Stockport Corporation 16/07/63

On Tuesday the 16th of July 1963 I was at Mersey Square Stockport but being an impecunious teenager at the time, and having to pay for real films, I took only three photographs. The first two shots main subject show just how good the Massey 'Utility' bodies were after 18 and 20 years of service I think it was fairly rare for utility bodies to last so long. The first shot has in the background one of the ten Longwell Green bodied Titans. Longwell Green bodied vehicles were very rare in the North in fact Stockport may have been the only operator to have them. South Wales and the South West were the usual place to find them, although they did do quite a bit of rebuilding so there could have been a few elsewhere. The third shot is of one of the three pre-war centre entrance Leyland Tigers still in service in 1963 though it was in its last year with the corporation at the time.

Richard Armishaw
07/2012

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07/07/12 - 09:56

Lovely, nostalgic pictures, Richard. Thank you. Just a short query - what engines did the Stockport Guy Arabs have? The photos of 210 and 222 both show the 'snout' that wartime Guys had in order to enable fitting a Gardner 6LW, but my understanding is that this did not necessarily mean that a 6LW was fitted. An operator had to justify getting one. Most wartime Guys had a 5LW, occasionally changed later, (see the Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway posting re the ex-Southdown Guys which had 5LWs, changed to 6LWs and back again). I'd be interested to learn about Stockport.

Roy Burke

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07/07/12 - 11:21

Great photos Richard, but I especially like the one with the TS7. This is the sort of photo I really like - not just a perfectly posed, correctly lit bus record shot, but a fascinating glimpse of period life, full of atmosphere and charm.
I can remember being ridiculed by my fellow enthusiasts when out together on bus snapping outings for taking photos with people milling around boarding and alighting - and horror of horrors, crews leaning against the front having a quick smoke and getting a bit of warmth off the radiator. I'm glad I ignored them now, and I'm grateful you thought similarly and took this marvellous photo.

John Stringer

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09/07/12 - 07:25

Further to the period shot in the gallery here is a photo of one of the Tigers JA 7591 in preserved condition

Andrew Charles

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29/07/12 - 16:27

Great views of another long-gone operator, swallowed by the political meddlers in the name of efficiency. Thanks for posting.

Pete Davies

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24/10/12 - 11:26

Re the engines in the Stockports Guy Arabs. They were all 5LW's. All the bodies were heavily overhauled bt Stockport in the mid fifties but were faithful to the Massey style which is why they looked so good 20 years after delivery.
The picture of 222 is of it on Wellington Rd South just off Mersey Sq and it is probably on the Limited Stop rush hour service #18 (a joint service with Manchester Corpoartion).
The picture of 210 shows in the unique version of the livery that it carried with extra lining out under the top deck windows. It gives the bus a better look but it was the only Guy treated this way.
The bus behind 222 is one of the Longwell Green bodied PD2's that have been the subject of recent discussions on this site in the Stockport Corporation page. It too is on a rush hour service, the 17X to Hazel Grove from Reddish.
The Tiger TS7 is at the then recently resited Bus Stop in Mersey Sq for route #75. Previously they pulled in outside the Plaza cinema in the far background. This one is on a rush hour duplicate that ran between Mersey Sq and the Green End Hotel in Burnage.

Orla Nutting

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06/08/14 - 07:34

Revisited this post in an idle moment. The Guy Arabs still have the old coat of arms and I don't think any carried the new version as carried by the PD2. 222, being a 1945 delivery has the relaxed utility bodywork, front upper deck window vents in addition to the one drop window each side being the obvious difference. On a dank winter morning the upper decks of the Arabs could be a major health hazard and in the summer, especially the hot summers of 1958 and 1959, the buses were very warm. It is difficult to believe that these photos are now 51 years old having been taken seven days after my 16th birthday.
It sounds odd but I recognise the conductor, even though he has his back to the photographer. He regularly appeared on the #9 service between Reddish and West Didsbury. Small in stature but full of tall stories to anyone who would listen.

Phil Blinkhorn

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09/07/15 - 11:10

I started to attend Stockport School in 1957 and travelled there through Mersey Square. I only had a passing interest in buses at the time but became more aware of what was being operated at the time. A distinct recollection was of seeing what I now know to be the pre-war Leyland double decks in Mersey Square near to the terminus of the 17 Reddish service displaying 'Circular' on their indicators. I never did discover where this service went to but the destination was being used for some reason then or even later. I can't recall now whether a number was displayed. Incidentally, as a Stockport Borough Councillor, I was Stockport's representative on the S.E.L.N.E.C Passenger Transport Authority until 1972 and was also Chairman of Stockport's post SELNEC transport committee for a time. The council wanted to have a forum for councillors to discuss transport matters in the borough even though we had lost our transport department.

Alan M. Greenhalgh

 

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