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10 hours ago, J W Pepper said:

What Leyland is this?

See the source image

So what year is this one? It's just that apart from the windscreen and lights the body looks practically identical to the entire Southampton City Transport fleet that were delivered from 1968 to 1982 and remained in service until 2005.there were detail differences that us cranks could spot but to the general public they were identical. But the reg on that one suggests it is much older. 

They were crap bodies but judging by that photo East Lancs managed to flog it virtually unchanged for 20 years. Nothing* to do with being cheap I guess. 

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14 minutes ago, Yoss said:

So what year is this one? It's just that apart from the windscreen and lights the body looks practically identical to the entire Southampton City Transport fleet that were delivered from 1968 to 1982 and remained in service until 2005.there were detail differences that us cranks could spot but to the general public they were identical. But the reg on that one suggests it is much older. 

They were crap bodies but judging by that photo East Lancs managed to flog it virtually unchanged for 20 years. Nothing* to do with being cheap I guess. 

I was wondering about that myself, Reg comes back 1963

but it looks surprisingly "modern" and square for a 1963 vehicle, im used to rear engined buses of that age being a lot more rounded in the corners etc if that makes sense!

so I wonder if its been re-bodied or something such

 

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16 hours ago, Yoss said:

Thanks. As LBF says it looks really modern for 1963. The people of Bolton must have thought they had arrived in the future. 

Bolton is a nice area and back then people used to come from all over the country to go to the market.

The trolley buses were a good design but they got scrapped after a few years. Perhaps someone can shed a light on this?

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9 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Oh, 'safe' were they?

The term was used in a contemporary advert that extolled the virtue of the ‘safety coach’ in that the passengers couldn’t fall out of he side while travelling along.

At the BCLM we had a REO with a London Lorries safety Coach body on it. It was one of the things you told the passengers while you were driving them around.

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30 minutes ago, J W Pepper said:

We used to have lots of Leyland buses here in Bolton 

Nearly all the Lancashire municipalities used to support the local product, although there were a few holdouts. 

In Cardiff, where I grew up they used East Lancs coachbuilders or their subsidiaries for many years, but in the twenty years after the war bought AEC, Bristol,BUT, Crossley, Daimler,Guy, and Leyland Chassis. Only Dennis and Albion were left out.

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13 hours ago, Inspector Morose said:

(Pedant mode on) That’s a safety coach. A charabanc has a doorway or entry to each row of seats. (Pedant mode off)

yeah, everyone calls them a charabanc and my utter pedantry has been long forgotten.

My father worked for a Faversham haulier/coach owner and very often helped out with the charabanc loading. Mr Gilbert driving,not my dad.

 

IMG_20161127_0001.jpg

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35 minutes ago, artdjones said:

In Cardiff, where I grew up they used East Lancs coachbuilders or their subsidiaries for many years…

Including the wonderfully named Bruce Coach Works. I never worked out whether they ended up a subsidiary of East Lancs or just built bodies using their frames. They certainly didn’t start out as an offshoot to the Blackburn firm, anyway.

Another East Lancs-a-like was Neepsend of Sheffield but I’m sure our northern bus correspondent can provide more accurate details than I.

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On 5/25/2022 at 11:15 AM, Inspector Morose said:

Including the wonderfully named Bruce Coach Works. I never worked out whether they ended up a subsidiary of East Lancs or just built bodies using their frames. They certainly didn’t start out as an offshoot to the Blackburn firm, anyway.

Another East Lancs-a-like was Neepsend of Sheffield but I’m sure our northern bus correspondent can provide more accurate details than I.

They were a subsidiary of East Lancs, I believe. The Guy Arabs from Neepsend looked the same as the ones from East Lancs.

Edit: Not a subsidiary, both member companies of the John Brown Group.

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On 5/25/2022 at 11:15 AM, Inspector Morose said:

Including the wonderfully named Bruce Coach Works. I never worked out whether they ended up a subsidiary of East Lancs or just built bodies using their frames. They certainly didn’t start out as an offshoot to the Blackburn firm, anyway.

Another East Lancs-a-like was Neepsend of Sheffield but I’m sure our northern bus correspondent can provide more accurate details than I.

Neepsend, a name that sends shudders down the backs of us older Sheffield entusiasts.

Basically an East Lancs tax loophole IIRC. There were tax incentives on offer for new businesses in Sheffield and EL set up Neepsend to build bus bodies as there was a large demand in the early 60's. I remember talking to a former employee who told me that nobody there had ever built one before, and you could tell. Boy were they wank, just imagine ELs usual shiteness, then add 50%.

When the tax incentives ended, so did Neepsend and production of shite bus bodies went back to Blackburn.

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2 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Neepsend, a name that sends shudders down the backs of us older Sheffield entusiasts.

Basically an East Lancs tax loophole IIRC. There were tax incentives on offer for new businesses in Sheffield and EL set up Neepsend to build bus bodies as there was a large demand in the early 60's. I remember talking to a former employee who told me that nobody there had ever built one before, and you could tell. Boy were they wank, just imagine ELs usual shiteness, then add 50%.

When the tax incentives ended, so did Neepsend and production of shite bus bodies went back to Blackburn.

Lots of the people assembling thrust reversers for jet engines at what is now Safran* in Burnley, came from the bus industry. Because its aluminium frames with alloy sheet riveted to it. 

* Lucas Aerospace, then Hurel Debois, then Hurel Hispano, then Aircelle. Now Safran. 

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On 24/05/2022 at 23:05, High Jetter said:

Oh, 'safe' were they?

Some bloke that I worked with fell out of a coach window on a stag do. On the M65 he was pressing against it with his bare arse and the glass fell out. Hit the ground at 50 mph. 

He lost alot of skin from. His bare arse. Was off work for 12 months. Sued the coach company for having a loose window. 

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2 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

I hope the judge kicked him up (what was left of) his arse.

I think there was an out of court settlement.  I joined the company just after he'd come back to work, and left 2 years later whilst they were still arguing with lawyers. 

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3 hours ago, martc said:

image.png.46a5c92a3c9611f6c95401e355faadfc.png

image.png.3ae3436bcbc1e1ed77507835e629fb15.png

'Noo Yoik 1940's'. Any idea what the buses are? The one at the back looks very modern for the '40's.

Yeah, a Yellow 720. Basically a transverse engined 72 seat low height double deck built 20 years before the Atlantean. At least one later build 735 (more pronounced curve to the roof) is preserved.

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36 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

Yeah, a Yellow 720. Basically a transverse engined 72 seat low height double deck built 20 years before the Atlantean. At least one later build 735 (more pronounced curve to the roof) is preserved.

thats a very fascinating bus! heres a nice detailed writeup I found on them

https://zavanak.com/transport-topics/yellow-coach-720-735/

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