Copyright K Easton

Boddy’s Coaches (Bridlington)
1958
AEC Reliance MU3RV
Yeates C41F

In 1958, Boddy’s Motors (John Boddy & Son) purchased a trio of AEC Reliances type MU3RV, which were bodied by Yeates with their Europa bodywork. There was seating for 41 passengers and was fitted with front entrance and exit doors. The first two VBT 191/2, were to service in May, 1958, whilst the third VBT 893 entered service the following month. I am unaware what happened to these three upon withdrawal, but one, VBT 191, survived into preservation. It had chassis number 823 and Yeates body number 658. The photograph shows this vehicle at the Harrogate end of the Trans-Pennine Rally, which commenced in Manchester. It is seen on the Stray, Harrogate on Sunday August, 1985.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Keith Easton

A full list of Reliance codes can be seen here.

19/06/11 – 11:41

191 was sold to Yeates at there co Durham branch supposedly for preservation 192 was stripped of all useful mechanical and body trim and the shell went to a local haulage contractor as a store shed at a yard at the side of the railway at flambro until it was broken up when a new owner took over. 893 was sold earlier than the other two I believe to a Lancs operator. 191 appeared later with Mathers Motors in the Scottish Borders, it then went to Skegness and I understand it is now with Fowlers in Lincs. They were very pleasant coaches to drive and the exhaust brakes made a loud noise when coming to a stop every one turned round to see what was coming

Ken Wragg

19/06/11 – 20:52

Kens notes reminded me that I managed to get a photo of VBT 192 at Askham Caravan Transport in Flamborough on 14/9/82 a sad end to a fine coach.

YXD 12 was another sad end this fine vehicle ended up as a club house at a Hunmanby race track seen in 26/10/87 see below

Mike Davies

20/06/11 – 15:03

Mike, was YXD 12 a Duple Britannia ?? I think it looks like one – Wallace Arnold had just three of those, 4324/5/6 UA and I thought they were beautiful. On the East Yorkshire theme, I once took 4324 empty to Hull, had B & B in the City Centre, and then took a full load to Southend Airport next day (one of my favourite runs) to hop across to the Continent for their holidays in one of the Channel Airways Dakotas. Wallace Arnold had a huge programme based on Southend Airport in those adventurous days in the early 1960s.

Chris Youhill

21/06/11 – 07:41

YXD 12 was an AEC with duple Britannia body. with 40 seats only 4 across the back seat however it was possible to get 5 on the back and very often 1 on the courier seat this was a very nice coach to drive with air brakes

Ken Wragg

21/06/11 – 07:43

Yes, Chris, it’s the final manifestation of the Britannia before the Continental – and subsequently the Commander – took over as the AEC and Leyland body by Duple. I agree with you about its looks.

David Oldfield

21/06/11 – 07:47

Re VBT 191..Tonight I did a DVLA check and found that it is not listed on their records so at best is not currently taxed unless it has lost it’s original registration number. I then researched the website of Fowlers Travel and found that they have a complete list of every coach they have had since they started with details of when bought, date of disposal and to whom it was sold or scrapped. Sadly, the AEC is not listed as far as I can see.
You can view the list here..
It will be a real shame if the coach fell into poor hands after being preserved.

Richard Leaman

21/06/11 – 16:03

Yes Chris YXD 12 was Duple Britannia, interestingly Hoods of Wold Newton, which is not to far from Bridlington had YXD 14 I don’t remember seeing it, and have not got a photo.

Another ex Boddys vehicle which I managed to photograph was RN 8672 in use as a store shed at Octon Lodge Farm, Octon. this has since gone on to one of the Ribble preservation groups I think.

Mike Davies

22/06/11 – 07:10

VBT 191 is alive and well and appeared at this year’s UK Coach Rally at Peterborough.

MikeB

22/06/11 – 07:13

If you Google the registration VBT 191, it comes up with a very nice photo on Flickr of VBT 191 at the UK Coach Rally in April of this year.
The Fowlers listing given by Richard seems to omit vehicles they have acquired for preservation, as they also have 966 RVO, a Yeates bodied VAL new to Barton Transport.

