FEW MORE OLD PHOTOS FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

[PhilipG]

Now, I have learned something. They are still around! --

Liverpool Personal Service Society Incorporated (PSS), was established on 1st January, 1919, and yet still remains an "innovative, empowering charity… with the ethos of pioneering new ways of delivering services" Charity Commission Report. . . . PSS' dynamic social enterprise provides community based, social and health care services across north west England, central Scotland and North Wales.

http://www.pss.org.uk/

Chris

The PSS started the Citizens Advice Bureaux in the 1930s, which was the time my late friend Mrs Win Roberts (of the Lodge, Holmefield Road) was working with them.
There is a hiistory of the PSS called "The Crowded Stairs" (1961) by the Founder, Dorothy C. Keeling.
The PSS are now based at the former Beatles Museum in Seel Street.

[MerseysideTransportTrust]

I found this pic on Flickr:
(the rest of the members' bus pics are here...http://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/)
The bus is on Park Road by the Toxteth Pub. The junction on the right is Upper Park Street. I think the building by the green bus is Dunlops.

A great pic indeed!

You will be pleased to know the very bus A40 NKD 540 is preserved in our collection

Some details
Registration: NKD 540
Chassis: AEC Regent II 9613S7708
Body: Saunders Roe
Layout: H32/26R
New: November 1954

HISTORY

A40 was one of only two buses to be bodied by Saunders Roe (SARO) for Liverpool Corporation. SARO was a firm from Beaumaris, on the Isle of Anglesey that had its origins in boat building but had got involved with the manufacture of aircraft during the Second World War. During the early 1950s, SARO diversified into building bus bodies and even secured a large order with London Transport for double deck bodies on RT chassis. A39 & A40, were part of the order for 100 AEC Regent III, the other 98 receiving Crossley bodies (60 of them completed at Corporations Edge Lane Works). All these buses were fitted with the AEC A218 9.6 litre engines and synchromesh gearboxes.

The SARO bodies were built mainly out of aluminium instead of the usual steel and wood that most builders used at this time. This method of construction gave a weight saving of almost a ton compared to the Crossley bodied examples, and did not suffer from as much body corrosion as the steel bodies but the initial cost was greater.

A40 was entered service from Prince Alfred Road garage in November 1954 and became known as the silver bullet due to the fact that it was entirely unpainted (not because of it top speed!). A further 17 buses were delivered over the next few years in this mainly unpainted form as part of an ongoing experiment to compare the cost savings of not painting buses.

Other operators around Britain also tried out the unpainted look but it was soon found that the initial savings on not painting the bus were soon exhausted by the additional effort in keeping the vehicles clean and presentable, especially when repairing accident damage.

When new, A40 was totally unpainted externally (apart from its wheels) but to improve its appearance it received a green band between the decks in 1956. Around the same time it also lost the front upper saloon opening windows. In May 1964 A40 was transferred to Edge Lane garage were it remained until being transferred to Speke in November 1970. It had passed to the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (MPTE) on its formation in December 1969.

A40 was the last remaining former Liverpool Corporation AEC Regent III still in service when it was withdrawn from service at the beginning of May 1974. The vehicles significance was acknowledged by the MPTE and A40 became the first of many vehicles to be donated to the Mersey & Calder BPG by the MPTE, a practise continued right up to the last days of the MPTE owning vehicles.

During the 33 years that A40 has been in preservation it has appeared at numerous rallies throughout the country and it has also appeared in a few TV programmes and films. To this day, the SARO body is a credit to its manufacture, with it suffering from very little corrosion, something that can not be said about its Crossley bodied cousins!

A40 has been part of the Merseyside Transport Trust Collection since its formation in May 1999.

Recently some remedial work has been carried out to the platform bearer and the lower saloon and some of the non standard window rubber it carries has been resourced. Once some of the current projects have been completed, A40 will be brought back into the restoration programme.

I'd date the photo post November 1970 , as its operating on the 82 a Speke depot route

looks like I'm going to have to scan more of the archives!


Regards

Rob