THE PRESERVATION SCENE 

MUSEUMS, RALLIES AND ROAD RUNS

 

 

An evocative view of the fourth BUS OF YESTERYEAR gathering, at St. Pancras in 1973. Over sixty buses and coaches can be counted on the original print here!  Among London vehicles in their earlier days of preservation can be seen G351, RTL1323, RF10, T792, TD95 and RT1431 in the company of entries from Birmingham, Midland Red, Royal Blue, Blue Bus, West Bromwich, Barton, Aldershot & District, Bournemouth and Halifax plus a good Tilling Group contingent. The Leyland TD1 in the foreground was part of the BTC collection then entrusted to the care of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club. It iremains today part of the National collection and now resides at Wroughton I believe. I daresay this site has long been commercially developed - can't remember where I was to capture this shot, probably the balcony of a block of flats.

 

 

In the autumn of 1966 as a somewhat niaive 22 year old, I joined that brave (some might say foolhardy) band of impecunious* individuals willing to sacrifice their hard-earned money, their weekends, their girlfriends and sometimes their very sanity to be a bus preservationist. In a joint venture with my late friend Bill Cottrell, Ian Sargent and Pete Nichols I purchased London Transport single-decker Q83 of 1935 and maintained an involvement with it for some thirteen years. Around this early/mid-1960s time three very important and irreplaceable types were lost forever to the London preservation movement, namely all-Leyland STD90, 'tunnel' STL1871 through lack of finance/secure accommodation and/or vandalism and the unique RTC1 (ex-RT97) through commercial indifference, it being sold for scrap by Vernons Pools despite strong interest in it by preservationists, so we were happy to be keeping a pre-war capital fleet vehicle alive, even though not knowing what lay ahead and whether we would succeed or fail.

This created a major shift in my transport enthusiast priorities,for much of the time energy and money I might have spent chasing and photographing operational vehicles was channelled, week in week out, into all the problems associated with trying, with limited funds and not enough knowledge, to safeguard and restore this historically important vehicle. Inevitably I went to a lot of rallies though and saw and photographed many preserved buses. Now, three to four plus decades down the line as I look at my trannies, I often wonder what has become of some of the subjects.

There are a good few that you still see going strong today forty plus years into preservation and I'm so glad that this applies to Q83, which thankfully passed into the safe ownership of the London Bus Preservation Trust before Bill's death at just 55 early in 2004. He had become by mutual agreement the sole owner after 1979 and went on to nurture it (mostly single-handed) for a remarkable 36 years in total - I know, too, that he spent a kings ransom over the years after on some of the difficult technical and mechanical restoration aspects.- those damned brakes were a nightmare, only eventually cured by his sizeable investment in new made parts I believe. Eventually,following protracted negotiation that went on for about twenty-five years, he bought the unloved hulk of similar Q69 that had been preserved and occasionally rallied in the earlier 1960s, and this provided many useful spares including a better engine that I believe is now fitted. Mechanical parts for the Q type are often unique and consequently rare.  

Now edging towards its seventy-fifth year but still capable of being confused with a modern bus, it can still open up (albeit rather noisily), to a good speed on the A3. This amply evidences a lasting testimony to his dedication. I was privileged to be invited to renew my acquaintance and to take a ride, saddened by the realisation that Bill was not to be at the wheel,on its seventieth birthday outing in October 2005.

 

*The asking price was £100 and each of us laid out £25 to acquire Q83, which was more money then than can perhaps be easily imagined today (about half my monthly nett salary at the time)..To put inflation over the past four decades more into perspective,you could then, if you were a smoker, buy some 9,000 cigarettes for £100 (todays cost £2000+) it's interesting to recall too that just to get hold of a copy of the excellent OOC model of it in 2003 cost me nearly £20!

 

For an opening selection I have, inevitably, as a small tribute to Bill, given pride of place to Q83 and other preserved London buses many of which he had a hand in restoring,or maintaining in later years. Following this is a paragraph showing the sterling work done over the years to preserve and operate trolleybuses, then a starting selection of preserved provincial buses and coaches. I fully expect that most are safe and sound somewhere but am not at all sure what has become of some of those shown.

 

                                                                                  Photo courtesy London Trolleybus Preservation Society

Q83 at St Albans - looking a bit down at heel during its stay at that garage c1948/9. It ran in operational service until mid 1953

 

 

Smile please! - October 1966 and we are taking ownership of Q83 at the Sutton Coldfield AEC Service Depot. Ian shakes hands with Harry Pick while the rest of us look pleased with ourselves. Pete is leaning on the sidelight, Bill looks over Harry's shoulder and I am extreme right. If I look a bit unsteady on my feet it's because I was recovering from picking a middle of the road fight with a speeding Ford Anglia on August 2nd and a huge plaster cast had not long been removed from my left leg! I still needed crutches but hid them from view on board for this record shot.

