I lived along with A Mayne & son most my life now being 53. I have a tape recording in the loft of an AEC ride from Stevenson Sq to Sunnyside Road, I loved the sound of the AEC engine, the only other AEC’s were LU?s I lived in Shakespeare Rd just off the main route. Most nights laying in bed you could hear the last bus around 10.50pm pulling away from St. Stephens in the so quite nights back then.
My first memories of Maynes is that I went to Manor Road primary school and used to go home for dinner. You would run to the bus stop outside school at 12pm now at this time for some reason (it was route number 46) either a Maynes old bus like a RT came along (the chocolate bus) or a corpo (Manchester red) we all wanted the corpo because it just felt more comfy and warm, we would even let the chocolate bus go if the corpo was behind it.
In my last year outside primary was none other than ‘BORIS’ a very well known mad, fast driver with a bald head, he had been to the tip next to the school and had a flat tyre, me and my mate gave him a hand to change the tyre, he thanked us and said next time we were on his bus we would get a free ride, true to his word we got those free rides when he saw us waiting at the stop.
When they got rid of the rear doored buses they got one man operated buses still in maroon (now route 213) but still used a conductor these were now this is straight from memory LRJ 210P through to LRJ 214P as then I thought they were 4 buses in fact if you add up correctly it is actually five, eventually they were painted red and cream. Maynes were the only service we used to and from town 20min intervals requiring three buses during the day more at rush hour and Saturdays. At weekends and during the week they started using maroon coaches (used for excursions as well) in the evenings I think there were follow on LRJs as well but not sure.
Well that is about all I can remember about the great Maynes bus at what I would call its best time, it went downhill after deregulation buying all kinds of old bangers and single deckers.
After the LRJs came two Bristol’s followed by another two later on with another make as well in between that I cannot remember still that would be easy to find looking at a history, this is all from memory going back some 35 years. As I just remembered some new ones were new M reg? and one of those was painted in maroon and green to celebrate 75 years anniversary.
As an epitaph to my memories I was always fascinated by the ARTHUR MAYNES GARAGE on Ashton New road, we had a builders yard down the road so passed it all the time, in the evenings the garage was lit up in green fluorescents for the Maynes name, the garage was always painted clean white, anyway on with the end. In the early 90’s my late father had a part time job through the night serving petrol from the all night kiosk at the station (time the Bovas arrived) needless to say with him being on his own he used to let me walk around the depot (dreamland) of course you could go in the buses and cabs. One night I woke my own 6 year old son up to take him around the garage. He always remembers it and refers it to a dreamlike remembrance. Now the garage is pulled down and the superstores built the only thing left is the coach depot off Bank Street funnily enough in the are where Man Utd first played. You cannot see much as there is just a gateway but they still have lovely coaches of all colours.
I asked my father to inquire to David Mayne at the time why were all the coaches different colour designs, his reply was that the public would notice coaches of the same name but with different colouring and not be reflective of a fleet with a sanitized colour scheme.
Well those are my very happy halcyon memories of my time with Maynes I just wish I could go back and do it all again.
N Mather 05/2010
Photos kindly supplied by Tony Johnstone who was driving the Bristol at the time the shot was taken.
Round about 1956 my uncle, aunt and cousin booked a half-day pleasure tour with Trent from Nottingham to Dovedale. I guess it would cost about 4/6 in those days. I haven’t a clue what the vehicle was, but it had a central entrance, and uncle and cousin managed to snaffle the front nearside seat alongside the driver.
They set off in bright sunshine about 2.15, but as they travelled west along the old A52 to Derby clouds were gathering. Between Derby and Ashbourne it became very overcast indeed. It started to spit with rain as they passed through the village of Thorpe Cloud, and by the time they reached the car and coach park near the famous stepping stones, the rain was falling in a steady torrent.
Well, there’s not much to do at Dovedale in that sort of weather, and no-one appeared in a hurry to alight. So after a bit of discussion and a call to Nottingham from a public phone box, the driver (who was a bit of a glum individual) said that they were going on to Matlock instead. Everyone brightened up a little, though the weather didn’t follow suit.
Now main roads didn’t feature much in the run to Matlock. What is more the driver didn’t have a map – didn’t need one; knew the route to Dovedale like the back of his hand. He knew the route to Matlock as well – but not, it seemed, starting from Dovedale. My 12 year old cousin, on the other hand, had a one-inch Ordnance Survey on his knee, and was following progress with interest.
Amongst the party of 35 or so on board was a middle-aged foreign lady who seemed to be of a nervous disposition. As the coach plunged along narrow muddy twisting lanes, she gave vent to a series of gasps and sighs, and seemed doubtful about their prospects of survival. Several times she said to no-one in particular, but loudly enough for others to hear, “It would be better to go home!”
At length they came to a cross roads (no signpost) and after pausing a moment for inspiration, the driver chose the road to the right. They hadn’t gone far before my cousin looked up from his map and remarked confidentially, “Hey, dad – this is going to be interesting. There’s a hill steeper than 1 in 5 along here, and a ford at the bottom of it!” As the gradient steepened, uncle ventured to pass on this priceless piece of intelligence to the driver, who replied, “Not a lot we can do about it now is there?”
At this the French lady became even more agitated, and cried out “It is too dangerous. We cannot go on. Let us turn round and go home!” Think of it – trying to turn a coach on a road less than 10 feet wide, that looked as though it was about to disappear over a cliff edge.
At this the driver half turned to my uncle and muttered out of the corner of his mouth. “’Arf a day trip she’s paid for” he said darkly “and ’arf a day trip she’s going to get!”
Matlock was no drier than Dovedale, and the tour was a complete wash-out. But thereafter, whenever coach tours were mentioned in our family, my aunt would solemnly intone “’Arf a day trip she’s paid for, and ’arf a day trip she’s going to get!” All who had heard the tale before would then roll about in fits of uncontrollable laughter, and those who hadn’t thought we’d all gone doo-lally.
It was during the dark days of World War 2 and in November 1943 The Ministry of Supply allocated to Samuel Ledgard two Guy Arabs with rare Pickering utility bodywork. One was an FD1, with a short flush fitting bonnet (JUA 762). This vehicle had little connection with Otley and Ilkley but the other one, the subject of these happy recollections, spent its entire career at Otley depot. JUA 763 was an FD2 version with an extended bonnet although this was at first unnecessary as the Gardner 5LW engine was originally fitted. As I was only seven years old when this fine and fascinating machine arrived I never imagined that I would one day be lucky enough to work on it at both ends, and sad enough to drive it on its last day in service in November 1961.
Many years went by while enthusiasts resigned themselves to the fact that no photos existed of the Pickering utility bodies, but fairly recently one very nostalgic picture of each vehicle has come to light, and very welcome they are too! One of my favourite memories of JUA 763 in its original form concerns a long serving and well liked elderly conductress, Mary Hughes. As a teenage enthusiast I was riding from Leeds to Ilkley with her when a very pompous passenger boarded at Kirkstall Lane. He promptly and loudly expressed his disgust that people should be expected to ride on wooden seats so long after Herr Hitler had been sorted out. Rising valiantly to the firm’s defence Mary retorted with the wildest of all public relations misrepresentations – ’AY WELL IT’S AN OLD ‘UN THA SEES, AND THEY ONLY GET IT OUT WHEN `THEY’RE REET FORCED.’
Anyway early in 1951 the matter of comfort was addressed to some tune, and the two Arabs were relieved of their dubious Pickering ‘coachwork’ and were sent to Mr. Charles H. Roe’s renowned Crossgates Carriage Works for new bodies. As everyone knows nothing but the finest ever came from that wonderful factory and 763 soon returned to Otley looking immaculate in the standard colour scheme of the time. This consisted of blue panels with green roof white window surrounds and dark blue bands with gold lining out beneath. I couldn’t help remembering that day in 1951 when I had discovered the Guy at the back of the garage having freshly arrived from Crossgates and yet to carry the first clients in comfort amidst that wonderful aroma of polished wood and leather.
Really interesting features for this fleet were the three section safety staircase and that famous Roe window on the lower landing. It is just a shame that despite such expensive re-bodying the vehicle was never fitted with a decent front destination blind, or with one of any kind at all over the platform – a classic case of ‘spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar’. The extra weight of the new body made the five cylinder Gardner struggle a bit and therefore in December 1956 763 and twin were despatched to Pelican Engineering of Rothwell (still Gardner agents today) and retumed a great deal more lively with 6LW engines.
Almost every night when I worked at Otley the Guy seemed to be parked ready for action on the small triangular enclosure near the Post Office. It had a 12 volt electrical system and on winter mornings you had to reach into a hole in the bonnet and switch on the ‘cold start’ device. Then you got in, pressed the button, and waited while the starter motor built up to a frenzied whine where upon the Gardner would roar into life with that wonderful whistling, and the fascinating ‘tinkling’ from the clutch which seemed peculiar to Guy Arabs.
About the incredible jet of blue/black smoke which could shoot over Crossgates and reach the Bus Station we’d better say no more in these environmentally sensitive times! New drivers were frequently foxed by the gearbox which was ‘back to front’ in that first and second were near the driver while third and fourth were towards the engine. Regrettably it did have one very naughty habit for the unwary. Upon pulling up to tum round you had to make sure that you had stopped moving forward and that the engine was down to a tick over. Failure to do so could cause a complete jam and render the bus unmoveable in any direction until a fitter had attended. Luckily this never happened to me as a driver but it did occur once while I was a conductor, at the worst possible location on the blind bend in Arthington where we had to reverse into Rawden Hill. I had to cadge a lift from a kindly elderly lady in a WVS van so as to use the phone in the village while the driver stayed on guard (and no doubt tenterhooks as well) in the hope that no heavily laden speeding lorry would demolish the Guy.
I loved 763 and would gladly drive it anywhere, any time, to the dismay of many of the conductors who disliked it because of its narrow gangways and ‘only one bell upstairs. Kindly Charlie Goodwin, who allocated the buses, used to look up with relief when I appeared and, crossing that famous number off his little daily list with a happy grin, would say ‘763 Kid?’ Although the Guy was flat out at around 34-35 mph it would, in true Gardner style, maintain almost the same speed with a full load ‘up a house side’. In a very long career of driving many fine vehicles of numerous makes and models I can’t think of a more individual and likeable machine with all its own eccentricities. There, now I’ve fallen into the trap of leaning towards a favourite which is a thing we shouldn’t do as virtually every model has its appealing features and it’s far better for the enthusiast to appreciate them all in their own right.
