Tag: North Western

  • Lower Mosley Street Manchester – Part 1

    North Western’s 237 (CDB 237), a 1949 Leyland PD2/1 with Leyland L53R bodywork, is seen awaiting departure for Macclesfield in the middle lane of the western roadway. Behind it is the main building of the bus station, and in the background the enormous train-shed of Central Station. The roof of the shelter for stands 10-17…

  • Early interest in Buses

    I’m not sure from where I get my interest in transport – it certainly isn’t a family tradition. In the late 1940s my father was a maintenance electrician with Williamson’s ticket printers of Ashton under Lyne which printed tens of millions of bus tickets. He sometimes brought transport magazines home and, even before I could…

  • To School by Bus – Part Four

    Not read Part Three Click here I mentioned that the daytime schedule on the #31 was not enhanced at rush periods and there was a good reason for this – the #31A. The #31 ran from Manchester, by 1958 using the Chorlton St terminus, to the Cheshire village of Bramhall and was exclusively MCTD. Never…

  • North Western Road Car Company 1958-1974 – Part Four

    Not seen this the start of this article Click Here The next batch of vehicles certainly kept up the level of interest in the goings on at Charles St. The Bristol single deck fleet was all but retired. Advantages of the design were a low height compared to the underfloor engined single deckers which had,…

  • North Western Road Car Company 1958-1974 – Part Three

    Not seen the start of this article Click Here North Western then turned to the single deck bus fleet and ordered twenty 36 foot long AEC Reliance chassis. Since the first Royal Tiger deliveries all single deck buses, apart from the Burlingham Reliances, had conformed to BET body standards and it was the current BET…

  • North Western Road Car Company 1958 -1974 – Part Two

    Not seen Part One Click Here As the new decade dawned, North Western was again at odds with BET policy. Double deckers were a necessary part of the fleet, not only in the part of the operating area that fell within what was to become Greater Manchester but also in Macclesfield and Northwich. With low…

  • North Western Road Car Company 1958-1974 – Part One

    In 1958 North Western Road Car Company Ltd was part of British Electric Traction a company with roots in electric tramway systems (the last tram it owned ran in Gateshead in 1951) which owned many of the non-municipal and non-nationalised bus companies in the UK between 1948 and 1969. At the time BET also owned…

  • Buses and coaches in Sale – Part 3

    Not read from the beginning click here Part 3 – Express Services The A56 trunk road entered the Borough of Sale from the north at Crossford Bridge, where the River Mersey marked the boundary with Stretford (and Cheshire’s boundary with Lancashire), and was known as Chester Road until the junction with Dane Road. It then…

  • Buses and coaches in Sale – Part 2

    Not read from the beginning click here Part Two – North Western In 1923 British Automobile Traction, the motor bus subsidiary of BET, restructured its “branch” in Cheshire and northern Derbyshire as a subsidiary known as the North Western Road Car Company. At that time the new company had major bases in Macclesfield and Stockport…

  • North Western – Leyland Titan PD2/1 – CDB 237 – 237

    North Western Road Car1949Leyland Titan PD2/1Leyland L27/26R The full name was North Western Road Car Company Ltd and they were based at Stockport near Manchester. Another bus with a painted radiator did absolutely nothing for appearances the top deck windows are fairly deep for a lowbridge body though, the photo taken at Dean Street bus…