Stans Gallery - Part One - Sheffield Corporation

Below are eight black & white shots of Sheffield Corporation vehicles I thought you would like to see, not all of the shots have been cropped to benefit the vehicles allowing some good street scenes with rather nice old cars.

Stan Zapiec
04/2014

 

Link to view Part Two - Not Sheffield Corporation

 

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18/04/14 - 18:22

An interesting set of photos with plenty of variety. The real 'surprise' to me were the Orion-bodied Leylands. I'd completely forgotten about their existence as they never seem to appear in collections of Sheffield photos yet these were from a batch of twenty. They were probably considered the least interesting members of what was a very varied fleet, but the one of 484 shows how different an Orion looked in Sheffield livery, helped by carrying no adverts.

David Beilby

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19/04/14 - 07:38

Thanks for sharing Stan, a great collection. As a lad/youth I rode almost all of those shown! 160/2160 on my home route 83 Birley, the RWA on the Killamarsh/Eckington services (26 / 30 /62 /64) and the others to various parks and to visit aunts and uncles across most parts of the Grand Metropolis of Sheffield!

Les Dickinson

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19/04/14 - 07:39

Stan, your photographs are a lovely reminder of the variety present in the Sheffield fleet. They are also full of atmosphere - that lamp post behind the Regent V could be seen in other northern cities at the time, as could the Hillman Minx, Riley 1.5/Wolseley 1500 and bonneted Bedford truck you have captured. Wonderful. David's comment about the livery suiting the Orion-bodied Titans says something about the quality and simplicity of the layout. One only has to look at David O's recent shot of the modern Wright-bodied 'deckers in Sheffield livery, to see that even now it has the capability to enhance a box-shaped design. Thank you for posting them Stan.

Brendan Smith

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19/04/14 - 07:40

Thanks for posting this collection, Stan, brings back a lot of memories. The first two photos were taken on the parking area behind Bridge Street Bus Station, unsurfaced as I remember at that time. Buses were left there after the evening peak - I wonder who eventually collected them to return them to Herries Road Garage.
1367 is at Templeboro on a workers service to the large Parson Cross estate, Rotherham's single ended trams used to turn where the zebra crossing is at the bottom of the hill by this time it would probably be one of their Bristol double deckers at this location.
484 is on Attercliffe Common, looks freshly repainted probably after initial CoF renewal after seven years, so the photo is probably dated 1965.
The Orion PD2 on Waingate is definitely 477, only 477-479 of this batch had opening windows in the front top deck windscreens, 477 (at least) had hinged ventilators in the last bay each side of the top deck, can just be made out in this photo.

Ian Wild

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19/04/14 - 09:04

Regarding PD2 No. 604, I'm intrigued to know how Sheffield found another three seats upstairs in a 26 footer. It's the first time I've heard this.

An interesting selection of buses although many 'disfigured' (in my eyes) by Mr Humpidge's "Adolf" treatment by blacking out the bars between the destination indicators. Compare 484 with this photo of 489 albeit rather dirty.

John Darwent

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19/04/14 - 09:04

John,
I not Stan got the wrong registration and included the info of the increased seating I am sorry about that, I have altered the caption but you may be interested in the following.
Info from Ian Allan British Bus Fleets Yorkshire Municipals 1965 the 604 - 655 batch were Leyland H30/26R but nos 604, 605, 606, 620, 625, 626, 633 & 651 were as it says "(now H33/26R)".

Peter

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19/04/14 - 09:56

Just to add my thanks and compliments for a superb and evocative gallery. [For irrelevant reasons, the title brings a lump to my throat. My father was a prizewinning photographer. His name? Stan.]

David Oldfield

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20/04/14 - 06:53

Sheffield 604/9/10/11 were sold to Oldham in 1965. 604 was always recorded there as H33/26R and there was some uncertainty about 611.
I suspect the three seats would be added by moving all the nearside upper saloon seats forward and putting a triple seat right at the back.

David Beilby

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20/04/14 - 06:53

Ian, the drivers who eventually took the parked buses back to depot would almost certainly be those finishing a split or middle duty. A late duty driver would park the bus, have his meal break, then take over a bus continuing in service. The driver coming off would take the parked bus into depot or have his own break then continue on a late duty. Only when the late duty drivers were all accommodated in this way would buses be scheduled to be taken to depot.
Sometimes a driver would park a bus, relieve another driver for the duration of the latter's meal break, then take his original bus to depot.
Either way, the reason for the hour or two time lapse between a bus being parked and being taken to depot was to provide for late duty meal breaks. It was, and remains, a common arrangement.
As for seating capacities, many operators increased the top deck capacity of 26-foot double-decks from 30 to 32/33 - I think probably more buses had their capacity increased than were permitted to retain the status quo. It seems as though there was almost a 'golden rule' until the 1950s that double-deckers should seat no more than 56.

David Call

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20/04/14 - 06:53

Evocative pictures, Stan. What a lot of livery variations: more than First! I like the Ford Classic, too with its little brother Anglia opposite....but John Darwent's pic of the road-stained tin-front shows how important it was in post war Sheffield for people to have cleaned buildings, smokeless zones, fish in the rivers.... and clean buses in muck-defying cream!

