Bury Corporation's first postwar bus
This was Bury Corporation's first bus to be delivered after the end of the second world war, in the Corporation's then-new green and cream livery. The six years of war took a heavy toll on heavily used buses due to petrol rationing and war work in the factories. with little maintenance due to staff shortages of men who had gone to the forces and shortages of spares. Moreover the flow of new buses slowed to a trickle as factories concentrated on war transport.
So the sight of new buses at the end of the war was a welcome sight for weary travellers and staff alike, and Bury took its new acquisition to the junction of Rochdale Road and Wash Lane for a photo.
In fact 102 has a place of history not just as Bury's first postwar bus, but the first postwar Leyland 'PD1' model to be delivered. Leyland had been planning for its postwar designs since the mid-war years and number 102 was the very first postwar Leyland bus to be seen on the streets.
For the enthusiast, you can tell this is a very early postwar Leyland because the first few had a concealed radiator cap, under a flap in the chrome cowling: but this was impractical and the more traditional cap at the top soon returned.
Today. there are two Bury Corporation buses preserved in the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester: number 177 of 1952, and number 116 of 1963.
If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to www.gmts.co.uk.
Bury Corporation's first postwar bus
This was Bury Corporation's first bus to be delivered after the end of the second world war, in the Corporation's then-new green and cream livery. The six years of war took a heavy toll on heavily used buses due to petrol rationing and war work in the factories. with little maintenance due to staff shortages of men who had gone to the forces and shortages of spares. Moreover the flow of new buses slowed to a trickle as factories concentrated on war transport.
So the sight of new buses at the end of the war was a welcome sight for weary travellers and staff alike, and Bury took its new acquisition to the junction of Rochdale Road and Wash Lane for a photo.
In fact 102 has a place of history not just as Bury's first postwar bus, but the first postwar Leyland 'PD1' model to be delivered. Leyland had been planning for its postwar designs since the mid-war years and number 102 was the very first postwar Leyland bus to be seen on the streets.
For the enthusiast, you can tell this is a very early postwar Leyland because the first few had a concealed radiator cap, under a flap in the chrome cowling: but this was impractical and the more traditional cap at the top soon returned.
Today. there are two Bury Corporation buses preserved in the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester: number 177 of 1952, and number 116 of 1963.
If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to www.gmts.co.uk.