Sheffield Buses in the Snow

 

Monday 1st January 1968

A heavy snowfall starting about 18:00hrs was the prelude to an hour of chaos on services 61/63 on Greystones Road between 19:00 and 20:00hrs.

The 19:03 ex Hunters Bar on service 61 operated by 813 became stuck at the Greystones Grange Road bus stop. The driver telephoned for assistance (fortunately there was a telephone box opposite the bus stop) and then had another try at climbing the hill. This caused some difficulty for the driver of 795 which was working down the hill with the 19:08 journey ex Ecclesall. The 19:33 ex Hunters Bar service 61 negotiated Greystones Road without difficulty. The driver of 813 continued to try to get his bus moving eventually blocking the downhill path of 789 with the next 63 journey.

At 19:50hrs the East Bank Garage Grit Wagon G55 appeared and with the combined efforts of the three man crew 813 was coaxed up the hill just as 807 which was working the 20:03 ex Hunters Bar caught up with the convoy. 789 was then released to continue its journey to Shirecliffe whilst the crew of G55 collected up the empty grit bags and departed in the wake of 813 and 807.

G55 is a 1948 Weymann bodied AEC Regent III minus its top deck and platform, has a preselector gearbox and snow chains fitted to the rear tyres. It has a sliding door in the rear panel for crew access to the saloon and boasts a circular Clayton heater on the front bulkhead. There is one double seat either side of the gangway at the front interestingly of the staggered ‘anti social’ type which were not fitted to this bus when in service. An additional spotlight is fitted under the canopy at the nearside. It does not have an amber rotating flashing beacon on the roof.

Vehicle details are:
789 XWJ 789 AEC Regent V / Weymann H32/26R new 5/57
795 XWJ 795                            ditto
807 XWJ 807                            ditto
813 XWJ 813                            ditto
G55 KWE 255 AEC Regent III / Weymann H30/26R new -/48, ex bus no 255 and converted to a grit wagon by Sheffield Transport in 1963.

Greystones Road is on the South Western side of the City and a steep climb of a good half mile at around 1 in 7.
A couple of points to note over 40 years later:
1) It was New Years Day, not a Bank Holiday in those days and a normal weekday service was operating.
2) The short interval between 813 becoming stuck and help arriving from East Bank depot some three miles away. You couldn’t achieve that nowadays!!

Ian Wild
04/2011

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03/04/11 - 08:50

What was the purpose of the red Austin K2 parked next to the breakdown Regent? Not the sort of vehicle you'd see reposing the average bus garage! Was it a Fire Engine or something?

Chris Hebbron

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04/04/11 - 07:22

The Austin K2 in the picture was fleet number R45 in the miscellaneous fleet. It was a heavy recovery vehicle and only used for major recovery jobs. A simple tow back to Depot for a failed bus would be done by G56 which was a cut down all Leyland PD2/10 dating from 1952. I think (but not certain) that R45 was a 6 wheel vehicle.

Ian Wild

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27/03/16 - 07:55

The view of the Austin is interesting. There were two in the fleet. I had them down as 6w ex WD K6 type. A picture in a book on Sheffield shows the front of one. This appears to have a military style radiator. The one in the photo has a civilian front end. Any info on these would be appreciated.

John Harrington

 

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