Classic Buses Profiles

Sussex photos (by Dick Gilbert)

Last updated 11 April 2021

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Somehow I managed to keep all the negatives of my early photographs, and had them scanned in 2015. The results have brought back fond memories for me, and I hope you enjoy taking a look at some of them. We start with views around my (then) home town of Eastbourne in 1961-62.

To open the album, here's a picture I took just east of Eastbourne pier in the summer of 1961, showing a Southdown coach advertising tours and excursions. These days I would have made sure I could see the registration number for subsequent identification, but this was my first venture into photography. However I made a note at the time that it was 1075 (SUF 875), a Beadle-bodied Leyland Tiger Cub, first in the 1957 batch numbered 1075 to 1114. Let's assume that I was right.

I couldn't resist taking this one. All-Leyland PD1A Titans 308 and 309 (HCD 908 and 909) find themselves side-by-side in Southdown's Cavendish Place garage with DELICENCED stickers in their windscreens. Both were delivered on the same day in June 1947 and were based at Eastbourne thereafter. You might be forgiven for thinking that the buses had been withdrawn and were being prepared for sale, but in fact the pair were transferred to Worthing depot and continued in service until 1964. Frank Cowley, the Salford dealer, then bought both of them and sold them (for the first time in their lives) to two different operators. In 1967 no. 308 was scrapped in Scotland and 309 in Wales.

Here is another all-Leyland Titan, seen outside the Southdown bus station in Pevensey Road, but this is one of the first batch of the later PD2 models. No. 321 (JCD 21) was delivered to Eastbourne in February 1948 and remained there until 1964 when it moved to Worthing. Sold in 1965 it became staff transport for Mother Hubbard Kitchen Cabinets in Chadderton, near Manchester. Later it became a mobile showroom, and was last seen in 1971 being used as an office in an Oldham scrapyard. The cinema poster for The French Mistress in the background dates the photo to late 1961.

Here's another all-Leyland Titan in Southdown's Cavendish Place depot in 1961 - this time one of the second batch of PD2s, no. 730 (LUF 230) built in 1952 with the luxury of platform doors. It was withdrawn after a collision with a tanker in Brighton in 1965, after which useful parts were removed and the remainder scrapped.

Eastbourne operated a handful of 1954/55 Leyland Tiger Cub buses for local routes to villages and out into the countryside. They replaced halfcab Tigers, which I only vaguely remember. There were 25 of them in total and I particularly recall the Eastbourne examples being used on the delightful Route 126 which wandered across the South Downs to Alfriston and Seaford. This is one of them - I can't tell you which one, but it may be 630 (MUF 630) - poorly photographed in the gloom of Southdown's Cavendish Place garage in 1961. Sister car 637 has been preserved by Seaford and District, which is wonderful.

Also seen from Pevensey Road is this photo of two buses in the bus station - not a great picture but it certainly reminds me of those days. On the left is Maidstone and District 1959 lowbridge Leyland Atlantean DL44 (44 DKT). Route 15 was an hourly service to Hastings via Hailsham and Bexhill, shared with Southdown. These were the first Atlanteans I had seen and was very impressed with them. DL44 (later renumbered 6444) was retired in 1975 and became Orpington & District no. 5.

On the right is Southdown Guy Arab no. 536 (PUF 636) delivered new to Eastbourne in March 1956. Like the Atlantean, it is 8 feet wide. Transferred to Brighton in 1966, it was sold in 1969 and scrapped in 1972. It's a shame that the route to Heathfield and Hawkhurst doesn't still operate, as it would run right past the end of my road and be very useful!

Also in Pevensey Road, but this time a little further along the street outside the Eastbourne Chronicle offices with the bus station in the background. Waiting for its next duty is another Eastbourne-based Southdown Guy Arab IV, no. 550 (PUF 650) delivered in 1956. In 1971 it was retired and sold to China Motor Bus, Hong Kong as their no. MW11. They gave it a second door to enable one-man operation.

Now I may be wrong, but as I recall it the iconic Southdown Leyland Titan PD3/4s didn't turn up on the hilly route 12 between Brighton and Eastbourne until 1961, despite that fact that they had been working around Brighton since 1957. When the first ones arrived in Eastbourne they were from the 29xx CD series and, like all the first 100 delivered (none of which survive) they had single headlamps. This is no. 900 (2900 CD), delivered in February 1961 and seen at Pevensey Road, Eastbourne when brand spanking new.

Here are some photos inside Eastbourne's two Southdown depots, where vehicles laying-over would be garaged. I just loved the Harrington Cavalier from the first moment I saw one. Southdown and Maidstone & District examples were the most commonly seen in Eastbourne but others would also pass through. Here we see XXT 519, an AEC Reliance from the fleet of Timpsons, frequent excursion visitors to the south coast. One of 15 delivered in 1960 (four of which wore the livery of associate operator Bourne & Balmer) this example was seen in 1961 inside Southdown's Royal Parade garage on Eastbourne's eastern seafront. That was a bit unusual, so it was probably a busy weekend.

Visiting Southdown's Cavendish Place depot in the centre of town in the summer of 1962 is Hants and Dorset no. 858 (SRU 972), a Bristol LS6G coach delivered in 1956 as one of five. It was converted to a bus in 1967, withdrawn in 1974 and scrapped.

Another Bristol LS at Cavendish Place depot. This picture, taken on the August bank holiday weekend in 1961, shows Eastern National PL362 (EJN 638) which had originally been delivered to Westcliff-on-Sea in 1953. It transferred to Eastern National in 1954, to Western National in 1965, and to the first of a string of independent operators in 1967. In 1989 it was acquired by the Eastern National Preservation Group and is still around.

