Tynemouth and District
1949
AEC Regent III
Northern Coachbuilders H30/26R

Eight of these splendid AEC Regent III were among the 1949 intake. By 1951, the size of the name had been considerably reduced; this would also be around the time these were due for their first repaint, so my guess would be that the photo was taken roughly 1950 or thereabouts. As things turned out, they would be the last new AEC double deckers to enter service at Percy Main, with the next four intakes all being Guy Arabs, although AEC remained the preferred choice for single deck vehicles and coaches.
After the intake at the beginning of 1940, no new vehicles were allocated to Percy Main until 1946. During the war several vehicles were requisitioned by the Ministry of Transport or transferred to other depots within the NGT group, to make matters worse, the bodies on all the NGT group forward entrance Short Brothers AEC Regent I’s, had developed serious structural faults at the leading edge of the doors, by 1943, they had deteriorated to such an extent that special permission was granted to have them rebodied, presumably as utilities. Northern Coachbuilders carried out the work at their Cramlington works. The H26/24R Short Bros and H28/24R Brush bodied AEC Regent I’s from 1931 and 1932 seem to have lasted somewhat better, they were rebodied in 1945. They were also done by NCB, but at Claremont Road in Newcastle. Once rebodied 42 – 51 – 79/80/81 & 89 all returned to Percy Main, the remainder were reallocated to other depots and renamed and numbered, but retained their original registrations.
The years between 1946 and 1949 saw a frenzy of activity, with no less than 52 new vehicles arriving at Percy Main, bear in mind that the total fleet was around 120 vehicles, of which about 18 were coaches.

New vehicles were:-
1946 – 123/127 – FT 5623/5627 – H56R Northern Counties Guy Arab II G5LW.
1947 – 128/142 – FT 5698/5712 – H30/26R Weymann AEC Regent II – 141/142 carried the Wakefields name.
1948 – 143/156 – FT 6143/6156 – H30/26R Weymann AEC Regent II – 155/156 carried the Wakefields name.
1949 – 157/164 – FT 6557/6564 – H30/26R Northern Coachbuilders AEC Regent III – 157/158 carried the Wakefields name.
165/174 – FT 6565/6574 – H30/26R Pickering Guy Arab II.

In addition, 18 pre war vehicles were rebodied in 1949 and returned to the depot, they were:-
93/95 – FT 4220/4222 – 1938 H26/26F Weymann AEC Regent I – Rebodied by Pickering as H30/26R: 1957 sold to Provincial as replacements for vehicles destroyed in garage fire, finally withdrawn 1964.
96/103; FT 4496/4503: 1938 H26/26F Weymann Leyland TD5 – Rebodied H30/26R Northern Coachbuilders MK 3.
1939 – 111/112 – FT 4941/4942 / 1940 – 114 – FT 5224 – 117/118; FT 5227/5228 – 119/120; FT 5262/5263 – All B38F Brush AEC Regal – Rebodied B38F Pickering.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Ronnie Hoye

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07/05/14 – 12:26

I think this looks a very handsome vehicle, Ronnie. These NCB bodies always remind me very much – if you cover up the very obviously different front ends – to the Park Royal-bodied Regent III’s of my local operator Halifax Corporation/JOC. Bradford had some very similar to these, and Huddersfield JOC had some lowbridge ones. They appeared to develop quite a degree of body sag though and pictures of many of them a few years on show a distinct downward curve in the waistrail (I know how they must have felt!).
A nice straight forward, yet cheerful livery and an impressive gold shaded fleetname. Looks just right.

John Stringer

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07/05/14 – 17:36

Sheffield had quite a number of these NCB bodies – 10 each on Daimler CVD6 and Crossley DD42 chassis and 2 lots of 10 on AEC Regent III chassis. The final 10 were of a slightly more modern appearance, and I thought they were rather handsome. I agree with you entirely, John, about the Halifax Park Royals – but I actually think the front has an echo of the classical Weymann front. They were, however, as you say, quite dire, with their pronounced body sag which I assume was for the usual reason of unseasoned timber – being all they could get, even in the early post-war period. The first lot of Regents were included in the green repaint experiments – which was an unmitigated disaster. One assumes that the quality of the timber had improved by the time of the Newcastle "ECW clones". NCB closed shortly after but Roe’s bought all the machinery AND the timber from the receivers.

