Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield
1949
Daimler CVD6
East Lancs H30/26R

The name of this operator is shortened to S.H.M.D. thankfully, its full name was as follows “Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Transport Tramways/Transport and Electricity Board” (see comments below).
Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield are 4 towns to the east of Manchester. This Daimler had an East Lancs body which was a rare thing as to say they preferred Northern Counties would be an understatement.
S.H.M.D. got together with Atkinson and Northern Counties and in 1955 the only Atkinson double-decker ever built went into service but nothing ever became of the venture and in 1969 it passed over to SELNEC.

A full list of Daimler codes can be seen here.

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The Atkinson ‘decker No. 70 (UMA 370) was restored at Stalybridge on withdrawal and presented to the Greater Manchester Museum of Transport, where it still lives. It does come out from time to time and still goes well.
SHMD had ten of those East Lancs bodies, and ten Brush bodies just after the war; it was just a case of "grab what you can" in the post-war shortage of new buses. The East Lancs bodies must have been good as they lived a full life; the Brush were rubbish and were replaced by NCME ones after six years.

David A Jones

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Number 70 was not the only Atkinson double-decker built there were two one which was sent to India.

Peter Barber

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SHMD were on of the last operators to use centre entrance deckers buying them as late as the nineteen fifties. As well as the solitary Atkinson one other SHMD bus with centre entrance is still in existence being a Daimler CVG6 with Northern Counties body that lives at the Keighley bus museum. They also have a SHMD Atkinson Alpha centre entrance saloon under restoration.

Chris Hough

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I was one of the last two apprentices to be taken on by SHMD in 1968, and have worked on the No70 bus along with a host of others. If you need any further information re SHMD please contact me through this site.

Andrew Paul Roberts

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Please note that you have fallen for the common mistake of including the word "Joint" in describing the full name for the SHMD. It was always the "Stalybridge Hyde Mossley and Dukinfield Tramways and Electricity Board". The trams themselves did show various nomenclatures such as "Joint Board" and that was the term commonly used among local passengers at the time. But the word "joint" was never part of the official name. I am sorry that you did not think to check this out before posting this on-line.

David

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I agree that the word Joint didn’t appear in the official title, but it was not "always" Tramways. The name was changed to Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Transport and Electricity Board in 1936.

Peter Williamson

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The buses originally carried an "SHMD Joint Tramways" fleet name which then became "SHMD Joint Board" but this was later shortened to "SHMD Board" until the longer title was adopted in much smaller lettering in the early sixties.
Once the device was adopted, for some reason as a general rule double-deckers had the multiple coats-of-arms device between SHMD and Board whereas single deckers only had the lettering.

David Beilby

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All Employees and Management through out my time at SHMD, along with the local people knew the company as Joint Board. Yes the Buses had both the monograms and the lettering, but it was always known as Joint Board. I may have letters from SHMD, so I will check to see how they have signed them

Andrew Paul Roberts

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OK, so I was lazy in saying the title was "Always Tramways etc.; I know it changed to "Transport". And of course it always included "and Electricity" even after that responsibility was lost, but that bit was dropped from the full title as shown on the vehicles in later years.
The point I was making was that, though everyone in the area always called it "the Joint Board", and that was an accurate description of its legal status and function, and the term was used on the vehicles, it was never the legal name of the organisation. That was enshrined in the Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley & Dukinfield Tramways and Electricity Board Act of 1900. Because everyone knows it had the longest name in the business, everybody seems to want to embellish it unnecessarily with another word to make it sound more eccentric!
This is of course an old Stalybridge tradition, since the town famously boasts what is alleged to be the longest pub name in the world as well:
"The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Riflemen Voluntary Corps Inn"
I’ve seen this with extraneous words added by helpful admirers too!

David Jones

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19/03/11 – 07:33

A bit of trivia, in John Schlesingers film ‘Yanks’ the decker used in an early scene the conductress’s hat badge reads ‘Stalybridge and District’ why they didn’t use SHMD I don’t know as the continuity in the film was quite good otherwise.

Roger Broughton

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29/11/11 – 18:01

I haven’t watched the excellent film "Yanks" for a good while now, but much of it was filmed in Keighley and I think the bus concerned was Keith Jenkinson’s Keighley-West Yorkshire Titan JUB 29 wasn’t it ??

Chris Youhill

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30/11/11 – 06:25

Yes it was Keith Jenkinson’s JUB 29 Chris. I remember it spending a short time in West Yorkshire’s Body Shop for a general sprucing up after filming had finished. It was tucked snugly in the back left-hand corner (viewed from Westmoreland Street) and achieved almost ‘local celebrity’ status with some of the older staff during its brief stay. Like you, I’ve never seen the film, but know that quite a lot of the scenes were shot around Keighley and its railway station. That would tie in very nicely with the Keighley-West Yorkshire vehicle, not to mention the splendid engines of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.

