Public transport plays a part in most people’s lives at one point or another. As a child, I clearly remember travelling on buses and trains in the 1950’s and as a teenager in the 1960’s public transport was still very much part of my life until I reached the magic age of 17 and I acquired my first car.

Trains and planes played a big part from the 1970’s until 2005 as business travel was very much part of my working life. Buses didn’t feature much at all during this period, due to the fact that my employers supplied me with a company car but I was always aware of the bus scene, ever changing and wherever I happened to be travelling, interesting to observe.

1. My Combined Volume from 1961 which remarkably still has engines such as the class 20's, 31's, 37's, 40's and 47's still in operation today. Some of the engines listed included diesel electric Co-Bo's D5700 - D5719, Gas Turbine GT3 and 0-8-0 Taurus Shunter.

2. This was taken, I think at Barrow Hill signal box just before all the manual boxes were taken out of use around 1981 and shows my father at work just before his retirement.

3. LNU 965 One of the hard working 1947 Chesterfield Crossley double deck vehicles stands on Vicar Lane with a Daimler just visible.

4. Frederick Street Rotherham where Mexborough & Swinton vehicles waited for their passengers. I remember looking in the window of Hart's Wallpaper shop whilst waiting for our bus to arrive.

5. The depot was just around the corner from where we lived and frequently witnessed a line up of vehicles such as this. The white painted Tiger cub with DP seats fascinated me and I frequently saw it being used with the two Burlingham coaches on private hires.

6. This is the vehicle that fired my enthusiasm for coaches, a 1955 Burlingham Seagul bodied Tiger Cub OWU 660 that was later joined in 1958 by a virtually identical UWY 101. To an eleven year old these coaches looked very impressive.

7. Mexborough & Swinton regularly added to the fleet of Tiger Cubs, this is a later version registered in 1960, I was fascinated by the detail differences between each subsequent delivery.

8. The company produced a Souvenir Booklet and Timetable in 1961 coinciding with the introduction of double deck diesel buses to replace the trolley buses. On a return visit to Rawmarsh to visit ex neighbours a year after we had moved away, I managed to buy one of the booklets by entering the enquiry office at the Rawmarsh depot - I thought I was entering some kind of heaven with pictures of buses on the walls and a model of the new Atlantean on display. The booklet contained pictures and a history of the company and was one of the few times I had ever seen anything in print about buses and coaches.

9. YRB 187 A Chesterfield Daimler CVD6 with low bridge Weymann body, which was new in 1955 standing on Vicar Lane, Chesterfield. These vehicles had pre-select gearboxes.

10. 61 SRB a 1961 Leyland PD2A/30 with low bridge Weymann bodywork in company with AEC Reliance 9027 R

11. SNN 458F appeared in the coaching fleet in 1970

12. AWJ 689B also joined the coaching fleet in 1970 ex C. G. Littlewood, Sheffield and is shown in company with DNU 33C one of the 1965 AEC Reliances with Neepsend bodywork

13. PNU 111K was one of a batch of Leyland Atlanteans that arrived in 1972, the red steering wheel denoting a full height vehicle. This however, wasn't enough to prevent Joe Turner squeezing one of these buses under Sheepbridge Station bridge! PNU 114K from the same batch is preserved by two members of the Chesterfield 123 Group.

Image 14 at bottom of page

TRAIN SPOTTING

Going back to the 1950’s, I like many other boys, were heavily into train spotting, clutching our notebooks and 'Combined Volumes' we stood on the footbridge over the ex Great Central line at Horns Bridge, Chesterfield, observing the rail traffic on the main Derby to Sheffield line and, beneath us, the occasional traffic on the 'Chesterfield loop' which turned off the main ex Great Central main line at Heath and travelled through Chesterfield to Staveley where it re-joined the main line to Sheffield again. Occasional trips to Doncaster would give us an exciting glimpse of the East Coast main line where the wondrous spectacle of an A4 would be witnessed, accompanied by much cheering from the hordes of train spotters that gathered on Doncaster’s platforms. We travelled to Doncaster on the then new DMU’s which gave us an excellent view of the l ine ahead when seated behind the driver. Being able to see the driver and the track ahead was a new experience to me, already a seasoned rail traveller, as my father worked on the railway and we were always going off on day trips to the seaside but the excitement was tinged with sadness as I realised that these new diesels would mean the end of steam, so my interest began to wane as more diesels arrived and other interests such as girls, the AGD youth club and a touch of under age drinking seemed more attractive options!

