Copyright Ian Wild

Sheffield Corporation
1957
Leyland PD2/20
ECW H31/28R

Sheffield Joint Omnibus Committee took delivery of eight Leyland PD2/20 in 1957 of which five had Eastern Coachworks bodies and the remaining three were bodied by Roe.
The purchase of the three B fleet and two C fleet ECW bodied buses was made possible by the connection with the BTC through the part ownership of the Joint Committee fleets by British Railways.
These bodies were very similar to the those built around the same time on the final Bristol KSW chassis for Brighton Hove and District. They were certainly unique and the first bodies built on non Bristol chassis by ECW for a number of years.
1294 is seen on 31st March 1973 at the remote terminus at Wyming Brook which was an occasional extension of service 51 which normally terminated at Lodge Moor Hospital. The bus is about to reverse into the side road past the conductor who is nonchalantly leaning on what appears to be a rubbish bin watching me take the photograph. By this date the Joint Omnibus Committee was in the past and the bus is displaying Sheffield Transport fleet names but without the City Coat of Arms.
The front fleet number fits very snugly into the blank space originally provided for the Midland Red logo whilst the square front number plate seems to me to give the bus a ‘rabbits teeth’ appearance. I seem to recall that sister buses 1292 and 1293 had more conventional rectangular front number plates.
The bus was withdrawn later in 1973 thus having completed a creditable sixteen years in service.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Ian Wild

A full list of Titan codes can be seen here.

18/05/11 – 06:58

A very smart-looking vehicle in the round. Even when told that it has an ECW body, the BMMO front somehow fools you into not realising it!
The only other non-Bristols I can readily think of as having ECW bodies, were the private-hire AEC Regal IV’s delivered to London Transport in 1951. Their bodies were unique, looking like nothing ECW had produced either before or after! As a nationalised concern, LTE was always subject to its chassis being ECW-bodied, but ECW was never able to cope with the volume demanded of it – with just 15, the RFW’s were an exception.

Chris Hebbron

18/05/11 – 10:20

Yes, Chris – it seems strange to see a non-Bristol with an ECW body, but there were a surprising number of exceptions. LTE not only had the RFWs, but also the Guy Specials (GS). Apart from rebuilds, other examples were the Southdown and East Yorkshire PS1s, the Eastern National and Bristol Omnibus PD1As, the Lowestoft Regent IIs, the Red & White Albions, and the Middlesbrough PD1s and Guys. Yet another example of how fascinating the bus scene was in those days, and I’m sure others can add to the list.

Paul Haywood

18/05/11 – 10:22

This bus like its brethren ended up with Yorkshire Woollen when they had a severe vehicle shortage in the early seventies It joined the ex West Yorks Bristols and South Wales Bridgemasters already shown on this site. Some early Atlanteans also went north to Dewsbury from Sheffield YWD used the top destination box on both ex SWT and Sheffield vehicles to display a fleet name The ex York Bristols had only single aperture boxes and just showed a destination.

Chris Hough

18/05/11 – 10:46

As I keep telling people here in Surrey, half of Sheffield is countryside, a third even in the Peak District. This area was always in Sheffield – certainly post WW 2 and close to where some of my family lived – typical B Fleet country. I always liked the Bristol and Lincolnshire highbridge KSWs, so I had a soft spot for these handsome ECW PD2s. [The C Fleet pair had platform doors – apparently retrofitted at Queens Road.] Sheffield also had B and C Fleet ECW Leopard coaches.
If we’re talking pre 1965 and the Leyland induced freedom, there were at least two other example of non Bristol ECW bodies.
They were:
(i) the 1947(?) AEC Regent II (with bodies like the 7’6" Bristol K highbridge bodies – again see Lincolnshire) delivered to ECWs local authority at Lowestoft, resplendent in very un Tilling maroon and (ii) AEC Regal III for Lough Swilly in Northern Ireland with Bristol L style bodies.

David Oldfield

18/05/11 – 14:12

Are you sure this one went to YWD? They were the C Fleet buses in 1970, after the formation of NBC. STD lost the C Fleet routes and fleet but retained the B fleet buses and most of the routes.

David Oldfield

18/05/11 – 21:55

Sorry for the wrong information about these going to YWD it was the C fleet examples which went north

Chris Hough

18/05/11 – 21:57

As far as I am aware the B and C fleet vehicles never carried the Corporation crest.
1294 and 1296 were still in service in Sheffield in the summer of 1973.

Stephen Bloomfield

18/05/11 – 21:59

If I might hazard a guess (which may be wrong!) the previous non-Bristol deckers bodied by ECW prior to these were a batch of seven for Midland General in 1955. Six were re-bodies on Guy Arab II’s and the seventh was an AEC Regent III whose original Weymann body had been badly damaged in an accident. All were highbridge. I believe the AEC was the only Regent III ever to be bodied by ECW.
As an aside, it’s just possible that the MGO Guys and the Sheffield PD2’s could have met in Chesterfield, albeit working to different termini.

