THE GALLERY

Page 1

North-East buses

Not the usual bus you would expect to see in Tilling red and cream, but in 1967 United acquired the operations of independent Wilkinsons of Sedgefield. The fleet was a mix of AEC and Leylands with some Bedford coaches. AEC Reliance/Plaxton Highway 75 (KPT875C) was absorbed into the United fleet as 4002 in which guise it is seen in early NBC days.

In Spring 1969 two early batches of Bristol VRTSL6Gs were detained at Bristol's Brislington works for some months. There was a batch of twenty for United and a similar number for Western SMT. Some of latter ironically ended up in the United fleet when the Scottish Bus Group swapped its VRs for NBC Lodekkas. VR 614 (WHN414G) is nearest the camera and did not enter service with United until July that year.

The first of the batch 611 (WHN411G) is seen here. The louvres either side of the rear number blind are for attaching giant vacuum cleaners to suck the rubbish off the upper deck floor. Alongside is a highbridge KSW from the Bristol City fleet. The United VRs were originally intended for Bristol itself. There prolonged stay at Brislington may have been linked to specification changes for the north of England.