Category: Galleries

Five Shots Taken in the Fifties

Five colour photographs taken during the 1950s. Not the best of photography, I fear, but possibly useful for the record.

Ian Thompson
02/2020

Taken at Hastings in 1957, a Maidstone and District 1936 Leyland TD4 CKE 418, with a 1950 Beadle body that at the time I took to be original because of its prewar look.

Also taken in 1957, an East Kent 1947 Dennis Lancet J3 with Park Royal body.

Taken at Endless St bus station in May 1956, a pair of Wilts and Dorset 1940 Bristol K5Gs with ECW bodies. The 4+4-riser right-angled staircase differed from the winding stairs on our Thames Valley prewar K5Gs.

Taken at Lymington in the 1950s, a pair of Hants and Dorset Morris-Commercial single-deckers, a prewar K5G and a postwar K (also 5G?), both with ECW bodies.

Taken at Newbury in about 1957, a Reliance of Newbury (ex-Thames Valley) 1937 Leyland TS7 with 32-seat ECW body. On the web this morning I found a nice b&w picture of a sister ship to the M&D Titan.

A fascinating group of photos taken at a time when colour photography wasn’t the norm. Thx for posting, Ian.
It’s surprising that the 1950 Beadle in the first photo should have a 6-bay body, when you consider that four-bay ones were being built in the very late thirties! In all respects, it looks old-fashioned.
The two Hants and Dorset Morris Commercial/Beadle single deckers in the fourth photo rang a bell with me and I recall that quite a lot of detail on these were in an OBP post in 2012. Here it is: West Yorkshire – Morris Commercial – HYG 972 – 618

Chris Hebbron

20/02/20 – 15:45

Thanks for posting these photos, Ian. As a (very) youthful resident in rural Kent from 1946 to 1949 I encountered the buses of both Maidstone & District and East Kent. I recall with particular fondness the Dennis Lancets that would take me on rides from Faversham to Herne Bay, where the enormously lengthy pier rivalled that at Southend, but now, like the Lancets, sadly long gone. Those Dennisses were of the pre war Lancet II variety, probably of the 1939 vintage AJG 46-59 batch, powered by the smooth running four cylinder O4 engine, and I loved them. In moving towards diesels, EK initially trialled the then new O4 against the Gardner 5LW before opting for the Dennis engine, surely a testament of its quality and reliability. The Dennis company was an engineering business of very high order. I have a less sharp recollection of the Maidstone & District ‘deckers as the village of Doddington was served by Tiger TS2 petrol and TS7 or TS8 diesels, but I did encounter the M & D Guy Arab utilities and the Chatham & District Bristols on visits to the Medway towns. Turning to the Hants & Dorset picture, the postwar K could be either a K5G or a K6A, but the registration, rather difficult to establish for certain, might be GLJ 965, a K5G of 1947. The two buses in the Wilts & Dorset picture both have that style of staircase; was this a W & D standard of the time?

Roger Cox

21/02/20 – 06:27

During the war Beadle constructed bodies using up stocks of ready held parts, and the 1930s style design closely resembled that on the Maidstone & District double deck TD4 picture. The registration CKE 418 makes this a 1935 chassis. I am very surprised that the body shown dates from 1950, but this picture of fellow bus CKE 414 makes the same claim. www.flickr.com/photos/
This immediately predates the time that some BET companies embarked with Beadle upon the rebuilding certain prewar chassis into full fronted saloons and coaches. Did Beadle supply the 1950 double deck bodies as a tempter perhaps?

Roger Cox

08/08/20 – 06:28

The CKE 418 Maidstone and District photo is a positive gem of a photograph, made even more remarkable by the fact it is in colour; I wonder if Ian had any idea of its rarity?
Hastings garage usually received a couple of extra double deckers in the summer months to cover enhanced summer holiday workings although these were normally Bristol K6A highbridge models. Lowbridge DL 286 in the picture along with DL 285 arrived in June I think 1957 and were instantly disliked by both staff and passengers who were not used to lowbridge vehicles. They stayed only a matter of weeks so for Phil to capture one is really special. Both were sold to a dealer a month later and passed to Contract Bus Services, this one last being noted in 1961 after a total of 26 years service.
The Beadle replacement bodies to the rather old fashioned style were fitted in 1946 I believe.
By an extraordinary piece of serendipity, a photo appears on your site of another lowbridge M&D bus (VKR 35) sent to Hastings for the summer in 1970 and snapped in Bexhill in 1970. This fared no better, lasting only a few weeks before being quickly returned.

Leon Coast

23/04/22 – 06:06

Regarding comments on CKE 418 a lowbridge Leyland TD in Hastings. The batch CKE 413-8 were rebodied in 1946 not 1950.
Southdown Motor Services had some similar examples. Sister vehicle CKE 417 that was at Hastings at the same time was noted by myself on M&D route 34 (Hastings – Battle – Bexhill) one morning during that period.

Roy V Simmons

08/06/22 – 05:52

Thanks for the rebodying date correction, Roy and Leon.

Ian Thompson

03/08/22 – 06:40

The Hants & Dorset post war Bristol K (HRU 865) is a K6A, fleet number 1209 which spent most, if not all of its eighteen year working life based at Lymington depot.

