this has replaced trolleybuses on the Bradford Moor route. 'Via Church Bank' says the destination. These certainlly made more heavy going of that steep hill than their predecessors - apparently they were so noisy in low gear on the climb that they sometimes made church sermons inaudible!

 

 

Bradford made good use in the 1960's of a number of RT's sold as surplus to requirements by London Transport

 

HUDDERSFIELD CORPORATION & JOINT OMNIBUS COMMITTEE

 

 

A Roe front entrance body is fitted to No.414, A Leyland PD3A of 1962. Its conductoress chats to her driver prior to setting off on a journey over the former trolleybus route to Fixby 

 

 

No 451 was a similar Roe bodied vehicle, this time a Daimler CVG new in 1964. Perhaps it replaced the old No. 451, an AEC Regent of 1947 which had originally been in the Joint Committee fleet

 

 

The comments for No.451 above could equally apply to No.455 here

 

The Joint Committee buses livery ommitted the cream relief, or at least the streamlined aspect of it...................................................

 

 

No.194 was an East lancs bodied AEC Regent V of 1960

 

 

A slightly earlier Regent V model with traditional exposed radiator, No. 183 was new in 1958

 

 

Saloon No.18 was an AEC Reliance of 1959. Roe built the 44-seat bodywork

 

 

 

No.232 was an AEC Regent III of 1954. It will be noted that both this and No. 183 above are missing their AEC Radiator triangle badges - I wonder if was someone stealing them at this time, or was their removal official action?

 

 

No.22 -  Leyland Leopard of 1961

 

 

No.194 (above) was the first, and 201 the last of the 1960-62 batch of AEC Regent V's 

 

 

An older generation AEC Regent acts as a training vehicle in 1966

 

DONCASTER CORPORATION - 1964

 

A wet and miserable early morning visit while awaiting a change of train

 

 

 

Doncaster Corporation Leyland PD2 EDT705. If you think something's not quite right about the body here, then you are spot-on. The top deck overhanging the drivers cab and the slightly crooked look were the result of this body being built for a trolleybus then adapted and transferred to the bus chassis when the electric vehicle was scrapped. The bodies were replacements and much newer than the trolleybus chassis. Were there any upper deck opening windows on the nearside? Another of these, EDT703 has been superbly preserved.

 

 

No.174 ws a Leyland PD3 with exposeed radiator delivered in 1962. The bodywork was Roe's standard of the time but with a front entrance

 

 

Somewhat older in the tooth was this Daimler with earlier style of Roe bodywork having the traditional curved window over the rear staircase

 

 

No.23 was an AEC Regal III with Roe bodywork of 1953  and was equipped for One-Man-Operation. Sister vehicle 222 survives today and can often be seen at the Sandtoft Transport Centre

 

 

Delivered at about the same time as 223 above was No.227 an AEC REgent III with, as all Doncasters buses at this time, Roe bodywork - this time conventional rear entrance

 

 

Another early post-war Daimler (1949) eeking out its days in 1964

 

BRIGHTON CORPORATION

 

 

 

Weymann bodied AEC Regent III seen near Old Steine. In the sixties standard livery was red & cream but this was later replaced by blue & white

 

BRIGHTON CORPORATION - 1970s

 

 

This was the later scheme adopted at Brighton. I think it suited these 1960s Leylands quite well although cream relief rather than harsh white would have been better These conventional layout buses were designed for normal crew operation but the front door enabled an unusual experiment with driver only operation. He collected the fares by making a left turn in his seat and issuing tickets via a cutaway cab window end. Nowadays any such move would probably see the operator sued for causing repetitive strain injury!

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAWTENSTALL CORPORATION - 1964

 

 

No. 56 was a Leyland PS2/1. One of a pair it dated from 1950 and was built with a front entrance while No.55 had a rear one

 

 

JTE496 was a Leyland PD2 with East lancs bodywork.  The livery was a comparatively sombre maroon scheme, variations of which seemed to be the favoured colour of many English municipalities,

 

 

BURNLEY COLNE & NELSON

 

I didn't actually get here till 1972. These are the only British Municipal photographs I took having flown to the destination. With a friend I travelled on a North-East Airlines (part of BEA) Viscount from Heathrow to Leeds/Bradford and journeyed on to here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHESTER CITY

 

 

 

 

Just two views here, taken in 1969 from the vantage point of the famouus 'Rows' which provided welcome cover from the elements on this occasion

 

LIVERPOOL CORPORATION TRANSPORT

 

A look at the later days before the onslaught of the Transport Act 1968 and the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive changed things forever. Views from mid-1967

 

 

Like London, Liverpool tried it too and had a few buses in unpainted aluminium like this. A229 was an AEC Regent V with Metro-Cammell bodywork finished by the Corporation in its own workshops. Nearly 200 of these came into use 1955-59 (some with Crossley/LCPT bodies) and A229 was one of the last built.