David Oldfield

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07/05/14 – 17:36

Mention of the AEC Regent III /NCBs for Bradford Corporation (524 – 543; 1947/48) by John has made me think there were several variants of the AEC Regent III. Bradford specified the 9.6 litre engine and the pre-selector transmission, whilst some BET Companies preferred the 7.7 litre engine and the crash gearbox. What was the specification Ronnie of the Tynemouth and District AEC Regent III posted above?
When new these buses were splendid sight as shown above and the body fitted well on many other similar types of chassis such as the Leyland PD, Daimler CV and Guy Arab III.

Richard Fieldhouse

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They were 7.7 with a crash box, Richard. So far as I am aware, the NGT group never had any pre select half cabs, there were certainly none at Percy Main, and the only semi auto half cabs were the Routemasters. Newcastle Corporation had some very similar NCB bodied Regent III, although they were slightly different under the windscreen, I think they were pre select. Obviously they were double fronted, but they also had 4 and 6 wheel trolleybuses with this style of body (501 is in preservation) As I remember, these and the Newcastle Regents were outlasted by the Weymann bodied Regent 11 from 1947 and 1948, perhaps they developed the body sag problems mentioned. SDO had some Regent III with ROE bodies, they were later transferred to Northern, and lasted until about 1965 or so.

Ronnie Hoye

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08/05/14 – 07:51

‘Bus Lists on the Web’ shows the Tynemouth and District Regent IIIs as type 9612A, which, if correct, gives them 9.6 litre engines and crash gearboxes.

Peter Williamson

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08/05/14 – 08:11

I stand corrected, Peter. The 1947/48 Regent II were 7.7, and most of the 1949 Pickering bodied Guy Arab III, which came with Meadows engines were later converted to AEC 7.7, but these may well have been 9.6 units, so perhaps spares may have been another reason why they were withdrawn before the Regent II and the Guy’s.

Ronnie Hoye

Western SMT
AEC Regent III 9612E
Northern Counties L27/26R

Western SMT took fifty-eight of these handsome preselector Regent III’s with Northern Counties lowbridge bodies between 1947 and 1950, being registered BSD 401 to 458, Strangely, BSD 441 of 1949 never entered service with them and was immediately sold to the independent York Bros. of Northampton. The rest of them continued with WSMT until withdrawal between 1962 and 1965. BSD 454 had survived a further seven years or so with an unidentified owner until being sold to North’s, the dealer, of Sherburn-in-Elmet – in whose yard it is seen here awaiting its final fate in the Summer of 1970. It would be interesting to know why BSD 441 was sold without being used – does anybody know?

Photograph and Copy contributed by John Stringer

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02/12/13 – 16:13

"an unidentified owner" could be some sort of contractor, using the vehicle for staff transport, if the markings on the offside are any guide. Is that a Weymann coach body behind her?

Pete Davies

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02/12/13 – 16:51

Looks like a Fanfare to me, Hawkeye…..

David Oldfield

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03/12/13 – 06:21

At a rough guess it is probably a Yorkshire Woollen Fanfare.

Philip Carlton

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03/12/13 – 06:22

I don’t know why BSD 441 was sold unused. But I do know that 6 further buses were diverted to Hants & Dorset on the south coast. They were very non-standard for this company, but lived out a reasonably full service life. They were numbered 1213-1218, and registered JEL 752-757 in Bournemouth, as would be expected for H&D stock at that time. I believe that this transfer was at the instruction of the BTC, as both H&D’s parent, the Tilling Group, and Western SMT’s parent SBG had recently been nationalised. Presumably a Whitehall boffin felt that such a transfer made sense…?? They were fitted with Tilling-style destination screens, although not so deep as the normal standard.

