Turners of Chorley
1939
Leland Titan TD5 (1939) 
Alexander (1949) L27/26R

I went on a bus club trip on this bus to visit the bus depot in Leyland Lancashire of John Fishwick & Sons. Fishwicks were and still are a large independent operator with services in the Leyland, Chorley and Preston area.
This bus was ex Ribble and finding precise information is not easy but what I did find was that a Ribble TD5 registration RN 8622 is preserved and owned by the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust. There is only a difference of 20 in the registration and having scrutinised photos of them both I can fairly safely say that they are both from the same batch of vehicles. It would appear that they originally had Burlingham bodies, but during the war years maintenance was concentrated on mechanical servicing rather than the bodywork so by 1949 they had to be rebodied by Alexander. Ribble actually rebodied 148 TD4s and 5s and 81 single deck TSs and whilst at it any petrol engine vehicle was converted to an oil-engine.
The TD5 of Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust can be seen here.

Copyright Ray Soper

Bournemouth Corporation
1939
Leyland Titan TD5
Weymann FO58R

This shot is from the Ray Soper ‘Gallery’ contribution A Trolleybus tour in Bournemouth click on the title if you would like to view his Gallery and comments to it.
The shot is shown here for indexing purposes but please feel free to make any comment regarding this vehicle either here or on the gallery.

05/03/12 – 17:22

FEL 214 was immortalised in the 1966 Norman Wisdom film "Press for Time", probably the best part. Is it still in existence?

Nigel Richards

17/07/13 – 06:57

This scene would be unrepeatable today. The Pier Approach roads have gone; there is a flyover right behind where the bus is standing and the road where the bus stop was is now part of a general amusement area. The Pavilion which is visible behind the bus is still extant, but somewhat changed in appearance.
I never travelled on these old open-toppers but I do remember them. They were probably hard work for the drivers as route 12 went up and down quite a few steep hills as it ran up from sea level at Alum Chine, then down to both piers before finishing at Hengistbury Head.

Grahame Arnold

18/07/13 – 07:41

Was this the bus that ended up in the sea in the climax to a ‘chase sequence’ in the film ‘Press for Time’. I haven’t seen the film but I do recall seeing a still of an ex Bournemouth TD5 open topper running into the sea in a book.

Michael Elliott

18/07/13 – 10:08

You’re quite right, Michael E. Here’s the link to the film – the bus scene starts at 0:24:00 (mins). SEE: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFBgHiKX0Vc

Chris Hebbron

18/07/13 – 16:23

I think that the movie sequences in Press for Time were filmed in and around Teignmouth, Devon.
Mind you, I could have done without the Russian dubbing!
Good fun, all the same.

Having watched the film sequence again, there’s a bit of inconsistency. See if you can spot it. For most of the chase, the bus is on route 22, but briefly, in mid-chase, we see it operating a route 23 ! I can’t imagine why!

Petras409

19/07/13 – 08:49

To add credence to the Teignmouth/Tinmouth location, the first sighting of the TD5 also indicates the rear of an Atlantean in the background, sporting very much what looks like Devon General livery!

Chris Hebbron