TILLING/THC & BET

 

 

 

Fareham 1964

 

 

 

 

 

Whenever I visited a town or city to photograph its buses it was always my preferred option to go for the municipal fleets and I have to admit now that in those days of forty plus years ago I almost hated Bristol Ks Ls and Lodekkas. To my mind then they were bland (any colour you like as long as it was red or green) and, well, almost everywhere! Lest current enthusiasts of the marque should take offence let me admit here and now that I now regard them as having been sturdy and reliable workhorses that deserve their place in the annals of bus history. I must have had my change of heart on this quite early as I remember in the debacle that was London's Reshaping Plan by the start of the 1970s arguing that LTE would have been better off if it could have got hold of Bristol RE's instead of those utterly awful AEC Merlins and perhaps too the Bristol VR instead of Daimler Fleetlines.

I did however photograph them wherever I went and will gradually build up a selection of views here.

 

SOUTHERN VECTIS - ISLE OF WIGHT 1964

 

Views at Ryde

 

 

 

 

 

 UNITED COUNTIES AROUND AND ABOUT

 

In time I will feature this operator in several locations. To start off however, this lot was at Luton in 1964

 

 

No.773 was a standard lowbridge Bristol K6B. new in 1948

 

 

Withdrawn very soon after this photo was taken, No. 327 was a 1948 L5G. As evidenced by its Essex area registration NNO 109 this was one of a large number of buses transferred to United Counties in 1952 with that operators takeover from Eastern National of the services in the Stony Stratford  area

 

 

No.994 was an LD6B of 1955

 

No.966 was a KSW6B model of 1954. It is seen outside the former Bute Street station

 

 

Newest last - 629 was an FLF6B of 1963

 

WEST YORKSHIRE ROAD CAR Co. - 1963

 

 

DB18 was a Tilling standard Bristol K6B of 1948 with ECW lowbridge body

 

 

SBW16 was basically the single-deck equivalent of the above - again a Tilling standard. It was a Bristol LWL6B. The majority of these had Gardner engines but in these cases the L6B classification denoted a Bristol 6-cylinder engine

 

 

Bristol FS6B

 

 

CUG30 was a medium-weight MW6G model of 1960 for coach work

 

EASTERN COUNTIES MISCELLANY- 1962/64

 

Variety to be seen around Lowestoft, Yarmouth and Norwich

 

 

In common with many Tilling state owned fleets Eastern Counties took delivery for post-war renewal of a batch of Leyland PD1's from a total group order of a hundred when the supply of Bristol K's could not keep pace with demand. In the early 1960s however No.346 of this batch harboured a secret under its bonnet in the shape of a Gardner 5LW engine in place of the normal Leyland E181. I presume this was not from new however so the circumstances of this are unknown to me.

 

 

An LD5G  Lodekka new 1957 departs for Great Yarmouth. The price of fags then seems cheap (equivalent to about 19p for 20!) though it probably just illustrates what happens with inflation over four decades

 

 

LSC870 was a SC4LK (Gardner 4 cylinder engine) one of ten supplied in 1956/57 in this attractive coach seated version for tours business

 

 

Bristol LWL6B  (Bristol engine) of 1951

 

 

LKH166 was a Highbridge bodied Bristol KSW6G of 1953

 

 

LL5G (Gardner engine) model of 1950. 

 

 

Evidently a refugee from West Yorkshire!

 

 

Bristol SC4LK of c 1955

 

 

LM435 was an MW5G bus of 1958 - it ts body seated 45

 

 

 

LE746 was an LS4G (Gardner 4-cyinder engine) new in 1952 with dual purpose body

 

 

A number of smaller operators were taken over in the post 1945 period. Among them was Metropolitan Coaches of Great Yarmouth which was still retained as a separate entity with its own cream/maroon colour scheme and booking office in 1962. Its coaches however were standard Tilling Group Bristol MW's

NB The streaks on this view are on the negative and were apparently caused by a static electricity charge in the camera.  I had a couple of films spoiled by this in 1961/62 but have never experienced it since

 

 

LFS36 was an FS5G of 1962 and must have been virtually brand new when seen leaving its garage at Great Yarmouth

 

 

LKH340, seen her on driver training duties was a 1952 KSW5G bearing a highbridge version of the standard ECW body of its time

 

 

 

From the same batch as the Metropolitan Tours vehicle above LS826 dated from 1964

 

 

 

HANTS & DORSET AT BOURNEMOUTH - 1962

 

Seen mostly in and around the Bus Station which, I believe, was destroyed by fire a few years later

 

 

Older than it looks! - The chassis of Bristol K5G No.1033 in fact started life in 1938, however its original body was replaced by an ECW postwar standard highbridge one in 1954. At some time, too, it would have lost its high position radiator, to be replaced by the post-war PV2 standard type, so it looked very different in 1962 to its original appearance.

