Wallace Arnold

Royal Tiger · Post by **Royal Tiger** » Mon 05 Oct, 2009 4:00 pm

Trojan wrote: Up to the early seventies Wallace Arnold's major competitor in Leeds was Heaps, who were based at Bramley. My girlfriend (wife now) had our first holiday together in Jersey with Heaps from Leeds Bradford, we flew on BKS. 28gns full board including two trips around the island! Cheap even by 1966 standards. Here's a picture of one of their coaches taking a party from the Old White Bear at Tingley According to "The Little Red Book", 1963 and 1965 editions, Heaps Tours Ltd. were based at 115 Tong Road, Armley. I remember visiting the garage there on several occasions in the '50s from my home in Bramley.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 05 Oct, 2009 8:09 pm

Heaps' Garage is still there in Tong Road, close to the Lyric Cinema whose neon sign is still there and which was lit for many years after the closure of the cinema. Sometime in the 1970s (I'm almost sure) Heaps Tours became part of the larger Trimdon Motor Services of County Durham, and the livery was changed from Heaps' nice cream and green to Trimdon's non descript white and blue. In the latter years of the original ownership Heaps adopted the title of "HEAPS' LEOPARD TOURS" and carried large pictures of a leopard in full "pounce."

Royal Tiger · Post by **Royal Tiger** » Mon 05 Oct, 2009 9:52 pm

BLAKEY wrote: Heaps' Garage is still there in Tong Road, close to the Lyric Cinema whose neon sign is still there and which was lit for many years after the closure of the cinema. Sometime in the 1970s (I'm almost sure) Heaps Tours became part of the larger Trimdon Motor Services of County Durham, and the livery was changed from Heaps' nice cream and green to Trimdon's non descript white and blue. In the latter years of the original ownership Heaps adopted the title of "HEAPS' LEOPARD TOURS" and carried large pictures of a leopard in full "pounce." Thanks for reminding me of the TMS connection.Your memory is correct again! Heaps was taken over by Trimdon on 12th March 1971 according to "Trimdon Motor Services - A Social History" published in 2006. There is a photograph of Bedford VAL/Harrington CNW 155C with the HEAPS LEOPARD fleetname and the pouncing Leopard.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Mon 05 Oct, 2009 11:05 pm

BIG N wrote: Quick question - prior the merger between Wallice Arnold and Shearings (and when did they drop "pleasureways" from their name? ) W.A. had a terminus on Heartshead moor services and Shearings had one at the side of the M62 at Whitwood.Since the merger are both of these facilitys still operating or has the operations been concentrated on one location?? Shearings seem to have dropped "WA" from their livery, I've noticed several Shearings coaches that just say "Shearings" again. A few years ago we went to Italy by coach and stopped at Bellinzona services in the Italian part of Switzerland. Our coach was "Compass" from Wakefield, but it seemed really strange to see a Shearings coach parked in the coach park so far from home.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 05 Oct, 2009 11:59 pm

Trojan wrote: BIG N wrote: Quick question - prior the merger between Wallice Arnold and Shearings (and when did they drop "pleasureways" from their name? ) W.A. had a terminus on Heartshead moor services and Shearings had one at the side of the M62 at Whitwood.Since the merger are both of these facilitys still operating or has the operations been concentrated on one location?? Shearings seem to have dropped "WA" from their livery, I've noticed several Shearings coaches that just say "Shearings" again. A few years ago we went to Italy by coach and stopped at Bellinzona services in the Italian part of Switzerland. Our coach was "Compass" from Wakefield, but it seemed really strange to see a Shearings coach parked in the coach park so far from home. Yes, Shearings have now completely eliminated the "Wallace Arnold" name and have closed the travel shops. The WA Hartshead Moor apology for an interchange facility is also gone, and all such operations are now carried out at Shearings Normanton Interchange or at the huge but efficient place at Coventry - the name I think begins with "E" (Exhall ??) but eludes me just now.I went in 2003 by Shearings to Lake Como in Italy and what a fabuloius 12 day holiday that was, and very very reasonable indeed. The coach was faultlessly maintained and spotless, as Shearings always are. My only surprise though was that one solitary driver did the lot - no courier - and as an experienced driver myself I thought that was just a bit much - although he was excellent and competent in every way and "made" the holiday.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 11:24 am