Anyway the sad final day came one Sunday in late November 1961 and I did a full late turn with my old friend. This duty consisted of five return journeys from Otley to Leeds via Bramhope. It seemed unreal to have to reverse 763 into the garage for the last time, never to carry another passenger on wooden Q or upholstered seats.
In the days that followed we had to witness the sad sight of the bodywork being dismantled in Otley depot. It was a strange decision really, and one which we never fathomed, as it was a bus which could certainly have been re-certified for further service. I think I would rather have seen the vehicle go away in one piece without being spoiled, as was normal practice, but at least some of its components stayed on in two other buses. The seats – moquette in the lower saloon and leather upstairs – were transferred into Leyland PD1 BCK 621 (ex Preston) along with the chrome saloon bulb surrounds.
In a more spectacular operation the complete window assemblies were miraculously installed in the ailing BBW bodywork of another Leyland PD1 KHW 243 (ex Bristol) giving that vehicle a much improved and unique appearance.
Well, that’s about the end of this little biography but I must admit that even today, when I am in Otley, I look at the Post Office parking triangle, now a municipal garden and just imagine for a moment that grand old motor always ready for action. Then I return to Leeds in great comfort and at phenomenal speed up The Chevin in a modern Volvo/Wrights – but the old atmosphere and appeal can never return.
Chris Youhill 05/2010
Photograph supplied by Chris but the photographer is unknown if you took this photo please go to the copyright page.
I’m green with envy, Chris, as I’ve never driven a Guy decker, except in an odd dream where I suddenly realised that I was behind the bulkhead and thus out of reach of the steering wheel. I’d love to know more about “FD1” and “FD2”, and whether the changeover from right-to-left gearbox coincided exactly with the offering of the 6LW alternative, and whether there were any other changes.
And can anyone tell me how much of the rarish pre-war Arab survived into the wartime versions? Or why the Arab IV gearbox was so much more melodious than that of the III? Has anyone any info on the 5-speed Arab IIIs that Red & White is reputed to have run?
Finally, a plug: there will be a feast of Aldershot & District vehicles at the Farnham, Surrey, Running Day this coming Sunday, 30 May. Website here
Ian Thompson
A shame indeed Ian that you never had a drive in an Arab as they really were fascinating vehicles. As far as I know, the only difference between the FD1 and the FD2 when delivered was that the former had a flush fiiting radiator and bonnet which could only accommodate the Gardner 5LW, while the other had the extended bonnet regardless of engine – so either an empty space with the 5LW or a full bonnet with the 6LW. I think that all were supplied new with the “back to front” gearbox – a maroon knob on the lever instead of black being the only clue – and there was no connection with the type of engine fitted.
I would love to be at the Farnham gathering – my dear late friend Andrew Oxley used to drive the preserved vehicles on the running days at one time – perhaps you knew him ??
There can be few sights more incongruous than that of a half-century-old bright red Manchester Corporation Leyland PD2 making its way through lush, green Derbyshire countryside on a warm sunny day with the word FOG displayed in huge letters on its via blind. But that was one of the attractions of the June 2009 Chatsworth Preserved Bus Gathering, and not without good reason. For that bus belongs to an era when fog was a prominent and regular part of Manchester life, and I remember it well.
Although neither as famous nor as colourful as London’s “pea-soupers”, Manchester’s November fogs were every bit as thick. As children we used to walk in front of cars, guiding them through the side streets until they reached the main road. Of course, we could hardly see the road ahead any better than the drivers could, but those streets were our playground, and we knew the colour of every front door and garden gate, and the position of every broken kerbstone. The murk was so thick that my father once walked straight into someone, said “I beg your pardon”, and then realised that he was talking to a lamp post.
But for all their density, Manchester’s fogs sometimes tended to be very patchy, probably owing to the varied topography of the cityscape. In the north, muscular Leyland double-deckers roared up and down hills, as the undulating moorland (then heavily disguised by cosy Victorian terraces, but now all too obvious in the greener, bleaker world that is supposed to be so much better for us) rose inexorably towards the Pennine foothills. On the other side of the city, Gardner-powered Daimlers – some with only five cylinders – purred and crooned demurely among the pancake-lands of the southern suburbs. It may have been the effect of these ups and downs on the fog that inspired that via-blind display, to explain the disruption of the bus service to would-be passengers waiting in places where there was no fog to be seen.
I remember one occasion after work in the 1960s when I was trying to get home from Cannon Street in a particularly thick one. There seemed to be no buses heading my way at all, but I noticed that across the road the 26s were coming and going every ten minutes like clockwork. So I crossed the road and boarded one. As the PD2 climbed slowly up Waterloo Road through the aptly-named Hightown, we suddenly came out of the fog into a beautifully clear evening. I alighted at Higher Crumpsall and headed for home on foot, across what should have been the Irk Valley – but there was no Irk Valley to be seen. As I descended Ash Tree Road I stopped in disbelief. Looking up, a full moon was shining out of a starry sky. Looking down, I couldn’t see my feet!
But my most abiding memory of buses and fog goes back to childhood, when my parents would take me with them to visit their friends in other parts of the city. During one of these visits, in Moss Side, the fog descended. After saying our goodbyes we groped our way to the bus stop and waited. With nothing for company but a haloed mercury-vapour street lamp, we stood in the chill silence for a very long time. Now and again a sound would approach, and my father would say “This is it”. Well it could have been, but it wasn’t. It was just another disappointment in the shape of a car, a van or a taxi. But then I heard something different.
I’ve mentioned Leylands and Daimlers, but there was a third bus-presence on the streets of Manchester in those days. If Leylands were the macho boys, and Daimlers the sweet seductresses, a Crossley resembled nothing more than a kindly old granny with a smoker’s cough. And that was what I had heard – a distant, wheezy chuffing sound. “This is it!” I announced. A fog light pierced the gloom, followed rapidly by a destination display beneath a pair of windows, and then the magnificence of an entire illuminated mini-world of civilisation, gently chuffing through the desert of fog.
This was indeed it. Granny Crossley had come to take us home!
Peter Williamson 05/2010
Many thanks indeed Peter for such an enjoyable and colourfully written account of the Manchester fogs. I can relate easily to your views as I have virtually identical memories that we bus crews faced in those far off days which, understandably, today’s younger folks can scarcely be expected to credit.
I remember particularly one dreadful evening on the Otley to Leeds route of Samuel Ledgard when I was a conductor. The running time for a single journey was 35 minutes for the ten miles, and on that occasion I had walked the greater part of the trip just in front of the nearside mudguard and I could hardly see the rural grass verges or indeed the kerb edges when the City boundary was reached. In fact although the ex London Sutton Depot “HGF” Daimler was doing its best to behave demurely at walking pace I had some fear of being scooped up from time to time. Well, we arrived in Leeds after well over two hours in the impenetrable gloom, by which time I literally resembled a coal miner after a double shift underground – my face was totally black with the soot that the fogs contained in those pre Clean Air Act days. I hope you will all believe the following verbatim furious quote from the fur coated bejewelled “Hyacinth Bucket” type aristocrat at the head of a weary queue :-
“Well really !! – I KNOW its foggy but where on EARTH have you been ??
I was never in the habit of being rude to passengers, but the temptation was enormous to reply “We just stopped off at the Dyneley Arms for a quick one and a game of darts.”
I must in conclusion say how much I enjoyed Peter’s character descriptions of the three leading constituents of the Manchester fleet – I’ve heard all sorts said about Crossleys, particularly the twenty one post war examples in Leeds, but I have a new soft spot now for kindly “Granny Crossley.”
Chris Youhill
04/06/13 – 07:03
Just read Peter Williamson’s article from May 2010 and it reminded me of a day in the early 1960s, a day when the Manchester Evening News published a picture in its later editions of the city centre at midday which was basically black with blurry light which emanated from vehicles and buildings with no definition. That day we were released from grammar school in Rusholme immediately after lunch. I say “we” but the lads from Warrington, Glossop and Macclesfield were held back with the possibility of being bedded down in the gym for the night if the fog persisted. Emerging onto Wilmslow Rd with the glow from shop lights barely penetrating the gloom, the first impression was the lack of traffic on the normally hectic thoroughfare. Gaining the bus stop for the 31/161/162, any of which would take me more than half way home, I joined a very long queue. Given that the stop and one adjoining were served by no fewer than ten routes between them, including the very frequent 53 service, the lack of a single bus in either direction for almost quarter of an hour was both ominous and somewhat spooky. Eventually a Northern Counties bodied Royal Tiger on the 31 bound for Bramhall emerged extremely slowly from the murk. The conductor appeared at the rear entrance to announce he had more on board than he should have and, anyway, it would be quicker to walk, wherever we were headed. That made my mind up for me and I eventually walked to Parrs Wood, passing a number of buses which had given up the ghost. Stockport were turning the 9 and 16 round at Parrs Wood as onwards to West Didsbury and Chorlton the visibility was circa five to ten yards. In the other direction, once the climb through Heaton Mersey was started the fog evaporated so I was able to ride the last mile or so. The irony was, if we had stayed in school, by normal release time at 4 pm the fog had cleared and buses were back running, if not to schedule, at least in adequate numbers.
Phil Blinkhorn
04/06/13 – 09:46
Love the article, Peter, which is both amusing and evocative, reminding me of London peasoupers which penetrated as far as Morden, just in Surrey (then). I can recall helping lost car drivers in the worst one of 1951/2(?) and charging sixpence for walking three-mile journeys between two main roads. Must have made at least half a crown that evening and night. Thought of making a career out of it, but the Clean Air Act put paid to that, dammit! I should add that when I was young our lampposts had 60w light bulbs, hardly any good in clear weather!
Chris Hebbron
04/06/13 – 14:32
MCTD crews were rather fond of displaying the “FOG” section of the via blind at entirely inappropriate times, although I believe that this was a punishable offence if noticed by a humourless inspector. My own favourite, seen in the city centre, was a Daimler showing the correct display “40x Fog Lane” with the destination amplified by the use of “FOG” on the via!
