Hanson
1964
AEC/Hanson Reliance
Roe B41F
My first black & white photo and what a good one it is, on the face of it this bus looks like any normal “AEC Reliance” of 1964 but believe you me when it comes to Hansons nothing is what it seems. This bus is actually a rebodied “AEC Reliance” registration JCX 754 dating from 1955 which had a Plaxton C41C body. Hansons it seems made a point of getting there money”s worth out of the chassis they owned by rebodying them, nothing wrong with that in Yorkshire, in fact it is quite commendable. On saying all that the bus pictured here was sold along with the bus service to Huddersfield Corporation as fleet number 83 on the 1st Oct 1969 which is when I think Hansons got out of the bus business.
I don”t think it would be very long before this bus was on route to the scrap yard as I shouldn”t imagine many drivers would put up with the crash gearbox and the heavy steering, especially both at the same time.
Correction to previous sentence. I have just crossed referenced with an Huddersfield Corporation fleet list and found out that this bus was passed on to W.Y.P.T.E. on the 1st of April 1974 as fleet number 4082 (but it was never numbered) but at least it did 5 years service with Huddersfield.
I have a photo coming up soon where an Hansons 1948 “AEC Regal II or III” with a Duple C32F body becomes an 1958 “AEC Regent III” via an 1953 Plaxtons FC33F, you couldn”t make it up really, but when Hansons got involved, it happened.
I have quite a few Hansons photos and believe you me researching them is not an easy task as they do like to rebody and re-register at the same time but my thanks go to the Huddersfield Buses Website for all the information I have gathered. Photos of the above bus with its Duple body can be found on the above site, but you will need to be a bit of a scrolling wizard with a 17ins screen to find it, but it is well worth it when you do.