Copyright Routeman/Pete

Yeomans of Canon Pyon, Hereford
1948
Daimler CVA6
Welsh Metal Industries L57RD

Here’s a piece of personal history. Chrome-radiatored 1948 Daimler CVA6, with a stylish Welsh Metal Industries L57RD body. No. 70 was operated from new, lasting in service from December 1948 to December 1957. One of a pair, the other one was No. 71 (FVJ 364), which I never saw. Looking fairly new, but near the end of its life, it’s outside RAF Creden Hill, Hereford, where I was stationed for three months in mid-1956. Note the tree damage to the front dome. You can see the shiny pre-selective gear lever below the steering wheel. It had no gate, merely sliding forwards/backwards, gears indicated as RN1234, like the maker’s cars of the day. Having grown up in Daimlerland, South-West London, I was entirely at home re-living old memories on the varied Yeomans Daimler CW/CV fleet, which included some austerity models.
Yeomans still exist, for a while named Yeomans Canyon Travel and now simply Yeoman’s Travel. They gave up their stage services a long time ago. As for the bodybuilders: Welsh Metal Industries, of Caerphilly, was created for aircraft production purposes during WWII, but, once peacetime came, there was a need to produce something else. Like some other former aircraft manufacturers, they turned to bus bodywork and did good trade for a while, so desperate was the need for new vehicles. Building on past experience, the WMI body was radically different in its substantial use of aluminium, resulting in a very light structure. The bodies, however, were somewhat fragile, with horror stories of windows falling out and beading strips flapping around in the breeze! I don’t recall any creaks or groans with this one, but perhaps the body had been completely rebuilt by then.
Note the large number of obtrusive rivets/screws!

Photograph and Copy contributed by Chris Hebbron

A full list of Daimler codes can be seen here.

25/11/12 – 08:29

That front dome – damaged or not – reminds me of Northern Counties or Weymann styling. What livery did the operator use in those days?

Pete Davies

25/11/12 – 11:18

Dark Green and Cream, Pete.

Chris Hebbron

25/11/12 – 16:35

Thanks, Chris.

Pete Davies

26/11/12 – 08:48

The seating capacity seems rather high for a 1948 lowbridge decker. Most, of that period seem to have been L53R. I wonder if there was an additional row on the top deck or if a couple more pairs had been fitted on the lower deck. There couldn’t have been much legroom wherever they were squeezed in!

Chris Barker

26/11/12 – 08:49

Far from having "given up their stage services long ago" Yeomans Travel (note: Yeomans not "Yeoman’s" (the family name is "Yeomans") the company still runs a wide range of local bus services based on Hereford and with its associated Leominster-based Lugg Valley Travel is the biggest LBS operator in Herefordshire.

Jim Davies

26/11/12 – 13:48

I was wondering about the seating. I have been trying to work out if the cab has been shortened to increase seating. It seems to require an athletic user, anyway: possibly the door is open, like the window vents for a hot day. The step seems to start well up: the driver seems to have this big upward step and then an unassisted leap forwards and upwards. There seems nothing to assist him. Do some have more of a panel behind the door? If you push the driver forward, then can you push the upstairs front bench seat forward too? Perhaps in that rural part of the world, they employed ex jockeys to drive?

Joe

19/02/18 – 07:02

Well, I was at RAF Credenhill in 1956 from April to late June, too and regularly travelled on Yeoman’s buses. I actually took a not wonderful picture of the Daimler CVD some three years earlier, never dreaming I would be posted there.

Michael Baker

21/02/18 – 06:56

Jim Davis’s point regarding the family name of ‘Yeomans’ brings me to ask about something that has puzzled me for quite a long time.
Why was it that the more modern day company name comprised the name ‘Canyon’ when the village where the company originated had the spelling ‘Canon’ (as in Canon Pyon)?

