Chesterfield Corporation
1949
Crossley SD42/7
Crossley B35R

There is just the rear three windows showing of a Crossley bodied vehicle on the Chesterfield ex London Transport Reliance posting elsewhere on this site. There is also a deal of discussion as to whether it is on a Leyland or Crossley chassis, well there is no problem identifying the shot above, it is definitely a Crossley. Number 1 in the Chesterfield fleet this batch of Crossley bodies differed from previous batches by having the route number displayed with the destination, which had not been done since the 1920’s. I’m not normally a fan of green liveries, however, the rich dark green and cream of Chesterfield would certainly be an exception. In this picture the driver has opted for some old-fashioned ‘air conditioning’. Here is a link to view the ex London Transport Reliance posting.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Les Dickinson

26/02/13 – 15:29

Remember them well, but never rode on them. Brought up, literally, yards from the Derbyshire border, I am strictly (and proudly) a Yorkshireman/Sheffielder but consider myself and Peak Districter and Chesterfield was almost as near as the city centre and therefore a place held in great affection – as was, Les, the green and cream livery. [Must admit I remember the Leyland and Daimler deckers and the later Reliance, Panther and Roadliners better.]

David Oldfield

26/02/13 – 15:29

Nice view, Les! I suppose your liking or not of a green livery would depend on the shade of green and the balance of green and cream. Certainly, the Southdown and Morecambe & Heysham arrangements (before the latter introduced the hideous two tone green) appear to be well liked among members of this forum. NBC green is another matter!

Pete Davies

27/02/13 – 06:10

This is the view of a Crossley no car driver wants to see.

Ken Wragg

27/02/13 – 08:46

The Austin 8 driver seems bemused! Lovely character photo.
I wonder why Crossley used Iron Crosses sometimes, on the radiator, instead of the name. It seemed quite random. On a Portsmouth delivery, there were both styles.

Chris Hebbron

27/02/13 – 10:57

As I understood it, Crossley used its trademark Maltese Cross until the take over by AEC when the ACV group replaced it with the Crossley name

Phil Blinkhorn

27/02/13 – 11:42

Sorry to be picky, and I may be wrong, but isn’t the car in the collision photo an Austin 10/4 rather than an Eight ? I seem to recall that the Eight had a window line that dropped toward the rear, and always had the postwar style grille with V-front and horizontal bars, even on the prewar examples.

John Stringer

28/02/13 – 05:59

No, John. It’s an Austin 9 now!

Pete Davies

28/02/13 – 06:01

Quite right, John, I should have got it right first time, since my next-door neighbour had an 8.
Thx for the explanation about the Cross/CROSSLEY aspect, Phil.

Chris Hebbron

30/12/13 – 14:00

I remember the Crossleys well,both single and double dockers. I always thought they were slow and noisy. The Leylands and Guys were much better.

John Miles