United Services
1950
Daimler CVD6
Duple L56RD

I fondly remember visiting Bingley’s (one of the United Servces partners) in the mid-60s and asking Mrs Bingley ("Ma" Bingley as she was fondly known to us), whether LTO 10 was operating that day, as I wanted to photograph it. No sooner said, than she shouted for her daughter (?) who was the operations manager, and said – "Put t’Daimler on’t teatime dupe, ‘cos there’s a lad here wants to take a snap of it!" As promised, LTO 10 arrived into Wakefield bus station at about 5.30pm, and I got a (not very good) shot of it. Wonderful times which can never be repeated.

Photograph and copy contributed by Paul Haywood

The above bus was originally owned by A Skill of Nottingham and was delivered in 1950. Skills were supposed to take delivery of another CVD6 with Duple body as above but it went to W Gash & Sons instead as there DD7 (LNN 353) view at this link scroll down a bit and you will find two shots.

Spencer

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My friend Paul has revived many happy memories of our days in the Wallace Arnold traffic office. "Ma" Bingley was Phyllis and was the "P" in "W. R. & P. Bingley – she was as Paul reports a "no nonsense" lady who quite simply got things done. That she was also a competent conjurer is beyond argument. All desperate calls from WA Hunslet for heavy assistance when summer peak demands got out of hand were calmly answered with "Ow many der yer want ??" No matter how many extra coaches we needed the necessary vehicles would appear at all hours as if by magic – fresh from pit contracts or schools or wherever – all manned by chaps who knew their place and "did as Phyllis said" without question and the impossibly large seaside passengers would all be gone without a hiccup. Slightly off the Daimler topic I admit, but Phyllis deserves an accolade as one of the real legends of the Industry.

Chris Youhill

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Great story, Paul/Chris. Keep ’em coming! The human side is just as interesting as the bus side.

Chris Hebbron

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10/10/12 – 09:00

The above photograph is featured on the ‘sct61’ website, along with another photo of LTO 10 in the caption of which it is asserted that Skills ordered three of these vehicles and that it was two, rather than one, which were diverted to Gash of Newark. LNN 353 (Gash DD7) was apparently intended to become Skills No.30 (LTO 30) and LRR 403 Skills No.20 (LTO 20). I haven’t been able to retrieve the Gash fleet number of LRR 403.

David Call

Blue Line (Samuel Morgan) Ltd.
1943
Guy Arab II
Roe H31/25R

Yet another Independent bus operator from the Doncaster area, the Samuel Morgan part of the name is from a take over in 1930, Samuel Morgan operated under the name of Gwen Motors.
The above bus was not new to Blue Line it was originally owned by Sunderland District and was number 176 in there fleet until 1961 when purchased by Blue Line. Of course with a build date of 1943 it would of had a utility body, not sure who built the original body but it was rebodied by Roe in 1953, if you know leave a comment. 
Blue Line also owned Reliance who they took over in 1949 and carried on running it under its own name they also had an ex Sunderland District Guy Arab II registration FPT 207.

I can remember the 2 old guys known as 205 & 207. One had a conventional 4 speed Westlinghouse crash gearbox the other a so called Chinese gearbox where 1st gear was where 3rd should be and 2nd where 4th should have been this could cause all sorts of gear grating if you forgot which bus you were driving.

David A Oglesby

I know the feeling only too well David – the two Guy Arabs that we had at Samuel Ledgard (JUA 762/3) had the "back to front" gearboxes and often caught out the less interested among the driving staff.  They were fitted with dark maroon knobs on the gear levers – a somewhat optimistic method of alerting drivers, especially in the dark !!

Chris Youhill

I think I read somewhere on the net that the above bus came to a sorry end, on its side in a field, having got too close to the ditch at the side of the road, no one injured.

Spencer

London Transport also had a a sizeable number of austerity Guys with both reverse and conventional gearbox ‘gates’. If my memory serves me right, they got over the problem by sawing 2-3 inches off the non-standard gear levers. No problem in the dark, but whether the drivers got backache from bending to the left with every gear change is not recorded!