Extreme left is our willing mechanical expert and driver for the day John Warner. The photo was taken by another member of our party using a rather basic 1930s Agfa Billy folding camera that I had recently bought for 97/6d (approx £4.90) - I still have it today!

 

 

 

                                                       These colour views by Ian Sargent

 

We acquired Q83 from the manager of the AEC service depot at.Sutton Coldfield.The local Old Peoples Welfare Committee had owned and used it for several years and had put a ramp for wheelchairs in the rear and cut a door. For good measure they also left us the loo on the off-side! Having just performed faultlessly down the M1 and on into Surrey Q83 is seen immediately on arrival at temporary accommodation at Horley in October 1966

 

 

This photo was taken about 1959 by a serviceman based in Malta. This is a 4Q4, somewhat altered in appearance by its Bedford radiator grille and chrome front bumper. it was apparently still complete and not long out of use when we got Q83 but none of us could afford to go there or contemplate buying it so I don't know  when it was scrapped.When we got Q83 it was rather a mess internally  and we might have been able to speed things up a bit in this area if we could have had some seats and stanchions from it.

 

 

To make us feel as if something was being achieved around 1969 a none too professional attempt at representing LT country area livery was made. This was possible thanks to the kind help of Valliant Coaches of Ealing who allowed the use of their undercover facilities and pit on Sundays. LOTS Craven RT1431 also received its first red coats of paint here.

 

 

 

This is what we achieved by 1973. Seen waiting for the 'off' at a rainy Battersea Park starting point for the Brighton HCVC run of that year. There was however still much internal work to do. Parked behind is STL2093, which was bought for preservation in about 1958 from its second operator Reliance of Newbury

 

 

We only got it back from the LPC paintshop the Friday before and took it to Cobham Station for this shot. We thought it would make a good period view until someone pointed out the British Railways 'hot dog' on the station sign above!

 

 

By the early 1980s Bill tired of the pre-war GreenLine guise (some doubt had been expressed that it was quite right anyway)  He opted to return it to a version of the  post-war country bus livery which we had initially cosmetically restored it to, and something like that in which Q83 finished its LT service in 1953.  See the changed station sign here compared to the above shot. This also didn't help with the historical aspect of the view!

 

 

...and this is how she is today. Seen a year ot two ago at Cobham, her home for the last 35 years, this is how Bill repainted her a few years ago. Although she never actually was in Central Area guise in her LTE service a number of others of the class were in the early fifties. I personally hope that a return will be made to  post-war coountry green someday.

 

 

All's well at the rear - actually this was one of the earliest jobs done. Bills father was a coachbuilder by trade and soon fixed this for us. Getting the new window in was a different story however - we broke at least two and they were costly and specially cut to shape

 

 

OTHER LONDON BUS PRESERVATION SUCCESS STORIES

 

 

STL2377 - It's hard to believe that I first saw this bus back in 1965 when LOTS were considering what vehicle to buy. It was standing rather forlorn in Mulleys Motorways yard in Suffolk and considerable rot of the body frame had taken hold in the five years or so that it stood in the open after its working life ended. It took more that three decades but the magnificent restoratiion it has now had is a sight for sore eyes

 

Seen again, this time  at a Brighton HCVC Rally circa 1970 is STL2093, It is more or less identical to STL2377 above. Originally bought by teacher Dennis Cowing, it came much later into the ownership of the London Bus Presrvation Trust. It is about to undergo a major restoration under a twenty year loan agreement to EnsignBus.  It has now been in preservation for over fifty years.

 

 

Seen departing Horse Guards Avenue terminus in 1972 during its first week of service on Londons Vintage Bus route 100, former Tilling ST922 underwent major restoration after rescue from a scrapyard in 1965. It's now getting very close to eighty (yes 80!) years since this bus was first licenced and having undergone a thorough restoration it remains fully roadworthy in the ownership of the LBPT. Look in the ODDS & ENDS page to see what it was like at the time of initial rescue.

 

 

Also back on the road in 1972 following restoration was this former London Independent bus based on the Dennis 4-ton chassis built in 1925. Seen at Pimlico terminus of the the then route 24 it was on a commemorative run over one of its former stamping grounds which in 1928/9 was numbered 529. When the bodywork of this was discovered having been used as a store shed for decades it was found that its original interior lightbulbs, marked LGOC, still worked!

 

 

 

Interstation Leyland Cub C111 (1936) at Cobham in the mid-seventies. Its livery was a pale blue and cream with black lining.

 A number of Fordson wartime fire emergency vehicles like the one adjacent were released by the Defence Ministry about this time and were auctioned off at bargain prices to preservationists having been in store since the 1940s. I'm not sure whether this was one of them.

 

 

There were originally fifteen of these private hire coaches built on the AEC Regal IV chassis (same as the RF) Most were exported to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) when LTE finished with them, but I think this one must have been one of the pair (the only survivors now) that stayed to work subsequently for St Thomas's Hospital. I've not seen it for many years. Without a 1960s ABC to hand I am not sure of this one's number but it is likely that No.6 will join the Cobham collection in the near future which is very good news.