David Slater

21/02/18 – 15:32

Perhaps because "Canyon Travel" has a more attractive name when the company dealt with holiday tours! The 1881 census shows a Henry Yeomans family living in Canon Pyon in 1881,, so they had some history in the village.
The Omnibus Society has photos of an eclectic mix of their vehicles, including a Leyland Titanic, Sentinel and double-deck AEC ‘Q’s’. I know that the Ministry of War Transport gathered a lot of the Q’s from operators who had bought single ones of this type. They were possibly the largest operator of the type at one time. See HERE: //theomnibussociety.

Chris Hebbron

21/02/18 – 15:33

I should have mentioned that they also operated a wartime Bedford OY 3-tonner lorry with a bus body on it behind the cab! Very rare! There is a photo of it on the OS site.

Chris Hebbron

22/02/18 – 06:03

Way back when, Chris B and Joe were puzzled about the seating. Bus Lists On The Web has this bus as L30/26RD. Leaving aside the discrepancy of one, this reveals that the extra seating is in the upper deck.
Welsh Metal Industries didn’t only build complete bus bodies but also components for bus bodies, notably for Beadle. WMI being part of the same group as Sentinel resulted in the latter using Beadle body designs and patents in order to utilise WMI components.

Peter Williamson

Copyright Ken Jones

Coventry Corporation Transport
1944
Daimler CWA6
Duple H30/26R – Roe Pullman H31/25R (1951)

EKV 966 is a Daimler CWA6 dating from 1944. It entered service with Coventry Corporation Transport in 1945 with a Duple Utility body. It was rebuilt with new Roe Pullman body in 1951. It has been in store for many years and made a rare outdoors appearance earlier this year at the Coventry Corporation Transport Centenary rally. It is owned by Coventry Transport Museum

Roger Burdett has issued the following statement November 2012:-

I expect to move it to secure site at the beginning of January 2013 for work to start virtually straight away. It is coming to me on a 20 year loan and I have agreed a remedial plan with Coventry Transport Museum.
Major issues are the cracked block on the engine and the seats which require re-trimming.
The list of work however is quite extensive and cost estimated at a range between £50k and £80k + volunteer hours; depending on what we find on wiring and structure.
Visual issues for consideration are the downstairs windows and whether we keep what is on already (know they are not right) against finding other suitable ones to replace. Knackered Roe bodies are however few and far between; and of course trim material for the seats. Believe in 1951 it was trimmed with Lister check moquette like 126-165 and the nearest material to that is London Transport check.
The hydraulic brakes will require overhaul including refurbished master cylinders and of course £2k for new tyres flaps.
We will not know structure situation till we take side panels off but Roe have a good reputation for this. Chassis looks to be in good nick and does not have the flitch corrosion problem that hits CVGs
I estimate a return to the road sometime in 2014
Roger

Photograph and Copy contributed by Ken Jones

11/12/12 – 16:24

366 was withdrawn from service in 1959 but retained by the maintenance department as a mobile workshop with fleet number 02. The platform door was panelled in as were the lower deck windows. It was little used as such but in 1970 was passed to the Transport Museum, the door was reinstated and replacement windows were fitted. The number 366 was affixed in addition to 02.

Mcsporran

23/04/18 – 06:20

Now restored and in beautiful condition. Seats fantastic and it certainly motors well.
I managed rides at both Quorn and Aldridge.

Tony Martin

27/04/18 – 05:53

Shows how optimistic I was saying 2014 when in fact it became 2018. We lost a whole year due to issues getting the downstairs window frames fabricated replacing the Orion windows in the picture.
I overlooked I would need new window cappings for the inside of the frame as well. In typical Roe fashion these all became marginally different as Roe did not jig build their bodies.
Then we found the engine block had two cracks-one easily repaired and the other proved impossible. I sourced a Gen-set and my team rebuilt it to the Automotive Spec.
YOU NEED OPTIMISM TO CARRY OUT RESTORATIONS.
But all worth it when I see comments like Tony’s.
It should appear again at Wythall on Whit Sunday complete with my other two completed Coventrys-244+334

Roger Burdett

28/04/18 – 07:34

Just a quick line to reinforce Tony`s comments on EKV 966.
I had the pleasure of riding on her last Saturday at Quorn, and enjoyed the best ride I ever had on a preserved bus.
Beautifully restored, and the sounds were pure "music" ! The last time I heard such "music" was 1958, when Bradford withdrew its last CWA6s.
Thanks for the enjoyment Roger.