Neville Mercer
04/06/13 – 14:34
There are some (boring old f**ts) out here who would contend that Morden (along with Kingston, Sutton and Croydon) is still in Surrey. [They can’t take the Yorkshire out of a Yorkshireman and they can’t take Surrey out of its towns.] Oh, and by the way, Sale is in Cheshire and Slough is in Bucks.!
David Oldfield
05/06/13 – 06:01
A Daimler on MCTD route 40? Now that was rarer than the incidence of FOG! Not many terminated at Fog Lane but at a pinch I suppose that Birchfields Road could have fielded one.
Orla Nutting
05/06/13 – 06:02
Mr Oldfield – but Saddleworth is now legally on the right side of the Pennines having been a late capture in the extended Wars of the Roses – and we still want Todmorden back!! Fog Lane, by the way Neville, was not a timetabled 40x turn round – Green End Rd turn backs vastly outnumbered the Fog Lane ones. I seem to remember outbound evening Fog Lane workings were at the discretion of the loading Inspector, Green End Lane ones being timetabled and extended the extra two stops as necessary. Neither was an easy turnaround after the mid 1950s when Kingsway got busier. The fact you saw this on a Daimler is indicative of the fact that these two turn back points were for Birchfields Rd depot vehicles on evening rush hour fill ins – I’m not sure Parrs Wod vehicles had Fog Lane on their blinds as no Parrs Wood route terminated anywhere along its length. In effect Fog Lane was a misnomer as, outbound from the city, Lane End Rd is on the side of Kingsway adjacent to the stop, Fog Lane starts on the opposite side of the road. The outbound turn backs in the evening were an annoyance for those wishing to go to Parrs Wood, less than a mile from Green End Rd and only a few hundred yards, albeit over a relatively steep railway bridge slope, from Lane End Rd but the evening short trips evened out the loadings in Albert Sq (or Princess St where the loading point was)and were very much a Birchfields Rd turn. In the morning the short workings were a boon for Manchester’s own commuters as the 40 would often fill before leaving Parrs Wood, mainly with connecting passengers from Stockport, so the short workings were to give a decent service to Manchester ratepayers. The Fog Lane starts would be provided by extra Parrs Wood vehicles being dispatched empty non stop to Fog Lane if the Parrs Wood Inspector deemed it necessary and they would more often than not run back empty to depot after just one trip, the Green End Rd starts were a Birchfields Rd turn. Out of interest, can anyone remember if passengers were carried between the official terminus of the 40 in Albert Sq and the loading point in Princess St either inbound or outbound?
Phil Blinkhorn
05/06/13 – 06:02
and Saddleworth, Sedbergh, Dent, Earby, Barnodswick, Gisburn, Middlesborogh ,Redcar, …. I could go on – they are all in Yorkshire David. And one for John Whitaker – on certain very wide stretches of road in Bradford there were white fairy lights strung from the trolleybus overhead to guide the way in fog, Spring Head Road in Thornton immediately springs to mind and also oil can flares were placed in the road as well.
Gordon
05/06/13 – 08:33
When I started using the 40 in 1963 the inbound buses proceeded straight to Princess Street – I don’t believe they even stopped in Albert Square. Heading for Exchange or Victoria stations as I was I know the technique was usually to try to jump off at the John Dalton Street corner as it slowed for the zebra crossing there. That is if our 40x from MGS wasn’t a Royal Exchange one. There was usually one in the evening and more unusually (and I don’t know how we found out about it) one ran in from Exchange Gardens through Piccadilly in the morning at the tail end of the rush hour. I can’t remember what it came in as.
David Beilby
05/06/13 – 08:34
Yes, it was a Birchfields Rd bus! Incidentally, this is a demonstration of the expertise available on this site – I very much doubt that any other source (outside of the Manchester Transport Museum!) could have correctly pinpointed the garage allocation of the vehicle involved in this vignette 50 years after the event. I would add, though, that – certainly in 1962-63 – there were always quite a few vehicles during the evening peak showing the Fog Lane destination. But I only ever saw one with the added via blind.
Neville Mercer
05/06/13 – 10:57
A couple of points: The destination FOG LANE is correct. Fog Lane did extend over Kingsway in those days. Lane End Rd is immediately opposite the western side of Fog Lane but the eastern side of Fog Lane commenced about 40 yards south of Lane End Rd and connected with Burnage Lane by the side of the then Bull Inn. Buses used to turn off Kingsway up this short stretch of Fog Lane and complete a loop back to Kingsway via Burnage Lane and Lane End Rd. This manoeuvre was also used by MCTD buses coming up Kingsway from Birchfields Rd on works services for Hans Renolds (never called Renolds Chains in those days, colloquially) before parking up northbound on the short stretch of Burnage Lane and by SCTD buses on works services which used come down Burnage Lane and loop around Lane End Rd and Fog Lane before parking up southbound on Burnage Lane. The 40 did not stop in Albert Square inbound. The terminus was Princess Street (along with the 89 and 42). The penultimate stop was in Mount Street, just before Albert Sq, outside the Quaker Hall. Of course, outbound it did not pass through Albert Square but continued out of town via Princess Street and eventually connected with it’s inbound route at the junction with Grosvesnor Street.
Orla Nutting
05/06/13 – 18:09
Orla, Both my 1960 and 1972 A-Z Manchester clearly show Lane End Rd starting at the Stockport boundary, crossing Burnage Lane and terminating at Kingsway. The eastern side of Fog Lane to which you refer is also shown but is unnamed. I don’t ever remember a street sign on that stretch, it being to the best of my knowledge an un-named thoroughfare. It looks like it is just another of those odd historical quirks, Fog Lane having crossed a major thoroughfare, being at 45 degrees to the axis of the rest of the lane and running for around 50 yards. Just another interesting bit of history which seems to have been sanitized by modern planning. I mentioned the difficulty of turning because some drivers used the dual carriageway layout to do a U-turn on Kingsway – as they did at Green End Rd, rather than the route you described. This was especially frequent in the 1950s. Also equally as quirky, given that off loading didn’t occur in Albert Sq, was the Albert Sq destination displayed on the 40 and not changed when it became the 50. Princess St would have been more accurate but non specific, give its length.
Phil Blinkhorn
06/06/13 – 06:02
The geographical inaccuracy wasn’t confined to the 40. The Saddleworth services (10/13/14) actually terminated in Lever Street but always showed Stevenson Square. Part of this will have been to economise on blinds by making one terminus name serve for several services. As it was some Manchester depots had to have odd and even buses on different services as a universal blind would have been too long.
David Beilby
06/06/13 – 06:03
Sorry to have to correct you but that short stretch did have a street sign proclaiming it to be Fog Lane until it disappeared as a through road after the Bull Inn was demolished. If it is any help the 1848 Tithe Map of Heaton Mersey shows it as Fog Lane too, the boundary then including the Bull Inn in a very narrow strip of Heaton Mersey, the only land on the western side of Burnage Lane to be designated thus. I can’t explain why the destination of the 40 was always shown as Albert Square but it was common for all the buses that terminated in Princess Street (85, 89 and 133) to show Albert Square except the 42 which showed Royal Exchange (but didn’t terminate there!). So far as I know no bus route that went into the square terminated there with the possible exception of the 35X rush hour service. Nevertheless you’ll be pleased to know that Albert Square does not figure as the destination of most route 50 buses …. it now terminates at Salford Quays.
Orla Nutting
06/06/13 – 07:30
I particularly remember one instance when I had gone to Leeds for day release to study for Institute of Transport exams. A thick fog had dropped during the afternoon when we were in class. The classes were in Woodhouse Lane so I had to find my way to Vicar Lane bus station for the service 31 to Keighley. The driver had adjusted the fog light to focus on the kerb edge and this combined with the conductor hopping on and off to assist at junctions. It eventually got us to Keighley.
Anyway, here are two fog pictures, taken in 1964, showing West Yorkshire LL5Gs, one at Harrogate and the other on Keighley service 13 crossing the swing bridge over the canal. These are both my photos. Incidentally, the swing bridge restricted the types of bus used on this route and the 7’6″ LLs initially were the mainstay, with 8′ wide ones appearing here and there. Note JYG 742 hasn’t even put the headlights on in the fog.
David Rhodes
06/06/13 – 09:56
David, the odd/even blind system was another Pilcher innovation but it had its down side when failure in service at key times led to no substitute vehicle with the requisite blind being available. Manchester was not known for having stocks, or even use, of paper stickers in the nearside bulkhead window so, from time to time, a bus could be seen with the correct route number but no via or destination blind set defeating the object of what was, at face value, a comprehensive passenger information system. Orla, I’m intrigued about the street sign. I lived in Heaton Mersey from 1956 to 1973, apart from a two year sojourn in Chorlton from 1968 to 1971, and both as a youngster on my bike and an adult in my car I regularly passed that bit of Fog Lane but can’t bring the location of the street sign to mind. Not only that but in summer coming from school, or later work, I would sometimes leave the 29 or 40 at that point and use that stretch to gain the monkey path alongside Hans Renolds to walk up the hill to eventually emerge on Priestnall Rd. Obviously I’m having an extended senior moment!!
Phil Blinkhorn
06/06/13 – 11:46
Leeds suffered with fog in the fifties and sixties but to a lesser extent than Manchester. In the fog the trams came into their own as they tended to keep running longer than the buses that replaced them. Leeds City Police did point duty in those days and I can remember as a child travelling through City Square in thick fog and seeing the PC stood in a white mac to reflect light with a naphtha fire on each side so drivers could see him although how he saw traffic is anybodies guess!