Bob Gell

22/06/11 – 13:17

Thank you Mike and Bob. Good news indeed but puzzling that it is not found on the DVLA records which is why I feared it might be lost. Maybe there has been a change in it’s details recently and been temporarily off record as happened to a car I sold last year.

Richard Leaman

26/06/11 – 08:09

VBT 191 is on the DVLA website-classed as a Leyland AEC
VBT 893 left the fleet as early as July 1966, and passed to an operator called Davies of Halewood.

Further to Keith Eastons earlier post-I have a fleet list for Annfield in JPEG format-probably (certainly!) incomplete.

David Hick

26/06/11 – 11:27

Such a fleet list, complete or otherwise, would be most interesting to we older "Bridophiles" David if there is any possibility please.

Chris Youhill

27/06/11 – 07:09

Davies of Halewood, eh? The last ever delivery of a RELH to an independent operator was to them. [The previous such – and the first – was to Flights.]

David Oldfield

29/06/11 – 14:37

Hello just want say I have a great interest in the Willlamsons coaches and am trying to find out as much info as possible as my family are related to them; my nana was a Williamson her Grandad was Reuben Williamson . She would recall living in Brid among all the coaches . she told us they owned horse drawn coaches before the motorised vehicles in Havelock Crescent . She moved away from Brid in her late teens and sadly passed away 2 weeks ago aged 96. This why it is of great interest to me…

Anon

01/07/11 – 05:34

RWF 785 , another former Boddy coach, can be found here: //www.flickr.com/ 

David Hick

01/07/11 – 09:25

Hello Anon, and firstly we’re very sorry to hear of your Grandma’s passing away. I’m not good on "family trees", but would the lady’s father possibly have been Tim Williamson ??, as he was the son of Reuben and ran the business till the sale to EYMS. My Grandma and my Aunt knew Tim in the old days – they ran a very small B & B in St. Stephen Road.

Chris Youhill

08/10/11 – 06:18

…all this talk of Body’s etc. sent me to my ticket collection of which I have
‘BODDY’S MOTOR TOURS’ at 101 Promenade and 10 Hilderthorpe Road BRIDLINGTON.
– also (to make Mr. Youhill dribble are scans I have done (Front and Back) scans of his ‘beloved’ WILLIMSON’S punch tickets showing ‘Havelock Crescent’ on reverse self message.

‘Coming Soon’ as they say to the Old Bus Tickets web site.

Peter Abel

08/10/11 – 17:23

Now then Peter A, a very good job I had a bib to hand as I’m already dribbling in anticipation !!

Chris Youhill

10/10/11 – 06:34

Ain’t we all! Cant wait to see the Boddy’s ticket

Keith Easton

12/01/12 – 06:45

Peelings of Tittleshall had YXD 10 a very similar Reliance.

Jonathan Joplin

18/07/21 – 06:28

VBT 191 is now in the heritage fleet of Thornes Independent, Hemingbrough near Selby, North Yorkshire.

Mr Anon

Copyright Ian Wild

Sheffield Corporation
1959
Leyland Leopard L1
Weymann Fanfare C41F

This bus delivered as B fleet number 1302 was one of the first batch of six Leopards to enter service in the autumn of 1959. They made quite a stir being completely different from anything that had been purchased previously (if you exclude the one off AEC Reliance / Roe Dalesman of 1958 but which was not used on normal service for several years). 1302 was renumbered to 1002 in 1967. The Weymann Fanfare coaches were never converted for OMO whilst in Sheffield service and the photo shows 1002 complete with conductor reversing at the Dungworth terminus of the occasional 107 service on a lovely summer Sunday evening in May 1967. The 107 was an extension of the main service 7 to Stannington, another of those services to outlying hamlets which Sheffield seemed to specialise in and which made it so different from many other Municipal Operators. 1002 was withdrawn along with the rest of the batch in 1971 and was sold to Tiger Coaches (dealer) in Salsburgh, Scotland.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Ian Wild

