Copyright Stan Fitton.

Provincial (Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Co)
1931
AEC Regal I
Reading FB35F

The Regent in the above shot was on the Crossley Omnibus Society Grand Southern tour and here it can be seen at the Provincial bus depot parked next to their number 66. Provincial had a tendency to get their monies worth out of the vehicles they owned and 66 was no exception. The vehicle was purchased from Timpsons of London in 1949 with the original registration of GN 7271, on arrival at Provincial it was immediately fitted with an AEC 7·7 litre diesel engine, rebodied with a Reading half canopy C32R body and reregistered as GOU 449. Ten years later it was rebodied again with the one in the shot above which was a Reading FB35F, it served a further 11 years at Provincial before being sold for scrap in 1970. This vehicle must be fairly high on the list of ‘longest serving vehicles’ at 39 years.
When David sent me this shot he said it was scanned from a very dark slide and he would understand if I did not use it, I think it would be a waste not to, especially a colour one and anyway David if you want to see a shot that should not be used click here.

Photograph contributed by David Beilby

Bus tickets issued by this operator can be viewed here.

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09/02/11 - 05:48

It’s a bit like the old story of Paddy’s brush - or Caesar’s original penknife isn’t it? Nearly everything has been replaced, but there is still a clear historical trail that says it is still the original! I do not say this in any sense of criticism - I grew up in Barton’s territory, and beneath some of their shiny "new" vehicles (well, bodies anyway) you could discover mechanical antiques continuing to serve their original purpose perfectly satisfactorily.

Stephen Ford

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01/07/11 - 06:15

Further photos of this vehicle with its original Reading coach body, plus what it might have looked like with Timpson can be found on the AEC Regal page at: http://www.regent8.co.uk/ click on rotating arrow

Stephen Didymus

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01/07/11 - 09:22

As Stephen rightly says at one time there were many fascinating "enigmas on wheels" giving splendid service for incredible lengths of time. Perhaps the most spectacular that I ever actually worked on was Samuel Ledgard’s magnificent Burlingham bodied AEC Regal - it was a Birmingham Corporation Regent 1 of 1930, but how many happy day trippers to the seaside could possibly have imagined that?? It had been rebuilt by Don Everall of Wolverhampton - a Corgi model of it exists, but with a Duple body instead of the correct Burlingham, and the registration FWJ 938 - should be FJW - but a lovely model nevertheless.

Chris Youhill

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02/07/11 - 07:10

And here is The Maggot Wagon, Chris Y. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940361@N08/3883856963/

Chris Hebbron

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02/07/11 - 07:12

Chris, the same could be said of the coach just visible behind 66. It is either 68 (OCG 444) or 69 (PCG 436)both of which were chassis that started life as City Of Oxford Regents in 1932, and acquired as such by Provincial in 1940. 68 was originally 22 (JO 5406), whilst 69 was rebuilt from a combination of 20/21 (JO 5404/5). Both were given Reading coach bodies in 1955/56 and survived until early 1969.

Stephen Didymus

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02/07/11 - 12:07

Sorry for digressing slightly but FJW 938 seems doubly strange because it is pre-war, with a Regent (or Regal) II radiator and front wings and a Mk III bonnet!

Chris Barker

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02/07/11 - 16:24

It’s a shame that virtually no information is immediately available about Reading and the other Portsmouth bodybuilder, Portsmouth Aviation.

Chris Hebbron

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03/07/11 - 05:54

Thanks Chris H and Chris B - the bonnet and radiator are indeed fascinating features too - I wonder where they originated ?? - not from the shelves of a dealer in new parts I’ll be bound !! As the old darling is displaying "Otley" on the destination blind it has obviously recently carried "stage carriage" passengers in style and acoustic delight at absolutely no extra charge !!

Chris Youhill

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03/07/11 - 20:40

Chris H: David Whitaker has written an excellent book on Readings the Portsmouth coachbuilders. Titled "Reading First & Last", it is available from the Provincial Society website. In addition to many bus photos of Provincial, Portsmouth, and Channel Island vehicles, there are also a considerable number of lorries, ambulances and ice cream vans.