DISCOVERING 'BUSES ILLUSTRATED'

During my train spotting days I never realised that my parallel interest in buses and coaches was shared by anyone else, I never noticed that 'Buses Illustrated' magazine was sold, although I almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford it if I had. The thing is, that many years later, I suddenly discovered that many others shared this interest and that information was available on the varied bus types that I had been casually observing since I was a young child. A whole new world was opened up for me and I sought out old copies of 'Buses Illustrated' which gave explanations of what had been happening on the bus scene in Chesterfield and Rotherham in the 1950’s. We lived originally in Chesterfield, moved to Rotherham and returned to Chesterfield in the 1960’s and I had been a keen observer of the local fleets from very early age.

CHESTERFIELD BUSES: EARLY MEMORIES

One of my oldest memories is of Chesterfield Daimlers that had red seats, which I now understand were from a batch of 1946 CWD6’s with Massey bodywork that were registered JNU 830 - 835. I remember very occasionally travelling on these buses and realising that they sounded different to the normal ones that were used on our local route to New Whittington. This was, no doubt due to their pre-select gearboxes, but as a young child such things were beyond my understanding at the time.

I remember how the Guy Arabs seemed so much faster than the Crossleys and that their sound effects were very different. I used to be a bit anxious when travelling up Whittington Hill on a Crossley as they always seemed to struggle at the point where the driver changed into first gear followed by an agonising grinding noise from the gearbox as the bus slowly climbed the hill in bottom gear.

My favourite seat was at the front nearside so I could watch the driver in his half cab and I remember that many Chesterfield Corporation vehicles had a card at the front of the bus, hanging down on a piece of string, advertising the opening times of the Revolution House at Old Whittington. This hung above the chrome Clayton heater, which, as a toddler I used to pretend was a steering wheel and 'drive' the bus!

In these early years we would take an occasional trip to Fox House or Barlow on a single deck vehicle. Chesterfield had a large fleet of single deck Crossleys as well as the two Crossley bodied Leylands, one of which, JRA 635, I would own many years later. My childhood fascination about the single deck vehicles was that they had a door – unlike all the double deck vehicles of the time and that they seemed quieter and faster than their double deck counterparts. The other single deck vehicle I remember seeing trundling around Chesterfield was ERA 95 the mobile canteen which had been converted from one of the 1937 Leyland Tigers and I remember that it sounded very different, with a gruff note to its exhaust. This bus appeared on Elder Way, Vicar Lane and at Brampton Terminus and maybe other locations as well and I have often wondered who decided where it would be at a particular time and whether there was a system in operation that ensured all drivers got to use it during a working day. This Tiger was withdrawn in 1964 and replaced by Leyland PS1 JRA 634 which lasted until 1972.

In 1953 we moved from New Whittington to a new house in Newbold, two bus routes served our needs, one from Elder Way to Wythburn Road via the Goldminers pub and Windermere Road. The other service ran to Kirkstone Road. The estate was still being developed and at that time the Kirkstone Road service terminated at a crescent, half way along Kirkstone Road where we alighted and the bus crews disappeared into a house on the crescent for refreshments. I recall that Guy Arabs were used on the Kirkstone Road service and Crossleys mostly appeared on the Wythburn Road route. In 1955 six low-bridge Daimler CVD6’s arrived, these had modern looking tin fronts which impressed me somewhat although they didn’t seem to be used on the Newbold or Whittington routes which we used, but I remember seeing them in the town centre. They were joined in 1956 by six further examples which again seemed to travel on routes to the south of the town where their low-bridge capabilities were required.

MEXBOROUGH & SWINTON

We moved away to Rotherham in 1956 opening up a whole new world of buses, where our local operator was the Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company who shared our local Rotherham to Mexborough trolleybus route with Rotherham Corporation Transport. Mexborough & Swinton also ran diesel buses in the form of Leyland Tiger Cubs and during our four years of residing in Rawmarsh added even more Tiger Cubs to the fleet. One Tiger Cub I particularly admired was the Burlingham Seagull bodied coach (OWU 660), used on private hire and day trips and I remember wandering down to the depot on Dale Road, Rawmarsh and seeing this wonderfully impressive coach parked proudly at the front of the depot with a display board in front which advertised the range of day trips available at the time. Destinations such as Harrogate & Knaresborough, for the princely sum of two shillings and ninepence!

My father’s signal box was situated at Kilnhurst on the ex Midland line between Rotherham and Mexborough and on Saturdays I used to go there and spend a few hours watching the action in what was a busy signal box. Me having got bored with pulling levers and ringing bells (under supervision of course!) my dad would stop a goods train and ask if I could have a ride for an hour or so. The train would then head towards Rotherham with me on board, where shunting would take place in the Aldwarke area and then we would return to Kilnhurst where I would hop off and spend more time in the signal box.

