Ten LTs in a Row - Hyde Park

Ten LTs in a Row - Hyde Park - Spring 1944

In the middle of the war, the shortage of fuel and rubber necessitated a national 25% reduction in both essentials. In London, many morning rush-hour buses were parked in Central London, mostly in the Royal Parks, where special dispensation had been given. Drivers and conductors travelled back to their home garages on the remaining buses and reversed the procedure ready for the evening rush-hour.

This is a very rare colour photo of ten LT's parked in Hyde Park in Spring 1944.
The third LT, with a lower deck window configuration different from the rest, was one of the 1931 batch with the upper deck carried over the driver's cab and nicknamed 'Bluebirds' after the blue seating upholstery. They numbered just 273 out of a total of 1429 in the double-deck class.

Chris Hebbron

14/02/14 - 06:50

What a magnificent picture Chris H - the peaceful flavour concealing the dreadful reason for the parking of the vehicles there as one of the restrictions/precautions of the wicked WW2. As a very frequent visitor and holiday maker to London I thought that the LTs were the most majestic and impressive vehicles I'd ever seen. In particular the "Bluebirds" were of especially pleasing appearance, at their best when fitted with the intended full destination displays.

Chris Youhill

14/02/14 - 08:34

This photo immediately reminded me of a scene from the 1944 colour film "This Happy Breed". The scene showed Stanley Holloway and his screen family walking through this park (I think) with these LTs gliding by in the background. Could this photo be related to that film?
This era was before my time but I would have loved to have been there and ridden these magnificent buses (Doodlebugs excepted).

Paul Haywood

14/02/14 - 13:24

That's an interesting theory Paul which hadn't occurred to me. I based my conclusion on the Wartime practice of parking many vehicles around Central London between peak periods to avoid dead mileage and to conserve petrol/diesel - perhaps Chris H can tell us more??

Chris Youhill

14/02/14 - 13:26

It's great to see such an image in colour from this wartime date. The AEC Renown was probably the most successful of the three-axle products of that era. It was produced at LGOC's insistence in spite of AEC designer Rackham's dislike of the type. I agree with Chris Y that the "Bluebird" body style was superb. I never saw one, and have only seen earlier style LT165 as a museum piece. Alan Townsin wrote a series of articles on the Renown in Buses Illustrated, c.1960, and I was captivated then by the type and the story. The Bluebird was a very upright and squared-off design, yet had good balance and a certain appeal. Move forward 30 years to c.1962 and certain Park Royal bodied Leylands for Southampton and others, and the squared-off look just became ugly! (See the Ugly Bus page on this site).

Michael Hampton

15/02/14 - 05:58

I can understand why some windows were panelled over during wartime, but what's noticeable in the line-up is that on all but one bus visible fully, it's the same window. That implies there was maybe more of a pattern to the way they were replaced rather than just fitting a panel whenever one broke.
Does anyone understand what the approach was?

David Beilby

15/02/14 - 10:53

I have to say Paul H/Chris Y, that it's a long time seen I've enjoyed the excellent film "This Happy Breed" and I can't recall said scene, but the photo was, I think, a 'Time' magazine one, an American one which could afford to splash out on colour photography in those dark times.
Chris Y - Your mention of full blinds and restricted LT blinds in the war has suddenly made me realise that London trolleybuses NEVER carried restricted blinds! What was the reason for restricting London's bus blinds therefore - there's no logic to it, but that was London Transport!
David B - The panelled window on each bus was not caused by enemy action, although some London buses went around with almost all the windows panelled at one time, a very murky tour of duty for a conductor!) but is actually a modesty panel! All but the Bluebird had straight staircases, which came out upstairs midway along the vehicle. Hence the board is the third window from the rear. These vehicles had the most roomy platforms - I loved them! The Bluebird's 'panel' was actually part of the bodywork.
Incidentally, there were some London Country ST 'Bluebirds', but the shorter four-wheel version was nowhere near so pleasing to the eye. Strange how proportion is so important to design and even subtle change has a huge effect.
Michael H - I never realised that Rackliffe was pressured by LGOC to produce the Renown. Incidentally, did he stay with AEC or move on - I've no knowledge of his later career.

Chris Hebbron

15/02/14 - 17:38

AEC's designer J G Rackham (not Rackliffe) was poached by AEC from Leyland c.1928. He then stayed with AEC until his retirement in the mid-1950's. I believe he had input into the Regent IV u/f d/d prototype, possibly the Regent V. I have an Alan Townsin book somewhere that covers this, and will need to dig this out for firm data.

Michael Hampton

15/02/14 - 17:40

G. J. Rackham became a draughtsman with the Vanguard company in 1906 before leaving to join the LGOC as Chief Draughtsman in 1907. He was then 22 years of age. After a brief spell with David Brown of Huddersfield in 1910 -11, he returned to the Walthamstow works of the Associated Equipment Company. In 1916 he took up the post of Works Manager with the general engineering firm of Heenan and Froude (which rather later became owners of the Brush company). He became an officer in the Tank Corps and was brought in by the War Office to develop details of tank design. There he met up again with George Green, himself a former Vanguard employee who had become Chief Assistant Engineer of LGOC. Green had left for America in 1912 to become General Manager of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company in New York and Vice President of the Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company. He came back to Britain for war service and then went back to America. In 1922, Rackham followed Green to the USA, where he became Chief Engineer of Yellow Coach, later better known as GMC. Four years later, Leyland Motors invited him back to Britain to become Chief Engineer, and his Titan and Tiger models soon began to dominate much of the bus and coach market. This achievement spurred Lord Ashfield of the Underground Group to headhunt Rackham by offering him the post of Chief Engineer to AEC. In July 1928 Rackham accepted, and the advanced Regal and Regent models soon placed the company in a dominant position alongside Leyland. After his early globe trotting career, Rackham then remained as Chief Engineer with AEC, though he was once again involved in aspects of tank and flame thrower design during WW2. He retired in June 1950. Much of this note has been gleaned from Alan Townsin's writings about AEC.

Roger Cox

16/02/14 - 07:34

Thank you both for Rackham's potted history. He was a very talented man.

Chris Hebbron

16/02/14 - 07:36

Thanks for the explanation about the windows - it does explain why so many were like that but it's not intuitive that it is the reason due to the forward position. The third bus in the row appears to contradict what you say but I can tell it is a different body design as the front side window upstairs is obviously different. It may even be possible to identify it from that.

David Beilby

16/02/14 - 07:38

I should clarify my statement about the Bluebirds' modesty panelling. Originally, they had seven offside downstairs windows for the entire length of the vehicle. At some stage, the rear two windows were properly panelled over, removing all trace of any windows.

Chris Hebbron

16/02/14 - 12:17

This is a pleasant view! While I accept that it may very well have come via an American magazine, I have some bought colour slides (British railway locomotives, not buses) which date from the 1930's. They were Dufay Colour, according to my source, and the processing arrangements were different for each film. The "speed" or ISO rating was very low.

Pete Davies

20/02/14 - 11:11

What a wonderful picture. Growing up in North London in the late 1940s I can recall seeing this type only once as they were nearing the end of their lives. It was on the 12 route from Harlesden to Dulwich almost totally the preserve of the RT class.
The STL class was also getting rare in my neck of the woods but I recall a ride on one when I went with my family to see the Christmas lights in the West End. We used the 6 route from Kensal Rise to Hackney Wick and used the front seats upstairs. No finer way to see London-even now. I can still recall how different the STL sounded from the RT.
Regarding John Rackham. I believe that his time in the USA inspired him to produce the Q class when he returned to AEC having seen the Fageol Twin Coach whilst there.

Paragon

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