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West Yorkshire Road Car Company
1952
Bristol LWL6B
ECW B39R

Here we have a pair of Bristol Ls the one on the left is a 30ft long by 8ft wide version with a Bristol 8.1 litre 6 cylinder engine. The one on the right is a 1947 L5G registration EWY 431 fleet number SG115 this bus differs from the LWL6B by being a B35R 26ft long by 7ft 6in wide and having a Gardner 7.0 litre 5 cylinder engine. To say there is an age difference of 5 years between them there is not many changes body wise, but at that time just after the war all that was required were buses and as many of them as possible.

A full list of Bristol codes can be seen here.

A full list of West Yorkshire codes can be seen here.

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The reason for the very minor changes in these bodies, other than size and capacity, throughout their production run is a simple and exemplary one. They were an absolutely superb design, and the quality of the construction and of all the fittings was the best. Personally I also believe that they were the finest looking single deckers of the "front engined" era and also they combined the high quality and good looks with superb passenger flow, visibility and luggage space. A particularly appealing variant was the 31 seat coach, many examples of which were mounted,in addition to the Bristol majority, on Leyland PS1 chassis which made for another different but most attractive combination.

Chris Youhill

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SG 115 was always one of the regular Yeadon depot based (EWY registration) Bristol L5Gs used on my school special afternoon service from Otley Grammar School to Burley-in-Wharfedale in the mid to late fifties. I have very fond memories of these buses and particularly remember the lovely purring noise when at speed with the clunk of the gear stick into overdrive 5th or would this be 4th? WYRCC always exuded to me a feeling of what a "Tilling" Company should be. Happy days.

Richard Fieldhouse

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I share your acoustic memories of these fine vehicles Richard, and I remember the very first "EWY" registrations immediately after the War. I was just stunned by their clean lines and attractive and very functional interiors. As with all other Bristol Ls and Ks so fitted the fifth gear (nickname "supertop") was actually an external overdrive in addition to the normal four speed box – this accounts for the glorious melodious tones when engaged. It was engaged from fourth gear (NOT through neutral) by moving the lever to the right and smartly forward. It was virtually essential to adjust the engine revs and to return to the main gearbox fourth position well before the bus stopped or you might well be "stuck" in overdrive. I am not an engineer, but I think this is an accurate description of the feature – if not I’d gladly welcome any correction.

Chris Youhill

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31/01/11 – 15:05

Chris, many thanks for your description of how a driver selects 5th gear on a Bristol. I can well recall the action of the driver with the thrust forward of the gear stick which gave the clunk noise. I used to observe the driver from the front nearside seat of the bus which was always my favourite position.

Richard Fieldhouse

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31/01/11 – 20:13

Chris, thanks from me, too, for your description of using the fifth gear on the Bristol Ls; like Richard, I always tried to get a seat which gave a view of the driver – my own favourite was offside front by the gangway – but I’ve forgotten the exact pedal procedure, (I never drove one). You say you needed to adjust the engine revs and return to fourth while the vehicle was still moving, but how, without a neutral between 4th and 5th?
Also, how universal was the mechanism? Was it fitted to all West Yorkshire Ls? I don’t remember the Y-WY L5Gs having it, but that may just be because they didn’t need it for town working, or it may be another instance of my creeping senility!

Roy Burke

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01/02/11 – 05:37

Glad top be of help on the "supertop" query Richard and Roy. Returning to fourth gear from the overdrive did not involve neutral – but I omitted to mention that the clutch pedal had simply to be gently dipped and a very slight increase in revs applied and then the lever dropped easily and quietly into fourth gear. I can’t honestly say at what time the overdrive became available but I think that all L5Gs, pre and postwar, had it but possibly the JO5Gs did not – but I think that anywhere in York the traffic would be too heavy and slow to afford any opportunity for the use of the high ratio, and so the facility probably quietly remained “in reserve”.

Chris Youhill

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01/02/11 – 05:38

I seem to remember reading an account of a North Western driver with one of their K5Gs in Stockport, who pushed his luck with 5th gear – letting speed drop lower than he should. I think a car pulled out in front of him, or something of that sort. There followed an anxious, painful, strangled grind to regain a speed sufficient to escape from 5th without the humiliation of having to abandon ship.

Stephen Ford

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05/02/11 – 16:01

Chris, I have found your experience of the overdrive 5th on Bristols fascinating and am certain that all the WY Bristol JO5Gs and prewar L5Gs had an overdrive 5th gearbox. This feature only started to appear on the double decker Bristols around 1951. WYRCC fitted a 5 speed box to 1949 Bristol K6B 751 (DD Coach conversion 1951) and also to 1951 Bristol KSW6B 808 (DBW 3). Deliveries of later 1952/53 Bristol KSWs (LWR registered) had 5 speed gearboxes from new as did the later Bristol Lodekkas from DX3 onwards. (DX2 was delivered with a 4 speed box but converted to a 5 speed box in May 1954)

Richard Fieldhouse

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06/02/11 – 05:44

I shall have the Kleenex out soon at these wonderful memories of such happy times. I was fortunate enough to be allowed into Grove Park just at the time when 751 was completed as a coach and was standing there resplendent and sensational in its rich cream and maroon. Then you mention the magnificent 808, DBW 3. I was still at school and lived in Ilkley when 806 – 9 were delivered and all were allocated to Ilkley, with white steering wheels to indicate 8’00" wide. Initially they had open platforms and were returned to ECW later for doors to be fitted. They were glorious vehicles and if it was possible to improve on previous ECW deliveries they certainly achieved it in terms of interior fittings and finish.