Chris Hebbron

19/10/11 – 16:15

Regarding Spencer’s note above, here //www.flickr.com/photos/8755708@N07/4423130081/in/photostream/ is a set of pictures showing the accident and recovery operations. It was the end of it’s life but reading that the others like it were withdrawn in 1968 and noting that the Honda Cub moped carries a 1967 registration, it probably only hastened it’s demise by a short time. There are some nice pictures in the series contained in the link.

Richard Leaman

21/10/11 – 06:45

I was once a member of the now defunct Spenborough Bus Enthusiasts Club in Cleckheaton and we organised a trip in a similar Roe bodied Guy Arab of Yorkshire Woollen District to view the Blue Line Arab. Somewhere along the way in Doncaster a wrong turning was taken and a low railway bridge was encountered which entailed a long reverse manoeuvre. I recall the drivers name was David Rothery last heard of at East Yorkshire Motor Services. I wonder if anybody else can remember the trip. It was in the early 60s.

Philip Carlton

13/04/20 – 07:51

FPT 207 and probably 205 were built with Picktree utility bodies.

Duncan Robinson

15/04/20 – 06:33

Wouldn’t the body builder have been Pickering of Wishaw, near Glasgow rather than Picktree, who I think only worked post-war on buses for Northern General and associated companies? Looking at one of the entries under the Picktree bodywork entry, it’s stated that the firm was founded on 6th Sept 1947, lasting as a coach builder till c.1954, but continuing until later in the car business. Pickering was one of the designated body-builders of WWII, although not one of the major participants. Their bodies were not renowned for being a long-lasting product, even if many utilities could be suspect in durability!

Michael Hampton

United Automobile Services
1950
Bristol K6B
ECW H30/26R 

Here we have a line up of three United Automobile buses in Scarborough bus station. the one in the centre is as the specification above having a Bristol AVW 8.1 litre six cylinder diesel engine. In 1965 all United double decker buses had the Bristol engine, 20 had been converted from Gardner 5LW engine I think they needed the power of the Bristol engine.
The single decker on the left is a 1965 Bristol SUL4A registration CHN 3C fleet number S3 with an ECW B36F body. I think United only had five of these lightweight vehicles mainly used on lightly trafficked routes. There was two types of Bristol SU the SUS (Small Underfloor Short) and the SUL (Small Underfloor Long) both versions were powered by an Albion 4.1 litre, four cylinder diesel engine and had a 5 speed synchromesh gearbox
The bus on the right or should I say half a bus is a 1956 Bristol LS5G registration 637 CHN fleet number U237 with an ECW B41F body. There is a much better shot of a United Bristol LSG here.

28/10/15 – 13:22

NHN906 was the last surviving Bristol K6B in the United fleet. There were half a dozen of them at Scarborough for many years for use on the town services there. After they were displaced by new FLFs in the mid-sixties, they moved north to Northumberland. BH1 &2 (NHN 901/2) went to Whitley Bay where they were mainly used on the Whitley Bay town service. BH3-6 (NHN 903-6) went to Ashington. When United renumbered their fleet into an all numerical system at the beginning of 1969, there were only two survivors, BH1 & 6 which became 51 & 52. NHN 901 probably never operated with it’s new number. It was still in service in December 1968, but a few days into the new year, I noted that it was parked out of use behind the depot at Whitley Bay. NHN906 at continued for a few more months at Ashington. I occasionally saw it in the 444 from Bedlington to Ashington via North Blyth. It also sometimes appeared as a substitute for an FLF on the Newcastle services. It appears to have been taken out of service in June 1969.

John Gibson

29/10/15 – 06:21

Small correction to the original text. The SU had a five speed constant mesh (not synchromesh) gearbox. Behind the apparent uniformity of vehicle types in the Tilling fleets of the time lay a difference between operators in the engine choice. Some would not countenance anything other than a Gardner in double deck and large saloon orders. Others were happy to accept the Bristol engine which was cheaper to buy and speedier in delivery. Gardners were highly sought after by many manufacturers, and output was not particularly high. In retrospect, it testifies to the ultra conservative iron grip that Hugh Gardner maintained upon the company that production methods barely altered for over 50 years from the introduction of the LW series in 1931. Given the apparent insatiable demand for the Patricroft products, Gardner rested on its laurels, and no real effort to increase output was properly addressed. Back then, the idea that Gardner would ultimately cease to exist was inconceivable.

Roger Cox