Life extended - a photo on Flickriver

Life extended

When a bus operator needed a 'hack' or a specialist vehicle, quite often the first place they looked was the back of the depot. For old buses, especially the traditional front-engined type, were ideal for conversion into a breakdown lorry, trolleybus pole carrier or tower wagon. And a large operator would have a workshop with skilled craftsmen who could do all the work when things were less busy.

Ashton Corporation converted this double-deck Leyland, number 6, into a handy lorry-cum-hack at the end of its service life. It had a small crew compartment just behind the driver's cab, and the rest was a long-flat floor ideal for general carrying jobs.

The red and white plate on the front is a 'Trade Plate' - requirements have tightened up considerably since this photo was taken, but in essence it was a plate that (at that time) a motor company could put on a vehicle that wasn't taxed or licensed.

It was so useful that 'Thunderbird', as it was dubbed, lasted long enough to be painted in SELNEC orange and off-white and eventually donated to the Museum of Transport where she became a very useful source of spare parts - many of its components are still doing a useful job to this day in the museum's buses.

You don't see vehicles of this kind today, partly due to increasing bus complexity but also because these converted buses were at times a 'grey area' and VOSA, the authority that looks after this kind of thing, is less inclined to turn a blind eye to buses that have become lorries but are still licensed as buses...

Thank you to everyone who advised us that the 'Robin Hood' pub behind is nowhere near Ashton but is in fact in Bury, close to the old Bury Corporation bus garage. This leads us to wonder if the photo was taken in the very early days of the new SELNEC PTE.

If you'd like to see the buses that Ashton 6's components went to help, come and see them at the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester or go to motgm.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.

Taken in: UK / England / Bury (show map)

Taken on: January 1, 1969

Tags:

Museum

Transport

Manchester

www.gmts.co.uk

GMTS

bus

buses

Museum of Transport

GMTS collection

Greater Manchester Transport Society

Boyle Street

Cheetham Hill

M8 8UW

Greater Manchester

heritage

history

MoTGM

Ashton

Ashton under Lyne

converted

conversion

breakdown

lorry

truck

Corporation

LTC766

Leyland

Titan

PD2

Thunderbird

2548B

trade plate « less

Sets appears in: • Miscellany • Tameside

Groups appears in: • Old Photos • Period Photographs of Transportation (pre-1980) more » • Leyland Buses • Transport In The Frame • Tameside • On the Buses - The Creative Journey • Greater Manchester's buses • Bus U.K. Bus Company Ancillary Vehicles • It's Grim Up North - Back in the day • Corporation Buses • North of England's Public Transport • Greater Manchester's Buses and Coaches • Tameside Photos and Video Clips • transport of the world • vintage buses • Bus UK: Non-PSV Buses, Coaches and Trams • Classic Buses Before Deregulation (Photos From BEFORE 1986) • Road Transport Through the Years • Classic Half Cab Buses • Bus Operators - Bankrupt, Extinct, Orphan, Former • British Municipal and Corporation Bus and Tram Group • LEYLAND BUS AND COACH • Transport Photography in the UK • Bus U.K. Buses built pre-1960s • REAL Buses and Trains in the UK • BUS UK, Lancashire and Cheshire's Municipal Operators • Bus UK: Leyland Titan TDs PDs and TNs • Classic Transport • North West Bus Scene • Transport World Wide • Transport 1940s to 1980s • Greater Manchester City Region • Non PSV UK Buses & Coaches • Classic postwar town and city Transport • Towbus • * C L A S S I C - T R A N S P O R T * • SELNEC/GMT (and all before and after) ancillary vehicles • Buses in the north west • JUST SERVICE VEHICLES TRUCKS • Bus UK: Tameside and Glossop Buses Past and Present • Transport on the Map • GEOFFS MOTORING MEMORIES « less

Stats: 4,275 views / 7 comments