Memories Two

Thanks to all for the feedback to my first 'Memories' gallery.
Carrying on with my clearout, I've found some more photos that might be of interest.
The Regent III I'm pretty certain is Hants & Dorset at Bournemouth bus station.
The Royal Blue coach must have been at a rally of some sort. note the non standard indicators at roof level. Anybody know why?
The other two photos are City of Oxford taken in the early 60's.

David Field
07/2016

24/07/16 - 17:07

Bus Lists on the Web confirms the first photo to be an H&D vehicle with NCME L27/26R body, new in May 1948.It looks very smart with its three piece blind display. How much better LTE's RLH's would have looked with this front!
The Royal Blue coach was taking part in the Royal Blue centenary celebrations in 1980. Here is a link to a newspaper article about it. The small centre photo below the big one is this coach. It's a bit slow to load. http://tinyurl.com/z6tc8y9

Chris Hebbron

26/07/16 - 07:00

David's first photo reminds me to ask when, why and who developed the cowl that was a feature of Hants & Dorset buses for so many years - even into the FF Lodekka days. I always assumed that it was something of a mild sunshade or did the windscreens leak at the top? (but nowhere else in the Tilling group!) I forgot to ask Alan Gurley when he was Chief Engineer for an explanation - I am sure he would have a full scientific answer!

Geoff Pullin

26/07/16 - 09:49

The sun shade adopted by Hants and Dorset - normally fitted at 'first repaint' (not at ECW, for example) - was something that first appeared on coaches in the early post-war period with bodies by Portsmouth Aviation, as a sunshade. Whether that was a Portsmouth Aviation feature, then taken up by H&D, or something H&D specified at that stage is not clear - although I am fairly certain that it was applied to bodies for other operators around that time by Portsmouth Aviation, so might be something that originated with them.

Peter Delaney

27/07/16 - 07:38

I think the H&D cowl over the windscreen was indeed a sunvisor on the basis that" Bournemouth is the land of eternal sunshine." However I recall a Welsh Authority, either Aberdare or Caerphilly I think, that had a cowl above the front destination blinds.I was once told that this had something to do with keeping the glasses below clean (don't know how that worked though).I know that exposed light bulbs were fitted under these cowls to light up the destination blinds at night, which didn't work since the bulbs refelected off the glass. It also seemed to me to be a disaster waiting to happen with rain, snow ,etc being able to get under the cowl and onto the electrics.

David Field

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