Also at Cavendish Place depot is Eastern National No.011 (PTW 107), a Bristol L6B. Built for United Counties in 1950 with a style of ECW coach body that definitely wasn't my favourite (even if it did have panoramic windows), it was transferred to Eastern National in 1958 and is seen here in 1962. The design was - I believe - known unoffically as a Queen Mary, unlike the Southdown Northern Counties Leyland PD3/4, which was (not surprisingly) always known as a PD3/4. The following year it was retired, winding up with a contractor in Lincolnshire. I've no idea who the little chap is.

However, in November 2017 I received an email from Barry Horton, who said "I think I am the little chap stood on the step of the Eastern National 011. I don't actually remember doing this but I was always in the coach station as a bus spotter and later worked in the booking office." Isn't the internet amazing? What a delight to put loose ends together, and thanks very much to Barry for getting in touch. We have a bit more information from him regarding the picture below.

At the Southdown Cavendish Place depot in 1962 we see a visiting Aldershot and District AEC Reliance on their coastal service, pulling out of the depot into the coach station area watched by an inspector. No. 383 (383 AOU) was delivered in 1961 and wears the bus livery with a green roof.

Barry Horton (see the picture above) says "The inspector in the picture is Jack King who worked there when I was a booking clerk a few years later. Thank you for your excellent site." Well thank you too for getting in touch and adding details to my humble pictures.

This view is in virtually the same place in Eastbourne's Southdown depot, with its entrance to the garage in Susans Road and exit through the art deco coach station in Cavendish Place. On a different occasion in 1962 we see another Aldershot and District 1961 AEC Reliance, this time it's a dual-purpose model, no. 422 (422 DHO) and has the cream roof of the coach livery.

Aldershot & District ran a coastal service through Eastbourne, and here we see a 1954 AEC Reliance in Terminus Road on its way home to Guildford in 1961. No. 271 (MOR 602) had a Strachan Everest centre-entrance bus body with a high floor and high waistline, and was one of a batch of 25, the company's first significant AEC order.

Among the vast number of AEC Reliances bought by East Kent were 23 Beadle-bodied dual-purpose saloons acquired in October 1957, registered NFN 327 to NFN 349. This is NFN 342 on the westbound south coast express (a service shared between East Kent, Southdown and Royal Blue) driving up Susans Road, Eastbourne, about to turn into the Southdown coach station, and then heading for Portsmouth and Bournemouth.

Seen in the summer of 1962, a Midland Red C3 coach draws into the coach station - from Birmingham, via Aylesbury - and I realised how similar it was to Southdown's range of tour coaches with all their flashy brightwork. Later that year I started visiting Victoria Coach Station and found that Black & White were using Willowbrook coaches that looked just the same, and Midland Red were now running fabulous CM5 coaches on their major routes, hurtling down from the West Midlands and bringing a wide grin to the face of many a gricer. They too had a smart black roof, and it was a shame when they removed this feature in later years. Southdown made the same mistake by deleting cream.

Parked up inside Cavendish Place garage is Maidstone and District AEC Reliance coach CO335 (TKM 335) built in 1955 with the distinctive Harrington Wayfarer Mk.2 37-seat body. It was withdrawn in 1969.

Round behind the town's railway station was Eastbourne's central coach station, where all the visiting independent tour coaches could be found. Here we see 7 BXB, Tilling Transport's Bedford SB8/Duple Super Vega C41F, one of three delivered in 1961. By 1971 it was spotted on the hippie trail from London to Kathmandu wearing the name Indigo. Traveller Dave has a photo of it here.

Also seen in 1962 at the central coach station was this vehicle. Like most Beadle rebuilds it was built (in this case in 1952) by Beadle of Dartford as a C31F coach on the modified chassis of something much older. Southdown, Maidstone & District and East Kent all had them, so they were quite a familiar sight in the area, but this one is something different. LRH 965 was created for East Yorkshire as their no. 565 (one of a batch of ten) from the running gear of a Leyland Titan TD4 double decker. East Yorkshire bought several Brush-bodied TD4s in 1935-36 and retired them around 1950, so I guess the chassis came from one of those. By 1962 it has clearly been sold by East Yorkshire to some independent operator, but there's no clue who it was.

Trevor Leach came to my rescue. He emailed in November 2018 to say "The PSV Circle fleet history records it as being withdrawn in 1959; to Fleet Car (Sales) Ltd, dealer, Dunchurch, 9/60. Then to Fountain Luxury Coaches, Twickenham 5/61; J. C. Bailey, Faversham 3/62 and to H. E. Thomsett, Deal in 1964; withdrawn 1967. So it looks as though it was with Bailey, Faversham when you photographed it. The list also says that it was rebuilt using parts from East Yorkshire 274 (AKH 762), which was, as you say, a Leyland TD4 - new in 1935 with a Brush H26/26R body (with Beverley Bar roof, too!!). Hope this helps." Yes it does help, many thanks Trevor.

For some reason London Transport were unwelcome virtually everywhere in Eastbourne, despite bringing busloads of passengers to the resort every summer weekend. RTs, RTLs and the occasional RF were frequent visitors but were never seen in the Southdown depots, Greencroft car park, seafront coach bays or the central coach station. Only a small area of waste ground outside the central coach station exit in Ashford Road by the railway was grudgingly allotted for their vehicles to park. Here we see RTL1071 (LUC 78), RTL1341 (MXX 64), and one other, loading day-trippers one late afternoon in the summer of 1961. A marshaller on the right seems to be urging stragglers to get on board so that they can set off home.

RTL1071 was exported to South Africa in 1963.