atraindriver
Member
<deleted>
Last edited:
Didn't West Riding (pre NBC) have both red and green buses depending on whether it was a tram-replacement route or not ? Or am I thinking of a different operator ?Don't know what can be drawn with West Riding that was green in independent and BET days, but then adopted NBC poppy red.
Didn't West Riding (pre NBC) have both red and green buses depending on whether it was a tram-replacement route or not ? Or am I thinking of a different operator ?
The only red Tilling company I ever encountered was Eastern National, all the others that I encountered, Western and Southern National, Southern Vectis, Crosville were green. Some of those companies mentioned as red in other posts were BET companies who all had their own liveries. Under THC and National Bus, BET were all converted to either red or green. This also included the London Country which were converted from LT green to NBC green.
Eastern National was green. Do you mean Eastern Counties?
Yorkshire Rider (pre-First/Badgerline takeover): the sight of a green and cream Atlantean was always a sign of being "home".
I would have said that 1967/68 was the right date.No, don't apologise, definitely my mistake. I'd started to alter my post to delete the DDS/United comment (hence the awkward sentence structure) as I realised I didn't actually know when DDS had been absorbed, but for some reason then posted it without completing the edit!
I would have said that 1967/68 was the right date.
Quoting from the Townsin / Groves / Banks history of United;
In November 1967 agreement to purchase the bus interests of BET by THC was announced, which brought Northern and United into the same ownership meaning there was no need for the continued existence of DDS.
On 14th July 1968 the DDS services and fleet, and the depots at Ferryhill and Sunderland, were transferred to United. (The other depots were already shared.)
Many of the fleet had already been painted red with United fleetnames, but until 14th July they ran with ' on hire' type stickers indicating their DDS ownership.
FWIW, pre-amalgamation the Western and Southern National greens were different, the Western having more of a yellow tinge. And of course they had Royal Blue coaches as well - which were blue, and some Southern National Dual Purpose vehicles were cream (with a few green highlights). The green changed again when the livery changed to NBC green.The only red Tilling company I ever encountered was Eastern Counties, all the others that I encountered, Western and Southern National, Southern Vectis, Crosville were green. Some of those companies mentioned as red in other posts were BET companies who all had their own liveries. Under THC and National Bus, BET were all converted to either red or green. This also included the London Country which were converted from LT green to NBC green.
Edited following a correction from The Grand Wazoo
When I was a kid in the 1960's, both the Hants & Dorset and Wilts & Dorset buses reaching Weymouth were greenHants & Dorset (green) amalgamated with Wilts & Dorset (red)
Western National (green) amalgamated with Devon General (red)
Midland Red West for making a traditional livery appear contemporary after deregulation and bringing "Red" buses back to the Black Country in huge numbers, even if the finances could never have been all that wonderful. Oh, and for keeping Evesham garage pottering along and allowing some spotty teenagers to spend their Saturdays giving the Marshall/Leopard SDPs some TLC...
Wikepedia shows a photo of a preserved Wilts and Dorset bus in red. Among the Tilling companies Thames Valley was also "red".When I was a kid in the 1960's, both the Hants & Dorset and Wilts & Dorset buses reaching Weymouth were green
When I was a kid in the 1960's, both the Hants & Dorset and Wilts & Dorset buses reaching Weymouth were green
orMissing the presence of a bus company and missing their livery are not necessarily the same thing, so I'd like to post a slightly different version of the Question:
IS THERE A BUS COMPANY WHOSE PRESENCE YOU MISS DESPITE NOT LIKING THEIR LIVERY?
or
IS THERE A BUS COMPANY WHOSE PRESENCE YOU DON'T MISS OTHER THAN THEIR LIVERY?
Were you in a coma between 1972 and 1986(ish)? You seem to have missed the 14-or-so years when East Yorkshire buses were painted NBC poppy-red. After privatisation a few vehicles have been painted indigo for specific purposes: such as the Routemasters on the East Hull services, and the vehicles on the Petuaria Express.Samuel Ledgard for their clapped out dark blue buses and unnumbered vehicles and services - and Hebble for their exotic routes. My favourite was the number 11, nicknamed the Flyer, which ran around the very hilly and scenic upper parts of Queensbury, Clayton, Thornton, Allerton and Wilsden.
I also loved East Yorkshire's dark blue buses with their tops arched so they could fit under Beverley Bar. I was very disappointed when they repainted their fleet in maroon.
However the holy grail for bus spotters was West Yorkshire's CP1, the only petrol-engined bus in its fleet. I finally saw this many years after it left service being tarted up by its owner near the site of the former Great Horton railway station. It later appeared in the last ever episode of "Last of the Summer Wine".
The need for DDS continued right until NGT and UAS were in common ownership (after the BET shareholdings in its UK bus companies were acquired by the THC), as a consequence of the UAS-NGT territorial agreement. NGT had secured an agreement with Wade Emmerson, the proprietor of OK MS, that they would have first refusal should he wish to sell: obviously NGT felt very bitter about the DDS incursion across the territorial line, and were quite prepared to retaliate.I believe, in truth, the need for DDS had long since disappeared. As you say, they had vacated the Gilesgate depot in Durham, moving into Waddington St and likewise, the opening of the new Feethams depot in Darlington allowed them to vacate the separate depot there in 1961.
Barnard Castle was also a DDS “depot” despite being nowhere near the conflict zone.
The old depot in Ferryhill still stands. Sunderland was but been years since I ventured there; ironically, after United closed it, Go Ahead subsequently used it for a while!
The need for DDS continued right until NGT and UAS were in common ownership (after the BET shareholdings in its UK bus companies were acquired by the THC), as a consequence of the UAS-NGT territorial agreement. NGT had secured an agreement with Wade Emmerson, the proprietor of OK MS, that they would have first refusal should he wish to sell: obviously NGT felt very bitter about the DDS incursion across the territorial line, and were quite prepared to retaliate.
I can only assume that they were on something stronger than water.
I thought it was just that the general manager really didn't like Leyland?