Wigan Album

You wouldnt have had women bus driver driving these sort of buses and having to use the footholes just to get to the cab.

Another great photo, Thomas. It made you proud to see "County Borough of Wigan" on the side of the bus, instead of Arriva or First Manchester, and the colours were so much classier, both the Corporation buses and the LUTs.

Mick, I knew a woman who was driving these buses in 1970.

Great picture. Do I remember correctly, you had to go upstairs if you wanted to smoke?
That old bus must have done some miles - sidelight missing, and a rear wheel trim.

That's my old bus. 602 to Ashton!

If my memory serves me right, the 602 to Ashton used to start off in front of the "Abbey Lakes" bus which would have been in front of what is now the "Moon under Water".

My cousin Monica was driving these buses in the 70's... albeit for the LUT.

I had a couple of these Leyland PD3s - they never had rear-wheel trims, and a fog-lamp was a luxury not all service buses were fitted with, let alone two. By the time Tom took this pic the bus was in the ownership of the GMPTE - its old Wigan fleet number (5) having been scrubbed off its front. It took the road in September 1959 with a Pemberton-built Massey body.

I *think* if you look at album item number 879, you can see this bus before the loss of the fog lamp, passing Wigan Wallgate Station.

Look in Work, under Wigan Corporation Transport, posted by Thomas again.

I think that EJP 509 - with a Northern Counties body - put on the road a month later than 501. But you're right, it does have two fog lamps - which you won't see on other Wigan PD2s and 3s in the Album....

This bus must be lost! I'm sure the Ashton bus went straight down Wallgate. On its return journey I think its destination was to Beech Hill.

Try this link (sorry, dont know how to put in a link, you wil have to cut/paste). It shows a sister bus on hire to LUT, with the foglamp on the drivers side. www.flickr.com/photos/7541633@N08/2742006552/

Regarding the "lost" bus, the explanation is that Hindley & Ashton routes were interworked at this time. That is, a 603 or 606 bus coming into Wigan from Hindley would become a 601 or 602 service to Ashton. Similarly the 601/602 from Ashton became a 603/606 to Hindley.
Running towards Wigan, the Hindley buses came along Darlington St then Rodney St, passed the baths and round to the terminus in Station Road, where the Ashton buses started from. In the reverse direction, the Ashton buses came straight up Wallgate and turned into Library Street, where they transformed into a Hindley bus outside the old Tech College.

So with this pic, the driver has probably changed his route number and destination a bit ahead of time - maybe while waiting for the lights at the bottom of Darlington Street East. I used to travel every day from Hindley to Wigan on these buses in the mid-1970s - that's how I know this bit of transport trivia.

A lot of the other Corporation bus routes did the same thing - the Standish buses went through to Abbey Lakes.

Thanks for the link to the Flickr pics, Paul. Here's the link to the poster's full set of Wigan pics, which others might enjoy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7541633@N08/tags/wigan/
Again, the PD3 featured in one of the Northern Counties' bodies, EJP 504, on which they did splash out on two fog lamps.

This Wigan Corporation bus, EJP501 was numerically the first with front entrance new in 1959 and is a longer PD3. 81 were built to 1968, EJP501-510, GJP8-19, HEK705-707, HJP1-11, reverting to the short PD2 with JJP502-509, KEK739-750, AEK1-10B, DEK2-3D, DEK4-7E, FEK1-9F. Massey bodied EJP501-504, GJP8-10 17-19, HEK705-707, HJP1-4, JJP502-505, KEK739-744, AEK1-10B, DEK2-3D, FEK1-9F, Northern Counties bodied EJP505-510, GJP11-16, HJP5-11, JJP506-509, KEK745-750, DEK4-7E. All passed to GMT in 1974, most of the later ones repainted orange and white. Earlier rear entrance PD2s from 1950 with full height were JP8300-8329, AEK501-512, CEK837-841, DEK105-113, DJP751-759 that had gone by 1972.