Chris Hough
06/06/13 – 11:48
Ah, the monkey path. That brings back memories. I was trying think of the name of the road onto which it emerged before it joined Mersey Rd but couldn’t so I googled it only to find it is called ‘Woodheys’ now which may be a newish development as it doesn’t ring a bell. Lo and behold, however, Google Maps still show the short stretch of road between Kingsway and Burnage Lane as Fog Lane! I’m not sure that any passenger alighting at Fog Lane ever traversed the footpath; everyone crossed the car park of the Bull Inn to Burnage Lane as it offered a few steps shorter effort. No longer of course, as it’s now a Shell Service Station and the bus stop is set a few yards back into a lay-by immediately after Lane End Rd. The plethora of routes that once passed there are no more with the sole survivors being the 50 and the 29 (now renumbered 130 just confuse people of an ancient vintage). And the monkey path? Well it’s still there following much the original route as part of a network of paths on Heaton Mersey Common according to the 1:10000 map of the area (as is Fog Lane east of Kingsway
Orla Nutting
06/06/13 – 17:03
Orla, the monkey path finished on Hawthorn Rd which led to Mersey Rd and, if you turned left and then right, you were on Priestnall Rd within 50 yards or so. Buses used to run along Priestnall Rd and Mersey Rd serving Fylde Lodge School when it moved from Mauldeth Rd. No fog problems but a number of bruised domes from overhanging trees and eventually a lay-by was made outside the old school on Mauldeth Rd and the girls had to walk around 200 yards.
Phil Blinkhorn
08/06/13 – 08:07
Of course it should be remembered that Manchester’s vagueness in describing terminal points was not confined to what was displayed on the destination screen of the bus. The same name appeared in the timetable and fare tables. In addition to Albert Square and Stevenson Square there was “Piccadilly”, which meant anywhere in the general vicinity of Piccadilly Gardens, but rarely if ever Piccadilly itself. On the subject of blank destinations, the 60 normally showed Victoria Avenue outbound and Cannon Street inbound, but as it was a circular service, Victoria Avenue was not actually a terminus, unless the number was 60x (short working), in which case it might be. I once boarded a (clockwise) 60x with a blank destination at Heaton Park and asked the conductor how far he was going. He was very vague, but, after enquiring my destination, assured me he was going far enough for me. Later in the journey he confided that they didn’t actually know where they were going until they received instructions from the inspector at Blackley Office. When they did, the display changed to 61x Stevenson Square!
Peter Williamson
08/06/13 – 14:09
Peter’s mention, amplifying mine about MCTD’s inspectors deciding on a service’s final destination, highlights just how much these eminences were relied on to ensure the efficient running of the system. Most passengers only came across them when their tickets were inspected or only felt their power if they had not paid or had stayed on past their stop or at least the following fare stage). It would be interesting if anyone with experience as an inspector or with very close experience of the way they were organised and worked for any operator, could write an article for the forum.
Phil Blinkhorn
09/06/13 – 06:35
Splendidly atmospheric photos of the Bristol Ls in the fog. The Keighley 13 on the canal swing bridge looks to be approaching the bridge at an awkward angle. I don’t know the bridge in question, but it appears to be off square with the bridge. I very much doubt that the bridge has started to swing with just the front axle on board !
Peter Murnaghan
09/06/13 – 11:33
Fog in Riddlesden: the wonders of Google Maps suggest that if this is Granby Lane, there was quite a curve leading to the bridge from the south side- perhaps worse with what was presumably an old bridge, now replaced….? The bus also had to avoid that wooden footpath whilst getting its length across the bridge. Looks easier now- and power steering.
Joe
13/06/13 – 07:10
This is in answer to two other submissions with regard to this bridge, but I realise that the fog connection has digressed. This is indeed the bridge at Granby Lane in Riddlesden. Any vehicle wanting to get into the village from the main Bradford Road had to use one of two bridges, and the Granby Lane one was the strongest! Until the early 50s the bridge was of wooden construction and dictated lightweight buses be used. As Peter has observed, the later bridge (metal construction) was out of line with the road and approached from a steep upward slope. It was therefore important for the bus driver to line the vehicle up, otherwise the rear end could clip the rubbing strip of the bridge. The photos below show the bridge at various stages.
The Leyland Cub was an early 30s one of two bought specifically for use on these bridges. The OBs were used from the late 40s to the early mid-50s, when the Bristol LLs took over. The photograph of the Bristol is one of my own. The photographer of the Bedford is unknown. The picture of the Cub I bought from someone in the WYIS. As a little humorous aside, on approaching the bridge from the lower side it was possible for car drivers not to see a vehicle coming from the opposite direction onto the bridge, and stand-offs and confrontations were not infrequent. One particular cantankerous local businessman refused to back off the bridge and headed for the hostelry at the other side with the words “When you’ve made your mind up, I’ll be in there having a pint”. Happy days!
David Rhodes
29/09/13 – 09:49
You have photos of some very impressive buses on your site. Slightly off track I came across them looking for information on when coal fires were first banned in Manchester and enjoyed reading people’s recollections of the pea soupers we used to have each winter. I remember finishing school early and having to walk home on many occasions in thick fog. And my father arriving home from work looking like one of the Black and White Minstrels having travelled through the smog on his moped. I don’t know if anyone would be able to help me with the information I’m looking for, I know it’s not the purpose of your site, but if anyone can cast their mind back to the early sixties and come up with an answer I’d be very grateful.
Petrina
29/09/13 – 11:16
Petrina, Manchester City Council first proposed a smoke free city in 1938. WW2 delayed plans and it was 1952 before the commercial centre of Manchester became the first experimental zone where smoke emissions from buildings and bonfires were banned. The smoke control areas were gradually expanded, the biggest push being in the 1960s but it was the 1980s before the city as a whole came under smoke control orders.
Phil Blinkhorn
29/09/13 – 15:38
Phil is right in stating that Manchester started in 1952, after all the smogs of that year. Many other towns and citiews did, too. However, a reluctant government finally enacted legislation in the Clean Air Act 1956 – see this link. The burning of smokeless fuel and other measures did not, however cover the whole country, only the smoky parts. Gloucestershire, being rural, with little industry, was exempt, for example.
Chris Hebbron
30/09/13 – 07:17
I hadn’t realised that smokeless zones were still being rolled-out into the 1980s! – one would have thought that by then – with the shift away from domestic coal fires, and the decline in factories/mills (which must have largely happened in the early/mid-1970s) – the need for smokeless zones was past. I remember the smokeless zone in Halifax affecting my grandfather: it must have been around 1971/2 (when my mother took delivery of a a Jensen Interceptor – now apparently James Bond’s car of choice), when dual carriage-ways, fly-overs, colour TV, and impressive-looking Bradford City Transport dual-door Alexander-Fleetlines came to Halifax – I assumed that the hexagonal (“Coalite”?) blocks burning (well, just about smoldering) in my grandfather’s grate were similarly a new form of “sexy 70’s” coal. I recall reading that a lot of domestic customers turned away from coal as “cheap” North Sea gas came on-stream, and when coal was rationed for OAPs use during the 1972/74(?) miners’ strike(s), which sort-of sorted the problem out for itself. With such a decline in domestic and industrial use of coal, and a reduction in inner-city housing density following the “clearances” of the late 60s/early 70s, are smokeless zones still relevant? What might a similar destination display be now? “Generally Heavy Traffic”? “Some Twit Blocked Major Roundabout”? “Student Wanted to Explore All Ticket Options Before Proffering Ł20 Note for Ł2 Fare”? “FOG” – one of those little local definers, like ITV franchises, and . . . errm . . . the colour of the buses, that have been swept away in the last 40 years. Oh! in a world of dot-matrix/LED displays you can add “different destination displays” to that list.
Philip Rushworth
01/10/13 – 18:02
Phil Locally you could show the one in front was turned short or the one in front broke down to your list. Both are common occurrences locally.
Burlingham’s bodywork for front engined chassis evolved from the “full fronted” Sun Saloon model of the late 1940s (some later versions of which carried the Seagull “tank” moulding on their sides) into this nameless “Seagull lookalike”. The 1953 body on this example – 1946 vintage AEC 0662 Regal DUK 752 – was ordered by Don Everall of Wolverhampton. The rejuvenated vehicle passed to W Smith & Sons of Donnington Wood in 1957 and is seen here on one of their local stage carriage services. When Smiths sold out to Hoggins (Pilot Coaches) of Wrockwardine Wood in March 1959 it was sold to Leadbetter of Sutton Coldfield, famous at that time for its selection of geriatric coaches. (R Marshall via B M Gough)
The unpopularity of the Mark 6 and 7 Seagulls was not entirely responsible for the declining sales of coach bodywork at Burlingham. From 1951 onwards the company had offered a 36-41 seat design on Bedford SB and other front engined chassis types. Although visually very similar to the original Seagull, this design was never given an official name by Burlingham. There was also a shorter variant of this body style suitable for the modernisation of Bedford OB and OWBs, and this soon became known among its (mainly Scottish) customers as the “Baby Seagull”. Once again, this appellation was never an official one as far as Burlingham were concerned, although its use undoubtedly spread to some of the company’s rank and file workers.
Most of this style of “Seagull lookalike” bodywork were fitted to Bedford SB chassis such as SBG 36 seater WEH 870, delivered to Percy Stoddard of Cheadle in 1955. Stoddard used it on his market day stage carriage services to Cheadle and Uttoxeter from the villages between the two Staffordshire towns. (Neville Mercer Collection)
Another Bedford SBG, but with slightly different front end styling and 41 seats. NNT 588 was delivered to TG Smith (Smiths Eagle) of Trench in 1956 and gave them 15 years of its life before passing to an operator in Willenhall for further use. (Neville Mercer Collection)
Production of the so-called “Baby Seagull” came to an end in the mid 1950s but sales of the Bedford SB body (which gradually evolved to incorporate some of the features of the contemporary Seagull designs) continued throughout the decade. By 1958 sales of the SB body had outdistanced those of the Twilight Zone versions of the Seagull, so naturally Burlingham’s management thought that it would be a good idea to drastically redesign their offering for the SB. Note the element of sarcasm in that statement.
The gargoylish result of this “redesign” emerged in early 1959 and was an insult to the Bedford and Thames chassis which bore it. The front end of this abomination defied description (space helmet for a very fat sheep?) while its rear end shared the unpleasant “chopped off” look of the Seagull Mark 7. Less than 50 were sold, presumably to operators who didn’t care what their coaches looked like, and the type soon picked up a variety of unofficial names including “The Pig”, “The Sea-Cow”, and the “Burlingham Dodo”.
