David Slater (Spoddendale)'s photos

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’.

July 1973 (a Saturday evening) - Quite a rare visitor indeed on a service through Rochdale was this Western SMT Alexander bodied ‘Y’ type coach which had been provided by Ribble as a last minute X79 duplicate. A very, very poor shot I admit because it was taken in the darkness of the Yelloway garage at Weir Street just before the coach went on its way with no time for a proper picture – with barely time to run to my desk to grab the camera. Ribble and WSMT worked their joint Lancashire-Glasgow services, their drivers routinely driving each others coaches. The coaches were often utilised as required when they were in the other partners possession which is what brought this vehicle quite unexpectedly to Rochdale. Hubert Allen’s white Daimler car can be seen in the background – he always parked in this spot. Just beyond that was the passenger waiting room the seats of which came from vehicles from a bygone age. The evening sunshine lights up what would be a deserted ‘top office’ (The General Office). The staff here (typists, wages, accounts etc) didn’t work after lunch on Saturdays. A further link between Yelloway and Western SMT was that the WSMT office at 55 St. Enoch Square in Glasgow was the principal Scottish booking agent for Yelloway issuing tickets for passengers travelling between Scotland and the South West of England via Manchester using the Ribble/WSMT service from Glasgow to Manchester where they then connected to the Yelloway 'Devonian' service.

Monday 5 March 1973 – Tom King, a Rochdale taxi owner, acquired 6475 DK a Duple bodied Bedford SB5 which had been new to Yelloway’s subsidiary company, The Creams (Lancashire) Limited, in 1964. It was seen parked on spare ground on Penn Street. A former Rochdale Corporation Weymann bodied AEC Regent V, still in corporation colours but now owned by SELNEC plus another former Rochdale Corporation bus already painted in the orange and white livery of SELNEC, can be seen on the bus park behind.

July 1972 - This Duple Alpine Continental bodied AEC Reliance (3573 RU) of Shamrock and Rambler had arrived in Rochdale one Friday evening in July 1972 from Bournemouth. It would return home as a duplicate on either the Friday night south or Saturday day south back to its home town - a hire arranged by Associated Motorways, the joint operator with Yelloway of the Rochdale to Bournemouth express service. New in April 1963. The coach is paused on Penn Street having just come from the Yelloway garage having crossed Smith Street which runs across the photograph behind the coach. The portion of Penn Street in the background was later renamed Ink Street. The Slubbers Arms, popular with the coach drivers as the nearest 'watering hole' to the garage after they left work is on Smith Street behind the billboard.

July 1972 - Blue Line (Murray) was based close to the Yelloway Coach Station on Bloomfield Road in Blackpool and was often pressed into service at short notice by the Blackpool Inspectors when duplicates were required. WFR 729K, a Plaxton Panorama Elite bodied Bedford YRQ new in April 1972, sets out from Weir Street as a duplicate to the 1345 hrs Blackpool bound service having worked in from Blackpool on the 0930 hrs departure.

September 1972 - A rear shot of Yelloway 7076 DK seen on the parking ground along Penn Street, Rochdale. This Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance was new in 1964. 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.

Summer 1965 - The 1965 intake of lightweight models for the Yelloway fleet was the most varied of the 1960s with three Bedford VALs (two with Harrington Legionnaire bodywork and one with Plaxton Panorama bodywork) along with this pair of Plaxton Embassy bodied Bedford SB5s which were seen at Westwood Coach park in Scarborough on one of the private hire trips I organised from school - on which I needed a ‘dupe’ this particular year! This was the last year the SB5 model was taken as in subsequent years the Bedford VAM was chosen.

August 1973 – Two Yelloway Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliances in the Yelloway coach station and garage at Weir Street. Left is CDK 854C (new 1965) and right is 7074 DK (new 1964).

August 1973 – Yelloway CDK 855C parked in the garage at Weir Street, Rochdale. New in 1965 this was to be the final year that Harrington supplied their stately Cavalier body to Yelloway. The destination screen shows ‘Torquay’ but it is unlikely that this coach would have visited the Devon resort for a number of years even though it would have been more than capable of doing so. Each year the newer coaches were assigned as the service vehicles on the Torquay and London routes. Progressively as the coaches aged they were assigned to different routes, mid-life coaches covering Cheltenham etc and the oldest covering the Blackpool services and school work.

August 1973 – Yelloway Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance coaches parked in the garage at Weir Street, Rochdale. Closest to the camera is CDK 855C new in 1965, the final year that Harrington supplied their stately Cavalier bodywork to Yelloway. The destination screen shows ‘Torquay’ but it is unlikely that this coach would have visited the Devon resort for a number of years even though it would have been more than capable of doing so. Each year the newer coaches were assigned as the service vehicles on the Torquay and London routes. Progressively as the coaches aged they were assigned to different routes, mid-life coaches covering Cheltenham etc and the oldest covering the Blackpool services and school work.

Saturday 14 September 1974 – Today I was assigned to loading duties at Preston bus station. One of the Yelloway CDK-C registered Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance coaches new in 1965 is seen on a Blackpool bound service working.

February 1974 – CDK 857C, a Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance, had just been repainted when I took this photograph. The coach was new in June 1965. For the 1968 season this coach was upseated from having 45 reclining seats and was fitted with 49 standard seats specifically to work on the joint service with Premier Travel from the North-west to Cambridge and Clacton-on-Sea. It was usual practice for the AEC’s to reach about six years old before being upseated. Now nearly nine years old it would not work to Torquay on a Yelloway service but I couldn’t resist putting Torquay on the destination blind for this photograph!

February 1974 – CDK 857C, a Harrington Cavalier bodied AEC Reliance, had just been repainted when I took this photograph. The coach was new in June 1965. For its longer life coaches Yelloway always specified certain additional features like the above windscreen destination blinds, enclosed drivers cab area and the two piece rear boot doors, as seen in this photograph, which had vertical mounted hinges.