 

 

Seen, I think at the same time as the RFW above, possibly at a Showbus event at Woburn in the mid-1980s. I don't think any GS's were ever painted red but I do recall serious considerations to this effect in about 1967 when prolonged bridge reconstruction at Selsdon was going to split the operation of Route 54 in two, and these lighter vehicles could have been used for a bridge crossing shuttle during the rebuilding work, however it didn't happen.

 

 

The RF type has always been well represented in preservation. A smart RF458 is seen at Woburn

 

 

The tendency nowadays to restore buses to a standard befitting them for commercial use can only be a good thing. This is well exemplified by TIMEBUS RLH32 seen a long way from its home ground operating a service during the September annual Heritage Open Days event in Northampton about three years ago.

 

 

RT113 spent very many years from the mid 1960s undergoing a thorough restoration - the end result was well worth while

 

 

RTW467 was the last of its type to run in service and was bought direct from LT for preservation very soon afterwards  in 1966. Then too young to be an official entrant it is seen parked up at a late 1960s Brighton HCVC Rally

 

RT593 is a nice survivor with an early roofbox body

 

My enthusiasm for photographing the London scene waned somewhat in the seventies and I did virtually nothing to record the changing country area scene.  The RTs began to disappear there quite quickly but a  couple did get into the National Bus corporate colour scheme and it is good that one is preserved as such. RT604 is seen alongside RT3183 in the'proper' country area livery

 

RTW29, always immaculately maintained, is here seen at Wisley

 

 

An excellent job of restoration was carried out on Private Hire RF10 in the 1970s. It's been off the road and looking a bit rough in recent years but hopefully it will be put right in the not too distant future It still has its original owner in preservation. A view of this bus with its independent owner during the 1960s, Osbornes of Tollesvbury can be seen on the ENGLISH INDEPENDENTS page

 

 

 

Another Londoner with a long history of preservation is TD95. This 1948 Leyland PS1 has undergone a major rebuild in the ownership of LBPT. I well remember it and the few other last survivors trotting up and down the 240A route from Edgware Station until September of 1962

 

 

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

In the late 1960's and early 1970s we all marvelled at the re-emergence of a wonderfully reconstructed 1920s London double-decker in the shape of S454 and a 'K' type to keep K424 company and then, in quite quick succession came former Independent Dennis D142 and Tilling ST922 and the repatriation of an STL from Holland.  It was perhaps forgivable to assume that the last miracle discoveries of pre-war former London buses had then been made, but the 1990s and the start of the twenty-first century have heralded the emergence of yet more magnificent London restorations, Leyland Cub rear-engined CR16 has been lovingly restored from the ground up having been repatriated from Cyprus a few years ago and the famed Mike Sutcliffe Collection (see separate paragraph) includes two very early examples. A pair of others are seen below.Now we must wait for the certain to be breathtaking re-birth at Cobham of NS174, and one day, hopefully not too distant, perhaps the re-emergence of that amazingly re-discovered and repatriated from France T357 and also LT1059. The LT Museum has done a nice job on Leyland Cub C94 and also has the remains of early Greenline T252.

 

   

 

Two examples survive of the 'S' type in its original incarnation as an open topped solid-tyred workhorse of the 1920s but this superb reconstruction by Barry Weatherhead is of a later in the decade development as a pneumatic-tyred saloon. Seen at rest at Pease Pottage on its way to Brighton about three years ago.

 

 

 

The existence in (I think) Hertfordshire of a remarkably complete AEC Renown LT1076 was known about for probably well over thirty years and initially its owner who used it as a summer house would not part with it, however it eventually came under the wing of the LT Museum which lavished considerable amounts of money on it  with the result seen above. It is captured arriving on its run to Brighton three or four years ago 

 

 

 

During my time of involvement at Syon Park and then Covent Garden I often stared at B340 and thought that it had been over-restored. I well remember that the original staircase stringer panels, wings, destination boards and other parts were replaced but had been retained and were really good enough to have been restored and re-used. The Museum of British Transport and the BTC were responsible for this as it made a fine exhibit at Clapham on its raised pedestal. One thing I never thought I would see was it running again, let alone its amazing excursion all the way to Brighton in 2006. All credit is due to the London's Transport Museum staff for making this possible. Next time you see it count the spokes on one front wheel and then do the same with the other!