 

 

Users of AEC and Leyland products in similar measure in the fifties and early  sixties Liverpool went for the Leyland Atlantean in a big way in 1963-4 placing an order for two-hundred units which had this special design of Metro-Cammel bodywork. Others were to follow later. In these pre-double deck OMO days the single-entrance sufficed, even for a big city's needs.

 

 

Both sides now. For the record here's what they looked like from the offside

 

 

 

 

Here's a Regent V painted normally - the bodywork is indeed rather ugly (didn't someone call it 'monsterous masses of shimmering tin'?) doesn't it look better though for having some colour? Note the special design of tin-front, less attractive than the normal AEC grille version

 

 

 

An early member of a batch of 100 AEC Regent III models, A13 cdated from 1953 and had Crossley bodywork with yet another design of tin front

 

 

WARRINGTON CORPORATION - 1967

 

 

No.22 was an East Lancs bodied Daimler Fleetline delivered in 1963. Nine of these were bought but the Corporation was perhaps a little unsure about them as the following year it returned to conventional designs taking delivery of a batch of seven tried and trusted Leyland PD2's  

 

 

No.88 was an East Lancs bodied Leyland PD2 of 1962

 

 

 

 

WIDNES CORPORATION - 1967

 

 

No.14, looking a bit down at heel, was a 1950 delivered Leyland Titan PD1 bearing a standard Leyland built body

 

 

No.6 was from the same batch but actually delivered three years earlier, despite which it looks in better condition

 

ROCHDALE CORPORATION - 1964

 

 

No.323 (6323 DK) was Rochdale's first rear-engined bus - a Daimler Fleetline with Weymann bodywork it was delivered in 1964

 

 

AEC Regent III/Weymann 228 is seen in the old streamlined livery which was by then almost completely phased out in favour of plain cream with a between decks blue relief. It is passing a Manchester Corporation vehicle. The extent of municipal interworking in this area of Lancashire was notable. Rochdale was also served by Bury and Oldham Corporations, and possibly others too.

 

 

Daimler CVG6

 

 

AEC Regent V and Regent III compared. Perhaps Rochdale particularly liked its Gardner engined Daimlers as it took the rather  unusual step of specifying this makers 6LW powerplant for its thirty AEC Regent V 's delivered in 1956, although they went the AEC way for engines of the following year's batch.

 

OLDHAM CORPORATION - 1964

 

 

I never actually went to Oldham although there was much interworking among all Lancashire municipals and this enabled me to catch just this one shot of an Oldham CT bus in Rochdale

 

ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE CORPORATION - 1963

 

 

Leyland PD1 with Crossley body

 

 

Seen in 1963 this Bond bodied Guy Arab IV was later numbered 65 although it bears what looks like 41 here and in 1959 was No. 37?

 

 

34 was a Leyland PD2 with Roe body pf 1963

 

 

STALYBRIDGE HYDE MOSSLEY & DUKINFIELD TRANSPORT & ELECTRICITY BOARD

1963 & 1964

 

 

No.82 was a Daimler CVG6 of 1957 with Northern Counties body

 

 

BOLTON CORPORATION

 

 

Bolton Corporation Leyland Atlantean when new in 1964. Its then very modern East Lancs body was one of the first of the type to enclose the engine creating a flush rear profile

 

 

BURY CORPORATION - 1964

 

 

 

 AEC Reliance 81 with Weymann bodywork. Then  (1964) One of only eight single deckers in a fleet of nearly a hundred

 

 

 

No. 160 was a Leyland PD2 of 1950 with Weymann bodywork showing off its trademark curved outward lower skirt panels

 

 

This AEC Regent III of 1952 also had Weymann bodywork

 

STOCKPORT CORPORATION - 1964

 

 

Stockport Corporation Massey bodied Utility Guy Arab  of 1945. I went there (from Manchester) specially to see these in 1964, but alas they were not on the road and this depot view was the only shot I could get. Evidence of an earlier form of transport was still present

 

 

