Category: Articles
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Huntingdon Street Bus Station – Part Three
Not seen the beginning of this article click here. My arrivals at Huntingdon Street between 1964 and 1969 were always by means of the North Western/Trent X2 from Manchester. Ribble vehicles could also be found on this service, as some journeys continued through Manchester to Blackpool, relabelled as X60s. As Robin Hood Coaches (pre 1961)…
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Huntingdon Street Bus Station – Part Two
Not seen the beginning of this article click here. At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Nottingham’s Central Bus Station was in much the same condition as when it was built ten years earlier. There were still no shelters or seating on the eight platforms, and the only undercover accommodation for…
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Huntingdon Street Bus Station – Part One
At the age of 11, like most healthy children, I started lying to my parents. I was allowed the freedom to travel to Manchester Airport (for the planes) or the city centre (for the buses), but any travels further afield had to be negotiated and in all cases I had to be home by 6pm.…
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Northern General Transport’s PD3/4s
In 1958, the Northern General Group took delivery of 53 Leyland PD3/4 vehicles. To the best of my knowledge, they were their first 30ft double deck buses; they were also the last rear entrance, although not the last half cabs, that particular label went to the Routemasters of 1963/4. I know a few half cabs…
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LUT School Bus Services 1960’s
(Culcheth, Lowton, Golborne and Newton-le-Willows area).Although I have books on Lancashire United Transport, and also have seen an excellent article in Buses Illustrated No.205, April 1972 entitled ‘Chat Moss Today’, which apart from normal services in that area details the numerous services operated to Risley United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, I have never seen anything…
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The Dennis Dart
The Dennis Dart was a sophisticated little machine that was a great advance upon its forebears, the 36 bhp 2.72 litre four cylinder side valve powered G, and the slightly longer GL which had a 42 bhp ohv version of the same engine design (see OBP Llandudno UDC – Dennis GL – CC 8671). The…
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Vegas, Super Vegas, and Vega Lookalikes – Part Two
Duple Bodywork on Bedford SB chassis 1950-1962 FS56 VEGA/SUPER VEGA The FS46 Vega had retained most of the styling of the original FS32 range albeit with slightly revised corner glazing at the front end. In October 1953 Duple did a more thorough re-design and came up with the FS56. The “Big Bedford” radiator cowling disappeared…
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Vegas, Super Vegas, and Vega Lookalikes – Part One
Duple Bodywork on Bedford SB chassis 1950-1962 The work of the PSV Circle in maintaining fleet records for operators throughout the UK (and beyond) has been little less than magnificent, and most authors (myself included) owe the organisation a tremendous debt. However, being English, that doesn’t prevent me from having one small gripe amid the…
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The day in 1961 when the Bradford trolleybuses stopped working equals an examination of the motorbus fleet in 1961
In the early evening of Thursday the 8th June 1961, I noticed a motorbus was operating on the trolleybus route that went past our Eccleshill home. We lived alongside the 33 Eccleshill/City/44 St Enochs Road Top route and normally had four trolleys operating a 15-minute headway. But that night, motorbuses were operating.Something clearly had gone…
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Maidstone & District Selected Memories of an Engineer
Maidstone & District looked a bit of a conundrum from outside in 1970 – very ‘heritage’ livery, generally looking smart but lots of modern vehicles: large volume orders for early Atlanteans, Nimbus, Fleetlines, Panthers, single deck Fleetlines… Inside, it continued – a very heritage HQ at Knightrider House and depressingly ‘tram-age’ maintenance facilities. I arrived…