 

 

Superbly re-created Leyland LB5 of pioneering London independent operator Chocolate Express, seen alongside D142 at Cobham a few years ago

 

 

 

It says much for the enlightened attitudes now prevalent amongst the big players in London bus preservation that scenes like this are made possible. Left and right at Cobham are LT Museum's K424 and S742 and in the centre is Barry Weatherhead's privately preserved K type, It would only need S454 (and one day perhaps NS174) to illustrate a remarkable survival story of typical 1920s capital buses

 

 

 

 

 

WORKING TROLLEYBUSES PRESERVED 

There's something rather special about preserving trolleybuses. When, four decades ago and more, action to save examples for the benefiit of future generations was so greatly needed it took a very high level of faith and dedication on the part of many enthusiasts who rose admirably to the occasion, but could not have known then whether they would actually ever be able to see their restoration handywork in action again. Fortunately for us all that very dediction and astute vision has also given us a few excellent places where these vehicles can operate and be sampled.

Here's a few shots over the years of trolleybuses restored and working at three operational museums in England. If you have never been to Sandtoft or Carlton Colville or the Black Country Living Museum ( on its special trolleydays) then please get there if you can. They deserve your support.

 

SANDTOFT TRANSPORT CENTRE (North Lincs)

BRITISH TROLLEYBUS SOCIETY COLLECTION

 

 

About twenty-two years in service and forty-six in preservation - Reading 113, a Park Royal bodied AEC of 1939 was the first British trolleybus to be privately preserved, in 1961

 

 

Huddersfield Corporation 631 - Sunbeam S7A with East Lancs bodywork - 1959

 

 

Another, more recent shot of 631 resting and showing good progress on former Cleethorpes Corporation AEC No.54 which dates from 1937.  Hopefully this will be ready for service before too long.

 

 

Maidstone Corporation 72 Sunbeam W of 1947 with a Northern Coachbuilders body ran highly decorated in the last days to commemorate trolleybus operation in the town in  1967. A shot of it running in its home town on the last day will be added to the MUNICIPALTROLLEYBUSES page in due course

 

 

St. Helens Corporation 387 - This was sold to Bradford and fortunately escaped re-bodying so (seen here in 1983) was returned to its original colours. Now, more than two decades later, she needs a lot more work and is not in current use.

 

 

Aachener Strassenbahn (Aachen West Germany) 22 of 1956. Preserved at Sandtoft since the 1970s and currently undergoing some work to return it to use there.

 

 

Nottingham City Transport 578

 

 

Bournemouth Corporation 212 Sunbeam MS2 of 1935 (seen in 1983) - recently restored to running order but in need of further work

 

 

Derby Corporation 172 - 1945 Sunbeam W which retained its Utility specification bodywork throughout its service life

 

 

619 - Another fine example from Huddersfield. An East Lancashire Coachbuilders bodied BUT 9641T of 1956

 

 

Prize exhibit - London Q1 1812 of 1948 - repatriated from Spain and fully restored, a task that took over twenty years

 

 

Hopeless cases - don't believe it - A nice pair of Karriers. South Shields 204  (right) is now fully restored and operational. The other one, which I believe to be Nottingham City No. 367 has some way yet to go, however it will be done.

 

 

BLACK COUNTRY LIVING MUSEUM - Dudley

 

 

Schaffhausen ex-Lucerne (Switzerland) 207. I believe that this vehicle has now been repatriated to its home country for continued preservation there

 

 

Walsall Corporation 862. Pioneering two-axle thirty footers, these were affectionately know as 'Goldfish Bowls' Willowbrook built the unusually designed bodywork on a Sunbeam F4A chassis in 1955 

 

 

Derby Corporation 237, also a Sunbeam F4A, built 1960 has Roe bodywork. The Black Country Living Museum is a fascinating place to visit. The houses behind 237 in this view are made mainly of cast iron!

 

 

Bradford City Transport 735 - a 1946 Karrier W that was rebodied in the late 1950s

 

 

Wolverhampton Corporation 433 - 1946 Sunbeam W with a later replacement body by Roe

 

................and heres a few from the 2008 event

 

 

Wolverhampton 433 is one of  the museum's resident trolleys and continued to perform well

 

 

I had hoped to ride on  Carlton Colville's London 1201 on the superior circuit offered at BCM but unfortunately she was out of use with an electical fault on the day of my visit

 

 

Manchester 1344

 

 

Newcastle 501, from Beamish Museum, though latterly resident at Sandtoft puts in an appearance at the BCM

 

 

Carlton Colville's Belfast 246 was a welcome sight too

 

 

 

EAST ANGLIA TRANSPORT MUSEUM

CARLTON COLVILLE (Lowestoft)

LONDON TROLLEYBUS PRESERVATION SOCIETY COLLECTION

 

 

The London trolleybus Preservation Society has its base here and has superbly restored three London Trolleybuses to full working order. Two of the trio are seen here. No1521 (right) was London's ceremonial last trolleybus on 8th. May 1962.