John Whitaker

28/04/18 – 07:35

Well done, Roger, for your tenacity, another quality needed for vehicle restoration! For those of us who won’t be able to see here in the flesh, How about a favourite photo of yours to put with this post?

Chris Hebbron

01/05/18 – 05:49

Chris
Where are you based I may bring it to a Bus Event near you?
If you send me your email address I can fill your in-box.

I am not a great poster of photos but Ken Jones has on SCT61

Roger Burdett

Copyright Ken Jones

Coventry Corporation Transport  
1940
Daimler COG5/40
Park Royal B38F

This bus was new in 1940, as fleet number 244, and sold on to Derby Corporation in 1949 where it took fleet number 47. Being non-standard in Derby, it was used mainly for driver training. Passing to Derby Museums, it was off the road from 1979 onwards. In 2009 it was placed on long term loan to Roger Burdett in return for restoration, and it returned to the road in the Spring of 2012. Roger has had the vehicle immaculately restored into Coventry Corporation Transport livery both inside and out and looks as good as the day it was delivered if not better. This is the first time in 63 years that it has carried this livery.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Ken Jones

A full list of Daimler codes can be seen here.

30/10/12 – 15:23

This vehicle is scheduled to be at the Lincoln rally this coming Sunday 04/11 along with Coventry Double Decker 334.

Ken Jones

31/10/12 – 08:49

Coventry = Daimler buses (well, usually!) and Roger Burdett = outstanding restoration. What more needs to be said?

Pete Davies

31/10/12 – 10:23

Bravo?

David Oldfield

31/10/12 – 17:31

What a Wonderful livery, an Excellent paint job makes you feel you could put your hand into it. The interior is just as good with a lovely clean ceiling.

David J Henighan

02/11/12 – 07:30

All of Roger Burdetts buses & coaches all excellently restored to a good finish
Also Ken Jones for his photographs he’s taken of Rogers vehicles.

Steve Jillings

05/11/12 – 15:17

An excellent event at Lincoln yesterday, despite the cloudy and sometimes wet weather.

Geoff Kerr

05/11/12 – 15:55

I meant to say I rode on it into Lincoln. Another website gives the seating as B38F, a high figure for a half-cab; 35 is more usual. but there wasn’t much legroom!

Geoff Kerr

Thanks Geoff I have filled in the ??s, it is a bit high isn’t it.
Peter

15/11/12 – 14:57

Coventry were renowned for pushing seating to the limit. The CVAs from 1947 had 60 seats and CVGs in the late 50s were up at 63.
The COG seating is tight 38 seats in a 26ft vehicle is nearly unique. Lack of seat comfort is why I am unlikely to take it to rallies outside the Midlands.

Roger Burdett

15/11/12 – 15:51

Is it not a COG5/40, the variant single deck Daimler with a very compact cab/engine section, so designed to gain maximum (40 = 40 seats) seating capacity, and only fitted with a Gardner "5"?
Coventry had finalised the design configuration for a 60 seat 4 wheel double decker by 1939, although Daimler were also developing a 6 wheel double deck chassis, the COG6/60 as a 60 seater (plus) for Leicester, when war broke out.
Back to the COG5/40 this was readily identified by its vertical radiator, when the contemporary deckers had sloping radiators, and was represented in several fleets, Lancaster being one.
One of the most attractive preserved buses I have ever seen, and I am still sorry I could not make the recent Lincoln event to see it!