Brendan Smith

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22/07/12 – 08:02

I remember the Crossley Omnibus Society – or maybe its BWBE predecessor – running a tour with no 70. I don’t remember where we went (probably somewhere in Yorkshire) but I do recall it was a very nice bus to ride.
My other strong memory of the SHMD is a ride on the Haughton Green – Hyde service on an ancient Daimler which had a rope bell. I had heard about these being used on some old trams, but it’s the only time I remember seeing one on a ‘modern’ bus.

Brian Wainwright

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23/07/12 – 08:02

SYPTE specified rope bell-pulls on its Leyland Atlanteans and Dennis Dominators – in First Bus days one of the Dominators was allocated to First Calderdale.

Philip Rushworth

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Vehicle reminder shot for this posting

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01/12/12 – 16:13

I have just had a great time looking at the pictures and reminiscing about "the good old days" I was a fitter at the depot on Tame Street along with Andy Roberts. I will try and dig out some old photos and post them.

Derek Gibson

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02/12/12 – 13:58

BELLS ON THE SHMD
Some early trams were fitted with electric bells according to Hyde & Ogden in their SHMD Board book. These gave trouble and were replaced. Manual bells were fitted to buses using a continuous jointed leather thong. The Daimler demonstrator double decker 168 delivered in 1936 had but two bell pushes in the lower saloon, which the conductors found insufficient. When incorporated into the fleet it was fitted with the continuous thong bell which on double deckers ended over a pulley and hung down on the platform of double deckers. In the older vehicles the thong was looped through the grab rail along the ceiling, later buses had holders provided. I think more modern buses were fitted with m continuous bells connected to an electric bell in the cab. Upstairs the original Daimler double deckers had a single pneumatic bell at the top of the stairs, with a more modern bellpush than that on the Manchester trams. I recollect that Liverpool’s older trams had a flat strap bell along the middle of the ceiling of the lower deck.

Mr Anon

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02/12/12 – 16:31

The Daimler demonstrator of 1936 is referred to in Hyde & Ogdens fleet list as : fleet No 168 Reg No BWK 860. Daimler Chassis COG6 with Weymann Body. Withdrawn 1950. Is this the same as the Daimler CVD6 referred to in your appended comment ?

Mr Anon

Bournemouth Corporation
1965
Daimler Fleetline
Weymann CO43/31F

As is with tradition on the south coast of England most open toppers were named, this bus was named ‘Northumbria’ which is a county in the North East of England. All the the other open toppers of the same batch were also called after counties of England, I would be most upset if there wasn’t one called ‘Yorkshire’ as registration CRU 180C was called ‘Lancashire’. If you know, let me know, please leave a comment.
It would appear that all this batch of Bournemouth open top Fleetlines except this one were sold to London Transport for sightseeing duties I wonder why not this one where did it go? If you know, let me know, please leave a comment.

"Yorkshire" was the next bus in the batch, CRU 181C.
Wasn’t this livery with the green-edged maroon band much classier than the messy blue and brown daubings on an overall yellow bus which replaced it?
But, have you noticed the absolutely miniscule fleet number just above the offside headlamp? These always looked like they’d been done in Letraset and were virtually unreadable at any distance; the previous shaded gold style might have been a bit Olde Worlde but at least they were practical.

David Jones

05/07/11 – 06:40

The names chosen by Bournemouth Corporation for the convertible Fleetlines were a curious bunch.
Bournemouth was in "Hampshire" (no 186) in those days of course, and "Dorset" (no 185) was next door. "Warwickshire" (no 182) and "Surrey" (no 189) may have been chosen in honour of the chassis- and body-builders respectively. Many of the town’s summer visitors may have come from "Staffordshire" (no 183), "Cheshire" (no 184), and possibly "Lancashire" (no 180) and "Yorkshire" (no 181), but "Northumberland" (no 188) and "Durham" (no 187) would seem to be pushing it at bit.

Michael Wadman

17/09/11 – 17:29

Mention has been made of the bright green lines outside the maroon bands on BCT buses and trolleybuses.
I remember the older brown line, best described as "dark mud brown" (that’s from memory) which had been used previously. I will try to establish when the brown was changed to green, but am not hopeful – my best guess is around 1960 as I seem to remember that the first MF2B trolleybuses had the brown lining when new, although it might have been earlier when the wartime brown roofs were repainted yellow.
The open-toppers (in fact convertibles with removable fibreglass roofs) were Bournemouth 180 to 189 CRU180C to CRU189C, and became London DMO class as follows:
182 – DMO1 Stockwell Princess
183 – DMO2 Southern Queen
184 – DMO3 Britannia
185 – DMO4
186 – DMO5
187 – DMO6
189 – DMO7
I will try to find out what happened to the ones that did not go to London.