 

 

Here's the last member of the trio -1201, a Leyland LPTB70 of 1938 survived the attentions of scrap merchant George Cohen and was rescued from usage by a used car lot as a store in the mid-1960s

 

 

Well, no - This isn't Carlton Colville and this trolleybus sadly is not working. I place this shot here for continuity - Leyland/MCW H1 No.796 (1938) was sent over to France for the Paris Transport Museum in 1960 and has been dormant since. I saw it there in 1984. Shoving it up against a wall like this and obscuring its nearside too with RT2657 did rather show that they did not have a high regard for it. What a pity this one cannot be repatriated to the UK - I'm sure it'll be more appreciated.

 

 

Former National collection Ipswich 44 - seen in 1984 aalongside Ashton-Under-Lyne 87 

 

TROLLEYBUS WEEKEND 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

more to follow

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

 

This one was not working either! - One of Portsmouth Corporation's earliest trolleybuses was saved but spent rather too long in the open not being cared for properly by the Montagu Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Thankfully it survived this ordeal and went back to its home town but now rests on loan at the Milestones Living History Museum at Basingstoke

 

PROVINCIAL BUSES & COACHES

 

There must be hundreds, nay even thousands of them, I know, and scores of the later ones were either among the latest operational designs or were not even built when many of the following shots were taken, but they have held my fascination for over four decades now. Most of the transparencies and negatives  from which this first selection has been taken were recorded over thirty, and as much as forty, years ago. The appearance of every one of these vehicles at a rally indicated that someone, somewhere made, for the time, not inconsiderable financial and other sacrifices to save it from the cutters torch and it is a testimony to to many of them that their vehicles are in many cases still around for us to see and enjoy today. Of course some have sadly not survived and each loss is significant because sometimes they were the only ones of their kind left in existence when they were originally acquired. If, like me, you are of that certain age group how many can you remember in actual revenue service in the sixties, seventies and eighties?

 

 

Albion buses, particularly double-deckers were never very common south of the border. I remember having quite a long ride on this when it departed the open day at the Colin Shears Collection in about 1972. Not sure where I snapped it here but I then didn't see it again until about ten years ago when it was parked at the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire railway premises

 

 

 

 

This Eastern Counties Bristol L is unusual in having a 4-cylinder Gardner engine. Seen at Weymouth Rally about 1973.It's now at Ipswich Transport Museum

 

 

Leyland Tiger TS7 of 1936

 

 

In the early sixties I can remember seeing this and another similar vehicle of Eastern Belle coaches parked up in the operators yard near Stratford Broadway, but could never get my camera to it. It was pleasing therefore to be able to buy an excellent OOC model of it a couple of years ago

 

 

AEC Regal in the distinctive livery of Hull Corporation Transport

 

For many years Northampton Corporation 154 of 1947 was retained as a driver training vehicle and at one time was even fitted with a snow plough! In the early eighties it was decided to give it a makeover for publicity purposes which included for many years afterwards horrible 'GO BUS'slogans painted on the sides. In the years after deregulation when NT sold out to First Bus 154 was passed to an enthusiast group for continued preservation. Alongside it at the St. James depot in 1990 is later Daimler CVG6 267 which was I think just about the last normal control conventional double-decker supplied to a British operator

 

 

Still in fine fettle fifteen years or so after the above shot, 154 is running a special service in connection with Northampton's annual Heritage Open Days event in September 2005. Three more of the buses in use for this are seen below...

 

.

.....

Barton Transport AEC Regent V XAL784

 

 

 

 

OK Motor Services (Bishop Auckland) AEC Reliance coach 129 DPT of 1959

 

 

AEC Regal of Welsh municipal operator Bedwas & Machen UDC

 

 

Bedford OB formerly of Jersey Motor Transport

 

Smartly attired AEC Regal of Burtons Coaches. New to Trent in 1948, this is now part of the Quantock Heritage Collection

 

 

A Daimler COG5 of 1939, this superb looking beast is seen here almost forty years ago.  New to the much missed Derbyshire based Blue Bus Service (Tailby & George) in whose colours it has rightly been preserved

 

 

Leyland Titan JUB29 was a regular rally and road run performer in the sixties and seventies and is seen here at an early Trans-Pennine event about 1969. I believe this was a later pairing of body and chassis which were not originally together and this may explain that obviously later registration mark.

 

Gilford coach GW713 was initially superbly turned out in the livery of Valliant Coaches of Ealing but when taken over by Evan Evans Tours received this rather drab repaint.I had the dubious pleasure in the early seventies of a bum-numbing ride on this all the way from Crich to London via the M1! It was by then rather neglected bodily with sagging and propped rear roof. It has been retained for many years by the national collection and stored at Wroughton though it has deteriorated even more by current appearance. It has however recently gone back into the care of the son of its original (in preservation) owner who will no doubt keep it safe and restore it in due course.

 

 

A rare one indeed is this Foden PVR model of 1951 with Metalcraft body. Seen at a Crich Extravaganza in the early seventies. I was delighted recently to see that this one has survived the ravages of time and is now nicely restored in a red and deeper cream livery of its original owner Hollinsheads Coaches. It was present and running about at the recent (October 2009) Buses 60 Rally at Wroughton.