 

 

No.1306 was a Bristol KSW6G of 1951

 

 

No. 1362 was a Bristol LD6B 'Lodekka' built 1955

 

 

Not possible to identify for sure but  it  looks like one of the batch 733-764 which were pre-war L5G chassis, some of which were  rebodied in the late 1940s with standard ECW units

 

 

Bristol MW6G (medium weight) 30-seater coach - 1960

 

 

No.1137 - A Bristol K5G of 1948. Its 55-seat ECW lowbridge body was cut down to open-top in about 1960 at which time it also received the full-front modification shown producing a more modern looking bus

 

 

Not identifiable on this scan but  has an LRU registration so is likely one of the 1337-1343 batch of Bristol LD6B Lodekkas carrying standard ECW 60-seat bodywork of the time. It has the earliest production front grille design for these buses and would date from 1954-55

 

BET (BRITISH ELECTRIC TRACTION GROUP) ON PARADE

 

BET had its origins, as its name suggests, with the electrification of British tramways in the early years of the twentieth century. However the company had a wide portfolio of interests including radio and later television and a large chunk of the old Wembley Stadium! It operated its first motor bus in 1905 and its last electric tram at Gateshead in 1951. Many of the most interesting non-municipal operations were under the BET aegis until it sold its bus operations to the National Bus Company in 1968.

 

HERE'S A MIXED BAG OF VIEWS FROM THE 1960s

 

NORTH WESTERN ROAD CAR Co - 1964-66

 

Daimler Fleetline with Alexander bodywork - 1963

 

YORKSHIRE TRACTION - 1963

 

 

Interesting conversion -  The chassis here is actually a Leyland Tiger PS2 and was a single decker until fitted with a Northern Counties double deck body in 1960 

 

 

No.1221 was a Leyland PD3A of 1962 with bodywork supplied by Northern Counties

 

 

No.1136 was a Leyland Tiger Cub of 1959 with Willowbrook bodywork. Not sure at all about the location, probably some long demolished corner of Huddersfield swallowed up by its wretched ring road system.

 

 

No.1110 was another Leyland Tiger Cub  (1958) this time with Park Royal bodywork. It is seen here in 1966 in Huddersfield heading for Holmfirth in the days when this town's claim to fame rested with its factory that printed saucy seaside postcards, and a good few years before the choice of it as a location for the backdrop of one of televisions most enduring sitcoms brought it an entirely new level of notoriety.

 

HEBBLE MOTOR SERVICES AT HALIFAX - 1963

 

 

No. 276 (GCP 5) was a Weymann  lowbridge bodied AEC Regent V of 1956. Buses around at this time often carried single digit numbers that personalised registration  fanatics would give their right arms for today. Although I recall when quite young that my great uncle had his initials with the number 14 on his 1947 Rover, this was something that few people gave any thought to then.

 

 

Leyland Royal Tiger (1951) - Willowbrook body

 

RIBBLE MOTOR SERVICES AT BOLTON 1962

 

 

No.1628 was an early delivery Mk I Leyland Atlantean (1959) Metro-Cammell-Weymann  bodywork was fitted

 

 

Southdown had its 'Queen Mary's' but Ribble's version was this altogether less attractive offering with MCW Orion bodywork. Fifty were delivered in 1961 

 

 

No. 725 - Leyland Royal Tiger with Leyland saloon bodywork. It dated from 1951

 

SUNDERLAND & DISTRICT OMNIBUS COMPANY AT SUNDERLAND - 1963

 

 

Roe bodywork is fitted to this Leyland Royal Tiger of 1952

 

 

First model PDR/1 Leyland Atlantean (1960) with Alexander bodywork

 

 

Burlingham bodywork is on this Leyland PD3 of 1958. This popular and reliable chassis continued in production until about 1966 and many customers specified exposed radiators even on the last deliveries

 

NORTHERN GENERAL IN NEWCASTLE - JUNE 1963

 

 

 

Leyland Tiger Cub with Saunders bodywork  1954 - Newcastle 1963

 

 

Leyland Leopard - Willowbrook bodywork 1962 - Are the houses still quaking?

 

 

AEC Reliance with Willowbrook bodywork 1959

 

 

...................and at Sunderland - later the same day

 

 

One of Northern's first batch of Leyland Atlanteans - 1960

 

 

 

Guy Arab with Weymann bodywork 1954

 

 

CITY OF OXFORD MOTOR SERVICES - 1965

 

This group of views was taken in early 1965 during a week long union summer school I was selected to attend at Ruskin College. The classic livery of these buses, maroon with a sort of pale green relief and black lining out was so much a part of the university city's scene and was an unfortunate casualty of the National Bus takeover at the end of the decade whence everything slowly became plain poppy red. Although only monochrome these shots hopefully give some idea of what the buses looked like. If you want to see the real thing you can do little better than visit the Oxford Bus Museum at Long Hanborough where a fine selection is dispayed in pre1969 condition. Check out their website for limited opening times.