BLAKEY wrote: My only surprise though was that one solitary driver did the lot - no courier - and as an experienced driver myself I thought that was just a bit much - although he was excellent and competent in every way and "made" the holiday. We went by car to Lake Garda in 2005, and stayed at the Hotel Imperial - which Shearings use. The Shearings passengers described a 24 hour journey, with a change of driver at Bellinzona. One driver takes the coach to Bellinzona and swaps to the homeward bound coach whilst the Italian based driver takes the incoming coach to Garda.When we travelled to Tuscany by coach we had an overnight stop at Mulhouse which seems a much better arrangement to me.

Uno Hoo · Post by **Uno Hoo** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 12:16 pm

Apart from one or two private hire trips I don't remember travelling on WA coaches much, although there was a large depot in Pudsey close to where I went to school. But, WA contracted with the old West Riding Education Committee to provide school contract services, and so I was a regular on their coaches between Calverley and Pudsey Baths during summers in the 1950s. (Pudsey Baths closed during the winter, and became the "Albert Hall" for various civic and other functions, including my school's Speech Day (yawn).However, the biggest WA influence in my memories is its ownership from 1952 of Farsley Omnibus. I had family in Farsley, so used them reasonably often, and between 1955 and 1957 I suffered from an incredibly inconvenient school journey from Calverley to Pudsey which involved a West Yorkshire Road Car from Calverley to Rodley, then change to Farsley Flyer to Pudsey. Typically, even though Farsley usually laid on a duplicate car for the schools, it didn't actually stop outside the school in Pudsey, but went on to Lidget Hill, so we had to walk back a couple of hundred yards, which seemed a long way if it was siling down. The reason for all this malarkey was simply because the direct bus link between Calverley and Pudsey was in the hands of Kitchen's Buses, a small firm who either would not or could not enter into a contract with WRCC. So it was a great relief when Kitchen sold out to Sam Ledgard's Executors in 1957, and we all got bus passes for the direct route - not to mention the incredible experience of travelling on the excellent but varied vehicles of the sublime Blue Buses.However, back to Farsley. WA being a good Yorkshire concern with an eye to save brass, decided during the 50s to re-body some old-fashioned Daimler coaches as double-deck buses. They were handsome Roe-bodied beasts, and travelling up the gradients of Farsley Town Street and Richardshaw Lane produced lovely mellifluous tones from the engines and pre-select Wilson gearboxes. But there was an Achilles Heel! The coach chassis was really too high set for a rear-open platform decker, and Roe solved the problem by fitting a "suicide step" which featured a narrow ledge at near pavement height, then a steep second step to the platform proper. God only knows how older folk with stiff joints coped in those far-off days of heavy passenger traffic! These buses survived in service until the end of Farsley in 1968, and similar vehicles were in use in other WA fleets of Kippax & District, and Hardwicks of Scarborough. There are good shots of Farsley decker back ends on p1348 of Jim Soper's seminal "Leeds Transport Vol 4" which illustrate the hazardous entry/exit arrangement. The Traffic Commissioners obviously weren't concerned - no doubt they all travelled by car!. WA also had some old Roe-bodied Leyland TDs which were frequently used on school duplicates, thus giving a different variety of engine/gearbox whines on the gradients.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 5:45 pm