 

 

 

Unusual too for a coach - an exposed radiator Crossley SD of 1950 which has a |Brockhouse body

 

 

This early Bristol was once part of the national collection cared for by the British Transport Commission. Later when in alternative charge I think it was damaged by fire so hope that it has now been put right. Seen here at a Clapham Common rally c. 1971

 

 

The classic lines of the Harrington'tailfin' body design are well illustrated here by this example of  Lymers Travel of Staffordshire. This is an AEC Regal with a full-fronted style of Harrington coachwork. Not many of these have survived but at least one other in preservation is on a Leyland Comet Chassis

 

 

See also page on municipal buses. I photographed this in its home town garage about 1963. It was in preservation not long after and paid a visit to Cobham in the early 1970s

 

 

The Leyland Badger chassis was normally used for lorries and it is thought that this Bradford Corporation bus of c1930 was unique

 

 

This ex East Kent vehicle belonged to an LT acquaintance who adopted this personal livery with his name on the side. Sadly I don't think it lasted very long although GFN273 was also preserved and is still around, the last I heard, very appropriately with the East Kent Road Car Heritage Trust. These buses were interesting in being post-war rebuilds using pre-war Leyland TD5 running units.

 

 

When photographed at the Ardingly Rally about 1968 this ex-Thames Valley Bristol L was owned by an LT colleague. I was pleased recently to see it still survives under cover on display at the Oxford Bus Museum at Long Hanborough

 

 

The two-tone blue livery and the destination COGENHOE (koot-noe to us locals) on this nice little Albion immediately mark the ownership of it out as York Brothers of Northampton. It was usually taken to Rallies by Bob York. The Yorks Travel concern (as it later became) has undergone ownership changes over the years and, as far as I know the York family are no longer involved.  I don't recall seeing this vehicle since I photographed it above well over thirty years ago so I cannot say what has become of it. A current Yorks driver I spoke to recently also did not know although he was aware of an old Maudslay at the Cogenhoe premises. I remember seeing this under restoration there in the eighties but know nothing else about it

US6798's claim to fame in the early 1960s was that it was used in the Television series Dr. Finlays Casebook.

 

 

At a wet and windy Weymouth Rally 1973 - Bristol Tramways & Omnibus Co Bristol L coach

 

 

When I first saw this Cravens bodied AEC Regal 1 it was part of the national collection and was kept at Clapham Museum. When seen here at an early Trans-Pennine run it was in the care of the well-known professional transport engineer and enthusiast Geoffrey Hilditch at Halifax

 

 

All-Leyland PD1 of Southdown Motor Services at the Belle-Vue Zoo starting point of the Trans-Pennine Rally in 1969. I am fairly certain that this has regrettably not survived 

 

 

 

 

At an event in the Birmingham area in the eighties. I don't know anything about the miniature tram which was able to carry two children inside. Overhead current collection was, understandably, not used so this must have involved live rails. Nowadays this would presumably not meet  required health & safety standards for a public event.

 

 

Seen a long time ago was this ex-Aberdeen Corporation Daimler. Who would have believed what this operators successor would become in the free-for-all world of de-regulation in the 1990s

 

 

This genuine old Daimler, albeit with replica charabanc type body, was owned by the important Nottinghamshire Barton Transport concern in the early 1970s

 

 

You could always count the number of surviving AEC Q types on the fingers of one hand. There are, I think now two identical London examples, a chassis owned by the Science Museum and this one, making only four in total. ARA475 was owned and operated for a long time by Silver Service (J.H Wooliscroft) of Darley Dale Derbyshire. It went into preservation in the 1960s but from memory was not well looked after then so I hope it is ok now. It's the only one of the surviving complete trio with a petrol engine

 

 

I think this ex Sydney (Australia) Albion came to England in the 1970s with some students, but what happened to it - surely they didn't take it all the way back?

 

 

 

 

The pre-eminence of Dennis in modern day bus manufacture is a far cry from their limited market appeal before the 1990s. This Lance model K3 of Alderhot & District is therefore a rare bird indeed. This is a view at Brighton of many years ago but it's still going strong

 

 

Foden double-deckers were also very much a minority and JGD 475 of Garelochead Coach Services Scotland was a good example. It is seen here at a Trans-Pennine run about 1969 but does it still survive?

 

 

This 1945 Huddersfield Daimler CWA6 is a real old stager on the preservation scene. I recall its presence at the last day of trolleybuses in its home town forty years ago and its still going strong. Oddly, I think it is now preserved in Somerset! It once came all the way to London for a rally I organised at Covent Garden. It is seen here even earlier at an anniversary  celebration run for Halifax Corporation Transport in 1967.  It's recently been repainted to resemble a London utility Daimler 'D' class which is ok for a while.  I think it was also operated for a time by West Bridgeford UDC -  If its owners have an urge to give it a different look how about that livery? 