Michael Hampton

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03/12/13 – 07:51

‘Bus Lists On The Web’ gives Western 548 as having had the registration BCS 453 rather than BSD 453. Conversely, Western 394, the last of a batch of 22 Northern Counties bodied Daimler CVA6s, is given as BSD 453, whereas the previous 21 are shown BCS 429/31-3/5-41/3-52.
There is a pic on the net of 548 displaying the registration BCS 453, when with subsequent operator Laycock of Barnoldswick.
Almost as strange as the ‘BSD 441’ enigma.

David Call

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03/12/13 – 07:51

The single decker on the right of the picture looks to be a Lancashire United Guy UF with Weymann Hermes body, one of six delivered in 1954. The front of these bodies was different to the standard Hermes body having a curve to lower windscreen line to match previous Atkinson Alphas with bodies by Northern Counties, Roe and Willowbrook but being different in detail around the cab windows.

Phil Blinkhorn

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04/12/13 – 07:16

Concur with you on the LUT UF, it was my thought straight away on seeing first sight.

Mike Norris

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04/12/13 – 12:11

I didn’t record the details of the other vehicles in the photo, but can confirm that the one on the right is an ex-LUT WTB-reg Arab LUF. There were others of the batch at North’s on that day, I have another photo which includes WTB 71. The bus to the left is one of several ex-WYRCC LS’s, and in the background an ex-YWD Fanfare, of which there were others.

John Stringer

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05/06/20 – 08:07

Can anyone tell me what became of 473 (BSD 436) from this batch? I have a feeling it ended up in Ireland.

Bill Headley

Sheffield Corporation
1953
AEC Regent III 9631S
Roe H33/25R

It’s November 1967 and Sheffield B fleet 2174 is at Central Bus Station ready for an hours journey round the City on the 9 Inner Circle route which is a category A service. The Inner Circle traversed the older inner part of the City through much industry and terraced housing. There were ten of these buses in the batch which were the first genuine 9613S models to enter Sheffield service. The preceding 1952 batch were actually the 9613A version modified in 1953 to synchromesh gearbox specification. 2174 and its fellows were long associated with Leadmill Road Garage being regular performers on the Bradway group of category B services. Platform A of Central Bus Station was on Pond Street itself and the bridge to the rear of the bus gave pedestrian access to the bus station from an elevated walkway on the opposite side of the road. Although much modified, Central Bus Station still exists on the same site still with loading bays where 2174 is standing. The footbridge though has long gone.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Ian Wild

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03/10/13 – 08:51

Lovely buses with their Roe bodywork. Shallower windows than the Pullmans of the previous year but with subtly different upper windows from the "standard" (most common) Roe bodies found on the Regent III, Regent V, PD2 and PD3 deliveries between 1955 and 1960. [The front of the upper deck was also more raked.] Only ten of these, and only nine Pullmans, but along with the subsequent Regent Vs they seemed ubiquitous in the Greenhill/Bradway area of my youth. How I remember their musical gearboxes ans raucous exhausts.

David Oldfield

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03/10/13 – 08:52

You make mention of category A & B services. I’d be interested in learning what these refer to and were there any other categories?

Paul

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03/10/13 – 14:37

Paul. These were explained a year or two back on another post. Yorkshire was the home of several Joint Omnibus Committees (JOCs). They combined Corporation and Railway ownership to give regional services – in the same way that BET and Tilling fleets normally did. [In those regulated days, corporation routes were restricted to the town boundary.] Sheffield, unusually, had three fleets: A fleet owned by the Corporation; the B fleet jointly owned by the Corporation and British Railways’ Board; C fleet owned by British Railways’ Board. The JOCs were set up in the ’20s (1927/8 in Sheffield) – originally with LNER and LMS railways. Sheffield was continuously expanding from 1928 to 1974, hence the "extra" fleet. A fleet (to early twentieth century town boundaries); B fleet (covering territories taken over – primarily from West Riding CC and Derbyshire CC); C fleet for long distances (including Chesterfield, Gainsborough and Manchester – as well as Peak District with towns such as Bakewell and Buxton).

