David Slater (Spoddendale)'s photos

Saturday 19 September 1970 - A pair of Yelloway Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliances travel over the setts of Penn Street as they leave the Rochdale garage. 2921 DK, new in 1962, is leading and is quite likely bound for Oldham to work the 0815 service X79 to Blackpool.

Monday 25 October 1971 – Yelloway 2927 DK seen on the Blackpool stand at the Weir Street coach station and garage in Rochdale when working the last X79 trip of the day to Blackpool. The service originated in Oldham at 1900 and departed Rochdale at 1930. Inspector John Howard is standing on the right. Unfortunately I do not recall the name of the driver. A Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance new in 1962.

Sunday 26 October 1971 – 2927 DK seen outside the Yelloway garage and coach station in Rochdale when working the 0930 service X79 from Blackpool to Oldham. A Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance new in 1962.

Saturday 1 June 1968 - Yelloway 2927 DK seen when working the first run of the Rochdale to Barry Island holiday express service jointly licenced with Associated Motorways. This photograph, taken by my old friend the late Gerard Duffy, shows the coach during the refreshment stop on the M5 motorway at Strensham Services I believe. Gerard, a finance man who worked in the Yelloway General Office, was day off today and rode on this inaugural service as a passenger with the two rostered drivers - there were no paying passengers though. For the first season the service was worked by a Yelloway vehicle operating down and back in the same day with two drivers but the format was changed in subsequent years to accommodate the new drivers hours regulations and to give returning passengers a morning departure time from Barry Island rather than a mid-afternoon departure. Under the revised schedule a Yelloway coach would leave Rochdale for Cheltenham on Friday morning and go forward to Cardiff on hire to Associated Motorways so that on Saturday it could work the through express from Barry Island to Rochdale. The Saturday day south express from Rochdale to Barry Island was worked by a Red & White coach which had travelled from South Wales to Rochdale via Cheltenham on the Friday initially on an Associated Motorways service then on hire to Yelloway from Cheltenham to Rochdale. The coach, a Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance, was new in 1962 - one of the first batch of 36 feet long coaches to enter the fleet. This was the last year that coaches with opening windows entered the fleet as subsequent coaches had forced air ventilation.

Saturday 19 September 1970 - Yelloway 4642 DK, a 1963 Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance, seen on the parking ground along Penn Street (later creatively renamed Ink Street). The smaller building in the background was the back view of the Yelloway booking and enquiry office. The taller building alongside was Kelsall’s mill which Yelloway subsequently purchased for use as their offices. The booking and enquiry office was moved to the latter and the smaller building was then demolished to expand the parking area. Today this site is occupied by the 'Number One Riverside' complex of Rochdale Borough Council.

Summer 1965 (I think) – The Yelloway ‘Devonian’ service which linked Rochdale with Torquay and later Paignton, was extremely popular at summer holiday periods with hundreds of passengers booked on just one service departure which required something like about forty coaches on one departure alone. Lots of coaches were hired from other, mainly north-west of England, coach operators but these hires also brought the coaches of Devon based operators up to Rochdale (working Friday night north returning either Saturday day south or Saturday night south). Two Harrington bodied AEC Reliances are seen here in the Yelloway garage/coach station at Weir Street, Rochdale. The Yelloway coach is a 1963 Harrington Cavalier and the Grey Cars coach is a Harrington Grenadier dating from 1966 I seem to recall (registration series EOD-D). Grey Cars was the coaching name of ‘Devon General’ (The Devon General Omnibus and Touring Co Ltd).

Circa 1964 - Yelloway 4643 DK. This rather hazy picture is merely self indulgence as it was one of the first pictures I took of a coach. When at the Rochdale Technical School I took it upon myself to organise a number of Saturday day outings. My friend John Lemonofides had started the idea but had gone on to specialise in trips for the school railway club members. This year we went to Windermere and in the afternoon called at Morecambe where this picture was taken. A Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance new in 1963.

Sunday 16 July 1972 – Yelloway 4643 DK departing the Weir Street coach station and garage in Rochdale at just after 1930 when working the 1900 hours service X79 from Oldham to Blackpool and Fleetwood . A Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance new in 1963 which was sold in January 1973.

Sept 1972 – Yelloway 4643 DK seen parked in the Weir Street coach station and garage in Rochdale. A Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance new in 1963 which didn’t look at all bad for being 9 years old. In just 3 or so months time it would be sold. The original number plate was of the pressed metal type although by now a newer type had been fitted perhaps following an accident repair. Yelloway owned a set of moulds to create replacement glass fibre front panels for the Harrington Cavalier. One of the features of Yelloway coaches was the fitting of a full height screen behind the drivers seat - clear plastic in the upper half with a curtain to reduce reflections for night time driving.