Peter Elliott

Alder-colours-of-the-rainbow Valley

In the period following the merger of Thames Valley Traction and Aldershot & District Traction in January 1972 to form Alder Valley, the company suffered a severe shortage of vehicles, particularly in the Reading area, partly arising from failing to meet the maintenance standards required by the Vehicle Inspectorate.
The result was that over the period from May 1973 to September 1974 vehicles in a wide range of colours – not to mention types – were hired in from time to time. This gallery covers four particular periods of interest. Vehicles mentioned are those which I have photos of, and do not represent a comprehensive list of all those hired in.

May 1973

Alder Valley called upon two of its neighbouring NBC companies to help out, namely Oxford-South Midland and London Country. The former provided a number of AEC Renowns, including 342 and 370, while London Country provided RTs, including RT3252, RT4102, RT4592 and RT 4781. One wonders what the reaction of drivers brought up on Bristols was when confronted with pre-selector gearboxes!

London Country RT4102 leaves Reading Bus Station on service to Camberley
Oxford-South Midland 342 (AEC Renown 3B3RA / Park Royal H38/27F 1964) turning into Queen Victoria Street, Reading on service 43 to Twyford Station via Woodley.

September 1973

London Country again came to the rescue, with RT3252 and RT4781 again involved (I don’t recall whether they were on continuous hire from May, but I think not). Also involved was Southern National in the form of at least two Royal Blue Bristol MW coaches, 2239 and 2256.

Royal Blue 2256 (Bristol MW 6G / ECW C39F 1961) entering Cheapside, Reading en route to Maidenhead on service 1A.
RT 4781 during its second stint, leaving Reading Bus Station en route to Mortimer, having acquired a suitable destination blind. It is displaying a GF (Guildford) allocation.

April 1974

For whatever reason, for the next season of hires, NBC vehicles were not in evidence, and Alder Valley had recourse to a multicolour selection of vehicles from that well known dealer, Ensign Bus. It seems possible that the Southend vehicles were brokered by Ensign, although still in service with Southend..

Southend 207 (Leyland Leopard L1 / Weymann B43D+18 1961) leaving Reading Bus Station to an unknown destination. One hopes that the passengers got to where they were intending!
Southend 326 (Albion Lowlander LR7 / Alexander H41/29F 1963) at the same location on service 1 to Maidenhead. 325 of the same batch was also on hire.
Ensign Bus STP 996 (ex-Portsmouth 124, Leyland PD3 / Metro-Cammell H38/32R 1959) turns out of Vachel Road heading for unknown territory. The provision of destination on the hired vehicles displays was a bit hit and miss!
Ensign Bus MCP 225, at the same location. In the livery of S & M of Hadleigh, Essex, originally Halifax Joint Committee 226 (Leyland PD2/37 Weymann H36/28F 1960). Again, no destination is showing.

August/September 1974

Once again, Ensign Bus provided vehicles, with STP 996 making a repeat appearance, joined by a couple of distinctly elderly roof-box RTs, JXN 90 and KXW 495. There was an extended municipal presence, with Maidstone contributing PD2s nos 8 and 10, Swindon with PD2s nos.125 and 127 and Reading with Lolines 45 and 46 and Reliances 226 and 228. The services to Woodley and Twyford (43, 44, 44A, and 45) were the main beneficiaries.

Ensign Bus STP 996 made a repeat appearance, this time painted into its owner’s blue livery. Seen on Station Hill on route 43 to Twyford via Woodley.
Also from Ensign was JXN 90, formerly London Transport RT1024 of 1948. It has just turned into the Kings Road contra-flow bus lane at Reading’s Cemetery Junction on service 45 from Woodley.
Maidstone Corporation 8 (Leyland PD2/30 / Massey H33/28R 1957) passing Forbury Road on its way to Woodley on service 45. No.10 was a similar bus built the following year.
Swindon 125 (Leyland PD2A/24 / Weymann H 37/28R 1962) leaving Reading Bus Station for Woodley on service 44A. The paper stickers in the destination boxes indicate a permanent allocation to this route. Sister vehicle 127 was also hired in.
Reading Transport 46 (Dennis Loline III / East Lancs H38/30F 1964) heading for Reading in Broad Street, Wokingham on service 3. Although nominally a clone of the Bristol Lodekka FLF, Alder Valley drivers would not be so familiar with the Dennis 4-speed gearbox as the Wilson 5-speed box on their own vehicles.
Reading Transport 228 (AEC Reliance 2MU3RV / Duple Northern B34D+26 1962) looks very much at home at the Stations terminus, but is in fact on hire to Alder Valley as the route number 44A (to Woodley) indicates.
Reading Transport 45 (Dennis Loline III / East Lancs H38/30F 1964) at Twyford Station on route 43, presaging the time a couple of years or so later when the route would be transferred from Alder Valley to Reading Transport, and this type of vehicle would again appear here.

Alan Murray-Rust
08/2020

23/09/20 – 08:56

What a wonderful selection of colours and vehicle types.
It must have been fantastic for bus enthusiasts to have such a varied selection, but it was a sad indictment of the state of the UK bus industry at that time.
It was experiences like this that must have driven yet more people away from public transport and into cars.

Paul Haywood