Northern General Transport Percy Main Depot - Part Two

Not read Part One click here

The layout of the lights on this Weymann bodied AEC Regent suggests that it could be from 1940, but the registration indicates post war. Percy Main had six, FT 5222/7 - 112/7, and they set the trend for many of the post war vehicles.

This 1946, Guy Arab was one of five with Northern Counties bodies, FT 5623/7 123/7; to my mind they were not dissimilar to the Weymann's

1947; fifteen Weymann bodied AEC Regent IIs, arrived, FT 5698/712 - 128/42: followed by another fourteen in 1948; FT 6143/56 - 143/56

The Northern Coachbuilders H30/26R Regent III's were the last new AEC double deckers delivered to Percy Main, they arrived in 1949, eight in total, they were FT 6557/64 - 157/164. 157/8 were Wakefields.

1949, and 10 new Pickering bodied Guy Arab III's arrived, FT 6565/74 - 165/74. Since 1945, the preferred choice of vehicle for P/M had been AEC, so they were out of step with NGT who had mainly bought Guy's, these invariably had Gardner 5LW engines, so presumably 5LW's were unavailable, as these Guy's came with Meadows engines. However, they were unreliable and were eventually replaced with AEC units, although one '169?' did received a 5LW.

FT 7381/90 - 181/90: These superbly finished H30/26R Weymann bodied Guy Arab III's with Gardner 5LW engines appeared on the scene in 1952. They were the first 8ft wide buses, and the first with sliding cab doors. 189 was retained as a training vehicle, and was incidentally the bus I passed my test in. Livery c1961

When I started as a driver at Percy Main in January 1967, these 1953 Guy Arab IV's were the oldest vehicles still in service. I am not sure if the H33/28R Weymann bodies are Aurora or Orion, but T&D had four, FT 7893/6 - 193/6; with Guy's superb engineering and NGT's favourite Gardner 5LW, they were reliable and mechanically sound, but they were about a ton and a half lighter than the previous Arab's, and too many corners had been cut to save weight. The bodies were poorly finished and required constant maintenance, otherwise they would have literally rattled themselves apart.

FT 9003/7 - 203/7, arrived in 1955, and were defiantly MCW - H35/28R Orion; they were an improvement on the previous four, but none of them were ever the most popular vehicles in the fleet

Tynemouth had eight of these 1956 Park Royal bodied Guy Arab IV's FT9408/15 - 208/15. At that time, the Arab IV chassis was arguably superior to anything else available to BET. The bodies were well designed, and superbly well built. They were nearly eleven years old when I first drove one, but they were extremely well behaved, very forgiving and very popular with passengers and crew alike; As you can probably gather, I liked them. In my opinion, had they had a Gardner 6LW instead of the 5LW, they would have been the best half cabs the NGT group ever had, I include the Routemasters in that statement. Livery c1961

Three Willowbrook bodied AEC Reliance MU3RV's arrived in 1957. FT 9916/18 - 216/18; when new, they were DP/41F and never carried adverts, but they were later downgraded and re-seated as buses with a larger capacity, they were eventually transferred to Northern and renumbered 2240/2

AFT 50 - 220, was one of five H35/28R Willowbrook bodied Leyland PD2/12's that came in 1957. They were AFT 49/53 - 219/223, as far as I am aware, they were the only vehicles in the group with this type of body; 223 had an extended life as a driver training vehicle.

Its fair to say that the Orion would not be everyone's first choice for favourite body, and the least said about the early versions the better. However, by 1958, lessons had been learned and the Orion was now a vastly superior body to those built for the earlier Arab IV's. As far as I am aware, these Leyland PD 3/4's were the NGT groups first 30ft D/D's, and they had quite a number of them. SDO specified Burlingham R/D bodies, but the rest of the group had the H41/32R - MCW Orion. In this photo 229 looks as if it has just arrived from MCW, and the paint has barely had time to dry. It was one of twelve delivered to Percy Main; AFT 224/35 - 224/35, Tyneside had three, NNL 48/50 - 48/50; and the batch for Gateshead had a Newcastle Corporation style destination layout, but that and different livery apart, outwardly, all the Orion's looked to be pretty much the same, the interiors were finished in brown with leatherette covered seats, but the T&D vehicles had a much higher interior spec, as well as being a different colour, 'green' they had moquette-upholstered seats. As was Percy Main's custom at the time, the front number plates were moved from the radiator to the panel under the windscreen. AFT 930, had an extended life as a driver training vehicle. It's now in the extremely capable hands of N.E.B.P.T. Ltd, where 'to date' it is undergoing extensive restoration. If restored to its original livery, I have no doubt that the finished article will look every bit as good as this one does.