John Whitaker

15/11/12 – 16:52

A good number of North Western pre and immediate post war Bristols previously with 31 and 35 seats were rebodied by Willowbrook in the early 1950s and received 38 seats in their new bodies. Though the chassis were lengthened to 27ft 6ins they were hardly the most comfortable of vehicles.

Phil Blinkhorn

16/11/12 – 15:42

In answer to John’s question it is a COG5/40 but I am not sure the 40 referred to seat numbers

Roger Burdett

I have changed the code adding /40.
Peter

17/11/12 – 07:08

John Whitaker is correct. According to the ever reliable Alan Townsin in his book on the Daimler marque, the ’40’ did refer to the potential seating capacity of the COG5/40, but this optimistic figure was achieved only by two buses built for Lancaster Corporation in 1936, which had a rearward facing seat for five at the front. Several bodybuilders achieved a capacity of 39, however, though one imagines that legroom would have been decidedly constrained. As John has accurately stated, the engine was always a 5LW behind a vertical radiator which lacked a fan (the Gardner was always a cool runner), and the engine bay and bonnet assembly was thereby reduced in length to 3ft 11.5inches, a full 8 inches less than that of the COG5 double decker.

Roger Cox

17/11/12 – 08:45

I thought Roger and others might like to see the attached photograph of a vintage line-up.
It was taken at Derby’s Ascot Drive depot on 29th November 1970. We had travelled down in preserved Oldham Crossley 368 (FBU 827) – a vehicle I was to later own for some years – to collect Derby Crossley 111 (CRC 911), which had just been bought for preservation by Mike Howarth. This was, with the possible exception of Joseph Wood’s example, the last Crossley double-decker in service and also had one of the last Brush bodies built.
A small hand-over ceremony was arranged with the Fleet Engineer at Derby, John Horrocks, who was himself an enthusiast and preservationist and owned Derby Daimler 27 (ACH 627), which is the fourth vehicle in this line up after Roger’s Coventry Daimler.
Happily all four vehicles still exist today although it saddens me greatly that Oldham 368 hasn’t been on the road since about eight months after this picture was taken. Fortunately for a 1950 bus I believe it has yet to spend a first night outdoors, remarkably it has always been kept under cover. The corrosion in this case started bottom up, with combatting the effects of road salt being the main focus of all the work I did on it.
Incidentally, the chassis numbers of these two Oldham and Derby Crossleys were just three apart.

David Beilby

17/11/12 – 14:34

A splendid picture, David. I have a tremendous respect for those such as you who take on the huge task of bus preservation. Only those who have tried it can truly appreciate the effort, expense and dedication involved. We are all the richer for the results.

Roger Cox

17/11/12 – 16:05

…..and so say all of us, Roger.

David Oldfield

06/02/14 – 08:35

What a joy it was to see the photo’s of Coventry buses. As an ex employee before nationalisation, I’m now retired and moved back to COV after spending time with Midland Red and East Kent (Office & Platform) I am trying to obtain a fleet list for Coventry Transport for the period 1955 to when it became West Midland. If anyone can help I would be most grateful.
I will be posting an article on Pool Meadow in the 50’s and 60’s, which was where all bus enthusiasts of every age spent there leisure time. Anyone who was around at that time,I would be pleased to share our memories.

Scotty

07/02/14 – 06:47

You can find a complete list of every CCT bus from 1914 to 1974 at //www.cct-society.org.uk/corporation/buses.htm.

Scotty

Vehicle reminder shot for this posting

16/06/20 – 06:58

Just wondering about two Coventry buses in Bangkok, one had been converted to a tow vehicle, the other was a standard Bus. This would have been 2012 I think, we were traveling down river on a water bus and I noticed the Coventry livery as we passed. Unfortunately there wasn’t time but I have often wondered how they came to be there. As I left Coventry in 1970 it did spark my interest but since then I have never had the chance to follow it up

Bill Ballington