Towers, Tow-ers and Tree-Loppers (3)

 Back In The Day ...

... fbb remembers a wide selection of dark blue liveries M vehicles (M for miscellaneous) which appeared from time to time in the 60s and early 70s on the streets of Sheffield. The above was a gritting wagon; there was "the lorry" which carried railings around to set up special bus stops on Sheffield Wednesday match days; there were driver training double decks; there were mobile canteen and assorted vans.

The principle continued into the PTE era ...

... and on into the early days of privatisation.

What Malcolm Batten's book does ...

... is open the readers' eyes to the huge variety of such "Service Vehicles" which were common before privatisation took its toll. It seems that, nowadays, bus companies are happier to use outside contractors to rescue their dead buses, rather than send the lads out from the garage with the tow-truck.

Clearly, if the Southern Vectis experience outlined in previous blogs is anything to go by, there is a huge amount of background to these vehicles, known only to a few dyed-in-the-wool bus enthusiasts.

Take a venerable LH of Hampshire Bus. Take a closed bus station in Southampton, sold off for huge money for the Marlands Development ...

... then bash the LH about a bit and, tada ... you have an enquiry office to park on Bargate Street right in the centre of the city and close to the main bus stops. Here it is in National Bus Company poppy red ...

... then in privatised Hampshire Bus red, white and blue.

Finally, after the sell-off, it appeared in the weirdly complex livery of Solent Blue Line. The poppy red and SBL versions appear in Malcolm's book, the others pop up elsewhere on line. 

fbb thinks that the fourth version is when the bus entered private hands and wore a livery never used during its official days.

Two Southern Vectis vehicles appear in the book, one a vintage tree lopper in dark green garb which fbb thinks he can remember from summer visits to the Island.

CDL 899, which arrived in July 1939 with fleet number 702, was followed in January 1940 by DDL 50, number 703. Nos. 702 and 703 were both converted to open toppers in 1959 for operation on the scenic coastal routes, where 702 is seen on 28 August 1967.

Sitting “outside” as these veterans climbed up the stiff gradient out of Ventnor was a musical experience to savour. In 1969 703 was converted into a tree lopper, and finally sold off into preservation in 1979, but 702 continued in occasional and promotional service on the Isle of Wight. Happily, both CDL 899 and DDL 50 survive.

The other Vectis character in the review volume is the previous tow wagon ...

Many companies used second hand chassis, often ex military, as tow wagons and some were heavily disguised. This from Hampshire Bus is, as they say, "something else".

The beauty below started off as a commercial six wheeler, but the lads at Trent's depot in Derby have found all sorts of bits of old single deckers to glue together as a very presentable body.

Sometimes towing wagons were just buses with a tow bar as here from Wales ...

... or even the remnants of a double deck that had lost its top bit ...

... in the case of Routemaster 66, after a top deck fire.

We have an intriguing picture of a Crosville Seddon ...

...serving as an information bus. But what about that very non NBC broad orange band along the side. fbb guessed (correctly, for a change) "Runcorn Busway" and, after a brief dalliance with the Seddons, Crosville used two door Leyland Nationals orange band branded for busway routes.

At least one of these has been preserved ...

... and its dedicated owner has had a replica black on yellow blind made to complement his pride and joy.

Well done that man.

Regular readers will know that fbb is more interested in the history of how buses are used, routes and timetables, rather than the minutiae of the vehicles themselves; but this inspiring book sets the old man off on all sorts of extraneous explorations to extend his eclectic and elderly education.

Hence this blog which has provided examples of just that!

But there is a huge amount to enjoy and even baffle the enquiring mind; like, what was this used for?

London Transport had nine of them!

And what did Eastern Counties do with this?

And where?

"Bus Company Service Vehicles" is published by Amberley with a cover price of £15.99 but Mrs fbb used the auspices of a South American River and paid £11.59.

Worth every penny.

And a VERY Good Idea!

 Next Frantic Friday blog : Friday 4th March