David Oldfield

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03/10/13 – 14:37

Paul Sheffield had three categories of service These were the A which were within the city boundary and were wholly run by the corporation The B services which were joint with British RAil and covered the outer suburbs and finally the C services which were wholly the preserve of British Rail and were long distance services to places like Leeds and Manchester.
Each group of services had a fleet to run them all run by the general manager B and C fleet buses did not carry the city coat of arms just the fleet name Sheffield The C fleet was in some ways the most interesting as due to British Rail involvement Sheffield could buy Bristol and ECW products. They never bought Bristols but did buy Leyland Leopards with ECW MW style bodies and ECW bodied Leyland Titans.
The legal lettering on the C fleet showed the owner as the British Railways Board Although British Rail had involvement in Halifax Todmorden and Huddersfield this was to a far lesser extent than the Sheffield arrangements. The agreement was wound up in the seventies

Chris Hough.

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03/10/13 – 14:39

Love the way the bodywork is built flush with the offside of radiator, RT-style. I always thought they looked smarter like this.

Chris Hebbron

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03/10/13 – 14:41

Those straight-through exhausts were really something; the bark that the VWE-registered ‘tin front’ Regent III’s made, climbing up Firth Park Road past the park and the boating pool, on their way to High Green on the 73, is a sound I shall never forget. Elegant to look at too, especially in the Roe style livery as new, with dark blue window surrounds and blue front end. Truly marvellous machines.

Dave Careless

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03/10/13 – 14:45

The stand on platform A where the bus stands, was not the no9 stand. This was on the end of platform B, virtually 180 degrees in the opposite direction. I used to catch them on my way home from the Army Cadets in Endcliffe. The nos 8 & 9 only had Circular on the destination blind, not City, so this may have been a duplicate, parked up ready for going on another route. In 1967 it would have been old & with all the Atlanteans we had, unlikely to have been on regular daily routes. By 1967 they were mostly using single decker’s on the 8 & 9 routes, (I used to catch these to work in Broomhill each morning). Not sure when, but they had Marshall & later Alexanders, occasionally a Fanfare. I think the Totley bus (Category B) also ran from platform A, they had these kind of buses on that route during the 50s & early 60s. I do remember them having a lovely booming exhaust sound going up the hills. The stand pictured was for the 33, 34,  35 & 36 routes (which I used throughout my school life) towards Heeley & beyond.

Andy Fisher

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03/10/13 – 15:42

Expanding the comments by David and Chris, buses could run on any route, as the photograph shows, to meet traffic requirements. It was not unknown to find an A fleet bus on a B or C route, especially at times of holiday duplication into the Peak District. There must have been a complex re-charging system and sometimes mileage accumulated by one section and "owed" to another was run off.

Geoff Kerr

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03/10/13 – 15:43

Andy. You are right that the Inner Circular and Totley were originally inside the bus station on Platform B, but I have a niggling gut feeling that one direction did eventually end up on Platform A. Deckers were used on the 8/9 until 1968 – I used it to get to King Ted’d from 1964-1971. In 1968, the early single door Swifts replaced deckers on regular day time service. They had Park Royal bodywork. [The only Marshalls ever bought were the W reg AN68 Atlanteans.] Alexander Leopards occasionally appeared at Rush-hour – as did early Leopards, ECW and Burlingham as well as Weymann Fanfare.
I feel that, partly because of the age, 2174 may have been doing a rush-hour extra and that the City may be to indicate it is terminating there.

David Oldfield

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04/10/13 – 06:18

Thanks to David, Chris & Geoff for the info. Sheffield was clearly an interesting place to be bus wise back then.