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15/06/2011 15:59

I have fond memories of these Fanfare bodied Leopards in the mid sixties.
My aunt and uncle used to keep the Dog & Partridge Inn at Bordhill on the climb to Woodhead pass and I spent many happy school holidays there. These coaches and the ECW bodied versions made the refreshment stop at the pub when working the X48 Sheffield/Manchester service and they were always crew worked.
I still have in my possession a letter from the Sheffield general manager thanking them for the hospitality shown to the crews and passengers over the years, when they left the pub in 1968.

Eric

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Due to a few requests below is a closer shot of this vehicle, and why not.

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16/06/11 – 09:32

Vehicles of my long lost youth! The excitement of living in Sheffield was that you never quite knew what to expect – and sometimes, in times of shortage – the B & C fleet Leopards emerged onto mundane tasks like the 8/9 Inner Circle or 38 Lowedges Road (much to my delight).
Wonderful picture, yet again, Ian. For obvious reasons, to those who know me, I wish that more Dalesmans and Fanfares had been built – both attractive and well built/finished bodies. These were quite the opposite of Duple and Plaxton who built buses in their slack, summer, period whereas Roe (in particular) and Weymann built coaches when they had a slack bus period. That being said, Weymann were a little more mainstream than Roe with major customers such as Southdown, Northern General Group, North Western – and smaller numbers for Devon General and South Wales.
These were the only Leopard Fanfares. Southdown had Tiger Cubs, everyone else had Reliances but Northern General also had some Guy LUF for one group company. These were the VERY FIRST Leopards built for and delivered to SJOC in July 1959 before the model was officially launched at the Scottish Motor Show the following November. Two more batches of Fanfares followed for SJOC B & C fleets as well as the ECW and Burlingham Leopards. The original six were first described as PSUC1 Tiger Cub specials but on delivery, this had been changed to L1 Leopard. (This was also interesting as the L1 was the bus version, the L2 the coach version – but ALL SJOC’s Leopard coaches were L1!)
Weymann crept back shortly after with two batches of Castilians for Southdown, lots of BET DPs in 1965 as well as multifarious coach bodies, in minute numbers, on Fords and Bedfords.

David Oldfield

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16/06/11 – 11:20

The Burlingham Leopards also worked the X48, I had forgotten about those. I think I have a photo somewhere I took of a Burlingham Leopard stood outside the Dog & Partridge. I’ll see if I can dig it out, but as it was taken on a Kodak Instamatic it may not be good enough to reproduce.

Eric

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17/06/11 – 18:07

1005 (1505 WJ) ended its days with Hulley of Baslow. 6170-6174 WJ also went to Hulleys of Baslow after a time with Midland Red.
See the undernoted picture on Flickr: www.flickr.com/
Seen in the picture are the "C" fleet Weymann Fanfares prior to going to Hulleys. The picture was taken at East Bank Garage in January 1970

Stephen Bloomfield

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18/01/13 – 16:58

I can well recall 1505 WJ in Hulley of Baslow service . It was highly regarded by the drivers and passengers alike. After yeoman service it was withdrawn in May 1976. I believe it was sold for use as a towing vehicle in Essex and eventually scrapped in August 1978

Jerry Wilkes

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19/01/13 – 06:16

And here are some of the Fanfares, as withdrawn vehicles, in Hulleys yard, plus a Yeates-bodied Bedford. www.flickr.com/photos 

Chris Hebbron

Photograph by ‘unknown’ if you took this photo please go to the copyright page.