Chris Barker

19/05/11 – 06:38

The MGO Guys and ECW bodied PD2’s could have met at the same terminal in Chesterfield, Beetwell Street. Could have operated on service 99 and possibly one other.
Between 1951 and 1953 Western S.M.T rebodied Guy Arab II’s, Daimler CWA6’s, Albion Venturers and some Leyland PD1’S.

Stephen Bloomfield

19/05/11 – 09:38

C fleet 1153 was sent to Dewsbury in 1970 and lasted until 1972

Chris Hough

20/05/11 – 06:56

Sheffield Joint Omnibus Committee service 99 was a single deck route due to very low bridges at barrow hill.

Ken Wragg

22/05/11 – 08:37

With respect to the two ‘C’ fleet ECW PD2’s that were transferred to Yorkshire Woollen in 1970, an interesting point is that although they were transferred to YWD ‘on paper’ as of January 1st, 1970, due to a shortage of buses in Sheffield at the time, 3152/3 (YWB 152/3) were operated by STD from Greenland Road garage ‘on hire’ from the National Bus Company until the 1st of May that year, when they were finally sent up the road to Dewsbury!
Presumably the legal lettering on these buses would have been changed to reflect their new owner as of the beginning of the year. That being the case, I wonder then if they operated for those four months with ‘On Hire to STD’ posters displayed in the front nearside window? If so, this would have looked quite odd, considering they were in full Sheffield livery at the time!

Dave Careless

31/05/16 – 06:20

ECW bodies built until around 1950 were ordered prior to Transport Act 1947 provisions coming in, they prevented ECW building for anyone other than 100% state-owned operators, like (in Sheffield’s case) the British Railway’s board.
Not only did that stop (Bristol and) ECW supplying previously loyal customers on the home market but it also killed a promising export trade, in ECW’s case including AEC Regals for the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway and Leyland Tigers for Isle of Man Road Transport.
One ECW body for London Transport mentioned was the fourth prototype Routemaster.
In 1965 Leyland Motor Corporation exchanged a 30% holding in Park Royal Vehicles and Charles H. Roe for a 25% interest in Bristol Commercial Vehicles and Eastern Coach Works, by the end of 1966 Bristol and ECW products were back on open sale.

Stephen Allcroft

A George H Bullock photograph (courtesy Roger Monk)

Williamson’s of Bridlington
1930
Leyland Lion LT1
Hall Lewis B32?

Here is a picture of one of my very favourite Williamson’s vehicles from when I was a child staying frequently in Bridlington. Williamson’s fleet could always be relied upon to provide a wide variety of real gems, and a particular fascination lay in the fact that only two buses were required at any time to operate the basic town services, and yet the fleet was always considerably more generous in size than seemed necessary.
DV 4117 was a 1930 Leyland Lion LT1 which had been Devon General number 155. The well appointed body was by Hall Lewis, forerunners of Park Royal, and seated 32 passengers. I have to admit that, despite having such vivid memories of the vehicle, I cannot positively recall the entrance position. I have always had an idea that it had a rear door and also another one oddly set a little away from the front, but the photo shows no clear evidence of this and I may well be wrong. Any confirmation from a DG expert would be more than welcome.
It was one of only a very few Williamson buses to carry fleet numbers and proudly sported number 24 on the front panel. In case anyone is impressed by the route number "11 AUX" I should explain that this was undoubtedly a Devon General remainder which presumably indicated a duplicate journey. The destination blind is quite magnificent, specifying the ultimate point and no less than four intermediate landmarks. This may not appear too remarkable until we consider that each of the two town services was only roughly one and a quarter miles in length !!
In my later years, when I became more familiar with schedules compilation and economic programming on a grand scale I began to realise how very generous Wiliamson’s allocations were. The service to Old Town left Chapel Street at 00 and 30 minutes past the hour, took ten minutes to reach "Burlington" Market Place, stood for five minutes,and then returned to "The Quay" where a further five minutes could be had before the next departure. The Queensgate service ran to a similar pattern at 15 and 45 minutes past from Town. It is certain that both services could reasonably have been operated with just one vehicle and crew, thereby reducing costs by 50%. This could have been achieved by the bus leaving Old Town immediately on arrival and returning to Town via Queensgate – this would still have given five minutes recovery time in every half hour.
This little theory of mine just demonstrates the World of difference between those leisurely civilised days and the current callous profit only orientated climate in the Bus Industry. Thank goodness for the former circumstances, or we should never have seen such wonderful fleets as abounded far and wide.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Chris Youhill

01/05/11 – 21:08

Well Chris, my fascination with Williamson and WBS is kept well alive by this post. I remember the Lions, but had forgotten, or never knew from where they originated.
Or was there only one?
I have the Park Royal book by TPC (Part 1) which includes these DG Lions, but it is not immediately to hand. I will check up on their body layout as there are some photos therein of the Hall Lewis variety. What wonderful nostalgic memories these Bridlington Independents conjure up! Thanks

John Whitaker

02/05/11 – 12:57

Many thanks John, and any such confirmation of the doorway/s in DV 4117 will be most welcome. Williamson’s had only one other Leyland LT1 Lion, with Leyland body, HD 3773 ex Yorkshire Woollen District – so Bridlington’s flat avenues will have made an easy retirement after the mountainous territory around Dewsbury !!