January 1973 – Yelloway 4643 DK, new in 1963, seen leaving the Weir Street garage for the last time. The fleetname transfers on the side panels and the garter scroll on the boot doors had been sanded off and neatly repainted. Even when leaving the fleet the coaches looked tidy. It had been stripped of its destination blinds and the front and rear glass fleetname panels. The trade plate ‘046 DK’ was in position because the vehicle had not been taxed for the road hence the ‘DL’ on the windscreen to indicate ‘Delicenced’. Driver Geoff Shaw took the coach away – to the Alf Moseley dealership I believe and if so would he have travelled back on the day north service from Loughborough to Rochdale.

November 1972 - Passing through the Berkshire village of Pangbourne one day I spied 6692 DK in the doorway of the Pangbourne Coaches garage. The coach was new to 'The Creams (Lancashire) Limited', a Yelloway subsidiary, in Spring 1964. During the 1960s Yelloway supplemented their group fleets with lightweight coaches of Ford (1961) or Bedford (1962-1969) manufacture which were only kept for 1 or 2 years. This Plaxton Panorama bodied Bedford VAL, together with 6691 DK, operated for Creams whereas 6693 DK and 6694 DK operated for Yelloway.

December 1973 - Yelloway 7073 DK, a Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance new in 1964, standing on the fuel pumps at Rochdale. The orange doors beyond housed the paint shop.

July 1975 - After disposal by Yelloway, 7073 DK became a car transporter for stock car ace Stuart Smith - ‘Wildcat’. The Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance was new to Yelloway in 1964 and featured a very neat conversion to the rear end which incorporated a roller shutter door. Yelloway livery was retained on the very well turned out vehicle. The destination blinds carry Stuart’s racing number ‘391’ and his ‘Wildcat’ name. Seen near the Smith family home in Falinge Road, Rochdale where, coincidentally, many Yelloway publicity photographs were taken alongside leafy Falinge Park.

July 1975 - After disposal by Yelloway, 7073 DK became a car transporter for stock car ace Stuart Smith - ‘Wildcat’. A very neat conversion was made to the rear end now fitted with a roller shutter door. The Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance was new to Yelloway in 1964.

September 1973 – In 1972 Leigh’s Coaches of Middleton bought former Yelloway 4640 DK, one of the 1963 Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliances. In this picture the coach had returned to Weir Street on hire to Yelloway to work an excursion to Knowsley Safari Park. Note the Yelloway hire label and ‘Knowsley Safari Park’ destination label. These destination labels were traditionally printed with red lettering on the deep yellow paper. The vehicle had acquired rotating air vents either side of the AEC badge on the front. Not only was this a former Yelloway coach but it was driven by a former Yelloway driver (Brian Morrey?). Leigh’s vehicles were regularly hired as was that from Derek Painter’s Mostonian Coaches which can just be seen following in the background.

Summer 1967 - Yelloway 7076 DK, a 1964 Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance, seen on the parking ground along Penn Street (later creatively renamed Ink Street). The smaller building on the extreme left in the background was the back view of the Yelloway booking and enquiry office. The taller building was Kelsall’s mill which Yelloway subsequently purchased for use as their offices. The booking and enquiry office was moved to the latter and the smaller building was then demolished to expand the parking area. Today this site is occupied by the 'Number One Riverside' complex of Rochdale Borough Council.

August 1972 - Yelloway 7076 DK, a Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance new in 1964, stands on the parking ground along Penn Street, Rochdale. Weir Street, the Yelloway legal address, runs across the rear of the coach along the wall of the River Roch. The tower of Rochdale Town Hall can be seen and the roof of Electric House is visible over the front of the coach. Today this site is occupied by the 'Number One Riverside' complex of Rochdale Borough Council and the bus interchange, opened in 2014, stands on the land across the river.

September 1972 - Square photos and rectangular vehicles don’t mix too well! A side view of Yelloway 7076 DK seen on the parking ground along Penn Street, Rochdale. The Harrington Cavalier body was the last type to incorporate the two side destination indicators which Yelloway had specified for its new coaches for many years. Plaxton bodywork was bought after Harrington closed down and the rooflines of the newer models were not deep enough to accommodate this feature. By tapering the lettering on the indicator blinds two towns could sometimes be featured. In this case the forward blind shows ‘Via Stafford Newcastle’ and the other shows ‘and Leek Stockport’.