To School by Bus - Part Four

I mentioned that the daytime schedule on the #31 was not enhanced at rush periods and there was a good reason for this - the #31A. The #31 ran from Manchester, by 1958 using the Chorlton St terminus, to the Cheshire village of Bramhall and was exclusively MCTD.

Never appearing on Manchester's clearly numbered bus stop signs, rarely showing as a route number, even on the vehicles plying the route, the #31A was North Western's original number for the route. Bramhall was in NWRCC territory but it had withdrawn from joint operation except at rush periods when they would provide the extra capacity needed and their number for the turn was still #31A.

The rush hour shortage of MCTD provided capacity, the result of the use of single deckers and the agreement that MCTD would not add to its half hourly departures on the route, was made good by a heady mix of bus, dual purpose and coaching stock unlike anything serving any other route into Manchester. North Western had been a great user of Bristol vehicles until that company was nationalised in 1948 and the chassis became unavailable to companies outside the Tilling Group of nationalised operators.

Prior to this they had built up a large collection of half cab single deckers to which they added second hand examples. A variety of Weymann, Willowbrook, Burlingham and Brush bodies had either been ordered on new chassis or had replaced pre-war ECW bodies - and ECW bodies themselves appeared on new vehicles.

The last Bristol deliveries did not take place until 1950, such was the backlog of orders from companies starved of new and/or well built vehicles between 1939 and 1945. The Bristols were all rear entrance 35 or 38 seat bodies. Most had some kind of door to keep the cold out unlike the Manchester Royal Tigers, of which seven eventually got doors and were primarily used on the #31 from 1963!

The Bristols were, to say the least, small but what they lacked in capacity they made up for in numbers. If the #29 and #30 had duplicates and triplicates, the #31A (or #31 as everyone knew it) had legions.

The story of the North Western half cab single deck Bristols between 1937 and 1950 and the subsequent re-bodying, transfer of similar bodies between chassis and re numbering is a complex and well documented - if not too easy to follow - story which has been tackled by a number of authors.

Alongside the Bristols would be some of the 1952/53 all Leyland coaches, regular appearances from many of the ten 1955 delivered batch of Burlingham bodied AEC Reliances, the odd appearance of a Weymann bodied Reliance and some of the 1958 batches of Reliances (red cream and black) and Tiger Cubs (overall cream with a red band) which had Willowbrook bodies.

In passing it is worth noting that the slanting script fleet name on the Weymann bodied black, red and cream Reliances was not continued on the Willowbrook bodied vehicles, the standard, underlined, North Western fleet name being applied.

There were rare appearances of MCW Fanfare bodied coaches on AEC Reliance chassis from the 1956 and 1958 batches and I can remember one appearance of a Burlingham Seagull bodied Tiger Cub.

The route was often used by North Western as a running in turn for coaches and dual purpose vehicles fresh out of Charles St works so many of the rides were on vehicles in pristine condition - especially when compared to some of the Bristols with their noisy and solidly mounted - and therefore badly vibrating - engines, though it must be said that some of the newer Bristol models were much better after passing through Charles St works in the late 1950s, perhaps due to different engine mounts? The use of coaching stock, none with power doors, sometimes led to an extra staff member being carried just to handle the door.

From late 1959 the North Western presence on the #31A became even greater as the company noticed that MCTD was leaving Cheadle passengers on the #161 behind. The #1 had been split and renumbered into the #161 (Gatley via Cheadle) and #162 (Gatley via Kingsway extension) as soon as the new Kingsway extension across the River Mersey was opened. The extension had been built as far as the Mersey for many years and at rush hours had seen a few #1X trips as far as the cul de sac at the Mersey to service the houses along the road and on the roads adjoining.

From the autumn of 1959 the addition of the #162 running every other Gatley trip reduced the number of buses through Cheadle and at rush hours this left long queues at bus stops whilst reducing traffic queues in Cheadle village, a notorious traffic blackspot.