My journey to and from Rawmarsh was an opportunity to travel on one of the Tiger Cubs where I would sit in the front seat and watch intently as the driver double de clutched when changing gear. I remember that the needle on the speedometer always swung wildly to the left and right and wondered how the driver could ever know what speed he was doing. Mexborough & Swinton had an old 1939 ex Maidstone Leyland TS8 half cab (FKO 81) which had joined their fleet in 1955 and was used a reserve vehicle, occasionally this would appear on the route to Kilnhurst, bringing a bit of excitement to my Saturday trip out. The old fashioned rear entrance Eastern Coachworks body making it look very ancient alongside the new Weymann Tiger Cubs.

On Sunday afternoons we sometimes used to catch a bus to the Greasbrough area, where we walked through the grounds of Wentworth Hall. The buses were run by a company called T W Burrows, they were AEC double deckers and sounded very different to other buses I was familiar with. I remember the distinctive gearbox whine and even now, when travelling on similar vehicles that sound brings back the memories of our Sunday trips out.

One day in 1958 I was astounded to see not one, but two Burlingham bodied Mexborough & Swinton coaches parked outside the Rawmarsh depot, the company had bought a brand new Tiger Cub coach (UWY 101) with identical Burlingham Seagull bodywork and the two vehicles were being shown off to the public. I was so excited at this and desperately tried to convince my parents of the need to go on one of the day trips. This pleading had no effect however, as our railway free passes and privilege tickets meant that railways were deemed to be the best way to travel.

ROTHERHAM

The Mexborough & Swinton trolley buses seemed slow and old fashioned compared to the Tiger Cubs. When they pulled away the internal lights went dim and they seemed to struggle when carrying full loads, which they did frequently as in the late 1950’s most people travelled by bus. The Rotherham Corporation trolley buses seemed to have a bit more go in them and I much preferred to travel on these. Rotherham also had a large diesel bus fleet comprising of Bristols, Daimlers, Crossleys and AEC’s and when my father transferred to Canklow where he operated the signal box at the junction with Canklow engine sheds I was able to sample most types of double deck Rotherham vehicles on my Saturday visits to the box. I was never as interested in the Rotherham fleet as I had been about the Chesterfield vehicles and was therefore delighted when, in 1960 my parents told me that we would be moving back to our home town.

RAILWAY FUN

We moved to a quiet cul-de-sac off Hasland Road, Chesterfield at the end of which ran the ex GC Chesterfield loop, so I could literally train spot from my bedroom window. Shortly after moving there my father arranged for me to have a trip on one of the 0-6-0 diesel shunters that regularly collected wagons from the Robert Hyde works sidings, which joined the line near Horns Bridge.

On the appointed Saturday morning the driver was blowing the whistle to alert me that he was there and I hopped over the fence, walked down the track and climbed aboard D 4056. I’d never been on a diesel before and settled down to watch the driver pull away and head south. After a few minutes he invited me to take the controls, explaining what the various levers were and stressing that I must keep my foot on the big pedal on the floor. I soon found out that this is the dead man’s pedal and made the mistake of taking my foot off, resulting in the loose coupled wagons all banging together and into the buffers of the engine. Having recovered from that little mistake I drove the remainder of the journey through the disused platforms of Grassmoor station and on to Heath station where we briefly joined the main ex GC main line where we moved the engine to the other end of its short train and headed back towards Chesterfield again, all with me at the controls! When reaching Chesterfield Central I reversed the train into one of the sidings and I handed over to the driver again thinking how easy it was to drive an engine!

CHESTERFIELD BUSES IN THE 1960's

Moving back to the subject of buses, I was interested to see that whilst we had been away from Chesterfield a fleet of Leyland Titan PD2’s had appeared (213 – 224 GRA); some of these buses were fitted with electric doors on the rear platform, which was a new experience for Chesterfield bus users. The second batch (225 – 230 LRB), new in 1960 and arriving just before our return to the town, had slightly different fronts incorporating cooling grilles and in my opinion, were much more attractive to look at compared to the first batch. Thankfully one of these vehicles has survived in the shape of 225 LRB and following export to Germany in 1986 this bus is now safely back in Chesterfield and its condition is a credit to its custodian Tony Stacey.

Also in 1960 Chesterfield were buying the new style rear engined Atlanteans, MRA 101 -104, soon to be followed in 1962 by three Daimler Fleetlines 301 – 304 XRA . Strangely enough, purchasing of rear engined buses didn’t continue at that point and more PD2’s arrived (61 – 70 SRB), this time with low-bridge bodywork and with the so called St Helen’s style front.

