Malton Area Operators

I wonder if anyone can tell me more about Hopes Motor Services from some where near Malton, they ran stage carriage services around 1960, also could anyone tell me the name of the coach operator from either Fadmoor or Gillamoor near Kirbymoorside who ran a Saturday only service in the 1950s.

Geoff Clayton

01/09/12 - 08:09

Hope Brothers traded from Terrington from the 1920's until 1974, when the business was sold to Bentley's of Kirkbymoorside. The garage in North Back Lane in Terrington was retained by Mr. Bentley for some years.
The Gillamoor operator is most likely Wood and Simpson of Gillamoor.

David Hick

01/09/12 - 10:54

The official name of the Hope business was E Hope & Sons - Mrs E Hope was the mother of CM and JE Hope who were the "original" brothers. They started trading around 1929 and in the next generation the business passed to Horace and James Hope who were the proprietors in the 1960s. On Mondays to Fridays they operated between Terrington and Malton, but on Saturdays the service started at Scackleton. There was also a Thursday only service from Crayke and Terrington to York. At the beginning of the 1960s the regular performer on the stage services was OEH 750, a Maudslay Marathon III with Gurney Nutting FC37F bodywork. This was retired in July 1963 and subsequent vehicles were Bedford SB coaches with Burlingham, Duple, and Plaxton bodywork.
John Wood & John Simpson of Gillamoor also had a variety of SBs in use on their (by the 1960s only fortnightly) stage service from Hutton-le-Hole to Malton, but more interest was provided by OB/Duple Vista JKH 531 (which lasted until the end of 1966) and its replacement, Commer Commando/Allweather C30F EJB 645, acquired from York area operator Reliance, (which ran until May 1968). Both of these were regulars on the stage route, backed up (on the rare occasions when it was needed) by the SBs and Daimler CVD6/Burlingham C33F FT 6909 which was owned from 1962-68 and came from neighbouring operator Lamb of Malton.

Neville Mercer

01/09/12 - 16:56

I was interested to read about the Daimler coach FT 6909. I came across this in the yard of Wright Brothers, Nenthead in September 1970. I don't know why it was there then and I've never found anything out about it (albeit I haven't tried too hard). However, I did take a photograph and I thought that would be worth sharing.

David Beilby

01/09/12 - 16:56

Neville refers to two Burlingham bodied Daimlers with FT registrations. I could be way off the mark here, but FT was a Tynemouth registration, SE Northumberland at the time, and from my dim and distant I can remember two Burlingham Seagulls that belonged to a company called Collingwood Coaches who were based at Billy Mill North Shields. the whole area where their garage used to be was pulled down to build the Coast Road extension. This would have been around 1956/7 the registration quoted by Neville was about 1952 as Tynemouth's 1952 Weymann Arabs were FT 7000's

Ronnie Hoye

01/09/12 - 17:51

Obviously I was way off the mark with the two seagulls. I'm trying to think who could have had this coach from new. The area covered by FT was limited to the borough of Tynemouth and quite small, all Tynemouth and Wakefields vehicles were FT, but they were part of Northern General and favoured AEC and Leyland for coaches, so it's highly unlikely that it was ever part of their fleet. Priory Coaches of North Shields were within that catchment, but I can only ever remember them with Bedford's, one other possibility is Taylor Bros who were taken over by Hall Bros of South Shields who became part of Barton's

Ronnie Hoye

02/09/12 - 06:56

According to the PSVC fleet history FT 6909 passed from Wood and simpson to R. C. Davis, Gosforth in Jan 1969, for preservation-would this be Bob Davis, the photographer?

David Hick

02/09/12 - 06:57

I may have missed something in all this amazing detail, but I don't think the pic is a Daimler (but what is it?) and the registration begins "9" FT 9909 perhaps.

Joe

02/09/12 - 15:32

The photograph is definitely FT6909-the nearside destination glass carries the remains of the fleetname Excelsior, which was Excelsior, Dinnington-the owner before Lamb, Malton.

David Hick

03/09/12 - 06:08

According to the PSV Circle Chassis List CXB54, FT 6909 was a CVD6SD (chassis no. 17418) with Burlingham C33F body, new in 1950 to Taylor, South Shields. It was one of a batch of four - FT 6907 to 6910.