One of the 225-244 batch of all-Crossley buses that came in 1946

 

 

SALFORD CITY (MANCHESTER) - 1964

 

 

 

Again very much in the minority - Only ten AEC Reliance/Weymann saloons were owned out of a fleet of nearly 300

 

   ##

 

Metro-Cammell bodied 36 of these Daimler CVG6s in 1962 but only the last six were of this front entrance configuration

 

 

Salford's standard for many years - well over 150 of these neat earlier generation Daimler CVG6s supplied 1950-52 were operated. Metro-Cammell again supplied the bodywork. Some of them lasted long enough to assume a rather dated appearance

 

RAMSBOTTOM CORPORATION

 

 

Ramsbottom Corporation Leyland PD3

 

COLCHESTER CORPORATION

 

 

Crossley with manufacturers own bodywork

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLACKPOOL CORPORATION

 

 

Unusual, and unique to Blackpool in this particular combination were these Leylands with Burlingham full fronted centre-entrance bodies. They were around nntil the mid-1960s. One was later preserved but I've not seen it for over twenty years so hope it is OK

 

 

A wartime (1940 built) single-deck version on a Leyland TS8 chassis was still being used in 1962, for pay as you enter operations

 

LYTHAM ST. ANNES CORPORATION

 

 

No.5 was a Leyland PD2

 

 

Northern Counties provided the bodywork for No. 60 A Leyland PD2 of 1957

 

 

No.10 was an all-Leyland product - a PD2 model of 1948

 

 

Pre-war Leyland Titan 'Gearless'. Again I wanted to see and ride on this but it was off the road when I visited Lytham St. Annes. This one was later preserved. It paid a short visit to Cobham about thirty years ago where I snapped it in colour but I've don't recall seeing it since. A rare bird indeed, so I hope it is OK.

 

PRESTON CORPORATION

 

 

 

 

Leylands in 1964

 

YLANDS IN 19

 

BIRMINGHAM CITY TRANSPORT - JUNE 1963

 

Although by the time of my first visit in the summer of 1963 the Birmingham municipality had said goodbye to its last pre-war and wartime vehicles, it's postwar replacement fleet was very much still intact. It's mega scale requirements in the 1948-55 period meant that it, like many other operators, often had to take what it could get. It took a large part of the local industry output of Metro-Cammell for supply of bodywork but relied on others also, and had to pair them with chassis of no fewer than five different makes. Leyland, Daimler, Crossley, AEC and Guy. Birmingham was one of the pioneers of the so-called 'tin front' design whereby the traditional  heavy radiator shell was replaced by a large metal cover that could be adapted in design for individual manufacturers. Deliveries of this type began in about 1953. More than a dozen years later some operators still opted for the old syle on new deliveries

 

 

 

 

2185 was a Leyland PD2 fitted with Park Royal boadywork delivered in 1949. If you are a personalised registration freak and have the initials JOJ you are unlikely to be lucky. BCT's postwar intake took all 999!

 

 

1719 was a Leyland PD2 of 1947 with a Brush built version of Metro-Cammells standard design for Birmingham. Bomb sites still abounded and were soon after developed to the extent that this location would be unrecognisable today

 

 

 

One of the 3103-3227 batch of Daimler CVG6's  (Gardner ^LW engines) of 1953-54 which had new look tin-front Crossley built bodies

 

 

1843 was an earlier Daimler of 1948. The last of a batch of  88 CVD6 models with Daimler engine

 

 

 

In the 1920s and 1930s Birmingham was a major AEC customer but not so after WWII. Only fifteen of its postwar intake was of this make. 1641 was an RT type Regent III model of 1947 with a Park Royal copy of the operators standard body of the time. Perhaps London's requirements were too great for another large order to come from here too - one wonders whether if the situation had been different would they still have had all the other makes. Additionally in the same year AEC did provide the engines for a batch of 75 Daimlers however.

 

 

2334 was an all-Crossley product of 1949. Has that ultra-modern (for its time) multi-storey car park stood the test of time?