North Western had the capacity to meet the need and one type that became a regular performer was the Atkinson single decker with Weymann rear entrance bodywork.

North Western, unable to do anything about the 1948 re-arrangement of the bus industry, fully expected that, as a one time Tilling Group company, it would be taken back into the fold, albeit as a nationalised company. When it was placed firmly in the BET camp and denied access to its preferred Bristol/ECW chassis/body combination for stage carriage buses it was left looking for a replacement which would offer the durability of the Brislington built chassis.

In 1949 it started looking and found an interested partner in Ribble territory, at Bamber Bridge, where the Atkinson concern built some very tough trucks. Mounting a Weymann rear entrance body derived from the then new BET Hermes design on an Atkinson chassis with a Gardner underfloor engine provided a product to North Western's satisfaction and two prototypes entered service in 1951 alongside two front entrance Weymann bodied Leyland Olympics (basically an integral version of the Royal Tiger).

Like most other UK companies, North Western did not rate the Olympic - though it sold well overseas including to Cuba and was developed into the renowned Worldmaster of which Havana, Istanbul, various Dutch and Danish companies and Tel Aviv, amongst others, order large quantities.

The Atkinson was to the liking of the Charles St bosses and fourteen more arrived in 1952, 12 with Weymann bodies like the first two with 42 seat rear entrance bodies, two with the Willowbrook version of the BET design with 44 seats and, again, a rear entrance, the latter a lightweight version which NWRCC decided it wanted as its standard single decker.

North Western approached BET for permission to buy another 100. This was denied. BET issued an edict that all future single deckers were to be Leyland and AEC, though Aldershot and District managed to purchase small numbers of their preferred Dennis single deckers alongside Reliances in 1954 and 1956.

The Atkinsons performed well on the #31A. They had rear doors, vibrated a lot less than the Bristols and had greater capacity. Riding to school on an Atkinson was not a unique experience to North Western. Lancashire United, SHMD, Sunderland and Venture of Consett all ordered small quantities and SHMD ordered the only double decker the company produced. Sandown Tours of Burnley took a coach - later used on school duties - but production of all passenger types ceased in 1963 with another order for Sunderland and the company was absorbed by Seddon in 1970.

The route followed from Parrs Wood to the city was exactly that of the #1. One of the features of the #31/31a was that, even if the vehicle operating the route was a North Western coach with a boot, no pupils carrying musical instruments larger than a flute would be carried.

In those days many pupils at the various Manchester grammar schools would transport instruments to and from home and even cellos and tubas were to be seen being manhandled aboard buses. Anyone from any of the schools along the route was refused boarding if the instrument wouldn't sit on the lap and not obstruct the adjoining seat. The #1, with double deckers had the under stair storage area so the need was catered for but how pupils from areas between Bramhall and Cheadle coped with only single deckers available, I never found out.

Phil Blinkhorn
11/2012

02/12/12 - 07:20

The 31A was not the only bus not to appear on any MCTD bus stop (or anybody elses as far as I know).
The rare 52A never featured either. This was a really useful bus in that it exited Manchester by the same route as the 52 but instead of travelling to Parrs Wood via Parrs Wood Lane (like the 30,51 and 74 too) it operated along Kingsway as a limited stop service and perfect for a fast journey from school to home before the 130 started operating in the rush hour.
Presumably in recognition of the length of the journey to Congleton or Biddulph (the only Staffordshire destination served by a service route as opposed to an express route from Manchester) it was usually operated by a semi-coach...such luxury as we didn't deserve.

Orla Nutting

02/12/12 - 16:21

Orla's comment reminds me of just how well served at rush periods were the towns and villages to the south of Manchester along the A34.
Apart from the 29 and 30 from/to Macclesfield and their duplicates, the 52 went as far as Alderley, the 52A was, as Orla describes and, once the Manchester overspill was developed in Handforth, the 500 was introduced to serve Handforth, Wilmslow and Alderley at rush period taking Parrs Wood's PD2s further into Cheshire than previously.

Phil Blinkhorn

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