John Stringer

03/09/12 - 06:09

This registration has me puzzled. Tynemouth and District had three Willowbrook bodied AEC MU3RV's registrations FT 9916/18 fleet numbers 216/8, and they were new in 1957, so I think it would be fair to assume that FT 9909 is from the same era. However, this style of Burlingham body pre dates the Seagull which started around 1952, so for me it doesn't add up. Perhaps someone who knows more about Burlingham's than I do can shed some light on the subject?

Ronnie Hoye

03/09/12 - 06:11

Ronnie seems to have misread my comment - I'm not sure where his "two seagulls" came from but they weren't from me! FT 6909 (as he correctly speculates in the later posting) was originally with Taylor of North Shields, delivered to them in May 1950. It passed to Lamb of Malton at the end of 1960, and then to Wood & Simpson in February 1962. The photograph of it with Wright of Nenthead is a mystery to me too, although I would strongly dispute the suggestion that the vehicle in the photograph is registered "FT 9909". By the time that mark was issued this particular type of Burlingham bodywork had been out of production for many years. I've magnified the picture as much as possible given the dpi on the website and it looks like FT 6909 to me.

Neville Mercer

03/09/12 - 07:37

Regarding the postings about Malton operators, I have sent two photos of Wood & Simpsons of Gillamoor JKH 531 ex Grey De Luxe of Hull and FT 6909 with a clearer view of the registration number, which may be of interest.
The photo of JKH 531 was taken by R Marshall, the other unknown.

Mike Davies

04/09/12 - 08:37

The latest pic from Mike D makes it pretty clear that this is one and the same bus- could it be then, than someone has turned one of those applied registration numbers upside down! Tut! I am still intrigued, though, by that wide-looking radiator (trick of the light?) and all that shiny chrome. I don't suppose it could possibly be an export CVD...? Dream on!

Joe

04/09/12 - 08:39

I don't think there is any mystery to why FT 6909 was at Wright's at Nenthead. As I stated previously it had been preserved in 1969 by R C Davis. In Keith Turns book "The Independent Bus", published in 1972, there is a chapter devoted to Wrights in which he states that Wrights' garage was a former iron mill and was more than adequate to house the fleet, and that it also housed several preserved vehicle on behalf of their enthusiast owners. The real mystery is, having been preserved, how long did it survive?

David Hick

04/09/12 - 08:40

Thank you David and Mike for the interesting photographs, which allow comparison of the Daimler with two different owners. What a fine-looking vehicle it was (and yes, the little Bedford OB oozes charm too!). Regarding the registration of the Daimler, Tynemouth was presumably a small licencing authority, as it took from 1904 until 1957 to issue FT1-FT9999! Things then hit top gear with the issue of AFT in February 1957, as it needed to be replaced by BFT in April the following year. Hopefully this clarifies as to why it was possible to see half-cab and underfloor-engined buses and coaches with FTxxxx registrations, even though their build dates could be many years apart. There were other small licencing authorities similarly affected, such as Westmoreland, which first issued JM in 1931, with AJM taking over in 1952. Dewsbury commenced using HD in 1913, but did not need AHD until 1953. Certainly such local registrations were a lot more characterful than the soul-less regional ones we have today. (Forest and Fens anyone?!)

Brendan Smith

05/09/12 - 08:52

I'll bid you Garden of England, Brendan.

David Oldfield

05/09/12 - 08:55

As you say, Brendon, a fine looking vehicle, it's impossible to tell from a black and white photo if the original colours have been changed, but Taylor Bros livery was predominantly cream with black roof and wings, and red wheels and side flash. I can remember they had some Bedford Duple Supa Vega's where the body trim allowed the use of a lot more red, but they always looked very smart. I'm not sure when Hall Bros of South Shields took them over, or even if this vehicle was still with them at the time, but Hall Bros livery was very similar.

Ronnie Hoye

09/09/12 - 07:52

Very interesting letters about this Daimler. On Stilltime.net, a website with lots of b/w photos it is shown at Catterick Camp, N.Yorkshire working a Forces weekend leave service (one of my pet interests).

Paul Statham

10/09/12 – 09:45

My thanks to all who have commented.

Geoff Clayton

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