 

The popular Delaine concern is frequently represented at rallies noawadays. This shot of a Leyland Tiger Cub coach with Yeats bodywork was however snapped in the 1990s

 

 

Seen at the rainy Sandtoft Gathering of 1983 this Lincolnshire Road Car Bristol FS was operating the then equivalent of the now popular Isle of Axholme Tour

 

 

 

Douglas (IOM) Corporation AEC Regent, again at a (brighter) Sandtoft event. It is such a pity that such buses coming to the mainland have to lose their original registrations. A little imagination by the Island authorities (or is it the DVLA?) could enable them to be retained. The same happened many years ago I recall with a pre-war Regent having to suffer imposition of the silly SWU222F

 

 

 

 

 

 

1949 Daimler CVG5 of West Bromwich Corporation. I recall seeing these in service in 1963. This one is now, rightly, part of the Black Country Museum collection

 

 

St. Helens Corporation was the only operator to take delivery of RT type AEC Regent double-deckers that were virtual copies of the London standard

 

 

This 1934 Leyland Lion LT5A

 

 

Uncommon combination of Guy Arab chassis with Crossley bodywork on this former Blackburn Corporation vehicle

 

 

Was this Fuggles of Benenden? I thought they were not in business until the 1980s

 

 

A  Leyland Lion which was repatriated from Jersey Channel Islands. As with a number of such others from there it had to relinquish its registration althouhgh I'm not sure how Leyland TD2 J6332 has managed to hang on.  It's really another example of pre-DVLA local registration authority silliness with its JCP60F registration. I do know however that it received this representation of Edinburgh Corporation colours for the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in the mid-1960s

 

 

'Snow Hail Muck & Dirt' as the former operator of this Daimler was sometimes referred to. Formerly with The Stalybridge, Hyde Mossley & Dukinfield Transport & Electricity Board operating in the Manchester area. I have some in service views of SHMD buses including a couple of these Daimlers (maybe even this one) to upload to the MUNICIPAL BUSES page, but don't remember the cream painted radiators so perhaps this was an earlier version of the livery than 1963/4 when I was there. It might be a trick of the light here or a peculiarity of the particular colour film I was using but I also think that the green shade used was lighter than this in the mid-1960s.

 

 

I was able to ride to Brighton on this elderly AEC Regal which, for a time in the 1970s was in the care of the London Bus Preservation Group although still then owned by the family of its original operator, Provincial of  Leicester

 

 

The business end of this AEC Regal of Bevan Brothers is very attractive in its own right though this photo does not show that the bodywork is of the classic 'Tailfin' design by Harrington. Seen at a rally in the Birmingham area about twenty years ago.

 

 

There are probably more hens with teeth than there are surviving AEC Renowns and this former Leicester City Transport example is one of only two double-deckers now extant

 

 

The vast majority of the former LT RTW class were exported to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). A few went to Ayrshire independents and this fine example was with Stevensons of Spath (Uttoxeter) who added the smart platform doors I think it continues in preservation in this livery

 

 

Wimbledon next stop! If you can forgive the antics of Great Uncle Bulgaria, Madam Cholet and the rest of the Wombles there's a nice bus under here! Ex Brighton  Hove & District pre-war Bristol converted to open top for Thames Valley

 

 

--ooo000ooo---

 

 

One morning, I think it was 1972, I was collected from home at a very inhospitable hour because I had volunteered to help rescue a most interesting bus from a location in Norfolk (or was it  Suffolk?) It had been used as a dwelling and its owner had built a substantial outer shell covering the structure in corrugated iron panels supported by railway sleepers etc.which had to be removed. All this was to the good however because it had helped preserve it for about four decades and much of the original open-top body structure was remarkably intact. The bus was a Tilling-Stevens Petrol electric, minus mechanics and radiator and sadly not of London origin. Much to my personal disappointment it was whisked off and quite quickly underwent a complete high quality restoration then was shipped off to America so I never saw it again. This remains the case today even though I believe it to be back within these shores. It might be the Manchester Museum's example DB5070 but I'm not sure. If its origin was mantioned to me in 1972 when we were getting it out I have long since forgotten---

 

Well - Is this it? - If anyone can confirm please contact me

 

 

This is from a commercial postcard so someone may not be pleased to see this here. If there is any problem I will remove it immediately on request

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

........and here's a few quite recent ones at Brighton 2006-2009. I shall add several more in due course

 

 

 

 

 

1950 Bristol L6A

 

 

THE MIKE SUTCLIFFE COLLECTION AND OTHER LEYLAND BUSES AT THE

LEYLANDS DAY EVENT AT CRICH TRAMWAY MUSEUM

JULY 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OTHER VEHICLES, OF SOMEWHAT LATER VINTAGE WERE ALSO PRESENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESERVED BUSES AT THE SANDTOFT GATHERING 2008

 

As ever a superb event though it seemed that there were many fewer participants this year. Probably the high fuel costs deterred quite a few. They were also displayed away from the main site this time due to temporary space difficulties there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit that when photographing these, and being of a certain age group, I asked myself  'why on earth preserve some of them', however Hull 180 is, incredibly, 42 years old, the Leyland Nationals and the GMT Atlantean are well over thirty and even Halton's Leyland (Lynx?) 35 is approaching a score. Mustn't have double standards I thought for Q83 was a mere 31 years old when I eagerly jumped at a chance to be involved with that!

LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM AND BEFORE

 

I was perhaps lucky to have experienced a fulfilling fifteen years working in connection with London Transport's historical collections. One of the 'perks' of this was to be in on many behind the scenes activities including the retrieval of a Metropolitan Railway coach body and later a horse-tram, the research, design and setting up and running of special events such as the Syon Park Gala Days and also the 1979 and 1983 anniversary celebrations.

 

 

I got very involved with the search for a new venue when the closure of Clapham was confirmed and eventually the setting up and day to day management of the display at Syon Park from 1973-78. When Clapham was being run down and it was realised that there would be  unlikely to be space for both K424 and S742 at wherever they would be going subsequently, the latter was sent on extended  loan to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. A hasty repaint was arranged replacing what must have been an original scruffy  1930s coat. (last overhaul 1931  - the body was the ninth recorded to be fitted to the chassis since new in 1923) It is seen here after outshopping at LPC Coachworks Hounslow awaiting its low-loader transport to Hampshire

 

 

Later on, of course, we learnt that our application to take over the redundant Flower market building at Covent Garden had been successful. A major programme of refurbishments of many of the vehicle exhibits was put in hand 1978-80 and opportunities taken to acquire new photographic records. Here the Knifeboard Horse-bus is posed after its repaint at Kew Gardens complete with Victorian gas lamp. Members of the LT Dramatic Society were the passengers

 

 

At about the time when Covent Garden opened, the Museum featured twice on the popular childrens TV programme Blue Peter. During filming at the Museum which had involved John Noakes arriving aboard K424 I well remember having the famous Goldie fast asleep on my office floor. From a privileged high level viewpoint in the studio at White City later I caught the entry on to the set, of the Knifeboard alongside K424.

 

 

We took the Garden Seat Omnibus, with Royal parks permission into Regents Park to capture this scene on the Carriage Road - note the absence of yellow lines! The elegant Georgian mansions behind form an appropriate backdrop. I was dreading a certain action by the horses but they thankfully behaved. Museum staff dressed up for the occasion

 

 

We really enjoyed setting this one up, somewhere in the back streets of Fulham I think. With a colleague I spent some time crafting the Emergency Water Supply notice to stick on the wall. We also did some smaller 'Shelter Here' ones that are visible on the left of the official colour view. Rolling Stock staff dressed up for the occasion - I even donned wartime police officer garb but the results were far from flattering so thankfully were not used. 

 

 

It always surprised me that there was no country area double-decker in the official collection, especially as ST821 was an ideal candidate spending most of its life in that sphere of operations. I well remember pleading to have it painted green for Syon Park display but it was not in fact done until it moved in at Covent Garden. Seen here ready to be taken from Clapham to its new west London home

 

 

Yours truly with the now sadly removed mural on the end of the covered way at Covent Garden in about 1984. This part of the building then housed the heavy rail exhibits but during subsequent major rebuildings these were move to high pedestals inside and the area became a restaurant I believe.

 

 

In 1970 it was decided by the diminishing ranks of the Old Contemptibles, custodians of  ''Ole Bill' that it should be transferred to the care of the Imperial War Museum in London. Always maintained in running order it had been used a year or two before to convey some Chelsea Pensioners in the Festival of London Stores parade. With some WW1 veterans as passengers and that great character George Gwynne, (himself then an octogenerian WW1 veteran who had driven the type on the western front, and later a crew member of the 1952 USA tour) at the wheel, she arrives at her new Lambeth home for an official handover ceremony

 

 

Attempts to publicise the new venue for London Transport's relics at Syon park in 1973 led to some excursions for NS 1995 to local events. One sultry summers day it is seen at Greenwich Carnival. The day was so hot that fuel evaporated before it could do its job and we must have crank started it over a dozen times during the parade!

 

PASSENGER VEHICLES PARTICIPATING IN THE HCVC RUN TO BRIGHTON IN 1966

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because of my work I was  lucky to have the chance to ride on several exhibits within the London Transport collection. This has included K424 S742 NS1995 ST821 STL469 T31 Q55 and TF77 but sadly not LT165. It made a number of runs to this event in the mid-1960s when still attached to the then operational Clapham Museum. It then spent about three decades dormant but I believe it has made the run at least once since the 1990s 

 

 

 

 

 This imposing Gilford belonged to the late Jack Mulley. I read recently that in new ownership it has undergone a major body rebuild