Stephen Didymus

Copyright David Whitaker

Provincial (Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Co)
1938
AEC Regent I
Weymann H56R

On 31st December 1962, a heavy snowfall occurred in the Portsmouth area, an unusual happening, and the snowy conditions lingered on until the March of 1963. The immediate consequence in Portsmouth was that Portsmouth’s trolleybuses bounced on the snow-packed uneven and unsalted roads to the extent that the poles came off the wires, with motor buses having to take over for a day or so!
On the other side of Portsmouth Harbour, having come to grief in a ditch, the first photo shows Provincial 48 (JML 784) about to be recovered from a ditch in Brookers Lane (outskirts of Gosport), unusually by a Royal Navy crane, on 2nd January. A Royal Naval Air Station was only a few miles away at Lee-on-Solent. The second photo shows the bus ‘in full swing’ and about to land on ‘all fours’ again.
No.48 started life as a demonstrator, prior to being taken into ‘Provincial’ stock on 01.05.39, being numbered 48 in October 1939.
The accident was not fatal to the vehicle, for it lasted in service until 27.08.64, a creditable 25 years with Provincial in total.

Photos by kind permission of David Whitaker. Copy by Chris Hebbron, with vehicle’s history taken with his permission from Ray Tull’s ‘Provincial’ website www.regent8.co.uk

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19/05/12 - 15:38

There’s an active "interest" group ‘The Provincial Society’. They have a website as follows: www.provincialsociety.org

Pete Davies

Photograph by ‘unknown’ if you took this photo please go to the copyright page.

Provincial (Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Co)
1937
AEC Regent I
Craven H56R

Here is another of the four ex Nottingham Regents that Provincial acquired in 1954 it was fleet number 220 in the Nottingham fleet. According to Stephen Didymus this vehicle was partially rebuilt during the late 1950s and ended up with a front destination layout to Provincial’s standard design of the time. Craven bodybuilders were located at Sheffield their main business appeared to be railway carriages but they also made tram and bus bodies. During the war they apparently made the wings for the "Horsa" troop carrying gliders, and components for the Lancaster bombers. They also built 120 AEC RT type vehicles for London Transport but they were not built to the same specification as the rest having five bay bodies instead of four is one example. Not being to the same specification also meant that their bodies would not be interchangeable with others RTs built by other bodybuilders so they did not last long with London Transport and were soon sold off.

Bus tickets issued by this operator can be viewed here.

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Sheffield Transport’s 15 1948 Regent IIIs and the RTs were probably Cravens’ swansong before they concentrated on production of trams and then railway rolling stock - especially DMUs.
What isn’t widely known is that Cravens bought East Lancs in the early sixties, after a chance meeting of the chairmen of both companies. At the same time, they tried to expand by opening Neepsend Coachworks in that same district of Sheffield. Although Neepsend closed after only four years, both it and East Lancs were subsidiaries of Cravens - Neepsend was never owned by East Lancs. Cravens soon sold out to the bigger John Brown Group - a steel manufacturer in Sheffield - who eventually sold East Lancs on to Dawson Williams and Drawlane (which became British Bus and, eventually, Arriva).

David Oldfield

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Nostalgic picture. I can recall the pre-war Regents working in Nottingham in the early 50s. 50 of this Cravens bodied version were supplied about 1938 (DAU451-500, running numbers 72-76 and 214-258). Metro-Cammell supplied a total of 93 (I think) during 1936-37, and Northern Counties 35 in 1935. From the sound, I would judge that they were all pre-selectors. I think that all varieties were originally built with narrow upstairs front windows flanking a central route number box, but most were subsequently rebuilt in the style shown on the photo. The Cravens had a slightly glowering appearance, and the Northern Counties had a more rounded dome and less steeply raked front. Internally, the three series were similar. Lighting was by naked bulbs in oval "volcano" fittings - except for the Northern Counties which had big circular "volcanos". The Cravens and MCs had plunger bells instead of "push once" buttons. Nearly all were displaced from front line service by the 1953-55 deliveries of Park Royal Regent IIIs (OTV127-198 with running numbers matching the registration). It was this that released various of them for sale to Provincial around 1954. Click here to see one in Nottingham about 1948.

Stephen Ford