Chris Youhill

02/05/11 – 12:59

The picture I have is of the batch of LT1s which started at 25, and these had front entrances.

John Whitaker

03/05/11 – 08:55

Glory Days – Devon General (p35) has a picture of 157 (DV 5119). An LT1/Hall Lewis, it clearly has two doorway configuration. p38 has a picture of a Park Royal coach from 21 -24, single door, but the caption refers to the new Park Royal’s first DG deliveries being of 20 LT2 with dual door bodywork. It leads one to believe the dual door was a DG standard at the time for service bus bodywork.

David Oldfield

03/05/11 – 16:38

When you look through the bus at the nearside windows, the second one is much narrower than the first and offside ones. It could well be the front entrance. A very good post, Chris.

Chris Hebbron

04/05/11 – 06:59

Many thanks indeed to John, David, and Chris H for such prompt and conclusive research into the doorway question. The bus, by the way is standing at the "weekday" terminus in Chapel Street, right outside the Methodist chapel. The stop pole was located in a "golf ball socket" in the pavement. As a mark of reverence which would not be found anywhere today, sadly, the pole was removed on Sundays to a similar socket in the pavement nearer to the Promenade junction. My mother who was in no way a bus enthusiast, other than from "A to B", must have become tired of my endless advices that DV 4117 was my favourite bus – and informed me that "DV" was Latin for "God Willing."

Chris Youhill

05/05/11 – 07:10

I am attempting to put my recently acquired knowledge of Williamson, and White Bus Service into some sequence, time wise!. Thanks to Chris, I am now aware of several buses which operated for WBS and Williamson, but with the latter, who had such generous timetabling "freedom" how on earth did they manage to run such a large fleet? In the period I remember, about 1944 to 1950, Williamson had 2 Doncaster 6 wheelers, these Lions, and the 2 ex YWD TD2s. Were they all there at the same time? My memory is so mixed up! What would be the max. fleet strength at this period, and did they operate beyond QUAY and OLD TOWN?
Also, did the Devon General Lion come direct, or via another operator, as I have a feeling these LT1s were withdrawn before WW2 broke out: ie; after a 10 year life span. I am no DG expert though, and would love to see some acquisition dates for this fascinating little fleet. I have a great deal of nostalgia and respect for EYMS, but what a pity they swallowed up these 2 delightful memory stimulators!
You must have had hols in Brid at the same time as me Chris! Did you ever get to Morecambe, where more of my childhood memories took root?

John Whitaker

06/05/11 – 06:50

Several questions there John, and the answers are quite complicated. Pretty comprehensive fleet lists of Williamson’s and WBS appear in the PSV Circle East Yorkshire history and if you would like copies of these Peter will give you my E mail address. There were no less than five ex YWD TD2s, and the two ex Doncaster six wheel giants were the last buses bought by Williamson’s. They had only the two Bridlington local services – The Quay and Queensgate, and Old Town and The Quay – other than a very early but unprofitable foray (before our time I believe) to Flamborough.
I have never actually holidayed in Morecambe, and have only visited for the day very occasionally.

Chris Youhill

27/09/12 – 07:04

I cannot believe that I have just stumbled across this web-site. The times, not recently, that I have searched for Williamson’s Buses.
The company was owned by my great grandfather, and latterly his brother.
The family home was 1, West Street, Bridlington and I believe that they had premises on Quay Road and "The Black Shed" on Hilderthorpe Road (?).
I understand that they started with horse drawn hansom cabs and then horse drawn buses.
Apparently they kept a lot of horses on the fields that were then behind the West Street house.

Jonathan Williamson

28/09/12 – 07:59

Jonathan – I’m so glad that you’ve been interested by this topic, and Williamson’s buses and those of the other Bridlington area operators were my life interest in the 1940s. The operating base was in Havelock Crescent in the final years – the premises still exist and are now a "Bosch" auto electrical concern. I have a cherished kindly letter from the last member of your family to run the business, regretting that he couldn’t help with any documents in answer to my appeal.