For 1959 Burlingham came up with this new design for front engined chassis. If you look at it for too long it will turn you into stone. Bedford SB3 37 seater 3117 AC was new to De Luxe of Mancetter, passing to Price (Excelsior Coaches) of Wrockwardine Wood in September 1964. Price used it on their “Telford Rota” services (where it is seen here) for just one year before sending it off into the hills along the Welsh border. Remote from the public’s gaze it gave further service to two coach operators in Bishops Castle and then to the almost mythical Clun Valley Motor Services who scrapped it in 1972. (B Mel Gough Collection)
Sales figures for 1959 were astonishingly low in both the heavyweight and lightweight categories and at the end of the year Burlingham’s managers announced an entirely new range in a desperate attempt to save the company. For lightweight chassis (Bedford/Thames) the new design was to be known as the Seagull 60, the first time that the Seagull name had been officially applied to a design for front-engined vehicles. The “60” part referred to the year in which it would be delivered. The bodywork was a vast improvement over the grotesque 1959 design but still no beauty queen if compared to the offerings on similar chassis by Duple and Plaxton. On the positive side it was better looking than Harrington’s Crusader, but that was an easy target to reach.
After the “controversial” styling of the 1959 model, its successor’s appearance could only be an improvement. The Seagull 60 design is represented here by a Thames 570E, UAW 983, delivered to Whittle of Highley in January 1960 as fleet number 14, and seen in this shot on a private hire somewhere in London. In March 1961 it was sold to a Scottish operator. (Chris Elmes Collection)
Sales of the Seagull 60 were good, especially when compared to those of the 1959 body, but the type had its own fatal flaw. The design featured a raised Perspex section in the centre of the roof which ran all the way from front to rear. The idea was to increase the amount of natural light in the interior. It soon became evident that the Perspex part admitted rainwater as well as light due to inadequate rubber sealing around its edges and joints. The fault could be corrected, but at considerable expense to Burlingham both in terms of money and reputation.
Burlingham had hoped that the Seagull 70 would recover some of the sales on heavy-weight chassis which had been lost by the unpopular Seagull Marks 6 and 7, but the largest orders came from Scottish Omnibuses Ltd (for eleven) and Yorkshire Traction (for six) and less than 50 were built. The SOL machines were luxurious 34-seat touring coaches on AEC Reliance chassis and were delivered in 1961 in a non-standard cream and maroon livery. They exchanged this scheme for SOL’s traditional cream and apple green colours at their first repaint. This one is YSF 242 fleet no B11 (Chris Hough Collection)
For heavyweight underfloor engined chassis of AEC and Leyland manufacture the Seagull Mark 7 was replaced by the Seagull 70. As this too was introduced for delivery in 1960, the “70” part of the name was entirely meaningless. Like the Seagull 60, the Seagull 70 wasn’t an ugly vehicle, merely not that attractive when compared to its contemporaries –which in this case included the stunning Harrington Cavalier, an Esmeralda to the Crusader’s Quasimodo. Many observers found the Seagull 70’s front end particularly objectionable, but it wasn’t really that bad until you parked one next to a Cavalier. To the disappointment of Burlingham’s managers Ribble chose not to order the Seagull 70 and eventually bought the Harrington alternative. Most operators followed suit and sales of the Burlingham heavyweight design barely passed the 30 mark.
At this point it became obvious that Burlingham could no longer continue as an independent bodywork manufacturer, and in August 1960 the company was acquired by its London-based competitor Duple. Ten years earlier, as Burlingham had proudly displayed its original Seagull at Earls Court, the Duple stand at the same Commercial Motor Show had introduced the Vega design for the Bedford SB. Both the Seagull and the Vega had been enormous successes for their respective manufacturers, but while Duple had consistently offered improved versions of the Vega and slightly longer Super Vega, Burlingham had squandered all of its own goodwill by producing designs which became less attractive as the decade progressed. It was a dog-eat-dog industry and by 1960 Duple was still a healthy Rottweiler while Burlingham had become an incontinent old pug.
The Duple Years
In the short term the Burlingham name remained in use for products made at the Blackpool factory. The Seagull 70 continued to be produced in penny numbers and the Seagull 60 metamorphosed into the Seagull 61 (with a revised roof design and lots of chrome work at the front end). For the 1962 season the Seagull 70 was still in the catalogue (although none were sold), the Seagull 61 magically became the Seagull 62 (the only change being its name), and an alternative body style for Bedford/Thames chassis (with the unfortunate name of the Burlingham Gannet) was offered for those who found the final Seagull range visually unacceptable. The Gannet sold in modest numbers (dozens rather than hundreds), but not as modestly as the Seagull 62 which didn’t even reach double figures.
By the start of the 1963 season the Burlingham name had disappeared and products made at the Blackpool premises were being marketed under the name of Duple (Northern). Burlingham’s final design, the Kestrel (a 41-seater intended to replace the Seagull 70 on heavyweight chassis) had never gone beyond the drawing-board stage, but two variations on the Kestrel theme with very similar styling did achieve production status.
The rarest of all Burlingham designs, the Dragonfly, was marketed as a Duple (Northern) product. Samuelsons fleet of four 49-seaters on AEC 4U3RA Reliance chassis was delivered in 1963 and accounted for two-thirds of the type’s production. A major stage-carriage operator until the creation of London Transport in 1933, Samuelsons had later become a subsidiary of London Coastal Coaches (the BET/BTC joint venture which owned Victoria Coach Station). By the 1960s it was specialising in sightseeing tours and airport transfer work, most of the latter for Gatwick-based British United Airways. The majority of Samuelsons’ fleet, including Dragonfly 450 FXX, were painted in the BUA livery of black, grey, and white. (Photographer unknown)
The Duple (Northern) Dragonfly, a 49-seat 36-footer for AEC Reliance and Leyland Leopard chassis, was basically a lengthened Burlingham Kestrel and suffered from the same inexplicable handicap of a compulsory central entrance. Only six were sold and two of those went to Fishwick of Leyland at bargain basement prices. The Burlingham Seagull 62 and Gannet were replaced by the Kestrel-style Duple (Northern) Firefly on Albion, Bedford, and Thames chassis. It fared better than any Burlingham coach design had since 1958 but was still hardly a best-seller, moving less than 200 units in its four years of production. With the termination of Firefly production in 1966 the last link with genuine Burlingham designs was severed and from then on the Blackpool factory would produce purely Duple models such as the Viscount and Viceroy.
In 1950, when the original Seagull was built, there had been more than 50 companies producing coach bodywork in significant numbers for the British market. By the start of 1960 this figure had been reduced to five; Burlingham, Duple, Harrington, Plaxton, and Yeates. The Burlingham name disappeared at the end of 1962, Yeates at the beginning of 1964, and Harrington in 1966. These figures represented a terrible history of missed opportunities and the chapter covering Burlingham was possibly the saddest section of the entire book. Fortunately a dozen or so “real” Seagulls survive in preservation to remind us of happier times when a company based in Blackpool led the way in British coach design.
Neville Mercer 06/2010
Neville Thanks so much for the flight of the Seagulls. Any chance of a PDF for me to file it safely? You didn’t include the Duple Continental – which many sources site as the last design to come off the Burlingham drawing board.
David Oldfield
As regards the Continental/Alpine Continental, my own understanding is that is was designed at Hendon but built at Blackpool. There is a certain amount of ambiguity, however, as the “new” design incorporated certain panels ordered by Blackpool in anticipation of a rather larger number of Dragonflys! I should probably have said this in the article.
Neville Mercer
Neville has given the OK to prepare a .pdf from the coding for the site which will include all the photos as well, so I will pull all three articles together into one and print out a .pdf for anyone who wants one.
The move to lighter designs (by both bodywork and chassis manufacturers) had been occasioned by tumbling revenues as operators felt the pinch from increasing private car ownership. Similar economic pressures led operators to demand a front entrance version of the Seagull which could be one-man operated on scheduled express routes if circumstances demanded. This need was met at the 1954 Commercial Motor Show by the Seagull Mark 4. Surprisingly the move from a central entrance to one at the front did little to upset the Seagull design as Burlingham decided to retain the short central window bay minus the indentation for the sliding entrance door. The Mark 4 also offered the “Ribble style” roof box destination display as a factory option to all purchasers of the new variant.
The centre entrance Mark 3 continued to be available alongside the Mark 4 and was also given the factory option of a roof box display although few if any were built with this beyond the original batch for Ribble. For certain chassis types (notably Sentinel) the Mark 2 remained in production until the end of 1955, mainly as a means of using up the left over stock of Mark 2 style body parts languishing at Burlingham’s Blackpool factory.
All Seagull models up to this point had featured a two-piece rear windscreen similar to those which the bodybuilder had used on earlier front engined chassis types. At the 1956 Commercial Motor Show the Seagull Mark 5 introduced a new rear end design incorporating a single-piece window flanked by two glazed corner pillars which gave the appearance of a three-piece unit. It was, by most observers, considered less attractive than the original configuration.
The Mark 5 introduced a new rear end and was available from 1956 to 1958. Most of the breed also featured flat glass front windscreens but Whittle of Highley was an important customer and preferred the older style of front end. PSUC1/2 Tiger Cub PUJ 780 was delivered to them in 1958, passing to Stanier of Newchapel in 1961 as seen in this shot. The livery was cream and red. After Stanier sold out to PMT in 1965 the “flying sword” emblem was removed and it was fitted with bus seats for stage carriage work. Sister vehicle PUJ 781 (in its original configuration) is preserved in Whittle’s livery. Another example of a 1958 Mark 5 with opening front windscreens can be found under the “Yorkshire Traction” heading on this website. (Bill Jackson Collection)
The Mark 5 was intended to replace both the Mark 3 and Mark 4 (the remaining Mark 2 components had finally run out) and as a result could be ordered with either a front or central entrance and with an optional roof box display. The prototype, an AEC Reliance for North Western, featured the original style of slightly curved front windscreens with hinged top sections but production examples would carry flat glass windscreens, still held in place by a central pillar but without the horizontally hinged top halves. This further decreased the variants visual appeal.
Wallace Arnold’s PSUC1/2 Tiger Cub 8339 U was also delivered in 1958 but featured the standard flat glass front windscreen of the Mark 5. After a couple of seasons on extended coach holiday work it was demoted to local private hires and excursions from the Leeds base. Sister vehicle 8338 U was transferred to the Hardwicks subsidiary in Scarborough for similar work. (Paul Haywood Collection)
Seagulls or Ugly Ducklings?