1963 arrived and a fleet of half cab Daimler CCG6’s ventured onto the streets of Chesterfield. These buses even had constant mesh gearboxes requiring the drivers to double de clutch on every gearchange. As a young teenager I didn’t know about these things and never noticed any poor gearchanging when travelling on the Daimlers to William Rhodes School in Boythorpe.

I remember my first sight in 1963, of one of the new AEC Reliances with Park Royal bodywork, parked on Vicar Lane. What a contrast to the old Crossleys and Leyland PS1 single deck vehicles that had served Chesterfield so faithfully since 1947 and would now be retired from service. More new single deck vehicles would join the fleet in the next couple of years, plus the ex London Transport Willowbrook bodied Reliances 495 – 497 ALH which served the town well until they were withdrawn in the late 1970’s. Joe Turner, who became my father in law in 1970, a driver at Chesterfield Corporation Transport, was a great fan of these well appointed buses which had semi automatic gears.

In 1964 I passed my driving test and acquired a car so bus travel ceased for me although I still kept an eye on the ever changing bus scene.

In 1965 we saw another influx of single deck Reliances this time with smart bodywork by Neepsend (DNU31 - 42C) and in the same year another batch of Daimler half cab CCG6’s (GNU 261 – 268C) adding to those bought in 1960. The original batch of 1963 Daimlers had proved somewhat unpopular with the drivers, due to their crash gear change, they nicknamed them 'Horse Boxes' but the managers at Chesterfield Corporation Transport Department had no sympathy for the drivers and the additional eight vehicles arrived, some of them staying until the late 1970’s.

ROADLINERS AND PANTHERS

In 1967 the Daimler Roadliners arrived! From what I have heard a whole article could be written about these unreliable buses. Mechanically they had lots of problems and their Neepsend bodywork was incapable of taking the stresses and strains of the chassis. Remarkably Chesterfield struggled on with them until 1977/8 but must have been relieved to finally get rid of them.

Fortunately Chesterfield had dual sourced their single deck fleet in 1967 and also bought Leyland Panthers (SRB 81 – 84F) which lasted until 1985/86.

More Panthers followed in 1968 (SRB 85 – 90F) which again gave good service to the town.

The Panther theme continued again in 1969 with ENU 91 – 100H, some of these lasting in service until 1980/81. One of them stayed with the fleet as a training bus and still survives today in excellent condition

DECKERS: HIGH BRIDGE AND LOW BRIDGE

One significant memory I have was when the roads under various bridges were lowered to allow “high bridge” buses to travel on the Hasland Road and Derby Road routes. The first time I saw one of the 1960’s Leyland Titans heading down Lordsmill Street I was convinced there would be one heck of an accident, but all was well and the high bridge and low bridge fleet were then used almost universally around the town, apart from a few of the fleet that wouldn’t supposedly go under the railway bridge on Whittington Moor, adjacent to Sheepbridge station. I say supposedly, because one day Joe, my father in law, was allocated one of these vehicles and he received a panic stricken message on the radio instructing him not to pass under the bridge, but it was too late, he was already at the top of Whittington Hill, with no damage to report! Needless to say another vehicle of the correct height was quickly despatched and passengers were transferred at Old Whittington before descending the hill and travelling under the bridge.

CHESTERFIELD COACHES

In 1970 Chesterfield Corporation moved into private hire work and acquired two coaches. As previously mentioned, I had a particular liking for coach bodied vehicles and was interested to see that a Bedford VAM with Duple bodywork (SNN 458F) and an AEC Reliance with Plaxton bodywork (AWJ 689B) had joined the fleet. My father in law, Joe, was pressured to drive on a number of the private hire jobs but he was somewhat reluctant, preferring to stay on 'the track' (New Whittington to Brampton or Holymoorside) where he couldn’t get lost! He was persuaded to do a few trips and I accompanied him on one occasion in the Bedford, to Skegness, acting as navigator.

END OF AN ERA?

In 1973 a job offer in Maidenhead, Berkshire took us away from the area and although we made frequent return visits to Chesterfield the bus scene moved on and it never seemed as interesting to me as the days of half cabs and the early days of under-floor engine single deckers. When the change of livery from the familiar green and cream came along and the new livery of blue, yellow and cream took over I realised with some regret that the good old days had certainly disappeared.

Although I had followed the bus scene from an early age I never thought of earning a living from the industry and it would be many years later that I passed my PCV driving test and became a weekend coach driver – now there’s a subject I could maybe write about sometime!

David Gambles
18/06/10

For 'Chesterfield to Rotherham by bus' by David Gambles on the TRANSPIRE website CLICK