Heathrow Airside vehicles 70s

[Jeff]

In this photo apart from the Olympic 727, BA Vanguard and Trident I can see the following

1 x Ford Escort estate (Alitalia)
1 x Ford Cortina Mk3
1 x Ford Zodiac
1 x Plaxton bodied ?? Coach BA
1 x Ford Transit (Aer Lingus)
1 x Comma (Alitalia)
5 x Leyland Mastiff Truck Bus (had to google them...lol)
7 x Other bus.....no idea on type!! anyone ?

[keefyboy]

Hi Jeff

Great photo and you might be interested in the following website as the chap who run's it is probably the 'Peter Brown' equivalent for buses. Nevertheless, if you click on the 'things that fly' in the left hand drop down menu, you will find a few exotic pictures from Heathrow. I'm pretty sure if you go through the bus pages tabs - and this may take a few hours - you will find plenty of pictures of old BEA/BOAC buses operating from the central area of Heathrow

www.mikesbuspages.com/londontransport.htm

[Jeff]

Thanks keefy

[graham]

Morning Jeff, with the side-by-side twin headlamps and the twin steer front axles, otherwise known as a "Chinese Six axle arrangement", it looks like one of these Bedford VAL14's. They were built as coaches but according to Wiki...

<<Some VAL14s were given bus bodywork, including 10 by Marshall of Cambridge for British European Airways>>

LHR bus by Graham Brown, on Flickr

[Jeff]

Thanks :-) ..... 7 out of 10 isnt bad in one shot..... Lol

[Jeff]

Another from the 70s possibly late 60s

[graham]

I would say that's definitely early 60s Jeff. I'm sure there are many here more clued up than I. The first letter suffixes came in in 1963 I think, for example ABC 123A - 63 - A, 64 - B, 65- C, 66 - D, 67 - E and so on. Prior to that, registrations were three numbers first, then three letters, I had an old Mini which was 732 TYC which means it predates 1963. Prior to three numbers, three letters, it was I think three letters, three numbers as per your Bedford above. Of course, your Bedford may well have been in use for many years when the shot was taken.

[Jeff]

Back before BAA imposed the ' you cant drive anything older that 10 years old vehicle airside rule' there were lots of ancient low mileage vehicles airside. The thing that makes me think it was 70s is the unfinished bridgeway overhead which was built to get pax from the new bus station to T1 and T2

[rh226]

The picture must have been taken between 1966 and 1969.

You can see the back end of a BEA Routemaster in the background in front of Terminal 1. These did not enter service until October 1966 and retained that colour scheme until April 1969.  See www.countrybus.org/RMA/RMA.html.

Regards,

Bob

[Jeff]

Good spot Bob :-)

[graham]

Well done Bob, I thought someone here would know. I wonder if filair can tell us the age of the Bedford truck? It must be pre-1963.

[graham]

Did some more digging, seems the tractor unit is a J4A2 which indicates it was an 8-ton payload truck with a 214 cu in petrol engine, which is about 3.5 litres in old money. According to Wiki they were built between 1958 and 1967. As for the coach semi trailer, Wiki says it is a Samlesbury B24C, made for the first time in 1961, which seated 49 passengers and was used to move passengers between terminals.

[filair]

Graham,you have answered the queries much better than I could have.
There must be a way of finding out what age a registration is because Vintage Roadscene magazine always quotes year and area for old
vehicle pictures.

[graham]

Found this on line.........<<So, by mid 1932, Staffordshire was already introducing its first plates of three letters and up to three digits, which became the backbone of the registration systems until the mid 1950s. In such registrations the second and third letters provided the established are identification, while the additional first letter (with I, Q and Z not used) provided councils with nearly 23,000 extra marks for each area identifier under their control.

After the introduction of this new arrangement, three letters followed by up to three numbers in the 1930s, the number-plate system entered a period of stability. Ever-growing vehicle sales followed the Second World War prompted the next change, when some authorities simply came to the end of all their available three-letter/ three-number allocations>>.

I dug out an old RAC Guide & Hand Book dated 1947 which I found on the bookstall in the market some years ago, which lists the two letter suffixes as in the "YL" of the truck above and it was issued by "London County Council" which ties in with its use at Heathrow. Try as I might, I can't get any further info on the full registration with regard to its year of issue but it has to be from or after 1958 when the Bedfords were first introduced and prior to 1963 when the first "A" suffixes were introduced, which superseded the three letter, three number plates

[graham]

Just found this one on line

Bedford articulated bus by Graham Brown, on Flickr