 

 

The old order changeth! Birmingham's first venture into the rear-engined scene came with a purchase of ten Lowbridge Metro-Cammell bodied Leyland Atlanteans in 1961. The following year saw the arrival of ten Highbridge versions but this time on Daimler Fleetline chassis and 3242 was one of these. Time wasw to show that this type was preferred as over a thousand were eventually acquired including some bodied as single-deckers. At this time, of course, these buses were for normal crew operation

 

 

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COVENTRY CITY TRANSPORT

 

 

 

Daimler CVG6 with the ubiquitous MCW Orion bodywork

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOLVERHAMPTON CORPORATION 1964

 

 

 

Guy Arab III with Park Royal body - 1950

 

 

Nice Guys! - Two examples of  local products in the Wolverhampton Corporation fleet on a wet and miserable day in June 1963. The latter photo is, of course one of the ultimately unsuccessful front-engined Wulfrunians

 

 

WALSALL CORPORATION - 1963 & 1966

 

 

"A bus most peculiar mon ami" as Hercule Poirot might say. Walsall Corporation was the home of many a bus of unusual design largely due to its rather unconventionally minded General Manager in the 1960s who was, for as long as he could be, an ardent supporter of the trolleybus too. No.296 was a Bedford SBO of 1956 with Willowbrook bodywork of a design one might normally associate with export vehicles to Africa or South America. A  strange oddity for a British municipality indeed. 

 

Leyland Royal Tiger 808 was built in 1953 and fitted with a Park Royal dual-purpose body. Its high backed coach style seats can be seen. The heavily embellished wheels were unusual in municipal circles. I think this one has ended up preserved

 

COUNTY BOROUGH OF WEST BROMWICH

TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT - 1963

 

 

West Bromwich Corporation 133 was a Daimler CWD6 of 1947 (looks older!) with Metro-Cammell bodywork. I snapped this one as it was about to make a right turn - look carefully and you'll see the old semaphone type trafficator is extended

 

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BURTON-UPON-TRENT CORPORATION - 1964

 

Faithful users of Guy Arabs over many years, they operated a variety of models, some with bodywork by less common coachbuilders, but they are perhaps best remembered for their retention well beyond their designed life span of a number of utility specification 1944-46 ones,which remained largely unaltered, the last of which were over twenty years old when finally pensioned off. Most of the buses built with these basic construction bodies, if not completely scrapped, had had them replaced by the mid 1950s when there was still economic life left in the famously sturdy chassis and Gardner engines. See here the variety that could be observed in 1964. The Corporation also operated just four single-deckers (also Guy Arabs) but none passed my camera on this day.

 

 

Going for a Burton? - Guy Arab IV  76 of 1961. The bodywork was by Massey. Operators more usually specified the Gardner 6LW engine at this time but this batch were powered by the late form legendary 5LW version which had been in manufacture since 1931

 

 

No.18 was an Arab Mk III of 1950. Originally Davies lowbridge body replaced by this Massey highbridge product in 1960

 

 

75 was a slightly earlier Mk IV from 1959 - note the different frontal treatment compared to 76 above

 

 

No.14 is from the same batch as 18 above - but retains its original Davies lowbridge body

 

 

No.11 was from 1950

 

 

No.13 of 1950 carried Davies Highbridge version bodywork

 

 

No. 36, A real utility bus in 1964! A Mark II Arab of 1944 bodied by Park Royal

 

 

Just peeping out on the left No.3 was a Mark III of 1947 bodied by Roberts. Next to it one of four ex London Transport utilities of 1945 that were operated for several years. This one was the former G324 HGC 103

 

 

66 was bodied by Weymann - formally LTE G415. I'm not too sure but I think the ex-LT acquisitions were sbjected to something of a 'going over' by CH Roe before Burton put them into service. Thankfully, however it seems that nothing  significant was done to alter their appearance as happened to so many elsewhere with such modifications as rubber mounted windows

 

 

and No.70 the former LTE G351. This one survives to this day having undergone in recent years a magnificent full restoration in LBPT ownership at Cobham Bus Museum. For a splendid recent colour picture and more information visit www.lbpt.org

 

 

 

Burton's most recent buses at this time showed a turn to Daimler. No.80 was  CSG5 model, again with Massey bodywork and 5LW engine, dating from 1963

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

 

MIDDLESBOROUGH CORPORATION - 1963

 

 

 

Guy Arab saloon  No.100 of 1946 had Roe bodywork 

 

 

Double-deck versions with different bodybuilders also featured at this time. No.72 dated from 1950, a comparatively rare ECW bodied municipal vehicle for the time. That this bus has a Gardner 6LW engine is evident by the protruding radiator to accomodate is larger size that the more common 5LW

more views of this operator to follow

 

HARTLEPOOL CORPORATION - 1963

 

 