While the Mark 5 was considerably less elegant than the original design of 1950, far worse was about to come. In September 1957 Burlingham introduced the Seagull Mark 6 which abandoned the previous Marks’ side window configuration (featuring slender metal pillars between windows and the narrower central bay) and utilised much thicker pillars and glazing fitted into “window pans”. This was at the request of Ribble Motor Services and was intended to make the replacement of broken glazing an easier task.
Ribble was another important customer which got what it wanted. Unfortunately this was the result, and many saw the Mark 6 as the beginning of the end for the Seagull. PSUC1/2 Tiger Cub LCK 712, Ribble’s fleet number 998, is seen in Blackpool’s Coliseum coach station parked next to one of the company’s “White Lady” Atlantean coaches. It had just arrived on express service J1 from Leeds via Keighley. Delivered in July 1958, it was sold to contractor George Wimpey in August 1969.
It probably did, but it also made the Mark 6 look like some kind of unfortunate hybrid produced by a coach and a service bus which had surreptitiously mated in the depot in the dead of night. Apart from the Ribble order very few were sold with most operators preferring to stick with the Mark 5 which continued to be produced. As with the Mark 2, left over components were used in the production of bodies for rarer chassis, with Mark 6s being fitted to Guy Arab LUFs for Harper Brothers of Heath Hayes. Total production of the Mark 6 was less than 60, a record low for any of the Seagull variants.
A record low until 1958, that is! In that year the sizeable coach holiday operator Sheffield United Tours asked Burlingham and Plaxton to come up with coach designs which would offer their customers a better view of passing scenery. Burlingham offered the Seagull Mark 7, Plaxton the Panorama, and small batches of each design were acquired by S.U.T. for comparison in service. The result of these trials may be judged from the fact that all of S.U.T.’s future orders for this specification of bodywork went to Plaxton.
Despite this setback Burlingham’s management decided to put the Mark 7 into large scale production, apparently in the belief that such vehicles would quickly monopolise the coach market and that a substantial chunk of this market could be claimed by the Mark 7.
There were two tragic flaws to this strategy. Firstly the Seagull Mark 7 was an unattractive creature, featuring a “chopped off at the back end” version of the famous tank moulding and relatively tiny roof windows in the front dome area which looked like money-box slots compared to other contemporary designs. It lacked any of the elegance of earlier Seagulls. Secondly the coaching industry proved to be more conservative than Burlingham’s management had believed and didn’t move to “larger window” designs with any great enthusiasm until 1961-62. The Mark 7 was a financial disaster and it became an indisputable fact that Burlingham had lost its way. For the first time in the company’s existence Burlingham found itself selling more double-decker buses than coaches. Less than ten years after the all-conquering triumph of the original Seagull the company was facing insolvency.
Seagulls or Ugly ducklings. Excellent part 2 but slight inaccuracy with SUT saga. As happy Burlingham customers, SUT made an approach initially to them for panoramic windows. Burlingham turned them down. SUT’s first Plaxtons had been very low milage second hand Regal IVs from Altricham Coachways – whose quality had impressed. Plaxtons said yes and the Mark 7 was a failed attempt by Burlingham to get SUT’s custom back. They only sold one more coach – a Ford – to SUT. The rest is history.
David Oldfield
After re-examining my records I find that David Oldfield is right in his statement that SUT never actually acquired any Mk 7 Seagulls. I knew that Burlingham had been approached by them and this knowledge got juxtaposed in my aging mind with a “head-on” photograph in my collection of an SUT Seagull (3280 WB of 1958) which appeared to be a Mark 7 from the shape of the front dome window lights – they are of the Mk 7 “money-box slot” style. One should, of course, never make presumptions! A side view of a machine from the same batch on an Internet site reveals that the 1958 SUT Seagulls were in fact centre-entrance Mark 5 variants with the hinged windscreen option at the front. Perhaps they were fitted with the Mk 7 style front domes as an experiment by Burlingham to see what the result would look like. The answer is not very nice. Thanks for the correction, David, and for your kind comments on the article in general.
The original Mark 1 Seagull was a beautiful machine and is represented here by PSU1/15 Royal Tiger HAW 579. Delivered to Whittle of Highley in 1951, and painted in their stylish dark blue and red livery, it was a 39 seater. It was later sold to Buckminster of Leighton Buzzard. (R F Mack via G R Mills)
The first underfloor engined PSV chassis to be placed on the open market, the Sentinel design which evolved into the STC4 and SLC4 range, appeared at the Commercial Motor Show in October 1948 and started a revolution in single-deck bus and coach design. Despite the Sentinel’s modest sales – the type was equipped with an outmoded indirect injection engine and also suffered from poorly designed engine mountings – an early order from the prestigious Ribble Motor Services ensured that much larger manufacturers were forced to follow the Shrewsbury company’s lead by developing underfloor engined chassis of their own.
By the time of the 1950 Commercial Motor Show Leyland was offering the Royal Tiger, AEC had developed the underfloor engined Regal IV, and the list of manufacturers with similar designs soon grew to include Atkinson, Bristol (although their LS model was only available to nationalised BTC operators), Daimler, Dennis, and Guy. Within another two years the traditional front engined single-decker would have all but expired, its place on the various production lines taken by the new underfloor engined designs.
Coach bodywork manufacturers were somewhat perplexed by these “bonnetless” chassis types and most of them seemed to be incapable of producing acceptably attractive models to suit the underfloor newcomers. Some of their efforts were downright ugly (the Sentinel/Beadle SLC4, visually similar designs by Roe, and the products of smaller bodybuilders such as Barnaby, Heaver, Lawson, and Thurgood). Others were merely unimaginative (the first versions of Duple’s Ambassador and Harrington’s Wayfarer being little more than adaptations of their existing front engined designs and rather “droopy” in appearance without a redeeming bonnet-line at the prow).
A third group of bodywork manufacturers, in contrast, showed a surplus of imagination by producing a set of startlingly novel designs collectively referred to as the “avant-garde” school. Into this category fell the products of Bellhouse Hartwell (the bulbously nosed Landmaster), Metalcraft (which offered the choice of a European-style monstrosity with no fewer than ten windows on each side or a less offensive design exemplified by preserved Foden NTU 125), Plaxton (the “Mark 1 Venturer which was profoundly odd in its frontal styling), Whitson (which produced two designs, one resembling an American “transit bus”, the other basically a single-deck version of their ultimately avant-garde Observation Coach and latterly known as the Grand Prix), and Windover (with the Kingsway which featured a reverse-rake to its lower front panels) among others. These designs were playful and frequently amusing but were never entirely successful from an aesthetic viewpoint.
Few would disagree that the most elegant of all the new offerings of 1950-51 came from H V Burlingham of Blackpool. The prototype of their classic underfloor engined coach design was destined for Woods, a Blackpool operator which traded as “Seagull Coaches” and the design was soon being marketed as the Burlingham Seagull regardless of the customer involved.
The Seagull Takes Off
At the 1950 Commercial Motor Show Burlingham offered two versions of their new design. Both were of metal-framed construction and featured similar front-end assemblies with a stylised “winged sword” emblem beneath a twin windscreen, each half of which included a hinged top section for the ultimate in forced ventilation. In all other respects the two Show vehicles were fundamentally different. The vehicle for Westbury Coaches had a horizontal waist-rail and egg-shaped mouldings around each wheel arch. As far as can be ascertained no more of this type was built.
The Seagull Coaches example, on the other hand, with its slightly curved waist-rail and full-length “tank moulding” (so called because its shape resembled the side view of a First World War battle-tank, encompassing both wheel arches and most of the lower panels) was an immediate hit with operators large and small, and was fated to become one of the most successful motor-coach designs in the history of the British bus industry. Something about it looked “right” in a way that had eluded all of Burlingham’s competitors, and the Blackpool firm would remain prosperous for the best part of a decade as a result.
If It Ain’t Broke…..
This Mark 2 was also on Royal Tiger chassis but only seated 37. An uncommon PSU1/16 variant, it was one of the last Royal Tigers produced for the domestic market and had been new to Gittins of Crickheath in 1954. When the famous Gittins brothers retired at the end of 1966 it was sold to neighbouring independent Vagg of Knockin Heath (as seen here) and painted in their unusual dark green and red colour scheme. Some years later it passed to Boulton of Cardington who still operate it as a “heritage” vehicle. (G R Mills)
With a long queue of operators knocking at their door demanding their own fleets of Seagulls, you might think that Burlingham would have been happy to leave the classic design alone for a while. Sadly this was not the case and the elegant Seagull became less so with every passing year. A cynic might suspect that Burlingham executives felt the need to come up with annual re-designs merely to justify their own salaries.
The first variation, the Seagull Mark 2, emerged at the 1952 Commercial Motor Show and differed only slightly from the original in featuring a double metal strip to enclose the “tank” design on its side panels and an internally sliding central entrance door. Nevertheless it was less attractive than the Mark 1, sales were less impressive than those of the original version, and in 1953 Burlingham was forced to acknowledge this by offering the Mark 3 which reverted to the single metal strip and an externally sliding central entrance door. It was visually indistinguishable from the Mark 1 but weighed considerably less and was intended for the correspondingly lighter second-generation underfloor chassis types such as the AEC Reliance and the Leyland Tiger Cub.
The Mark 3 reverted to the single metal strip around the “tank” moulding. This is PSUC1/2 Tiger Cub HFR 603, new to W C Standerwick in 1954 and shown here with its second operator, Butter of Childs Ercall. Standerwick’s parent company, Ribble, had a similar batch. (G Lumb via E A Wain)
The standard version of the Mark 3 retained the front dome “eyebrow blinds” of the Marks 1 and 2, but a small batch built on Tiger Cub chassis for Ribble (and their subsidiary WC Standerwick) featured a “roof box” destination display which could carry the same roller blinds as the Ribble group’s large fleet of Leyland-bodied Royal Tiger coaches. Leyland had decided to close its in-house bodybuilding works and Burlingham was more than willing to adapt its design to capture Ribble’s order.
