A few nice touches
It’s only a bus, but municipal pride oozes from every square inch of this photo. We’ve boarded Oldham Corporation bus number 427, brand-new near the factory of its coachbuilders Metro-Cammell of Elmdon outside Birmingham. This was the lightweight ‘Orion’ body which was made to be as light as possible to reduce fuel consumption – the price of diesel, and especially the Government duty on it, was rising fast and this was a major problem for bus companies whose fares were tightly regulated.
But even so, 427 is quite comfortably equipped. The seats have moquette material coverings, not harch leather or plastic; there are grab handles for standing passengers; and that looks like a heater outlet just below the noticeboard frame at the front. The little circles above the window to the driver’s cab are in fact light switches, as it was the conductor’s responsibility to switch the saloon lights on and off. Over the window to the other side there’s gold ‘OLDHAM CORPORATION’ lettering, as Oldham ran many joint services and didn’t want passengers to forget whose bus they were on!
The outside of number 427 wasn’t quite so successful, as you can see below. The narrow upstairs windows saved weight because glass is heavier than aluminium, but even Oldham’s rather splendid lining-out couldn’t completely disguise a rather plain design.
You can still see an Oldham Corporation bus today – number 394, built at around the same time, is restored and on display at the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester. 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.
© Greater Manchester Transport Society. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society.
A few nice touches
It’s only a bus, but municipal pride oozes from every square inch of this photo. We’ve boarded Oldham Corporation bus number 427, brand-new near the factory of its coachbuilders Metro-Cammell of Elmdon outside Birmingham. This was the lightweight ‘Orion’ body which was made to be as light as possible to reduce fuel consumption – the price of diesel, and especially the Government duty on it, was rising fast and this was a major problem for bus companies whose fares were tightly regulated.
But even so, 427 is quite comfortably equipped. The seats have moquette material coverings, not harch leather or plastic; there are grab handles for standing passengers; and that looks like a heater outlet just below the noticeboard frame at the front. The little circles above the window to the driver’s cab are in fact light switches, as it was the conductor’s responsibility to switch the saloon lights on and off. Over the window to the other side there’s gold ‘OLDHAM CORPORATION’ lettering, as Oldham ran many joint services and didn’t want passengers to forget whose bus they were on!
The outside of number 427 wasn’t quite so successful, as you can see below. The narrow upstairs windows saved weight because glass is heavier than aluminium, but even Oldham’s rather splendid lining-out couldn’t completely disguise a rather plain design.
You can still see an Oldham Corporation bus today – number 394, built at around the same time, is restored and on display at the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester. 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.
© Greater Manchester Transport Society. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society.