Still in 1958, six all Leyland Titan PD2's - BTY 168/9 - 28/9 and CTY 330/33 - 30/33 were transferred from Tyneside; they were repainted in T&D livery but retained their Tyneside fleet numbers. Some were later transferred to Northern. Livery c1958

Numerically, CFT 637 - 237, was Percy Mains second PDR1/1 Leyland Atlantean, but Tynemouth's first, 236 carried the Wakefields name. It was one of fourteen delivered in 1960, and they signalled the start of a new chapter, they were all H44/34F, the first batch of nine CFT 636/44 - 236/44, were MCW bodied, they were followed by five with Roe bodies, DFT 245/9 - 245/9. Eight more with Roe bodies came in 1962, FFT754/61 - 254/61. 241. After the 1962 batch arrived, it would be another 10 years before another Atlantean joined the fleet at Percy Main. The photo was taken after the formation of T&W - PTE, note the logo on the Newcastle bus, it was also after all the route numbers had been changed, this route was previously the service 5.

Along with the 1962, Roe bodied Atlantean's, were two PSU3/3R Leyland Leopard's with Willowbrook DP47/F bodies. FFT 812/3 - 262/3. Livery c1966. The original livery had the cream centre band relief, but the window surrounds were red. Incidentally, the location for the photo is Northumberland Square in North Shields, the building in the background is built on what was the site of the T&D tram sheds in Suez Street.

1963, while the rest of the group were ordering Leyland PDR1/1's, Percy Main went down a different road and ordered Fleetlines, and not for the first time they found themselves out of step with the rest of NGT. Between 1963 and 68, they took delivery of thirty-five CRG6LX Daimler Fleetlines. The first fifteen were HFT 366/75 - 266/75 H44/35F - 1963; and JFT 276/80 - 276/80 H43/32F - 1964; both batches were bodied by Weymann. After the formation of NBC, several Tynemouth Fleetlines transferred to East Yorkshire.

Two Marshall bodied B53F Leyland Leopard PSU3/1R's were also part of the 1964 intake - JFT 281/2 - 281/2; they were later transferred to Northern and renumbered 2351/2

The first Alexander bodied Fleetlines were delivered in 1965. They were all H44/33F, one batch had air operated doors and windscreen wipers, whilst the remainder were electric, but apart from that they were all more or less the same spec. AFT 783/9C - 283/289 - 1965; In 1966, Percy Main was the first depot to adopt a modernised and much simplified version of the original NGT livery, other depots later followed suit. DFT 290/2E - 290/2 - were delivered in 1967; and EFT 693/702F - 293/302 - 1968. The 1968 intake were the last D/D's bought by T&D before becoming part of NBC

We have come to a time of significant change within the NGT group. The start of NBC coincided with the end of the County Borough of Tynemouth; it was also a period of rapid changeover to OPO. In 1968, six 1961, AEC 2MU3RV Reliance's with Alexander DP41F bodies MCN 988/93 - 1888/93, were 'hired' from Northern. When they were officially transferred in 1969, they were renamed and became 310/15.

1969 and 3 new Marshall Camair B48D bodied PSUR1A1R Leyland Panther's, HCN 43/5G - 307/9, arrived, but many vehicles were swapped between depots. Vehicles transferred to Percy Main were renamed and given T&D fleet numbers.
Two Panthers from SDO, EPT 371/2G - 371/2 became 320/1, their transfer involved a full repaint. Eight Northern B44D Alexander SRG6LX Daimler Fleetlines - KCN 22/29J, became 322/9.

The last new vehicles with the Tynemouth name and fleet numbers were delivered in 1970; KFT 916/9J - 316/9 were Bristol RELL6G's with ECW B44D bodies.

In 1921, the first buses to carry the Tynemouth name and fleet numbers were not new; they were transferred from Northern, and with a certain degree of irony the last buses to be issued with Tynemouth fleet numbers were also transfers. These 1966 AEC Renown's came from East Yorkshire; they arrived in 1972 and were numbered 330/9; the Tynemouth name survived for another couple of years, but all subsequent vehicles had Northern fleet numbers

Ronnie Hoye
09/2013

 

To view Part Three click here.

 

 

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