Concluding Photo Album Gallery

Here are the final shots from the album. They are not of any specific operator or from any particular area of the country, just a varied selection of vehicles. I hope they are of interest.

Roy Dodsworth
02/2016

Bournmouth Corporation
Registration BEL 826 fleet number 224 a 1935 Sunbeam MS2 electrical equipment by British Thomson-Houston with a Park Royal H56D body.

Brighton Hove District
Registration CAP 221 fleet number 6348/348 or CAP 229 fleet number 6352/352 either way it was/is a 1940 Bristol K5G with an ECW CO30/26R body.

If it is CAP 229 it has been preserved.

Browns Luxury Coaches
Ashford Kent
Registration NKM 871 a 1951 Leyland Tiger PS1 with a Gurney Nutting FC37F body.

Cunningham Bus Services
Registration CCK 618 fleet number 30 a 1948 Leyland Titan PD2/3 with a Leyland H30/26R body.

This vehicle was delivered new to Ribble Motor Services and was fleet number 2630 in their fleet.

Halifax Corporation
Registration JX 6429 fleet number 45 a 1938 AEC Regent I with a Park Royal H30/26R body.

Ipswich Corporation
Registration MPV 42 fleet number 42 a 1961 AEC Regent V with an East Lancs H37/28R body.

Lincolnshire Road Car Co Ltd
Registration DBE 255 fleet number 1826 a 1946 AEC Regal I with a Harrington B34F body.

This vehicle was originally with Enterprise & Silver Dawn of Scunthorpe and was fleet number 111 in their fleet. Enterprise & Silver Dawn were taken over by Lincolnshire Road Car on March 1st 1950.

London Transport
Registration NXP 811 fleet number RT3804 a 1953 AEC Regent III RT with a Weymann H30/26R body.

Maidstone & District
Registration 43 DKT fleet number DL43 a 1959 Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 with a Weymann L39/34F body.

Portsmouth Corporation
Registration BTP 943 fleet number 43 a 1939 Leyland Cheetah LZ4 with a Wadham B32R body.

Samuel Ledgard
Registration MCY 405 a 1955 AEC Regent V with a Weymann H33/26R body there are a few variants of the seating H32/28R H33/28R, which is correct?.

This vehicle was delivered new to South Wales Transport Co and was fleet number 445 in their fleet.

Sheffield Corporation
Registration HWA 855 fleet number 45 a 1943 Guy Arab II with a Roe H31/25R body.

When new this vehicle had a Weymann Utility body it was rebodied by Roe in 1953, before that in 1948 it was fitted with a Gardner 6LW engine.

Southern Vectis Omnibus Co
Registration KDL 415 fleet number 519 a 1954 Bristol Lodekka LD6G with an ECW H33/21R body.

Western National Omnibus Co
Registration LTA 886 fleet number 1862 a 1952 Bristol KSW6B with an ECW L27/28R body.

26/02/16 - 09:30

Another great collection - thank you. The ex-Portsmouth Leyland Cheetah caught my eye. It was one of six delivered in the summer of 1939 (41-46, BTP 941-946). The Wadham bodies had sliding roofs for use on a summer sea-front service, replacing 5 Guy J toastracks dating from 1924. The war intervened, the toastracks were withdrawn anyway, and the Cheetah's roofs were fixed. The war intervened big time in 1941, when 41 and 42 were destroyed in an air raid at Eastney depot. The rest survived, two of them being used by the War Department 1940-1942. These four survived until 1954, and were all sold to the contractor shown in the photo - G A Neal of Chichester. 43 was still owned by Neal's in 1961, but final disposal isn't noted in my list. Sister bus 46 was still owned in 1963, as an engineless staff living quarters, being towed between sites. Although my interest in the local fleets began in 1958, I never came across these survivors, so only have photos like these to view. Thanks again.

Michael Hampton

26/02/16 - 14:32

Yet another set of gems from that market stall, Roy! It's clear you had an eye for a bargain when you saw this lot!

Pete Davies

27/02/16 - 05:55

Good to see the photo of Sheffield 45. Looks as if it was taken at the rear of Greenland Road Garage after withdrawal. I have never seen a photo of it previously and being the one and only wartime Guy Arab rebodied by Roe it was a rare beast – I think I saw it just once in real life.
The Maidstone lowbridge Atlantean also took my eye, the livery makes it a much better looking bus than the PMT examples that I was used to. Looks almost new in the photo.