Paul

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04/10/13 – 06:18

2174 was originally part of a batch of ten delivered to the "B" fleet in 1953 which comprised numbers 168-177. According to CC Hall, they were renumbered 2168-2177 in 1967 to accommodate computer accounting and as the batch is given as being withdrawn during 1967-1968, presumably 2174 is nearing the end of its days.

Here’s a picture of 170 looking absolutely superb when new in the paint scheme used on Roe bodies before the general manager of the 1960’s decided he knew better!
Photo courtesy of The Tom Robinson Collection

John Darwent

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04/10/13 – 06:19

In connection with the C fleet do not forget that they also ran to Bradford on service 66 joint with Yorkshire Traction and Yorkshire Woollen. In the 1960s I was a conductor with YWD and worked on this route. Sometimes our bus would develop a fault at the Sheffield end and then we would be given a STD machine as a change over. What a treat this would be and we did not want to give up the bus. I remember an occasion when a STD bus broke down in Heckmondwike and the crew were given one of their old Leyland PD2s as a change over. I suppose they thought they had seen the last of them.

Philip Carlton

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04/10/13 – 08:41

But the Sheffield buses "given" to Woollen were not time expired. Just another "political" move. They were owned by the Railways and as that system had been superseded by NBC, the owner had not changed, just the operator. [Yes they were approaching the end of their lives.]

David Oldfield

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04/10/13 – 11:11

In addition to YWD getting some ex Sheffield C fleet vehicles Halifax also received a number of Leyland Leopards with bodywork by Burlingham while Todmorden gained a trio of ECW bodied Leopards by 1971 all were in the Calderdale fleet. The Burlingham bodied ones did not last long but the ECW bodied trio passed to the PTE in 1974.

Chris Hough

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04/10/13 – 17:23

I have long been aware of the Railway involvement at Sheffield, Halifax, Todmorden and Huddersfield and some of the above posts (and those previously) indicate how vehicles might be borrowed and mileage adjustments made or balanced.
What I do wonder is how other aspects of the operation worked.
For example were all the road staff employed by one body (presumably the Corporation), were they interchangeable between areas, and indeed how did the depot and maintenance and also the admin operation work.
One can imagine a most complex charging and recharging system with lots of room for argument.

Gordon Green

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05/10/13 – 08:32

I have said as much before, but the place to stand was Snig Hill, waiting to cross to Castle Market. Barking AEC’s- some had got it just right, others chuffed like valve or governor bounce (those were the days)- but also the tin front Leylands with a seemingly continuous blast of compressed exhaust from a smaller pipe. The heat & blast would sweep across your legs. I remember a man shouting "That’ll singe yer nylons luv…"

Joe

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05/10/13 – 08:35

Gordon I don’t know about Sheffield but in Todmorden there was only one depot while in Huddersfield the two depots were a motor bus depot for the JOC and a depot for the corporation owned trolleys (Huddersfield had no motor buses until the early sixties). Not only was there two depots in Huddersfield there was also two liveries a streamlined one (red and cream) for the corporation and a red one with thin cream bands for the JOC.
Halifax also has two depots at Elmwood one of which was nominally the corporations while the other was for the JOC. The Halifax livery was a standard layout for both fleets.

Chris Hough

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05/10/13 – 15:40

I bought a book yesterday showing Pond Street bus station before it was covered, all scaffolding poles & corrugated iron roofs. It had a picture of the Totley bus stand, near the end of platform B. It was an early 60s picture. The bus was an AEC 3?, with what looked like a pre 1945 Weymann body, with the smaller drivers front window.
Did buses have a milometer? If not, how did management structure servicing dates? it would make it easier to use B & C category buses on A routes & vice versa.

Andy Fisher

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06/10/13 – 07:55

Andy. If it was pre-war, it would have been a Regent (I). The AECs had a speedo and one other gauge. There would have been a mileage counter on the speedo. The immediate post-war Weymanns were 1947/8 Regent IIIs. I can remember Pond Street as you describe it before the mid-fifties redevelopment – as shown above on the post. [The vehicle behind 2174 – on the 71 – is almost certainly one of Greenland’s PDR1/1/Weymann (or MCCW?). They also used the first Fleetlines (951-3) on this route.