Roe-bodied AEC Regent V  Only four such buses were owned, bought in 1956 to replace ex LT utility Bristols. They were operated and maintained on behalf of the Corporation by Bee-Line Roadways

 

WEST HARTLEPOOL CORPORATION - 1963

 

 

 

Roe bodied Daimler

 

 

STOCKTON-ON-TEES CORPORATION - 1963

 

 

No. 100 - Leyland PD/2 with MCW Orion bodywork

 

SUNDERLAND CORPORATION  - 1963 & 1972

 

 

 

A pair of Sunderland Corporation single deckers bought for one-man-operation with their rather controversial flat-fare token scheme

 

Here's a look at an earlier time - June 1963

 

 

No.126 was a 1951 built Daimler CVG6 with bodywork by Roe

 

 

Roe bodywork again, this time on a Guy Arab III chassis built 1952

 

 

In 1954 no fewer than sixty-one of these Daimler CVG5's were added to the fleet, however the bodwork contract was shared between Roe, Associated Coachbuilders and Crossley. No.176 was one of the latter

 

 

 

 

 

 

EASTBOURNE CORPORATION

 

 

First venture by Eastbourne Corporation into one-man-operation (it was alright to call it that then!) was with these Strachan bodied Leyland Panthers in 1967

 

Correction: with grateful thanks to Alan Piatt  (see his website www.brightonbuses.com) who points out that this was in fact a Panther Cub chassis and was a demonstrator before acquisition by Eastbourne - hence its Lancashire registration

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

CITY OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE

CORPORATION TRANSPORT & ELECTRICITY UNDERTAKING

 

 

At the start of the 1960s Newcastle decided to standardise on rear-engined  designs. Seen here in about 1964 No.187 was its very first Leyland Atlantean, with Alexander bodywork and then about four years old. The vehicle behind is a later one with the second version of Alexander bodywork.

 

 

The city's grimy Central Station was the backdrop for No.135 in 1963. An all-Leyland product on a PD2 chassis

 

SOUTH SHIELDS CORPORATION - 1963

 

 

No.126 was a Guy Arab Mk IV of 1959

 

 

An earlier generation is represented by No.142 a Crossley DD42 of 1947 with body by its chassis manufacturer

 

 

No.148 - Roe-bodied Guy Arab III of 1951

 

 

Among newer intakes at this time was  No.113, a Roe-bodied Daimler CVG6 of about 1962-3. Compare this bus with Northampton 263 at the head of this page

 

ROTHERAM CORPORATION - 1964

 

 

No. 117 was a Bristol L5G of 1950 with unusual centre-entrance bodywork by East Lancs. There were nine of them altogether and their claim to fame was that they had the very last Bristol chassis to be delivered to a fleet not part of the Britsh Transport Commission state owned (Transport Holding Company) Sector.

 

 

No.163 was an AEC Reliance of 1957 with Weymann front entrance bodywork

 

 

Getting wet! - No.139 was a 1960 delivered AEC Bridgemaster. The Park Royal bodywork had a front entrance with doors. It is seen in Sheffield and was my conveyance to there to escape the heavy thunderstorm that put paid to any extension of my photographic record of the trolleybuses in its home town.

 

 

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SOUTHAMPTON CORPORATION

 

 

No.331 was a Leyland PD2A of 1962 - its bodywork was suppled by Park Royal and seated 66

 

 

No.197 was one of a hundred Guy Arab IIIs with gardner 6LW engines suppied 1948-51. Park Royal bodywork was again fitted

 

 

Not too sure but I think this was No.256, one of only three single deckers in the fleet at this time (1964). If I am right then it was an Albion Nimbus of 1956 with Alexander bodywork

 

BOURNEMOUTH CORPORATION 1961 & 1962

 

 

No. 156 - A Leyland PD3 of 1960 with Weymann Orion bodywork 

 

 

 

An older full-fronted design of body by Weymann complements this Leyland PD2 of 1950 

 

 

A popular type of conveyance at a few English seaside resorts was this type of open single-decker. No.16 however started life in 1943 as a utility Guy Arab  double-decker and was adapted as seen in the late 1950s. It is seen her resting at its depot in 1962. Evidence of Bournemouth's long gone tram system was still in situ there.

