The above two shots just turned up with no comment apart from the 'Subject' which I have used as the heading. There was a name with the mail but as there was no comment I think at this moment anonymity maybe the order of the day.
Peter
07/10/13 - 14:05
It looks as if the two photographs are taken from different places inside the
garage, but of the same group of vehicles. I date them as being taken
some time in the 1920's. In the second view, EL 7368 is seen clearly.
This was - according to the PSV Circle listing PK781 - a Leyland G5,
introduced in January 1920 and withdrawn in October 1929. The bodywork
was Beadle B34R. Disposal was for scrapping. PK781 includes an
interesting snippet in that while it is noted as a G5, even in the
maker's catalogue, the maker's own sales records say it was a
"N".
The location, so far as I can ascertain, was Grosvenor Square,
Southampton. The east wall formed the west wall of the Bedford Place
Coach Station. These structures were demolished in the late 1980's
during an asset stripping exercise by an emerging group based in
Scotland. It certainly looks as if it was the "Depot" rather
than either the Engineering Works in Villiers Road, Shirley, or the Body
Works in Winchester Road, Shirley. For one thing, we appear to have just
a parking area, rather then with even the simplest of inspection pits
which might be found in most garages.
Pete Davies
07/10/13 - 17:52
I was informed that the 'Scottish Company' (is that a bit like the Scottish
play), got more for the Southampton Depot than they paid for the whole
Company.
The tax payer (that's you and me) lost out again, as with a lot of
the NBC sell off.
Stephen Howarth
08/10/13 - 07:41
Yes, Stephen, that is what I remember of the transaction at the time!
Pete Davies
08/10/13 - 10:22
Although I follow the 'logic' in the suggestion that it is the Grosvenor
Square garage, I think the pictures are actually taken at the 368
Shirley Road base. The reasons for that are that the Grosvenor Square
site was only acquired by H&D in 1935, the garage being completed in
1938 - and by then the fleet did not include vehicles such as the
Leylands shown ! The roof glazing of the Grosvenor Square premises was
two relatively narrow lengthwise sections, one either side of the apex.
(as on page 18 of David Fereday Glenn's "Bus Operators 3, Hants &
Dorset" published by Ian Allan) There is a picture of the body
shops at 368 on page 7 of "Hants & Dorset" in Venture's
Prestige series, and other views on page 53 of Colin Morris's 1996
edition of "Hants & Dorset a History" published by DTS. The
image left centre in the latter shows the roof structure to be like that
in the 'mystery pictures', and notes that the vehicle chassis could be
suspended from above - without any pits.
Interesting pictures though, so thank you to whoever has sent them
in !
Peter Delaney
08/10/13 - 13:03
You could well be correct Peter I assumed they were the old bus depot near
the Polygon Southampton. My late father started work for H&D in 1924 and
left in 1952, they hung on his office wall at Villiers Rd for years and
he liberated them on retirement. The actual caption says:-
The New Hants & Dorset Motor Services Garage Southampton.
Architect Charles J Hair, Main contractor W Hayward Bournemouth. They
were taken by Max Mills Studios Southampton.
Sorry I know no more, my father died many years go and I recently
'discovered' the photos.
Bob
08/10/13 - 17:47
Yes, gents, I'll go along with the idea that it might have been Shirley Road/Villiers Road body shop, but I thought the illustration in the Venture book showed some element of a pit under the bus on the right. Then again, my eyes might be in a worse state than I was aware of! My sources of information don't have a build date for Grosvenor Square.
Pete Davies
04/07/14 - 11:58
The H&D; history books seem to be in agreement that the depot at Bedford
Place/Grosvenor Square was built following the acquisition of the site
with Tourist Coaches, which took place in 1935.
I'm not sure this is either of the sites mentioned. The roof at
Grosvenor Square had the 'peaks' running at right angles to the doors,
while these are parallel. The premises at Villiers Road/Shirley Road
were fairly small, as I remember them, and don't think there would have
been such a wide open space as is shown in these photos. Essentially,
the buses could be driven in from Villiers Road, and stood at right
angles to the road, but I don't think there was a great deal more space
around the vehicles, and they always seemed to be quite close to the
doors.
That leaves Winchester Road, which by the 1970s was the body shop. I
didn't really know that site (not the part of Shirley that I lived in!),
but one of the photos in one of the history books does seem to show a
similar roof structure. That site had already been developed before the
acquisition of Tourist, so it might well have been built at a time when
those vehicles were still in the fleet. So I suspect the photos are of
the Winchester Road site, but I will have to try to dig out a couple of
the other books to see if there is any more evidence available!
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Old Bus Photos from Saturday 25th April 2009 to Friday 8th July 2016