Chris Youhill

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Rotherham Corporation
1964
AEC Renown 3B3RA
Roe H39/31F

There has also been a 1961 Rotherham Corporation Bridgemaster on site (link here) and the easy way to tell them apart was the front off side mudguard. It is easier to show than describe so the close up on the left is the Renown and the one on the right is the Bridgemaster.

          
As you can see the Renown’s mudguard follows through the body where as the Bridgemaster’s body goes over the mudguard and this was always the case with these two buses.
This Renown has the AEC code of 3B3RA which meant it had an AEC 9.6 litre six cylinder engine with a 4 speed synchromesh gearbox and air brakes. There was only one alternative the 3B2RA and the only difference was it had the Monocontrol direct selection gearbox. One thing I have noticed which I find strange is that this Renown’s drivers cab door slides backwards on the outside of the body to open it normally the door slid forwards inside the cab.

A full list of Renown codes can be seen here.

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If you look at the position of the cab door opening in relation to the front wheel it is obvious why the sliding door is external. If it was internal the wheel arch leaves nowhere for it to go, unless the door were made unreasonably shallow to pass over the top of the mudguard. For the same reason Lodekkas and other low-height buses always had hinged cab doors. The only exception seems to be the Albion Lowlander, as bodied by NCME and Alexander, where the coachbuilders raised the cab ceiling above the level of the main upper saloon floor (and raised the foremost seats to perch on top of the cab). That gave sufficient headroom to allow an internally-sliding cab door of conventional style.

David Jones

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I’m not absolutely certain but weren’t these the only Renowns bodied by Roe? (although obviously to a Park Royal design)

Ian Wild

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Yes, Ian. As was common in the sixties and seventies, whenever Park Royal was hard pressed, they subcontracted to their (smaller) Yorkshire partner. Geoff Lumb’s excellent book on C H Roe records in words and pictures that the Rotherham Renowns were built at Crossgates.

David Oldfield

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11/09/12 – 06:43

I think I have a photo somewhere in my possession that show an EYMS Renown at Roes too, or am I dreaming there?

Graham

Sheffield Corporation
1959
AEC Bridgemaster
Park Royal H45/31R

Here we have a shot of one of Sheffield Corporations rear entrance AEC Bridgemaster. There was a shot of a Sheffield front entrance earlier this year (link here) and we had 2 comments disputing information, so I have done a bit of research and come up with the following.
There was six rear entrance Bridgemasters fleet no 519 – 524, 519 was delivered January 1959 and the remaining 5 were delivered in February 1959. Incidentally there was only two other production chassis built before the Sheffield six one for each Walsall no 825 and Belfast no 550, there was five other chassis but they were for AEC themselves demonstrators and test vehicles I suspect. The chassis numbers for the six were 007 – 012, it is not until April 1961 and chassis number 104 that the one and only front entrance Bridgemaster for Sheffield was built making seven in total.
So I hope that this sorts out the query into the number of Sheffield Bridgemasters, (unless you know different), my thanks to Bus lists on the Web (see credits) for most of the information.

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“519-524 were rear entrance with a row of five rear facing seats, Lodekka style, at the front of the saloon. This covered the gearbox/differential housing – which can be seen at the front of the saloon of all traditional half-cabs. On Bridgemasters, this was extra large – hence the reason on the front entrance version for the doors to be set further back and the strange small window.”

David Oldfield

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04/05/11 – 07:02

519 was a Commercial Motor Show exhibit in November 1958 prior to delivery. It was something of a tradition for Sheffield to have a new vehicle exhibited at what was then a bi-annual show. These were Sheffield’s first 30ft long double deckers and initially operated for a number of years on the 101 and 102 services to Gleadless and Herdings. They were later moved to the Dinnington services 6 and 19 where their low height enabled them to operate under the low railway bridge at South Anston. They had air suspension on the rear axle which I recall gave quite a bouncy motion as passengers boarded and alighted.

Ian Wild

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05/05/11 – 06:53

…..and they hissed audibly.

David Oldfield

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I would like to mention that the AEC Bridgemaster No.519 was a show model at Earls Court in September 1958. In early December it arrived at Queens Road and one lunchtime I rushed to the Works to catch a sight of it. My reward was to see the Rolling Stock Engineer, Ted Bale, climb into the cab, saying he was taking it to Leadmill Road. Unfortunately, I was not invited aboard. Taking a 101 route AEC Regent III to city, I alighted near to the depot, arriving there to hear Ted tell the Regulator, "Do a changeover and put it straight into service" on the 101 or 102 Gleadless route. The date was around 10th-12th December 1958.

Keith Beeden