 

 

No.93 was a Leyland Royal Tiger of 1954 - Burlingham supplied the 42 seat bodywork

 

HALIFAX CORPORATION & JOINT COMMITTEE IN 1963

 

 

No. 60 was a Park Royal bodied AEC Regent III of about 1947/8. I was withdrawn not long after this photo was taken

 

 

A more or less identical vehicle to the above N.373 was new in 1950 and was then part of the Joint Committee fleet

 

 

AEC Regal 256 (194x). I don't know if this bus station is the site of the present one that I saw last year and which is also on sloping land. If so then the surrounding landscape has certainly changed - those dark satanic mills in the background have deservedly been consigned to history.

 

 

No.89 was a Daimler CVG6 with Roe body supplied in 1954. Interestingly, and I don't know why, the whole batch of  12 of which it was part were retro-fitted with Leyland O.600 engines four years later. Perhaps they had another use for the Gardner 6LW's ?

 

 

No.12 was a Metro-Cammell bodied AEC Regent V of 1960. It had a front entrance with doors

 

 

No.6 as a Leyland Royal Tiger 'Worldmaster' of 1958 configured for one-man-operation

 

 

A front entrance again, this time clearly shown and on one of the 41-48 batch of 1962 Leyland PD2s with Weynmann bodywork

 

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AN EARLIER LOOK AT NORTHAMPTON - 1963

 

The wet stuff was determined to ruin my day when I decided to visit Northampton for the first time in June of 1963, and it certainly succeeded for these were about the only usable shots I got, all in the same place before catching a train back to 'the smoke' at about 2.30pm. Always a strong favourer of Daimlers, the Corporation had re-ordered a large fleet of CVG6's in batches from 1947 to 1967 after which circumstances dictated a somewhat different policy.

 

 

 

No.147 was from the first post-war batch with Northern Coacbuilders bodies. This and the following three shots are all at Mercers Row in the town centre. The curiously named hotel behind has long gone but had it survived, this particular soubriquet (there was, I think, a similarly named establishment in Nottingham) would certainly have aroused some passions nowadays. No. 154 survives in preservation.

 

 

No. 199 of the third batch  - 1953. These began the standardisation on Roe bodywork that was to be fitted to all further buses for another fifteen years. No.190 was retained until the early 1980s for driver training but sadly was sold to someone who only wanted the engine and it was scrapped. I believe another exists though cut down as an open topper

 

 

No.204 (1957) had the earlier style of Daimler tin front

 

 

No.235 was delivered in 1962. Remember those competing popular mens tailors, so often then to be found on prominent town centre street corners.

 

LUTON CORPORATION

 

 

The Corporation operated two batches of 1948 all-Crossley vehicles, some were of highbridge and others lowbridge layout, the latter like No.100 lasting longest.

 

 

No.94 was one of the highbridge layout batch

 

 

The classic British double-decker of the fifties - No.125 was an all-Leyland product based on a 1953 built PD2 chassis

 

 

A pair of Dennisd Loline IIs were bought in 1960 and 164 was one of these. They had Leyland engines and East Lancs bodies

 

 

A rather unusual acquisition in 1961 was a trio of standard Bristol K5Gs from United Counties who had in turn got them from Eastern National when, in 1952 they relinquished some routes in Buckinghamshire. The chassis were new in 1940 but were rebodied in 1953

 

 

No.143 was a later Leyland PD2 supplied in 1956 with Metro -Cammell lowbridge bodywork

 

Luton Corporation's later buses included some more Dennios lolines and a batch of universally unpopular Leyland-Albion Lowlanders followed by an ill-fated one-man operation attempt with some Bristol RE's. They never, I think, had any rear-engined double-deckers The Corporation decided to opt out of transport provision and sold out to the United Counties arm of the National Bus Company in 1970

 

 

SHEFFIELD CITY TRANSPORT

 

 

No.256 AEC Regent III with MCW highbridge body - new in 1948

 

 

No.550 - An all-Leyland product on a PD2 chassis built 1947

 

 

No. 657 another all Leyland PD2 delivered 1952

 

 

Evidently a Roe bodied AEC Regent V although the photo is of poor quality due perhaps to the appalling weather and I cannot identify its number

 

 

No.496 - the last of a batch of twenty Leyland PD2s with Weymann bodywork new in 1958

 

 

 

 

 

No.223  - Leyland Leopard with MCW standee type bodywork - 1954

 

 

Leyland Atlanteans were acquired in large numbers from 1960, initially as replacements for the last of the city's trams

 

 

Livery of the training fleet was the reverse of the service buses - dark oxford blue with cream relief. Above a Crossley double-decker whilst the two saloons here are Leyland PS1's