David Oldfield

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06/10/13 – 07:57

When the JOC was wound up, Sheffield had five depots – Leadmill, Townhead Street, East Bank, Greenland and Herries. The last three were purpose built for buses. I remember Townhead St being closed in the late 60s but I believe the other four survived at deregulation.
The JOCs did not employ any staff – crews and office staff were all employed by the Corporation, which also owned the garages.

Geoff Kerr

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06/10/13 – 14:22

I notice that 2174 has an advertisement for Wigfalls. This was a chain of shops selling TVs and other electrical goods with their head office in Sheffield. We rented our TV from the Dewsbury branch and the service was first class. I suppose their demise was due to the rise of PC World/Currys. Don’t get me started about their lack of service. A month ago I bought a new lap top from them only for the hard drive to pack up. On returning the machine to the shop they had the cheek to say it would cost 50 quid to put right until I quoted the Sale of Goods act then they said it would be repaired under the manufactures warranty. Come back Wigfalls!

Philip Carlton

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12/10/13 – 16:27

I remember Wigfalls in Leicester, I bought the latest gadget for my wife, a steam iron, for half-a-crown (12.5p) a week on HP. Those were the days when most buses only had two dials to look at – the speedo and the brake – either vacuum, hydraulic pressure or if you were lucky, air pressure.

Mr Anon

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23/10/13 – 15:49

My memories from mid 50s to mid 60s, was that Wigfalls was a hire now, pay weekly firm. Everyone had their twin tub Hoover washers from them & fridges when they became available, I suppose because of the cost. People also hired their TVs from them, either weekly or with a coin meter on the back. They were a massive firm, with loads of Bedford CA vans, now no more.
Back to the Circle route 8 & 9. Around 1980 to 1983, I had a garage on the island on the bottom of Sutherland Road & Carlisle St. At that time they were using Alexander Y types, both bus & coach equipped. Climbing the steep hill was a beautiful booming noise from the Leyland engines. Maybe, the AECs had quietened down by them.

Andy Fisher

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23/10/13 – 16:40

Andy, the Y types were strictly speaking DPs. Sheffield/SYPTE never had any bus versions. Yes they would have resounded off the surrounding walls. By the mid ’80s I think all AECs would have departed.

David Oldfield

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23/10/13 – 17:37

For a short while, I regularly drove a preserved SBG Y type Leopard (and X reg Midland – one of the last). It was always fun accelerating along narrow, built up, roads. You don’t get sound effects like that from the modern sewing machines. [Mind you, I think an 0680 Bristol RE makes an even better sound!)

David Oldfield

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24/10/13 – 07:53

Can you still rent a television? If it goes "on-the-blink" can a "TV-repair-man" still come out in a van to fix it?? Along with Wigafalls so too have gone DER and Rediffusion. So, apart from locally-liveried buses, local advertisements seem to have gone the same way . . . along with local ITV stations. However, local(ly-designed) bus stop flags seem to be coming back into fashion, to replace the DoE 1970s design. Lose some, win one?

Philip Rushworth

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26/10/13 – 07:19

Not quite sure what the Alexanders were, it was some had large sloping windows & some had smaller, more upright numerous ones.

Andy Fisher

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23/05/15 – 07:08

Does anyone out there remember Herries Road bus garage, I lived next to the garage in the 1950’s I remember it being built.

Glynn Evans

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Vehicle reminder shot for this posting

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16/08/18 – 06:04

Whoever said modern buses were like sewing machines…. I’m not so sure..the early Omnidekas at Brighton & Hove used to make a fantastic noise as I drove them up Elm Grove on 22s & took me back to the noise of NWRCC Royal Tigers on some of the hilly local routes round Matlock in the 1960s

Ian Hudson