VINTAGE FENTON FILE

摘要

With the advent of underfloor-engined buses in the 1950s, most operators took the opportunity of fitting front entrance bodies, with the driver supervising passenger entry and exit. Old habits die hard, however, and several municipal and company operators specified rear entrance bus bodies on such vehicles, one of which was the North Western Road Car Company which, uniquely, had its built on Atkinson chassis. The first two, in 1951, were PM746H models 394/5 (EDB 321/2), fitted with Weymann 42-seat bodies, followed in 1952 by largely similar machines 500-11 (FDB 500-11), along with 512/3 (FDB 512/3) that, as built, had 44-seat Willowbrook bodies on lighter weight PL745H and PL744H chassis respectively. Although Willowbrook went on to body a total of 28 underfloor-engined Atkinson chassis, North Western's were the only ones bodied by Weymann. The illustration of 394, taken by that doyen of bus photography Geoff Atkins, shows the vehicle when relatively new in Lower Mosley Street bus station, Manchester. It lasted in service until 1964, and the bus station until closure in 1973, with the Bridgewater Hall now occupying the site. Indeed, all that is recognisable today is the former Manchester Central station, visible in the background, which became the G-Mex Centre, later renamed Manchester Central. For those who enjoy code cracking, the PM746H model designation equates to a Passenger, Medium-weight, 7ton, 4-wheeled, Gardner 6HLW-engined chassis.