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Photos of Wigan
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Wigan Album

Market Place, Wigan

10 Comments

Market Place
Market Place
Photo: Tom Sutch
Views: 2,743
Item #: 31283
Market Place 1975

Comment by: Joe Thomas on 21st June 2019 at 13:58

Think I am right in saying these where 36 foot long real monsters Blackpool had a depot for some

Comment by: Arthur on 21st June 2019 at 19:23

Great photo Tom. Austin Allegro (back of the bus) voted Britain's worst car. They have a square steering wheel...what was that all about.

Comment by: Dave Lewis on 21st June 2019 at 19:24

Yes you are right joe, standerwick had some double decker longer than coaches at that time, the longest coaches were 38"6 at that time, then they made a 40 footer shortly after, hopefully ray will let me know if I need correcting.

Comment by: Mr X on 21st June 2019 at 21:22

The coach is a Ribble Standerwick ECW bodied Bristol VR, a model that was not popular as a long double deck coach, but was very popular as a bus being shorter, and the vast majority bodied by ECW usually in red or green for the NBC companies such as Crosville and Ribble that had about 70. It is 1975 and the three cars in view are an Austin 1800 and Allegro, and a Triumph Toledo. Woolworths can be seen, and closed in 1984. Wigan and Bury were the only towns in the North West whose Woolworths store finished in the 1980s, but strangely a small town like Earlestown had its Woolworths until 2007.

Comment by: John G on 22nd June 2019 at 00:43

Arthur: It was something of a safety feature, you could hold on tighter when the front wheels fell off turning a corner.

Comment by: Derekb on 22nd June 2019 at 16:29

Also nicknamed the All Aggro. It was a new low, even for BMC, in the 70s. A dreadful car.

Comment by: Arthur on 22nd June 2019 at 17:03

Ha ha I like it, John G.

Comment by: walt(north yorks) on 23rd June 2019 at 07:37

A chap I knew for awhile drove these buses in the early seventies, he said he often hit the ton (100 mph) on the M6 on his way to Birmingham. They could use the outside lane those days and were not restricted by speed limits.

Comment by: Ray on 24th June 2019 at 16:13

Yes Walt, These Bristol VRL coaches could "Bob On" a bit.
I believe the engine was a Leyland 680, the type that would
be fitted in a Leyland 32 ton GVW lorry, so bearing in mind
that these vehicles operated at 16 tons Gross Vehicle Weight
they had an excellent power to weight ratio. Unusually, the
engine at the rear was fitted longtitudinally, fore and aft.
These coaches were not very reliable, and after 5 years, they were sold on to other companies.

Comment by: Stuart on 7th July 2019 at 19:04

The first of these entered service with Standerwick in 1968 and there followed another 29 in 1970/1 and they lasted until 1974. One of the main problems with these vehicles was stability issues when travelling at high speed. Several ended up in Newcastle shuttling passengers between Newcastle Central Station and Tyne Quay for sailings to Scandanavia. One has been preserved.

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