Berrys Coaches (Taunton)
1960
Bedford SB3
Duple C41F

107 GYC is a Bedford SB3 with Duple C41F body, new to Bowerman, Taunton, in 1960. In this view, it is in Lodmoor Car Park, Weymouth, showing ‘Berrys’ in the indicator box and visiting the annual rally, although it doesn’t appear to be taking part in it. I have recollections of submitting this in the past, but it hasn’t been published (possibly as too dark) but I have a new editor now, and I’ve managed to lighten it! The date is 1 July 1979.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Pete Davies

22/01/17 – 13:03

(pic by ‘Showtrac’ via Flickr).

Bedford SB3 Duple Super Vega, 107 GYC passed to Andrew Hall, Winkhill by 1997 & then to current owner Roger Chambers of Bristol for preservation in 9/05, pic taken just prior to the move to Roger Chambers.

Sister vehicle 108 GYC also new to Bowerman, was last known with Redwoods of Hemyock. My pic shows it withdrawn in a barn at the rear of Brian Redwood’s bungalow in April 2004. Is it still there?
Both coaches had 7ft 6in wide bodies for the narrow Devon lanes.

John Wakefield

23/01/17 – 07:36

What a superb preservation of a grand unpretentious vehicle. My admiration of Bedford/Duple coaches knows no bounds – they "did what it says on the tin" and grand style and with no empty embellishments.

Chris Youhill

26/01/17 – 10:28

I have recently spoken to Redwoods & they still have 108 GYC in the shed as in my pic above. They have no plans to sell it at this time.

John Wakefield

28/04/18 – 07:47

That SB showing Doone Valley may have been ridden in by me, as it was a regular summer afternoon ride on Berrys from Taunton, including up Porlock Hill, along the narrow lanes to the Doone Valley Farm for tea, then Lynmouth (adults into the pub), and home immediately up Countisbury Hill.
The old Bedfords just engaged bottom gear and wound up the A39 1 in 4 gradients. It was a bit difficult for the cars behind on the steep hills who couldn’t quite manage the slow walking pace on the uphill.

Bill

West Yorkshire PTE (Calderdale District)
1964
Daimler Fleetline CRG6
Roe H41/29F

New to Leeds City Transport, 105 (105 LNW) was one of ten (101-110) Daimler Fleetline CRG6’s with Roe H41/29F bodies delivered in late 1964, 101 differing from the rest in having a curved windscreen and having been exhibited at the Commercial Motor Show in the October.
Having passed to the Leeds District of the West Yorkshire PTE on 1st April 1974, 101-105 were transferred to the Calderdale District at Halifax in June 1979.
The Roe metal-framed bodies on Fleetlines and Atlanteans of this era were to Park Royal design, and many gained a poor reputation for body corrosion and weakness, but these always seemed to me at least to be very solidly built and rattle free, though they had the usual early Fleetline features of heavy steering and unpredictable brakes. 101’s heating and demisting system did not work at all though and during the winter of 1979 it would become freezing cold and was rarely out on the road for more than an hour or so before the windscreen would frost over both outside and in and be rung in for a changeover. It was also very slow and apparently troublesome in other ways and was consequently withdrawn fairly quickly. The other four with their flat fronts were quite decent buses though and carried on a while longer.
By February 1981 all but 105 had gone, but it remained, doggedly slogging on and outlasting the others by twenty months before being sold at Central Motor Auctions to Rollinson’s, the Barnsley breaker in September 1982.
Here it is seen in 1981 passing through King Cross en route for Cunning Corner.

Photograph and Copy contributed by John Stringer

19/01/17 – 07:17

John, Derby Corporation took their first Fleetlines in 1966 with Roe bodies virtually identical to these of Leeds. Now Derby were known for getting long service out of their buses, twenty years was the norm and that included some of the utilities. With the Fleetlines the service life was reduced to fourteen years and some only managed twelve. Like you say, they seemed to be substantially built and I’ve often wondered if there was a change of policy or if there was some inherent weakness which wasn’t readily apparent.
Derby’s neighbour, Trent, had some Roe bodied Atlanteans with the squarer type of Roe body as supplied to Hull, Sheffield and some NGT companies and although I liked them, the quality always seemed inferior to the one seen above.

Chris Barker

20/01/17 – 06:37

Chris, at NGT Percy Main depot (Tynemouth & District the Roe bodied Atlantean’s you refer to were known as ‘flat tops’.

Ronnie Hoye

20/01/17 – 06:38

Curiously, John, the driving turns I undertook on the 62 route (as it then was in 1964-66) terminated at Rishworth, and I never managed to drive a bus the short distance onward to Cunning Corner or Commons. On the subject of the Roe bodies to Park Royal design, I would suspect that the preparation and treatment of the framing at the Roe factory was somewhat superior to that applied at Park Royal, with consequent benefits in corrosion protection. On a parallel matter, I have just obtained and read my copy of "Steel Wheels and Rubber Tyres, Vol 3" by Geoffrey Hilditch, and his account of life under the West Yorkshire PTE is highly revealing. The reckless profligacy and dearth of cost/revenue management information compares with London Transport at its worst. It would seem that those deemed to be "in charge" proceeded on the principle that the government would not allow its pet PTA/PTE transport policies to fail, so "Spend, spend, spend". Yes, the author’s view might be coloured because GGH himself was not enamoured of the PTE setup, and had been caught up in its entrails by accident rather than design, but the fact remains that West Yorkshire PTE became technically insolvent for some time.

Roger Cox

Bristol Tramways & Carriage Company Limited
1951
Bristol LWL6B
ECW FC35F

NHY 947 is an ECW ‘Queen Mary’ coach body with the sort of chassis one might expect underneath – not the AEC Regal rebuild in Tilling livery submitted a while ago! This Bristol LWL6B was new in 1951, with ECW FC35F body. We see it on Southampton Common on the sunny morning of 7 May 1979, while taking part in the Southampton City Transport Centenary rally.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Pete Davies

16/01/17 – 06:29

The only batch of these bodies sold to a Scottish operator were on Daimler chassis.

Stephen Allcroft

17/01/17 – 07:03

This photo of fellow LWL6B, NHY 946, No.2814, was taken in Railway Place, Bath in August 1958. The term "Queen Mary" has been applied in enthusiast circles to a number of psv types, notably the full fronted PD3s of Southdown, though in that latter instance the accuracy of the sobriquet is strongly disputed in some quarters. I always understood that the intended analogy was with the low loading military articulated lorries designed for the carriage of tanks and heavy plant rather than the Cunard liner, and was meant to suggest a certain degree of ponderousness in appearance and progress. This style of ECW body did suffer from rather heavy frontal treatment, but it compared quite favourably with the dreadful full fronted efforts of some other contemporary coachbuilders on front engined chassis.

Roger Cox

17/01/17 – 07:05

NHY 946 is pictured in this thread Bristol Tramways – Bristol L6B – NAE 3 – 2467  this time in the cream and maroon livery of 1963.

Geoff Pullin