 

 

Just about the last  new double-deck design by AEC was the Renown low-height model introduced in 1963. Oxford took a batch of 27 delivered 1963-66 exemplified by No.338 here. Park Royal provided the front entrance 65 seat bodywork

 

 

East Lancs provided the bodies in 1960 for the small batch of AEC Regent V of which No. 199 was part

 

 

No. 981 was one of a batch of ten AEC Regent V, this time the tin-front was specified for the Willowbrook front-entrance bodywork

 

 

No.189 - AEC Regent V of 1956- bodywork is Weymann lowbridge

 

 

No.167 - AEC Regent III (1952) has a Park Royal lowbridge body

 

 

An AEC Regent Vwith exposed radiator -  963 was the last of a batch of eight taken into stock in 1957 

 

 

An AEC Reliance of 1963, No. 790 has Marshall built BET Federation bodywork

 

 

 

 

 

No. 739 was a 1955 AEC Reliance with Willowbrook bodywork

 

 

The Dennis Loline was, in effect, a licence built Bristol Lodekka and found favour in small numbers with company and municipal operators alike. City of Oxford had just five of the Mk II version in 1961, and because it was normally a strong AEC customer specified that company's AV470 engine in place of the more normally ordered Gardner 6LW. East Lancs lowbridge bodies were fitted. 

 

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ALDERSHOT & DISTRICT TRACTION Co

 

Always an interesting operator to seek out, Aldershot & District was especially known for its loyalty to the locally produced products of  Dennis in the days well before the current era which, in the absence of former big players has shot the company to then undreamed of market prominence. These first three views, at Guildford in the summer of 1961 show Dennis double-decker models in the fleet at the time, the last of which is the first version of the Lodekka inspired Loline.

 

 

No.125 was a Lance model K3 from an order of 24 supplied 1948-50. The mainly dark green livery must have replaced a lighter scheme at some time. One of these is superbly preserved in the earlier colour. East Lancs provided the bodies which, surprisingly were only 51-seaters

 

 

No.213  was a Lance model K4, one of 32 bought 1953-4. This time it had a tin-front.  The first twenty stuck with East Lancs bodywork but this time with a more respectable capacity of 56

 

 

1958 saw a co-operation with Bristol enabling the Loline range to emerge. No.354 was a model I from the first batch. East Lancs again supplied the 68-seat bodies. The power unit was the Gardner 6LW

 

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BIRMINGHAM & MIDLAND MOTOR OMNIBUS CO  LTD - MIDLAND RED

 

I paid scant attention to this most impressive of all operators during the 1960's and, given its massive scale of operation and accompanying fleet size, I clearly should have done more. Large enough at this time to design and produce its own ahead of the game mechanical units, it often relied on outside body builders but members of the fleet were, if rather bland of livery, sufficiently different in most cases to always be recognisable and interesting. My record consists of occasional shots captured while on visits to Midland towns such as Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester etc during this period

 

 

Type D5B - Brush body - 1950 - Birmingham 1963

 

 

Type DD11 No. 5272 was a Daimler Fleetline with Alexander bodywork deliverd in 1963 and BMMO's first foray into rear engined double deck operation

 

 

No. 4863 -  a type D9 from the first batch of these (nearly a hundred)  which came in 1960. Another 250 were to follow - BMMO also designed and built the bodywork.  Seen at  Moor Street Birmingham  in 1963

 

 

Type S13 MkII built 1951 - Birmingham 1963

 

 

No.5149 was type LS18 -  a Leyland Leopard with a Weymann 53 seat body.

 

 

 

No 5238 was another Leopard, part of a batch of 100 new in 1963, just over half of which had this Willowbrook body design, again with 53 seats

 

 

Type LD8 Leyland PD2 with Leyland body 1953 - Coventry 1965

 

 

Type S12 underfloor engined model of 1950 - Burton-on-Trent 1964

 

 

Type S13 MkII No. 3894 at Leicester

 

Amidst its large very standardised fleet BMMO also retained a handful of vehicles that had come its way through takeovers of smaller operators

 

 

GRY763, as Midland Red No.4844 was an all Leyland PD2 of 1950 acquired with the business of Kemp & Shaw of Leicester in 1955. It is seen peeking out of the Leicester garage

 

 

