Ray Smyth:
This bus, seen in Wigan, was a front engined prototype " Ailsa Volvo ". It spent a fair
amount of time from new, based at the Wigan depot of Greater Manchester Transport
at Melverly Street which was formerly Wigan Corporation Transport. Compared with
modern buses, the driver had to get behind the wheel via the offside door. NMPs
I don’t think this was the prototype Ray as the chassis had been in service since 1974 and this particular one entered service in 1982. The first one is shown below
Dennis, Thank you for the updated info, I seem to recall that many " Bus Interested " locals thought it was the prototype,
because the bodywork was built at Northern Counties, Enfield Street, Pemberton, just over 2 miles from the locations of
the 2 pictures that I posted. I am sat typing this post about 500 yards from what was the Massey Bros/Northern Counties site,
now a small industrial estate which is occupied by 5 or 6 different companies. Cheers, Ray.
Ray Smyth:
This bus, seen in Wigan, was a front engined prototype " Ailsa Volvo ". It spent a fair
amount of time from new, based at the Wigan depot of Greater Manchester Transport
at Melverly Street which was formerly Wigan Corporation Transport. Compared with
modern buses, the driver had to get behind the wheel via the offside door. NMPs
I don’t think this was the prototype Ray as the chassis had been in service since 1974 and this particular one entered service in 1982. The first one is shown below
Dennis, Thank you for the updated info, I seem to recall that many " Bus Interested " locals thought it was the prototype,
because the bodywork was built at Northern Counties, Enfield Street, Pemberton, just over 2 miles from the locations of
the 2 pictures that I posted. I am sat typing this post about 500 yards from what was the Massey Bros/Northern Counties site,
now a small industrial estate which is occupied by 5 or 6 different companies. Cheers, Ray.
Morning Ray,
This was the first GMPTE Ailsa bodied by NC, NNA134W. They also bodied them for Cardiff, Derby and Tayside.
Ray Smyth:
This bus, seen in Wigan, was a front engined prototype " Ailsa Volvo ". It spent a fair
amount of time from new, based at the Wigan depot of Greater Manchester Transport
at Melverly Street which was formerly Wigan Corporation Transport. Compared with
modern buses, the driver had to get behind the wheel via the offside door. NMPs
I don’t think this was the prototype Ray as the chassis had been in service since 1974 and this particular one entered service in 1982. The first one is shown below
Dennis, Thank you for the updated info, I seem to recall that many " Bus Interested " locals thought it was the prototype,
because the bodywork was built at Northern Counties, Enfield Street, Pemberton, just over 2 miles from the locations of
the 2 pictures that I posted. I am sat typing this post about 500 yards from what was the Massey Bros/Northern Counties site,
now a small industrial estate which is occupied by 5 or 6 different companies. Cheers, Ray.
Morning Ray,
This was the first GMPTE Ailsa bodied by NC, NNA134W. They also bodied them for Cardiff, Derby and Tayside.
NMP
Tommy
What does GMPTE stand for? I have a photo of a S Reg (SSN 248S) Tayside Regional Council ran back in the late 70s. I worked on it around 1981, the only semi auto we had. The T reg were autos. 248 was a flying machine. Their bodies were Alexander, with the wider grill back then. Forty years ago,wow.
London Transport trialed three Volvo Ailsas before putting second hand examples into service. I had the privilege of being on the team which restored the unique V3 to its current show condition. It was, to put it mildly not the easiest vehicle to work on, engine access was very difficult for anything other than routine servicing and the rest of the layout was not much better. The drivers cab was extremely cramped and if memory is correct some engine items were accessed through small detachable panels from the cab side. It could be considered the forerunner to the Borisbus since it had a front and a rear exit and two staircases. The plan was to have the great reveal at the North Weald bus rally in I think 2006 or 2007, along with a front entrance RM which had been painted as an advertisement for one of the BBC radio stations.
To say that the bus fought to the bitter end not to make an appearance would be rather more than an understatement, the thing had a personality all of its own. It had required a massive amount of work to reinstate the missing rear doors, the upper deck seat mountings in the floor were in the wrong place for some seats and it took days on end to fit the windows. My colleague Paul was tearing his hair out and it was only his determination and perseverance which saw the bus making its Class VI test appointment on the Friday afternoon. I went home confident in the knowledge that Sunday would be achieved and with all work done it merely remained for the cleaners to do their job and Paul to titivate on the Saturday.
