Wigan Album
Wigan Corporation Transport
9 Comments
Photo: f.d.
Item #: 20104
Maybe 1950.
With the white wall tyres & wings,shrouded headlight & some darkened windows, it could be a war time pic.
Also, the conductresses have pre-printed tickets on a clipboard
Yes I'll go along with that, Art.
One of a few (14) Leyland TD7's delivered during 1940.
Apparently the tyres were always white walled when in service.
They were only whitewalled during the blackout days, to cope with the poor shrouded headlight beam
In a book I have 'The Leyland Bus' (D.Jack) there is a photograph of another TD7 described as a low bridge example built for Wigan Corporation in 1940. The registration no. is JP 4704 and the fleet no. is 60 suggesting that it was one of the same batch as this one(Reg no JP4710/Fleet no.67) It appears to have been photographed ex works as there is no sign of headlamp cowls, white lining to mudguard edges, whitewall tyres or other wartime features. The caption underneath the photo mentions the elaborate lining out of the livery and comments that there is no sign of wartime austerity having yet started to bite concerning this.
What would you call the fixtures on the nearside headlamp & foglamp then? I remember them from WWII, plust the oilboiler trailers they used to tow, due to the shortage of fuel...I'm not a transport nut BTW, I just relate to what I witnessed during the war
Art, when I commented on the absence of headlamp cowls and other wartime practices, I was not referring to this picture, but to the picture I have of another vehicle from the same batch. Of course, the head and foglamp cowls are very obvious in this picture.
67 was new in June 1940 and judging by the clean condition of the bus, the photo was taken soon after. All Wigan's buses had white-walled tyres from the late 1930s into the war years: it was partly because the Manager thought they looked smart, and partly so that if the driver clipped a kerb the evidence was easier to see! The Manchester Museum of Transport has several photos of Wigan buses taken before war broke out with white tyres.
It's fair to say that I know a little bit about this topic: number 70 (registered JP4712) still exists in the above museum, and I happen to be 70's owner...
conductress in middle i think is ethel west she lived at ashfield house standish always smart