Bill Nichols

21/11/11 – 09:22

I’m a 40 year old bus enthusiast lifelong resident to Bournemouth. Regards the fate of 180, 181 and 188, obviously CRU180C was preserved in the collection of the Bournemouth Passenger Transport Association 181 and 188 were withdrawn from service in Bournemouth circa spring 1979 and exported to Hong Kong (Source: Transbourne News, circular of BPTA, March 1986)
Obviously I have no idea whether 181 and 188 still exist I somehow doubt it, sadly!

Patrick O’Connor

11/12/11 – 07:05

Just to confirm that 181 and 188 no longer exist. According to PSV Circle fleet history on Hong Kong operators, they entered service with Citybus Ltd in 1979; they were among the very first vehicles acquired by Citybus, along with similar, but closed top ex Bournemouth Fleetlines 190-3. By 1984, all six were in use as open toppers on tourist work. They were all withdrawn and scrapped in 1986 (181/8/90/2/3) or 1987 (191).
Of those that went to London, 184 subsequently operated for many years for Guide Friday, mainly in Stratford on Avon. Does anyone know if this survives in preservation?

Bob Gell

11/12/11 – 16:06

I have a feeling, Bob, that 184 went to Ensign Bus when they took over Guide Friday and is in store with them. That was the position a few months ago, anyway.

Chris Hebbron

23/02/12 – 12:41

The similarities to the Alexander bodied Fleetlines and Atlanteans we had at Northern General are remarkable, the front panel and windscreen would appear to be to be identical, so who copied who, or was one built under licence to the other?

Ronnie Hoye

23/02/12 – 14:00

Both Newcastle and Leeds had batches of identical bodies on Atlantean chassis. However the Newcastle ones did not have engine bustles and neither operators bought open top versions! I think it may have been Newcastle who were the first customers for this design as it was very similar to their Alexander bodied examples.

Chris Hough

24/02/12 – 07:08

Chris. Newcastle did have two open top Atlanteans, but they were the result of accident damage, both had been involved in arguments with bridges and unsurprisingly in both cases the bridge won. One of them went to Percy Main depot and was used on a Sea Front service operated by Northern on behalf of what was by that time the Tyne and Wear PTE, I think the other vehicle went south of the river and ran from South Shields to Sunderland. I seem to remember that in for the Queens silver Jubilee in 1977 one, or possible both of them were painted silver and had either the Royal Coat of Arms or a Crown on them.

Ronnie Hoye

25/02/12 – 07:25

The answer to "who copied who" is that Weymann optionally put the Alexander front end on to their standard body. Roe did something similar with windscreens but not the dash panel (see www.sct61.org.uk/gy57 ). But whether anyone paid Alexander for the privilege I wouldn’t know.

Peter Williamson

25/02/12 – 08:56

…..but it’s always been the case. East Lancs had their R type clone, but the earliest Alexanders were Leyland (Ribble) and Weymann (Glasgow – and Liverpool?) bodies built under licence. The Leyland Royal Tiger Alexander coach had more than awhiff of the Leyland as well.

David Oldfield

26/04/12 – 06:22

Four of this batch of Fleetlines certainly survived until 2011 – and hopefully still do. 180 and fixed top 197 ex-B’mth Museum are now at the West of England Transport Museum, 187 is in private preservation nr. Southampton and 184 is with Ensign bus. The detachable roofs actually combined the same amount of metal and glass-fibre as the permanent version – only 180 still has one.
The first MCW bodies to this style for Bournemouth were built on Atlantean chassis in 1964 (170 survives), the last on similar chassis in 1966 (none remain). Very similar MCW Alexander lookalike bodies were delivered to Newcastle, Leeds and BOAC.
It was the inability of MCW to build a further Bournemouth batch in 1968 that led to the genuine Alexander product finally arriving in 1969. Happily the resultant delay allowed the trolleybuses several months stay of execution! The relationship with Alexander then continued for over one hundred buses until 1990!
The lining issue is simpler than it seems, a dark olive green was used between yellow and maroon from the first trams until 1962 when it was replaced by lighter shade ‘Buckingham’ green. The first vehicles so painted were the last nine Sunbeam trolleybuses. Future repaints used this colour green although the old scheme could be seen until 1969 – lastly on trolleybus No.280.
The description of muddybrown arises because the varnish used in those days to finish off the brush applied paintwork would tend to yellow badly, combining with the olive green to become chocolate in colour – the maroon discolouring to dark chocolate and the yellow oddly brightening with age! The lighter green seemed to escape this process.

mf2b

17/07/13 – 07:00

I can clearly recollect a lengthy article, complete with photographs, in the Bournemouth Evening Echo when these buses were introduced. It mentioned the novel concept of the detachable roofs and the fact that the buses would be in the general-use fleet during the winter months. I wish I still had the clipping!
It no doubt survives in the ‘Echo’ archives. The general travelling public would have been probably unaware that they were travelling on a ‘convertible’ in the winter, but the names were a giveaway as the rest of the fleet did not carry any.