Wonderful. A fascinating insight into a design I had always (wrongly) taken for granted. Yes – a beautiful design deserving a “classic” status. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Paul Haywood
I have indicated before – on this site – my predeliction for Burlinghams. I’m delighted that an expert series of articles will deepen my knowledge. Thank you!
David Oldfield
01/08/11
I was much intrigued by your article and well remember the Whittles coach in the first photograph above when I was a bus driver employed by the “Midland Red”. As a driver operating from BMMO Kidderminster Garage from 1958-1967 commencing at the age of 21 years, just old enough to hold an “all groups” PSV drivers licence – DD39159. At this time, Kidderminster was very much a carpet-producing town in an era of easy employment and jobs were ten-a-penny. Carpet workers all over town awaited the blare of Brinton Carpets ‘horn’ before surging onto the streets at the end of their working day. In Market Street next the General Post Office would stand Whittle’s Royal Tiger coach ready to ferry workers home to Highley and Alveley. In this period, Royal Air Force Bridgnorth operated as a “boot camp” or “square bashing unit” – catering for raw recruits, and I, myself was there in 1955. Later, in 1958 I was to park a “Midland Red” bus on the parade ground. This was on a Saturday around mid-day and my conductor and I were to transport RAF personnel on a weekend pass to Birmingham and Wolverhampton rail heads. Whittle’s Royal Tiger was to take RAF personnel to Scotland; returning to Bridgnorth by Sunday no later than 23:59hrs! Upon leaving Bridgnorth, Whittles’ Royal Tiger would overtake me in a cloud of dust and small stones, never to be seen again…
My father worked for British Railways in Nottingham, so unlike most of my schoolfriends who had to be content with holidays on the Lincolnshire coast or maybe North Wales, we made the very best use of our free rail travel. A favourite destination was Cornwall, and since the railway came to an end at Penzance, it was usually Penzance!
In those days, of course, Cornwall was almost wall-to-wall Western National. Even the most important roads tended to be narrower there than elsewhere, so buses to the old 7 foot 6 inches standard width were preferred. In my mind, the double deckers (all lowbridge type) were mainly Bristol K6Bs with a few KS6Bs and K5Gs. KSWs were not unknown, but not numerous (though I have seen a picture of a KS at St Ives sporting an 8 foot wide KSW type body. Lodekkas had been invented a long time before they became common in West Cornwall. I think the long main road service 18 to St Austell was the first (a full 3 hour journey) and then the 21 main road service to Falmouth.
Single deckers were mainly standard rear-entrance (and therefore conductor operated) L6Bs or LL6Bs. This, of course, was a bit wasteful of staff (especially considering that many services had to be heavily enhanced for Summer visitors) and a number later received front entrance, full front bodies and were thereafter one-man-operated.
Route 9 to Newlyn and Mousehole was an exception. It could not take an L of any description since it was geometrically impossible to get that length round the narrow street corners in Mousehole village. So there was a clutch of Bedford OBs with Beadle bodies. I believe they were also used elsewhere in Devon and Cornwall where local conditions required very short vehicles, but in the Penzance area, route 9 was their reason for existence.
The main terminal point in Penzance was at the railway station, but quite a lot of routes heading eastward started instead in Alexandra Road at the western edge of the town – a location referred to on timetables and destination blinds as “Penzance Promenade”. This ensured that most services in any direction had convenient stops throughout the length of the town.
The depot was at Wherrytown, a few hundred yards farther west than “Penzance Promenade” and Royal Blue coaches were also stabled there overnight. There was a fair amount of to-ing and fro-ing between Wherrytown and the Railway Station terminus, and the timetable book contained the following note : “Garage Working Journeys : Wherrytown – Promenade – Railway Station : PENZANCE. In addition to the journeys shown in the timetable between Railway Station and Promenade passengers are also carried on certain buses proceeding between the Company’s Garage or Promenade and the Railway Station prior to and after working other services.”
The range of routes is still more or less recognisable to this day, although many are now operated by Western Greyhound instead of First Western National. There was the famous route 1 and 1B to Lands End. (In line with the usual Lands End commercial twaddle, I suppose it ought to be have been called “the first and last bus in England”!) 4 and 4A were two versions of the route to Porthcurno. 5 was a local to the Gwavas Estate up Chywoone Hill beyond Newlyn. 7 was a Thursdays only run to Nanquidno. 8 went to Grumbla and “Golf Links”. The 9 to Mousehole I have already mentioned, but then there was also 9A which, illogically, had no connection or relationship to the 9, but headed off in the opposite direction to Perranuthnoe. Then there was the mind-numbing variety of St Just services – 10, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D and 10E. Actually the vast majority were 10B and 10E which formed a circular route running Penzance – Pendeen – St Just – Penzance and vice versa. 11 was a town service to Treneere Estate. Then there were three different routes to St Ives – each having its own number (14, 16 and 17) instead of being distinguished by suffix letters like the St Just services. 18 was the long route to Camborne, Truro and St Austell. 20 was an occasional service to Praa Sands. 21 was the main road route to Helston and Falmouth, and the 22 was a much more interesting village service taking in Townshend, Godolphin Cross, and Constantine. Lastly, and way out of numerical sequence, was the 138 which ran to Tredinnick on Thursdays and Saturdays only.
Routes 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 9 (but not 9A) and 138 were usually single deckers. The rest were usually double deckers, but there were exceptions. I recall an LL6B setting off as a 21 on the 2 hour run to Falmouth, full up and standing. On one surprising occasion a K6B turned up on route 1 for our return journey from Lands End.
From the front nearside seat (downstairs on a double decker) you got a splendid view of the road ahead, as well as the full audio benefit of the 6B being worked hard over steep gradients, hairpin bends and narrow roads. The view from the long bench seats upstairs was even better, though the engine music was more muted, and on the sunken lanes it was entertaining to spot cars coming the other way, that the driver couldn’t see from down below, before we met them on a blind bend or particularly narrow stretch of road.
St Ives Malakoff bus station was (and still is) a remarkable place – a constricted triangle of concrete perched on the very edge of the cliff overlooking Porthminster Beach, surrounded by a flimsy looking guard rail. It looked a work of art to turn a double decker there and position it for departure with the rear backed up within a few inches of the sheer drop (and a substantial chock under the rear wheel to guard against mishaps). We always arrived in good time for the 7 o’ clock (evening) number 14 back to Penzance, so as to make a strong bid for the front seat upstairs. Then it was away, plunging down the narrow, steep and sharply curved Tregenna Hill into the town centre; left into the Stennack and right, up what, as you approached it, looked like a footpath, called Bullans Lane. Out along the twisting coastal road with views over the cliffs and sea to Zennor and Gurnards Head, and then turning south across the moors on the narrow lane through New Mill to Gulval and Penzance.
Another memory of old Western National was their useful bus stop display. Instead of mounting a boring plate on a post, they erected a notice board by the roadside (even in very rural locations). These had neatly pointed eaves along the top to deflect the rain, and the whole thing was painted in Western National green. On the notice board a poster was stuck, comprising the timetables of all services in the region. This was printed on a deep yellow paper, and overprinted “BUS STOP” in red letters about 4 inches high. These displays were a distinctive icon throughout Western and Southern National territory.
These memories are from say, 1957-59.
By 1967 much of the old order was disappearing. In that year we holidayed in Falmouth instead of Penzance. One day I set off to travel the Newquay branch line. There was a fairly regular direct bus service from Falmouth to Newquay – Western National route 46/46A. My plan was to take an early bus as far as St Columb Road station – a journey of about 1 hour 40 minutes. This gave me time to travel by train down to the mainline junction at Par, back right through to Newquay, and finally return to St Columb Road, with about 10 minutes to spare for the bus back to Falmouth.
We were staying out of town at Golden Bank, and the expedition began predictably with an LD6B originating from Helford Passage on route 43C to Falmouth. I had seen the Newquay buses earlier in the week and knew they were invariably FLFs. Falmouth had a number of town services, most of which were by this time LDs, with just one or two Ks still lingering on. About five past nine, one of these museum pieces turned into the bus station. I first saw it from the side and paid little attention to it, expecting it to be heading for Gyllingvase Beach or Pendennis Point. Then it turned sharply left into the bay where I was waiting and the destination blind revealed all “46A NEWQUAY”!
It was, I think, the oldest K5G I have ever travelled on. I kid you not, it had timber instead of metal-framed seats. I don’t think it had strayed more than 5 miles from Falmouth garage in years. It was obviously a last minute substitute, and probably the last available bus in the garage, because I feel certain that an hour’s notice would have given them time to juggle something more recent into position for a two hour cross country journey. It is the only time I ever remember a conductor apologising to passengers for the age and condition of the bus before we set off! There were several long hills on the trip, and the superannuated 5-cylinder was a bit short of breath. Where possible the driver took a run at the hill. Then as speed fell off rapidly, there was that growling, grinding double de-clutching change down to third, and often again to second.
The departure from Truro was memorable up the long Mitchell Hill and Bodmin Road – a noisy, window-vibrating grind at about 10 mph in second gear. Even so, the driver got the bit between his teeth on stretches of road where the gradient was favourable. If she wouldn’t go uphill, she would just have to go down – and 40+ mph in a 20 year old K5G was a rattling and exhilarating experience. I was sorry to quit at the country cross roads by St Columb Road station, and watch her roar off into the distance.
I had done a quick calculation, and worked out that after reaching Newquay the same vehicle should do another round trip to Falmouth before I caught it again on the homeward trip. About half past four in the afternoon, I waited with mounting anticipation at that country cross roads. Sadly Falmouth garage had mended whatever had forced this unusual substitution. My hopes were dashed as a familiar FLF hove into view.
Stephen Ford 08/2010
14/08/14 – 15:09
Stephen, if you were riding on the number 10 to St Just via Morpha Pendeen in that era you may have met me! in a primary school green blazer going home to Pendeen, boarding the bus at the cattle market? Reason for replying to your article is that I remember that old bus, well maybe similar but there was only the one that I ever saw, we called it the boneshaker, it had those bench seats upstairs and very notable was its long narrow radiator grill. along time ago now, but I still have memories of her, we did seem to have allot of the cast offs from up country. Enjoyed your article, brought back a lot of memories, pity I didn’t spend more time studying my lessons as I did about the buses. It was never an ambition of mine, but ironically I did end up driving buses for MPTE Liverpool for 11 1/2 yrs after leaving RN. Many of the back loaders we had were boneshakers.