Ian Wild

27/02/16 - 12:58

What a wonderful batch of random photos, Roy, full of interest.
Halifax Corporation's 43 does not live up to its destination as SPECIAL, with badly mauled offside mudguard and missing battery compartment cover.
Lincolnshire's AEC looks decidedly out of place in the Tilling fleet's livery.
LT's RT3804 is at its terminus, in York Road, adjacent fo King's Cross Station.
Thx, Michael H, for the extra information about the Cheetahs. Do you know if, postwar, they ever ran the seafront service they were purchased for? This one looks decidedly smarter than the condition they were in in the Corporation's disposal line! It was a real surprise to see this photo, since they were rarely seen and photographed.

Chris Hebbron

27/02/16 - 13:46

I imagine the photo of Halifax Regent 45 must have been taken in the immediate postwar period as it looks uncharacteristically careworn with its battered front wing and missing battery cover. It is pictured in Fountain Street - obscuring the Hebble booking office just behind at no. 16, and next to the Society for the Blind premises.
It's hard to believe that the Lincolnshire Regal with its utility style body was built in 1946 as, barring a few details, it looks like something from the early 1930's. Harrington supplied a few like this from late 1945 to mid-1946, allocated by the Ministry of Supply to Enterprise, Scunthorpe; Baker's of Warsop; Ebor of Mansfield; Brewer's of Caerau; Carruthers of New Abbey, Gelligaer UDC; Newcastle Corporation; Camplin's of Donington and Cawthorme's of Barugh. (this from the PSV Circle publication C1132)
The smart Maidstone & District livery looked very well even on the essentially box-shaped Atlantean. I always thought that the low-height version of the Weymann Atlantean looked much better proportioned than the full-height version, though no doubt the headroom inside may have let it down.

John Stringer

28/02/16 - 06:25

There seems to be no "theme" to this gallery, but all the vehicles depicted somehow seem to represent the best of their eras.
Just for the record the Western National KSW6B 1862, was Western National's last KSW; 1863 was the first Lodekka. It was one of the few that were fitted from new with staggered echelon rows of four seats on the upper deck, to ensure that each passenger had his or her bit of seat, which had always been a problem on lowbridge buses. The photo was taken at Redruth Railway Station probably in about 1956, and certainly before 1862 was transferred away from Camborne depot.

John Grigg

28/02/16 - 15:25

Even more wonderful pictures Roy from your bargain purchase - such items are always worth looking into at gatherings and sales.

Chris Youhill

01/03/16 - 04:55

So that’s it all done. Saw them on a table at Todmorden Market, asked the price, reply Ł83, Ł1 per picture, Ł70 lowest he would take. Walked away, returned 30 minutes later with Ł30, agreed. Thanks to Peter for help in presenting them and to all who commented. Amazes me all the knowledge you all have. So a final poser what size screws were fitted to the bell push on a Lodekka?

Aha! Regards Roy Dodsworth.

01/03/16 - 12:49

Thanks Chris H for your comment on the Portsmouth Cheetah. Yes it does look quite smart with the contractor - but it couldn't run a night service! Somewhere I have a booklet published by the Southdown Enthusiasts Club on the Portsmouth Sea Front Services, but cannot trace it at the moment. However, I do believe that a summer season service started in the 1946 season, and would have used these buses, as nothing else was available. Memory says that the roofs were not unlocked post-war. I have also seen a photo of one at Fareham Bus Station on a mileage balancing journey (the agreement with Southdown in 1946 brought in some interesting journeys). The first Leyland TD4 open top conversion took place in 1953 (No.115), followed by two more in 1954 (Nos. 117/124). The final conversion was No.125 in 1955. It's also recorded that the Cheetahs were withdrawn "after the 1954 season". Interestingly, all 4 TD4s (renumbered 5-8 in 1958) all still exist in preservation. Recent Bus & Coach Preservation magazines have a feature on them. I guess the Cheetahs were just too early for the preservation movement to obtain one.

Michael Hampton

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