Joe

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20/04/14 - 06:54

Most of Manchester's 26-footers were H32/26R and never seemed squashed to me. Presumably the 33rd seat was obtained by making the back seat for three, which is rather more surprising in a 7'6" wide body.

Peter Williamson

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20/04/14 - 06:55

The Leyland bodies on the immediate post war PD2s originally had 30 top deck seats. During the early 1960s quite a number, but not all, were increased to 33 seats. The offside double seats were particularly well spaced so there was room for an extra double seat plus there was sufficient space next to the staircase to add a third seat to the nearside rear thus upseating to H33/26R. I’m pretty sure the 1952 OWB registered batch also gained a three seater rear at the same time. Makes you think how times have changed, nowadays buses often seat less than their full capacity ‘to give passengers more personal space’.
Brendan, the lamp standard behind the Regent V at Templeboro was a tram standard dating back to the joint Sheffield – Rotherham tram service. These were evident throughout the City on former tram routes and served their purpose well before being ousted by first concrete and later steel columns (Welcome to Old Lamposts on the net!!)

Ian Wild

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20/04/14 - 09:02

Bradford also increased the seating from H30/26R to H33/26R on there AEC Regent III/Weymann 1/40 and both deliveries of PD2/3 /Leyland buses so this seems to be common practice in the 1950s

Geoff S

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20/04/14 - 11:06

David 'C's comments on vehicles parked up and later returned to the depot. NGT's Percy Main depot had a similar system. The main changeover point for crews in North Shields was Northumberland Square, throughout the day; vehicles would be parked on an area in Church Way whilst the crews took their break, come the early evening when the schedules began to run down, they were taken back to the depot by any middle tern that finished at the Square. The drawback was that it was not until the last service bus was back to the depot at around 0100 that they were all accounted for and on more than one occasion, the garage staff had to go into Shields to recover a bus or buses that had not been returned for whatever reason. When T&W PTE was created, the former municipal undertakings of Newcastle, South Shileds and Sunderland all adopted the same livery, and there is an unconfirmed story that a Sunderland bus went missing and somehow or other found its way to Byker. The story goes that it was three days before anyone realised that it shouldn't have been there, in the meantime it had been reported as stolen. Where better to hide a bus than in a bus garage?

Ronnie Hoye

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20/04/14 - 12:31

Further to the comments on the PD2/1 'Farrington' batch 604-655, Keith Beeden confirms that several of this batch received the additional seats at the instigation of Chaceley Humpidge who was appointed Sheffield General Manager in May 1961. Keith recalls that on the offside upper deck of Leyland bodied buses, there was room for a double seat ahead of the staircase top which was utilised accordingly and in some cases, a three-seat frame was installed at the nearside rear so providing a H33/26R capacity. This ties in nicely with Geoff S's comment re Bradford since Mr Humpidge was Bradford GM prior to his appointment at Sheffield.
It is also interesting to note from Peter's post that according to Ian Allan Municipal Buses, number 651 was a re-seated example. This bus was originally fitted with the experimental Sidhil-Morseat 'cranked' seats which had presumably been removed prior to re-seating.
Thank you all for the info.I have a 'blank spot' on things Sheffield Transport in the 1960's due to career opportunities elsewhere and attentions of the fairer sex. Shows the value of this superb website cum forum though.

John Darwent

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22/04/14 - 10:47

I have always admired the traditional Sheffield livery, although I have only visited the city a few times in the 60's and 70's. Some have called it impractical because of the cream, but for some reason Sheffield got away with it. Reference above to the First Group heritage livery buses and their improved appearance proves the point. On the subject of increased seating capacities, that fad also occurred down south in Portsmouth. The Corporation had two batches of PD2's with MCCW Orion bodies, all delivered as 56-seaters in 1956 (25) and 1958 (15). In 1959/60, the 1956 batch were all increased to 59, with an extra seat row on the nearside upstairs, and an extra third seat looking into the gangway by the stairs. One (no.103) was at first raised to a 60 seater, but within a year or two was modified again to confirm to the rest as a 59-seater. However, the 15 buses supplied in 1958 remained 56 seaters throughout their whole lives. (off-topic, but just to mention that Portsmouth also had five PD3/Orions, delivered as 64 seaters - very low for their potential capacity. These became 70 seaters within a few years. Also many of the Leylandised Crossleys were upped from 52 to 58 seaters around 1959-61). I remember these additional seats being impressed with "Deans" on the framework, and were flat-topped, whereas the originals had a gentle curve.

Michael Hampton

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22/04/14 - 19:23

Continuing the Leyland-bodied PD2/1 reseating theme, Keith Beeden kindly writes as follows:-

"I have checked the PSV Circle records on STD/SJOC for all the reseating details Interestingly, only Category A vehicles were included in the programme"
1961
265/6/9/302/5/7/10/11/336-8/343/601-6/20/26/30//35/36/34/651/370/1/3/85
1962
283/291/293/296/300/301
1963
315
"All were PD2/1 models converted to H33/26R
The 12 PD2/10 models, 656-667 were converted to H33/28R from H30/28R in 1961
Thus they were the only 61 seat capacity buses in the fleet, I believe".

John Darwent

 

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