Grahame Arnold

04/08/13 – 14:56

I took a few shots on the 29-03-1975 to record the passing of the traditional Bournemouth livery with the 2 red/green bands. Already by this time the rot was setting in, with adverts on the exteriors and the traditional Bournemouth large yellow bus stop signs being replaced with ‘standard’ ones. However, note that the driver is still smartly turned-out, even on a Sunday! AEL177B was one of the 1964 batch from Leyland with Alexander bodywork. They were comfortable buses, but noisier than the ‘CRU’ Fleetlines which followed in 1965.

Grahame Arnold

28/03/15 – 14:33

I know the messages have gone quiet on this. But just on the off-chance that someone reads this that knows the current owners. I’d like to speak to them. This summer these attractive and well designed, comfortable vehicles are/would have been 50 years old. CRU 180C was delivered new on 29/6/65 and 188 on 3/8/65. It would be great if someone knew if one was still roadworthy as I’d like to have a ride on it again?

Geoff Clarke

06/05/15 – 07:17

Geoff, 3 of these survive for sure they are 180, 187 and my 184. E-mail me through this site I can explain further.

Nick Jackson

06/07/15 – 06:36

Buses Magazine September 1983 Issue Page 410
DMO 2 and DMO 5 (CRU 183/6C) exported to California by Ensignbus

David Rawsthorn

20/03/17 – 13:55

As an update, my Bear Cross Bus Company now owns 187 as well as 184. 187 now has a current MOT and it’s due to be repainted at the end of April. All being well it will make an appearance at the Bournemouth Bus Rally in June. Unfortunately it won’t be fully restored though.
On the subject of painting, could "mf2b" please advise me what shade the crimson/maroon band should be? I have two thoughts on the subject but can’t decide what the post-1962 lighter shade should be and have nothing to compare against. Thanks.

Nick Jackson

21/03/17 – 06:16

Tim Salter had made quite a lot of progress recently but it’s been a mammoth task to restore it. I believe it might see some new paint this summer but don’t quote me on that!

Nick Jackson

21/03/17 – 08:43

Nick
Martyn Hearson at Reliance Bus Works has a history of painting Bournemouth vehicles both for himself and Daniel Shears – he may know.

Roger Burdett

Vehicle reminder shot for this posting

18/04/17 – 07:40

I know Martyn and his excellent standard of workmanship. Tim Salter will be painting FEL216 himself, as he retires this summer and will have more time for the project.

Nick Jackson

Halifax Corporation Transport and Joint Omnibus Committee
1954
Daimler CVG6
Roe H33/25R

This bus is a ‘CV series Daimler the ‘V’ stands for Victory meaning the chassis was built after World War II whereas the preceding series ‘CW’ was for chassis built during the War when the ‘W’ stood for war.
As this bus is a ‘CV’ series it had what was called a ‘Birmingham Tin Front’, similar to the previous K.H.C.T. AEC  Regent III. If it had been a CS/CC series built 1955 onwards the radiator would of been different, and would then of been called a ‘Manchester Front’. Is there a Tin/Fibre Glass front expert out there that can sort out this radiator business once and for all. When does a ‘Birmingham’ become a ‘Manchester’.
There is a link to a video of a preserved Halifax Daimler ‘CV’, all be it two years younger than this bus here please note the difference in the destination boxes from the bus in this photo and the one in the video, more on that at a later date.

A full list of Daimler codes can be seen here.

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The Manchester front is the one with the headlamp mounted on the wing, the bonnet itself being narrower than the Birmingham version. It took a Mancunian to realise that short drivers couldn’t see the nearside wing on a Birmingham front so they were forever bashing things! 
The Birmingham front was also fitted to Crossleys, Guy Arabs and AEC Regent IIIs, whereas the Manchester type only ever appeared on Daimlers. There are two versions of the Manchester front, as CVG6s had a tapering front chassis frame with a 7′ 6" front axle. CVG6-30s, CCGs & CSGs and the last few CVG6s all had straight frames and 8ft axles, hence a wider front.

David A Jones

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29/05/11 – 07:51

Sadly these buses weighed a ton more than the mark III Regent and had 112bhp engines in lieu of 125bhp of the mark III as a result they had a lot of trouble, many were fitted with Leyland O.600 units and later 95 had a 6LXB Gardner whilst 93 had a turbo charged Daimler. So 95 became CVG6LX, 93 CVD6, most of the others CVL6 some retained the 6LW mainly the 116 etc group used on the flatter shorter corporation services.

Christopher