That was not to be. I turned up early on Sunday to take the RM. I waited for the best part of an hour, but no Paul, no one knew either what had occurred nor why V3 was still in the workshop, so I set off. Around 2 or 3pm V3 and Paul turned up at North Weald along with the saga. Sometime on the Saturday when all final preparations had been completed V3 had refused to start. Paul had removed the starter, but there was nothing which he or the local auto electrician could do with it, IIRC it was opposite hand rotation and more or less a special to the Volvo Ailsa. Numerous phone calls were made and a replacement located somewhere I think in the Nottingham or Sheffield area.
By 4am Sunday Paul had successfully collected it, fitted it and it worked reliably.
cav551:
London Transport trialed three Volvo Ailsas before putting second hand examples into service. I had the privilege of being on the team which restored the unique V3 to its current show condition. It was, to put it mildly not the easiest vehicle to work on, engine access was very difficult for anything other than routine servicing and the rest of the layout was not much better. The drivers cab was extremely cramped and if memory is correct some engine items were accessed through small detachable panels from the cab side. It could be considered the forerunner to the Borisbus since it had a front and a rear exit and two staircases. The plan was to have the great reveal at the North Weald bus rally in I think 2006 or 2007, along with a front entrance RM which had been painted as an advertisement for one of the BBC radio stations.
To say that the bus fought to the bitter end not to make an appearance would be rather more than an understatement, the thing had a personality all of its own. It had required a massive amount of work to reinstate the missing rear doors, the upper deck seat mountings in the floor were in the wrong place for some seats and it took days on end to fit the windows. My colleague Paul was tearing his hair out and it was only his determination and perseverance which saw the bus making its Class VI test appointment on the Friday afternoon. I went home confident in the knowledge that Sunday would be achieved and with all work done it merely remained for the cleaners to do their job and Paul to titivate on the Saturday.
That was not to be. I turned up early on Sunday to take the RM. I waited for the best part of an hour, but no Paul, no one knew either what had occurred nor why V3 was still in the workshop, so I set off. Around 2 or 3pm V3 and Paul turned up at North Weald along with the saga. Sometime on the Saturday when all final preparations had been completed V3 had refused to start. Paul had removed the starter, but there was nothing which he or the local auto electrician could do with it, IIRC it was opposite hand rotation and more or less a special to the Volvo Ailsa. Numerous phone calls were made and a replacement located somewhere I think in the Nottingham or Sheffield area.
By 4am Sunday Paul had successfully collected it, fitted it and it worked reliably.
11 October 1986
Severn Valley Railway
Kidderminster
Worcs
Eng
First off, my apologises if this has been posted before, as the number of forums accepting photos as widened
i have reverted to going through my pics by date, so i suspect there may be some repeats, i shall however attempt
to keep them to the minimum.
That said this is 819 HHA, a BMMO CM 5.
The sort of thing that PSV Legends are built on.
Beautiful.!
A Weymann bodied AEC of Liverpool Corporation is the team bus for
the Jacobs Biscuits Factory football team in 1949, seen at Aintree.
Picture from Bootle History Forum by Digital Repository Of Ireland.
Does anyone know what the half cab coach is and when it was built ? I am writing this about 15 miles from where the body was built and also near to .its base where it operated until just recently.
Send your answers in with a 10 bob note !!!
Cheers, Leyland 600.
Leyland600:
Does anyone know what the half cab coach is and when it was built ? I am writing this about 15 miles from where the body was built and also near to .its base where it operated until just recently.
Send your answers in with a 10 bob note !!!
Cheers, Leyland 600.
Reg No: DPY335
Make: Leyland PS1/1
Chassis No: 461222
Bodybuilder: Plaxton
Body No: Pn 37
No of seats: C33F
First Reg: 3/1947
First Owner: Smith,Dalton
For anyone who hasn’t come across it this site contains nearly everything you could want to know about a PSV chassis.