Also at Leicester HJU546 as Midland Red 4848 was a 1952 Leyland Tiger with 44-seat Leyland bodywork that came its way early in 1959 from Boyer of Rothley which had itself acquired it from Allen of Mountsorrel

 

 

MAIDSTONE & DISTRICT

 

Maidstone -  April 1967 and April 1963

 

 

S45 was an AEC Reliance with Weymann 53 seat body built 1965 to BET federation specification

 

 

DH386 - Leyland PD2 of 1951. The body is a 58 seater highbridge with platform doors built by Leyland itself

 

 

DL22 was the last of a batch of Bristol K6A's (AEC 7.7 litre engine) delivered in 1951. The bodywork was of lowbridge configuration by Weymann. A highbridge version from the same stable is standing adjacent and affords a good comparison

 

 

 

 

After its initial success with the Leyland Atlantean as a trolleybus replacement vehicle in 1959 M & D ordered many more and also bought Daimler Fleetlines in some numbers. DH612 was from the third batch and dated from 1963. Weymann 77 seat bodywork was fitted

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April 1963................

 

 

 

 

 

DH273 was a Bristol K6A of 1949 - a 56 seat highbridge Weymann body was fitted

 

 

DH451, seen here in Chatham was a 1942 built Bristol K5G although the body here fitted was a Weymann one dating from 1951. It originated with the Chatham & District company

 

 

 

 

 

DH478 -  An AEC Regent V of 1956 with a Park Royal 59 seat highbridge body

 

 

EAST KENT ROAD CAR CO - 1960s

 

 

One of a batch of forty supplied in 1951, 378s Park Royal body has a subsequent conversion to open top. Some of these buses in this condition also ran for a while on the Round London Sightseeing Tour

EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES - 1964

 

]

No.605 was a Leyland Royal Tiger, the last of a batch of sixteen supplied in 1951 with Weymann bus configured bodywork

 

 

No.572 was from a delivery of twenty-two Leyland PD2's in 1951. The first eight including this one were 50-seaters with Roe bodywork to the 'Beverley Bar' roof contour design necessary for many of this operators buses to enable them to pass through the ancient gateway in that town. The livery as I recall was a sort of deep cream cum pale yellow with mid-blue relief and I believe they had the nickname 'yellow perils'

 

 

A Leyland Tiger Cub of 1955 No. 627 had Willowbrook centre entrance coach bodywork

 

 

Most of the 1951 batch of Leyland PD2s of which No. 586 was part had 'Beverley Bar' contoured bodies but the last six carried standard Leyland lowbridge units

 

 

A clear view helped by the brickwork background of Hull Paragon Station shows well the striking and unique profile of these buses.No. 495 (left) was a Leyland PD1A and No.582 a PD2 front entrance coach version. They dated from 1948 and 1951. Roe supplied both the bodies. 

 

 

Another of the 447-519 batch. The interesting way of painting these roofs  is seen here

 

 

...................and here's what caused all the trouble! The newer generation AEC Bridgemaster's Park Royal body was able to cope with this obstacle with just a turned in upper roof. The warning sign says 10'9" though that's probably the height at the shoulders i.e before it curves inwards. I've never been back here but surely todays much heavier traffic does not have to go through this still.

 

TRENT MOTOR TRACTION CO LTD - 1964-66

 

 

 

 

No. 1007 - A standard Leyland PD2 with Metro-Cammell 'Orion' bodywork built 1957

 

 

Potteries Motor Traction Atlantean L849 attempts to steal the show here from the subject, Trent's AEC Regent II /Willowbrook 1149 of 1948

 

 

 

An early Leyland Atlantean (1959) No. 1365 is seen at Burton-on-Trent in 1964

 

 

Leyland Tiger Cub with Willowbrook dual-purpose bodywork (1959)

 

 

Originally numbered 814 but here (1966) 364 was a Leyland Tiger Cub of 1954 with distinctive  Saro (Saunders-Roe of Anglesey) bodywork to seat 44

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leyland Tiger Cub with different version of Willowbrook dual-purpose body (1955)

 

 

Yet another Leyland Tiger Cub, No. 132 had Weymann dual-purpose

 

 

621 CCH - as No.621, a later rear engined delivery in the shape of a Daimler Fleetline with Northern Counties body (one of ten bought in 1963), is caught leaving Burton-on-Trent bus station. In the days before one-man-operation of double deckers became legal the conductors had a new found freedopm to talk to their drivers en-route. Here he occupies the time honoured position of holders of the post operating such rear-engined models, while the driver smokes at the wheel(!). At this time, the Trent company was still, I think,  operating its No.1221, a Leyland PD2 of 1951 - its registration was CCH 621 - I wonder if their paths ever crossed?