“All one can do now is salute the old firm and what it achieved. …..the men and women who together comprised AEC may not have always got it right but they produced many fine vehicles and many which made big advances in design. They will long be remembered.” Thus Alan Townsin closes his book “The Blue Triangle” and, like him, I am a sometime critical supporter of AEC.
There have been several non too complimentary comments about AEC in these pages over the last few months. Are they justified? For the most part, yes – but they need to be taken in context. A very well respected operator and former Commercial Motor journalist put it succinctly. AEC were the thoroughbreds, Leylands were the reliable plodders.
Where did AEC fall down? More in practice than in theory. Their engines and gearboxes were bomb-proof in the immediate post-war period and gave the Regent III/RT and Regal IV/RF their deserved reputation for being smooth, refined and reliable. Seeking after economy led to the (medium weight) Reliance and Regent V and a change from dry-liner to wet liner engines in the AH410/470 and AV470. Especially in the Reliance, these engines continued and enhanced the reputation – but this was before the motorway age and intensive running. The 590 was introduced in the Regent V and Reliance to replace A208 and A219 in Regent III and Regal IV. Here is where derogatory comments about Regent Vs and Reliances come in – that they were not as strong, as reliable, as long-lived as their predecessors. …..and all this was true, because the wet liner 590 (big brother to the 410/470) was not up to intensive and/or fast running. I saw dramatic evidence with a 1965 Sheffield United Tours Reliance which had to throttle back for miles when it started to overheat. This was common. Wallace Arnold took their similar 1966 Reliances off continental work for similar reasons. After this, AEC lost their reputation at Wallace Arnold and never regained it. AEC replaced wet-liners with dry-liners in the AH691, AH760 (and the vertical versions) and went on to produce one of the best ever coaches in the 6U3ZR Reliance. Unfortunately, many people suffered the wet-liner problems and fell out permanently with AEC.
Leyland, however, had the O.600 which shared many characteristics – including “strength” – with the A204/208/219 series. The O.680 did not change the basic design, as AEC had done, and the engines kept their reputation for quality. [Interestingly enough, Stephen Barber in his Wallace Arnold book says that the O.680 was not perfect and could seize up as well!] The final version of the series, the TL11, was the least reliable of the set – initially suffering from sump problems – whereas one of the best was the TL12 (in reality a turbo-charged 760). DAF and Scania both showed what could be done to the O.680 – their current engines being of world class quality.
As for the AEC cul-de-sacs – Regent IV, Bridgemaster and Renown. They were never bad buses, just bad business decisions. They were designed and built for operators who only decided that they were not what they wanted after they had been built. Even Leyland did the same with the Lowlander – and they didn’t really get it right with the Atlantean until the AN68 – which was actually rather good.
“AS AN ENERGY-storage system for a bus, a tank of diesel takes some beating: it is compact, fits whatever shape is available, providing plenty of operating range. And, crucially, the up-front cost is modest… Finding an equally convenient means of storing electrical energy on a hybrid bus is not nearly so simple.” That’s David Wilcox in a recent issue of Transport Engineer.
London’s buses were long recognised as world leaders in passenger comfort – culminating in the ‘standard’ bus, the Regent III (the RT), which ran from 1939-1979, and its successor, the famous Routemaster (RM). Since then, the emphasis has been on passenger volume and environmental efficiency, rather than comfort. During his election campaign, London Mayor Boris Johnson promised “a bus fit for the 21st century”. Once elected, he launched a competition to design a new bus (nicknamed the Borisbus) which attracted 700 entries – none of which was actually used. Never- theless, Wrightbus of Ballymena was contracted to build five prototypes. Said Johnson: “Londoners can travel on these buses with clear environmental consciences, safe in the knowledge their journey will guzzle far less fuel and expire a whopping 40 per cent less carbon dioxide than a regular bus.” And in comfort? No mention of that.
According to bus-maker Optare’s chief executive: “Customers are not warming to the low-carbon offerings being promoted, particularly on cost-benefit.” Their own battery- electric alternative to the hybrid is far more costly than had been expected, with the electric driveline alone adding £98,000, roughly doubling its price.
CO2 emissions from England’s buses have increased significantly over the last ten years, yet only 0.2 per cent of buses are currently low-carbon. To encourage them to go ‘green’, and with the hope that reduced production costs will boost sales, the government has created a new fund: part of a radical shift to low-carbon transport and air-quality improvement.
Greener Journeys, a campaign group funded by bus companies, proposes a bus and coach scrappage scheme as well as greater use of bus priority, park-and-ride and school buses. They want the government to encourage people into buses; the target is to change one journey in 25. But how?
Many environmentally-friendly vehicles give a poor ride. The high cost of that, and of conforming with disability legislation, leaves little room for luxury: a standee can squeeze in more fare-payers at lower cost per traveller. Passenger- appeal means extra weight, and that extra weight needs more fuel.
Reading Buses is to convert its fleet of ‘eco-friendly’ bio-ethanol buses to diesel. Bio-ethanol must be imported from Sweden and the buses are not only off the road for maintenance more, but are also 40 per cent less efficient than diesels.
Even the Borisbus’s ‘carbon footprint’ has run into criticism from environmentalists: the much- celebrated hydrogen-powered buses, though made in Northern Ireland, will be shipped to California to have their engines fitted (most of London’s RTs and RMs were locally-built).
If operators are to get people out of cars and on to buses and coaches, they need to provide comfortable, frequent, high-quality services. But, resources are not unlimited. So, will we ever enjoy taking the green-land bus?
My first memories of Maynes is that I went to Manor Road primary school and used to go home for dinner. You would run to the bus stop outside school at 12pm now at this time for some reason (it was route number 46) either a Maynes old bus like a RT came along (the chocolate bus) or a corpo (Manchester red) we all wanted the corpo because it just felt more comfy and warm, we would even let the chocolate bus go if the corpo was behind it.
When they got rid of the rear doored buses they got one man operated buses still in maroon (now route 213) but still used a conductor these were now this is straight from memory LRJ 210P through to LRJ 214P as then I thought they were 4 buses in fact if you add up correctly it is actually five, eventually they were painted red and cream. Maynes were the only service we used to and from town 20min intervals requiring three buses during the day more at rush hour and Saturdays. At weekends and during the week they started using maroon coaches (used for excursions as well) in the evenings I think there were follow on LRJs as well but not sure.
Anyway early in 1951 the matter of comfort was addressed to some tune, and the two Arabs were relieved of their dubious Pickering ‘coachwork’ and were sent to Mr. Charles H. Roe’s renowned Crossgates Carriage Works for new bodies. As everyone knows nothing but the finest ever came from that wonderful factory and 763 soon returned to Otley looking immaculate in the standard colour scheme of the time. This consisted of blue panels with green roof white window surrounds and dark blue bands with gold lining out beneath. I couldn’t help remembering that day in 1951 when I had discovered the Guy at the back of the garage having freshly arrived from Crossgates and yet to carry the first clients in comfort amidst that wonderful aroma of polished wood and leather.
Burlingham’s bodywork for front engined chassis evolved from the “full fronted” Sun Saloon model of the late 1940s (some later versions of which carried the Seagull “tank” moulding on their sides) into this nameless “Seagull lookalike”. The 1953 body on this example – 1946 vintage AEC 0662 Regal DUK 752 – was ordered by Don Everall of Wolverhampton. The rejuvenated vehicle passed to W Smith & Sons of Donnington Wood in 1957 and is seen here on one of their local stage carriage services. When Smiths sold out to Hoggins (Pilot Coaches) of Wrockwardine Wood in March 1959 it was sold to Leadbetter of Sutton Coldfield, famous at that time for its selection of geriatric coaches.
For 1959 Burlingham came up with this new design for front engined chassis. If you look at it for too long it will turn you into stone. Bedford SB3 37 seater 3117 AC was new to De Luxe of Mancetter, passing to Price (Excelsior Coaches) of Wrockwardine Wood in September 1964. Price used it on their “Telford Rota” services (where it is seen here) for just one year before sending it off into the hills along the Welsh border. Remote from the public’s gaze it gave further service to two coach operators in Bishops Castle and then to the almost mythical Clun Valley Motor Services who scrapped it in 1972.
Burlingham had hoped that the Seagull 70 would recover some of the sales on heavy-weight chassis which had been lost by the unpopular Seagull Marks 6 and 7, but the largest orders came from Scottish Omnibuses Ltd (for eleven) and Yorkshire Traction (for six) and less than 50 were built. The SOL machines were luxurious 34-seat touring coaches on AEC Reliance chassis and were delivered in 1961 in a non-standard cream and maroon livery. They exchanged this scheme for SOL’s traditional cream and apple green colours at their first repaint. This one is YSF 242 fleet no B11
The rarest of all Burlingham designs, the Dragonfly, was marketed as a Duple (Northern) product. Samuelsons fleet of four 49-seaters on AEC 4U3RA Reliance chassis was delivered in 1963 and accounted for two-thirds of the type’s production. A major stage-carriage operator until the creation of London Transport in 1933, Samuelsons had later become a subsidiary of London Coastal Coaches (the BET/BTC joint venture which owned Victoria Coach Station). By the 1960s it was specialising in sightseeing tours and airport transfer work, most of the latter for Gatwick-based British United Airways. The majority of Samuelsons’ fleet, including Dragonfly 450 FXX, were painted in the BUA livery of black, grey, and white.
The Mark 5 introduced a new rear end and was available from 1956 to 1958. Most of the breed also featured flat glass front windscreens but Whittle of Highley was an important customer and preferred the older style of front end. PSUC1/2 Tiger Cub PUJ 780 was delivered to them in 1958, passing to Stanier of Newchapel in 1961 as seen in this shot. The livery was cream and red. After Stanier sold out to PMT in 1965 the “flying sword” emblem was removed and it was fitted with bus seats for stage carriage work. Sister vehicle PUJ 781 (in its original configuration) is preserved in Whittle’s livery. Another example of a 1958 Mark 5 with opening front windscreens can be found under the “Yorkshire Traction” heading on this website. (Bill Jackson Collection)