Chris Youhill

24/06/13 – 08:41

I’m so pleased to find this site and the photo of the Williamson bus. My Gt Gt Grandfather John Williamson was the founder of the bus company in the late 19th century. John had a large family and most of his sons were involved in the business. One had a livery stable, another was a horse dealer with the beach donkeys as a side line. My Father said the Williamson horses pulled the life-boat too.
The first motorised bus in Bridlington in 1922 was a Williamson bus. After the death of John Williamson, Reuben Williamson (John’s youngest son took over the business.)
I have photos of the horse drawn buses if you are interested.

Cathy Goldthorpe

25/09/14 – 06:54

Cathy Goldthorpe and Jonathan Williamsons.
As the Williamsons blood runs through many veins on our side of the family not only in Goole, including Doncaster, Hessle, Castleford, Scunthorpe, Howden, Old Goole, Hull. Our side of the family was our mother Kathleen Williamsons who left Bridlington for Howden in the early 1930s along with her sister Mayvene who went to Doncaster.
As children I can remember our yearly visit to Bridlington to visit our grandmother Eva at 28 Havelock Crescent with the garage opposite, my older brother and I would go into the garage to play on the Double Deckers Buses running up and down the stairs this was around the late 40s early 50s.
Great Grandma Emma would visit us at Goole in her Car a Lincoln Zephyr, I was at the Bridlington library when Williamsons and the White Bus Companies was discussed I found the meeting we had was very entertaining I would like to thank the organisers for putting this show together thanks again.

N Roberts

26/09/14 – 05:39

I see that my relations have got here first. I was living in 2 West St as a child and was brought up on tales of Robert and Reuben Williamson, the horse buses and the White Bus co.. Nice to see all the information here.

David Gilson

20/10/15 – 06:55

Bit late arriving back to look here but thank you for the comments about the Library day, it was I who did the talk, after finishing the prep for Dad’s second book. I hope the library is able to do another one some time, I would love to go. I think I have possibly found a photo amongst those given to my dad by one of the elder Williamsons, showing the Lincoln Zephyr you mention!

Matt Gibbs

Vehicle reminder shot for this posting

19/08/21 – 06:41

In respect of JP registrations from Wigan, we had in the family a Wolseley Hornet registered, from new, JP 95, owned by my uncle from Chorley. The car was scrapped when he bought an Austin 16, and when, in the early 60s, he bought a Bentley R-type he tried to recover the registration as the Wolseley’s last owner, the authorities would not play ball. I still have the Bentley.

Johnfromstaffs

Copyright Ian Wild

Potteries Motor Traction
1957
Leyland Titan PD2/20
Willowbrook L27/28R

This bus was new to Baxters of Hanley as their fleet number 11 in March 1957 and was acquired by PMT when they bought out the Baxter business in December 1958. It was somewhat different from the contemporary PMT purchased Leylands having a concealed radiator and rear entrance and by 1968 was one of only three double deckers in the fleet without platform doors. A similar but slightly older bus from the Baxter fleet became PMT L510 which was rebuilt with a MCW style top deck after an altercation with the notorious Glebe Street railway bridge adjacent to Stoke Station. L679 was allocated to Stoke Garage and is seen in Woodhouse Street outside its home depot on 10th October 1970. By this time it was normally only used for a morning and afternoon peak hour working on the Longton to Newcastle Estates group of services (numbers 98-103) where it was odd man out amongst the Atlanteans and Fleetlines. By the date of this photo was used in between peaks for driver training – note the slot for an L plate above the radiator grille. It became a permanent driver training vehicle in December 1972 and was withdrawn for disposal in 1976.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Ian Wild

A full list of Titan codes can be seen here.

———

06/04/11 – 05:00

Would I be correct in thinking that these ex Baxters vehicles were the only PD2’s ever bodied by Willowbrook in this style? By 1957, Willowbrook had changed their design for deckers to the more rounded style, as on the Barton PS1 rebuilds and several deliveries to that design actually pre-date the vehicle shown. I believe the very last one to this ‘old’ design was a Daimler CVG6 supplied to Blue Bus Services in 1960.

Chris Barker

———

08/04/11 – 05:00

Yes I did a bit of driver training in this vehicle but I must admit I liked my normal training bus better which was LEH 745 L337 NCME body.

Michael Crofts

———

28/04/11 – 06:36

I passed my PSV test in 1968 on L337, I preferred my training turns on L466 (now preserved) as it had a sliding cab door which I was able to leave open. I remember struggling with hill starts on Penkhull New Road!!
The Chief Instructor / Examiner was George Clews but I don’t remember the names of the other two Instructors. Rather unusually the Driving School reported to the Chief Engineer rather than the Traffic Manager.

Ian Wild

———

06/05/11 – 06:46

Hi ian, Yes my instructor was George Clews but my examiner was from the D.O.T he took me into a cul-de-sac by mistake and I had a devil of a job doing a shunt to turn around with 337. Yes those were the days on Penkhull bank….

Michael Crofts