Widnes Corporation
1945
Daimler CWA6
Duple UL55R – East Lancs L27/28R 1955

This photo was sent to me by Richard Mercer after he had seen the posting of the London Transport Daimler D1 which also had a Duple body, but as Richard points out this one is more rounded with softer edges and not so angular as the LT one.  As there is only one year between this vehicle and the LT one it leads to the question was this bus rebodied before this shot was taken, and if it was, is it possible that it was done by East Lancs. What I like about it is the very shapely cab door, side window and windscreen the driver had good visibility from that cab. Richard has fond memories of this bus which was photographed in St Pauls Road Widnes as it was his school bus in the 1950,s. The bus was withdrawn in 1967 and went to a dealer in Wombwell South Yorkshire I do not know if it had a life after that, if you know, let me know.

Photograph and information contributed by Richard Mercer

A full list of Daimler codes can be seen here.

12/06/11 – 10:41

The asymmetrical upper deck window arrangement was not as may be thought a simple repair job but the standard adopted by Widnes for all its new double deck deliveries until the switch to saloons in the nineteen sixties.

Chris Hough

12/06/11 – 11:27

This looks like an East Lancs body to me, and this is borne out by another picture of this bus on the Omnicolour Bussslides website. East Lancs apparently managed to convince the authorities that it could not adopt the severe austerity style of construction specified for the standard Utility bodywork without disrupting production, and its wartime bodies were built to the usual East Lancs appearance, though one imagines that the general embargo on the use of lightweight alloys and other materials must have applied. It is possible, therefore, that the body shown is original. However, the neat, well proportioned lines of the body on this Widnes bus certainly looks like an East Lancs product of the 1950s to me.

Roger Cox

13/06/11 – 07:46

I am no expert on these matters but it definitely looks like a rebody to me. The radius corner flush mounted side windows and sliding ventilators don’t look like those from a utility body and the front and rear domes are too rounded. It does have an East Lancs look about it though.

Ian Wild

13/06/11 – 07:48

FTF 207 was indeed rebodied by E/Lancs with this lowbridge body in 1955. Several Daimlers from the same batch and and also the 1943 batch received E/Lancs highbridge bodies around the same period.
My information is taken from the 1965 edition of Ian Allan British Bus Fleets book 6, Lancashire Municipal fleets.

Eric

13/06/11 – 07:51

Yes indeed. BBF6 has this as rebodied by East Lancs in 1955. However, it is shown as L55R rather than H55R, with FTF 208 rebodied at the same time as H60R.

Peter Williamson

13/06/11 – 10:41

As a stranger to the area and the operator I can’t possibly comment on the accuracy of the fleet lists, but unless its an optical illusion it certainly looks like a highbridge body. It is an extremely handsome vehicle – however tall it is !!

Chris Youhill

13/06/11 – 10:32

If you look at the handrail running alongside the upperdeck off side windows this confirms that it is a sunken gangway lowbridge body and the roofline is much flatter than the highbridge version.
My home town of Huddersfield had two batches of Regent III’s in 1954/5 with identical lowbridge bodies to this one. They also had a batch of highbridges in 1955 with a much more rounded roof profile. Leigh Corporation also had a batch of lowbridge Regent III’s around the same time and there is a photo of one of these in the 1965 BBF6

Eric

There is a shot of a Leigh Regent here and a Huddersfield one here.

Peter

13/06/11 – 12:11

I’ve just had a look at the photo of the Leigh one and whilst it is of the same general style as the Widnes/Huddersfield bodies I have noticed that the windows are not as flush as in the newer bodies and the radius corners of the pillars are slightly more angular. So the Leigh bodies are to the earlier design of about 1951. Again, Huddersfield had a batch each of highbridge and lowbridge bodies to this design delivered in 1951/2 the highbridges being 170-5 (FVH 170-5) of 1951 and the lowbridges 226-31 (GCX 26-31) of 1952. The also had a batch of highbridges delivered in 1950, 163-9 (EVH 563-9) but these bodies were of a totally different style altogether. So perhaps this shows that East Lancs were "on the ball" when it came to body design and updating.

Eric

14/06/11 – 08:23

Another good way of telling that it’s lowbridge is the gutter moulding above the lower saloon. This dips down behind the cab and then up again at the rear bulkhead and is in line with the floor. The drainage from the upper saloon floor would be behind that moulding.

