Centenary Style

I've said it before and I'll say it again; the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester knows how to do a big event. Here is the lineup outside the museum on the evening of Saturday 22 April 2023, on the first day of the North Western Road Car Co. centenary celebrations, with a couple of guests alongside the home fleet vehicles.

 

AJA 152 is a 1939 Bristol K5G with Willowbrook L27/26R bodywork. Owing to the low railway bridges across a good portion of the network, a lot of early North Western double-deckers were built with lowbridge bodywork - usually in the side-channel style, with the aisle along the offside of the saloon and four seats together in a bench across to the nearside. This particular vehicle is restored to mid-1950s condition as far as I'm aware.

Registration: AJA 152 (1939)

Livery: North Western Roadcar red and cream (432)

Chassis: Bristol K5G

Bodywork: Willowbrook L27/26R

 

Just on the other end of the war, BJA 425 is a 1946 Bristol L5G, again with Willowbrook bodywork, albeit this time single-decked. This lovely vehicle provided me a couple of runs throughout the day, and I have to say, sitting on the front row right behind the engine is an experience to behold, truly it is.

Registration: BJA 425 (1946)

Livery: North Western Roadcar red and cream (270)

Chassis: Bristol L5G

Bodywork: Willowbrook B38R

 

The third vehicle in the line-up isn't a North Western vehicle at all - at least, not officially. New to Lancashire United in 1962, the vehicle was very shortly loaned to North Western Roadcar for trials, as the company at that point had not invested in any of the new-fangled rear-engined double deckers which were beginning to get more common. During this trial period, the vehicle was photographed on route 28 to Hayfield, which was faithfully recreated at the event - making Lancashire United 97 an honourary North Western vehicle for the weekend!

Registration: 561 TD (1962)

Livery: Lancashire United red (97)

Chassis: Daimler Fleetline CRG6-LX

Bodywork: Northern Counties H43/33F

 

Fourthly is one of the Museum's three ubiquitous Stockport Titan PD3/14s. While I love these vehicles, I really do, they appear at nearly every running day and get plenty of coverage elsewhere, so I shan't bother going into too much detail here.

Registration: KJA 871F (1968)

Livery: GMT orange and white (5871 ST)

Chassis: Leyland Titan PD3/14

Bodywork: East Lancs H38/32R

 

Fifth is another orange and white machine, this time a relevant one. AJA 408L is a 1972 Bristol VRT Series II, one of 25 ordered by North Western Roadcar in the previous years. It is naturally a Bristol with ECW bodywork. However, by the time the vehicle was delivered in late-1972, North Western Roadcar had been split up, and so despite being ordered by NWRCC, AJA408L was actually the first vehicle delivered new to SELNEC Cheshire, and it is this livery that the bus carries in preservation.

Registration: AJA 408L (1972)

Livery: SELNEC Cheshire orange and white (408)

Chassis: Bristol VRT Series II

Bodywork: Eastern Coach Works

 

The sixth and final vehicle parked in line with the garage doors is FDB 500, which is somehow the rarest vehicle in the lineup. Unable to buy Bristols due to Conservative meddling (I know, I know, keep politics out of the buses, Ashe), NWRCC sought out an alternative to the lightweight, cheap-to-maintain Bristol LS, but was disappointed in all three major offerings - the Leyland Royal Tiger, Guy Arab, and Daimler Freeline - all of which were considered to be far too heavy, not to mention expensive and fairly unreliable. The NWRCC therefore approached local Oldham-based lorry builder Atkinson, a relative newcomer to the public service vehicle market, and asked them to design a lightweight competitor. The resulting product was the Atkinson PM746 Alpha, an incredibly unusual underfloor-engined, rear-entry design which did, to Atkinson's credit, fulfil the brief - and with a decent 42 seats, higher than most equivalent rear-entry, front-engined designs. Unfortunately, after the first two batches were completed BET management removed Atkinson, Guy, and Daimler from their recommended manufacturers, coinciding with the introduction of the much lighter Leyland Tiger Cub, which North Western used to fulfil their single-decker needs alongside the AEC Reliance for the next twenty years. Unfortunately for poor Atkinson, the Alpha never truly recovered from this loss of custom despite still being on sale and purchased by some independents into the 1960s, and after the PD746 double-decker attracted only one single customer, they were sadly left to leave the bus market with their tail between their legs.

Registration: FDB 500 (1952)

Livery: North Western Roadcar red and cream (500)

Chassis: Atkinson PM746 Alpha

Bodywork: Weymann B42R

 

Finally, parked off to the side is KJA 299G, a 1968 Bristol RESL6G with Marshall bodywork. This vehicle has been undergoing a thorough restoration of late and has been a common sight in the Museum's workshops, but now the hard work is complete and the splendid vehicle is operational again. I never was too much of a fan of Bristol designs, but I have to admit that when paired up with some of the other vehicles present, 299 really did look the part.

Registration: KJA 299G (1968)

Livery: North Western Roadcar red and cream (299)

Chassis: Bristol RESL6G

Bodywork: Marshall B43F

 

Location: Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester

Date: 22 April 2023

Done