In the pink
Oldham Corporation Transport was a proud, dignified bus operator. Its buses ran in a distinguished maroon and ivory livery, with miles of lining out in red and gold: long after other similar operators had abandoned such extravagance, Oldham's buses carried a colour scheme that had originated with the town's trams at the turn of the twentieth century.
There were only two problems with this colour scheme: it cost a fortune to apply and maintain, and the colours faded to a muddy brown and greyish white. Enter new General Manager Harry Taylor, a young man for the office, who was determined to blow some of the cobwebs away. His first livery experiment was two shades of blue, with a yellow band separating the two: it was applied to one bus and the reaction from the town's residents (and more importantly, the Councillors to whom the Transport Department was responsible) reacted in a manner that wasn't far short of pitchforks at the castle gate: so Harry tried again.
The second, more successful attempt was 'Pommard and Cream', using a brighter shade of maroon that was more pinkish (and faded to be even more so, after a while). Harry also moved the town's coat of arms to the upstairs front panel, a very pragmatic move as upper panels are much less prone to damage than lower ones: so it would be necessary to less frequently have to apply a new coat of arms transfer, such things being expensive. He also introduced metal fleet number plates, again a cost saving move by removing the need to apply new number transfers on repaint.
The overall effect, when newly applied, was very impressive and certainly more modern than the old style. But the Pommard faded to a pinkish shade, and that's what happened to bus number 106 in this photo.
By then, when Geoffrey Morant took this photo, it didn't matter: Oldham Corporation's buses were absorbed into the new SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive in November 1969, and if you look closely at the photo you might be able to make out that the Oldham legal address on teh lower panel has been replaced by a SELNEC one. Gradually the Pommard livery faded away (pun intended) to be replaced by SELNEC's 'sunglow' orange.
You can still see Oldham buses in the earlier maroon and later Pommard shades: at the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester, where buses 246 of 1947 and 394 of 1957 are in maroon and off-white, while 163 of 1967 is in Pommard and cream. If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport and its collection of vintage buses, go to motgm.uk.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society and those who have placed their photo collections in our care.
In the pink
Oldham Corporation Transport was a proud, dignified bus operator. Its buses ran in a distinguished maroon and ivory livery, with miles of lining out in red and gold: long after other similar operators had abandoned such extravagance, Oldham's buses carried a colour scheme that had originated with the town's trams at the turn of the twentieth century.
There were only two problems with this colour scheme: it cost a fortune to apply and maintain, and the colours faded to a muddy brown and greyish white. Enter new General Manager Harry Taylor, a young man for the office, who was determined to blow some of the cobwebs away. His first livery experiment was two shades of blue, with a yellow band separating the two: it was applied to one bus and the reaction from the town's residents (and more importantly, the Councillors to whom the Transport Department was responsible) reacted in a manner that wasn't far short of pitchforks at the castle gate: so Harry tried again.
The second, more successful attempt was 'Pommard and Cream', using a brighter shade of maroon that was more pinkish (and faded to be even more so, after a while). Harry also moved the town's coat of arms to the upstairs front panel, a very pragmatic move as upper panels are much less prone to damage than lower ones: so it would be necessary to less frequently have to apply a new coat of arms transfer, such things being expensive. He also introduced metal fleet number plates, again a cost saving move by removing the need to apply new number transfers on repaint.
The overall effect, when newly applied, was very impressive and certainly more modern than the old style. But the Pommard faded to a pinkish shade, and that's what happened to bus number 106 in this photo.
By then, when Geoffrey Morant took this photo, it didn't matter: Oldham Corporation's buses were absorbed into the new SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive in November 1969, and if you look closely at the photo you might be able to make out that the Oldham legal address on teh lower panel has been replaced by a SELNEC one. Gradually the Pommard livery faded away (pun intended) to be replaced by SELNEC's 'sunglow' orange.
You can still see Oldham buses in the earlier maroon and later Pommard shades: at the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester, where buses 246 of 1947 and 394 of 1957 are in maroon and off-white, while 163 of 1967 is in Pommard and cream. If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport and its collection of vintage buses, go to motgm.uk.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society and those who have placed their photo collections in our care.