David Beilby

15/06/11 – 07:09

I found this very confusing at first. I’ve never seen a picture of this before and I was initially unable to decide between Duple or East Lancs but it clearly is the latter as has now been proven. I think the confusion can be explained through the links posted by Peter W, this vehicle is obviously 7ft 6in wide, which gives the impression of extra height although it is lowbridge and dissembles the East Lancs look to a degree. The Leigh and Huddersfield vehicles are clearly 8ft wide and look more as you expect East Lancs to look for the period.
How nice to read that it achieved 22 years service!

Chris Barker

15/06/2011 15:55

Perhaps the missing push out ventilator on the off side upperdeck front window makes some people question if it is an East Lancs body and I think it does detracts slightly from what is an otherwise classic design of the period.

Eric

16/06/11 – 09:20

East Lancs bodied the majority of Widnes fleet in post war years a batch of East Lancs bodied PD2s which were to prove Widnes last deckers all had the winking eye upper deck treatment East Lancs even bodied a rather bizarre coach for Widnes in the sixties They switched to Nationals and later the Lynx when these became available

Chris Hough

Just dug out my very well thumbed BBF No 6 Lancashire – dated 1960 (Price 3/6d) and 59 was definitely East Lancs L57R rebodied in 1955 on the original CWA6 utility chassis. Some of this batch were CWD6 and some retained their utility bodies and were never rebodied at all. I remember seeing a utility bodied example in St Helens in the early 1960’s probably 1961/2 from memory.
For the record if anybody is interested according to this issue of BBF6 (and they were normally pretty accurate in those days) the details of the batch still in stock at 1960 are:-
49/51/53/60 – East Lancs H60R rebodied 1955
54 Northern Counties UH56R
55/56/57 Duple UH56R
58 Duple UL55R
59 East Lancs L57R rebodied 1955
So 59 was the only lowbridge East Lancs rebody.
I have them all underlined as being ‘copped’ apart from 54 which I have crossed out so it must have been an early withdrawal.
I agree that the single front ventilator which was a Widnes trait made the buses look a bit ‘botched’ and detracted from what otherwise was a tidy fleet. I presume the logic was that passengers wanting the fresh air treatment could choose to sit on the nearside while those of a less robust disposition could take to offside!
I remember a spotting trip to Widnes in 1962 when I copped these buses and at that time the new Widnes-Runcorn bridge had not long been open. We took a walk over it and the old Transporter Bridge was in the process of being dismantled. I regret that I never saw it in operation.
It was only after the opening of the new bridge that Widnes buses ventured over to Runcorn and previously terminated on the Lancashire side of the river to allow passengers for Runcorn to alight and go as foot passengers on the Transporter.
The bus drop-off point and the old Transporter Power Building is still in place at the end of a side street of terraced houses. The rest was all demolished.

Philip Halstead

21/08/15 – 06:02

58 and 59 were the only two in the fleet with the side gangway upstairs (handrail visible on 59), the seats being four in line on the nearside. 58 was a more decrepit unit so was probably in original form? My grandmother would never travel on upper decks as smoking was allowed, hence the ventilators. Downstairs she would try to avoid the offside seats on these two as headroom was restricted because of the sunken gangway upstairs. I witnessed many a cracked skull.

Kenneth Aaron

06/09/17 – 06:28

3 that I know of, 49, 51 and 60, had Leyland bodies in the mid 1950’s

Richard Mercer

16/05/20 – 06:32

I was interested to read the comment by Chris Hough (12/6/11) concerning the asymmetric upper deck window arrangement on Widnes buses.
My father J H (Harry) Craggs was general manager of Widnes Corporation for many years (from around 1950-1965) and I recall very clearly, when I was a young boy, he mentioned the reason for this unusual configuration! He told me that one window was sufficient to get good upper deck ventilation… two were not necessary and having both opened at the same time could cause drafts. It seemed both logical and fascinating at the time and I never forget this unusual conversation, even all these years later!

John Craggs