Uno Hoo wrote: Apart from one or two private hire trips I don't remember travelling on WA coaches much, although there was a large depot in Pudsey close to where I went to school. But, WA contracted with the old West Riding Education Committee to provide school contract services, and so I was a regular on their coaches between Calverley and Pudsey Baths during summers in the 1950s. (Pudsey Baths closed during the winter, and became the "Albert Hall" for various civic and other functions, including my school's Speech Day (yawn).However, the biggest WA influence in my memories is its ownership from 1952 of Farsley Omnibus. I had family in Farsley, so used them reasonably often, and between 1955 and 1957 I suffered from an incredibly inconvenient school journey from Calverley to Pudsey which involved a West Yorkshire Road Car from Calverley to Rodley, then change to Farsley Flyer to Pudsey. Typically, even though Farsley usually laid on a duplicate car for the schools, it didn't actually stop outside the school in Pudsey, but went on to Lidget Hill, so we had to walk back a couple of hundred yards, which seemed a long way if it was siling down. The reason for all this malarkey was simply because the direct bus link between Calverley and Pudsey was in the hands of Kitchen's Buses, a small firm who either would not or could not enter into a contract with WRCC. So it was a great relief when Kitchen sold out to Sam Ledgard's Executors in 1957, and we all got bus passes for the direct route - not to mention the incredible experience of travelling on the excellent but varied vehicles of the sublime Blue Buses.However, back to Farsley. WA being a good Yorkshire concern with an eye to save brass, decided during the 50s to re-body some old-fashioned Daimler coaches as double-deck buses. They were handsome Roe-bodied beasts, and travelling up the gradients of Farsley Town Street and Richardshaw Lane produced lovely mellifluous tones from the engines and pre-select Wilson gearboxes. But there was an Achilles Heel! The coach chassis was really too high set for a rear-open platform decker, and Roe solved the problem by fitting a "suicide step" which featured a narrow ledge at near pavement height, then a steep second step to the platform proper. God only knows how older folk with stiff joints coped in those far-off days of heavy passenger traffic! These buses survived in service until the end of Farsley in 1968, and similar vehicles were in use in other WA fleets of Kippax & District, and Hardwicks of Scarborough. There are good shots of Farsley decker back ends on p1348 of Jim Soper's seminal "Leeds Transport Vol 4" which illustrate the hazardous entry/exit arrangement. The Traffic Commissioners obviously weren't concerned - no doubt they all travelled by car!. WA also had some old Roe-bodied Leyland TDs which were frequently used on school duplicates, thus giving a different variety of engine/gearbox whines on the gradients. I went to tech. in Pudsey for a year int he early sixties and we used to catch the no 5 Dewsbury bus from Pudsey market place. Farsley buses used the adjacent stop. Their buses alway looked much more up to date than the Guys Yorkshire Woollen used. They were so small even by the standards of those days too. By the time they'd picked up at Fulneck, the 4-30 used to be absolutely jammed solid with my Pudsey Tech mates, Pudsey Grammar kids, and Fulneck Boys and Girls.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 8:23 pm

Those "platform edge" suicidal steps were disgraceful and should never have been allowed by The Commissioners at all. However they were by no means peculiar to WAs rebodied high frame Daimlers - in fact plenty of brand new vehicles with standard double deck chassis were bodied that way, West Riding for example had many. Presumably these were specified in the misguided idea that, having successfully reached the platform without injury, the passengers could walk straight into the lower saloon on the level. Just incredible !!.Returning briefly to the WA rebodied Daimlers, this nonsense adversely affected the centre of gravity, naturally, and they were very unstable indeed on corners or cambers especially when heavily loaded upstairs.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 9:36 pm

BLAKEY wrote: Those "platform edge" suicidal steps were disgraceful and should never have been allowed by The Commissioners at all. However they were by no means peculiar to WAs rebodied high frame Daimlers - in fact plenty of brand new vehicles with standard double deck chassis were bodied that way, West Riding for example had many. Presumably these were specified in the misguided idea that, having successfully reached the platform without injury, the passengers could walk straight into the lower saloon on the level. Just incredible !!.Returning briefly to the WA rebodied Daimlers, this nonsense adversely affected the centre of gravity, naturally, and they were very unstable indeed on corners or cambers especially when heavily loaded upstairs. It sticks in my mind that United Services who ran the Wakefield -Doncaster service had some. We used to go visit my grandma in Hemsworth every month and they had a really motley collection - it was like a bus league of nations.