Pickup (Top Gear), Rochdale

Sept 1972 – Healing’s Coaches of Chadderton or Oldham HDK 217E, swinging into Smith Street from Penn Street as it left the Yelloway garage on hire to Yelloway working an afternoon excursion possibly to Chester Zoo. The Plaxton Panorama bodied Bedford VAM had been new to Bill Pickup of Norden in February 1967 another operator that regularly worked on hire to Yelloway. Looks like a Plaxton bodied Bedford VAL in the background operated by Church Inn Garage (Davies and Mawson) of Little Hulton.

Monday 23 December 1974 – The immaculate coaches owned by W & B Pickup of Norden, near Rochdale were regularly seen working for Yelloway although this picture was not taken when on Yelloway work. Bill and Beryl Pickup secured separate contracts to run shuttle services from The Esplanade in Rochdale to the Tesco store at Sudden and to the Asda store at Castleton. NDK 67G was a very powerful sounding Leyland Leopard with Duple Commander bodywork, which I understand was diverted from an order placed by Lathkill Coaches of Monyash, Derbyshire.

Monday 23 December 1974 – The immaculate coaches owned by W & B Pickup of Norden, near Rochdale were regularly seen working for Yelloway although this picture was not taken when on Yelloway work. Bill and Beryl Pickup secured separate contracts to run shuttle services from The Esplanade in Rochdale to the Tesco store at Sudden and to the Asda store at Castleton. NDK 67G was a very powerful sounding Leyland Leopard with Duple Commander bodywork which I understand was diverted from an order placed by Lathkill Coaches of Monyash, Derbyshire.

September 1975 - 23 Dec 1974 – The immaculate coaches owned by W & B Pickup of Norden, near Rochdale were regularly seen working for Yelloway although this picture was not taken when on Yelloway work. CDK 177L, a Duple Dominant bodied Bedford, is seen on the Esplanade in Rochdale. The Pickup’s (like Abbott’s of Blackpool) always chose registration numbers ending in the lucky ‘7’. The observant may realise that the registration number of this coach followed on from the batch of coaches delivered to Yelloway as CDK 171-176L.

Monday 23 Dec 1974 – W and B Pickup of Norden, Rochdale SDK 927J, a Duple Viceroy bodied Bedford YRQ, seen on The Esplanade in Rochdale working on the Asda shuttle contract. For a number of years the Pickup’s ran shoppers shuttle contracts on behalf of Tesco (to the store at Sudden) and Asda (at Castleton). In the 1970s their business expanded into the carriage of garments for the clothing and retail trade under the name of ‘Top Gear Transport’ – a clever play on the ‘gear’ for both clothing and transport created long before the BBC used the name! – and also a travel agency named ‘Top Gear Worldwide Travel’. Their coaches, always very well turned out, also became branded with the name.

June 1975 – The immaculate coaches owned by W & B Pickup of Norden, near Rochdale were regularly seen working for Yelloway although this picture was not taken when on Yelloway work. HVM 357N, a Duple Dominant bodied Bedford, is seen on the Esplanade in Rochdale. The Pickup’s (like Abbott’s of Blackpool) always chose registration numbers ending in the lucky ‘7.

Thursday 1 August 1985 – Top Gear World Wide Travel was owned by Bill and Beryl Pickup based in Norden, Rochdale. A717 GJA was a Leyland Royal Tiger Doyen that was new in August 1983 which was seen here at the garage property in Forsyth Street, Norden. This was the first of three Doyens the Pickup’s operated along with B287 KRM arriving in July 1985 and E317 OMG in March 1988. The Pickup’s started their business operating minibuses both Bill and Beryl driving the vehicles and in due course the business grew to include full sized coaches. It later expanded to include a travel agency and also a fleet of trucks with demountable bodies to carry hanging garments for the clothing trade. For the latter a creative name was chosen which embraced the transport and clothing aspects, Top Gear Transport. The name Top Gear was also applied to the coach and travel agency side of the business. The Pickup’s always had well turned out clean, tidy coaches which operated on private hires and contract work. It was actually on one of the latter contracts transporting employees for one of the department stores in Oldham I believe that Bill hit on the idea of the expanding into the hanging garment business. I knew Bill from my time at Yelloway for his coaches were without doubt always at the top of the list for hires to cover duplicates and excursions during the busy times. In my later career he provided the coaches for an office contract on which I travelled. In fact I was very fortunate that quite often whilst I was walking from home to the town centre pickup point (one cannot avoid a pun like that!) he would often pick me up which was very helpful particularly on rainy Rochdale mornings. The old established family name of Pickup is widespread in Lancashire. During the 1960s/1970s vehicle purchases were mainly Bedfords, although a few Fords and a solitary Leyland Leopard were included, always brand new and always bearing the lucky number ‘7’ as the final digit in the registration number. Heavyweight Leylands were favoured in the 1980s.

Thursday 1 August 1985 – Top Gear World Wide Travel was owned by Bill and Beryl Pickup based in Norden, Rochdale. A717 GJA was a Leyland Royal Tiger Doyen that was new in August 1983 which was seen here at the garage property in Forsyth Street, Norden. This was the first of three Doyens the Pickup’s operated along with B287 KRM arriving in July 1985 and E317 OMG in March 1988. The family name Pickup is an old established name quite common in Lancashire and is used to good effect on the rear panel of this coach! The Pickup’s started their business operating minibuses both Bill and Beryl driving the vehicles and in due course the business grew to include full sized coaches. It later expanded to include a travel agency and also a fleet of trucks with demountable bodies to carry hanging garments for the clothing trade. For the latter a creative name was chosen which embraced the transport and clothing aspects, Top Gear Transport. The name Top Gear was also applied to the coach and travel agency side of the business. The Pickup’s always had well turned out clean, tidy coaches which operated on private hires and contract work. It was actually on one of the latter contracts transporting employees for one of the department stores in Oldham I believe that Bill hit on the idea of the expanding into the hanging garment business. I knew Bill from my time at Yelloway for his coaches were without doubt always at the top of the list for hires to cover duplicates and excursions during the busy times. In my later career he provided the coaches for an office contract on which I travelled. In fact I was very fortunate that quite often whilst I was walking from home to the town centre pickup point (one cannot avoid a pun like that!) he would often pick me up which was very helpful particularly on rainy Rochdale mornings. During the 1960s/1970s vehicle purchases were mainly Bedfords, although a few Fords and a solitary Leyland Leopard were included, always brand new and always bearing the lucky number ‘7’ as the final digit in the registration number. Heavyweight Leylands were favoured in the 1980s.

Thursday 1 August 1985 – Top Gear World Wide Travel was owned by Bill and Beryl Pickup based in Norden, Rochdale. Two of their very tidy fleet are seen here at the garage property in Forsyth Street, Norden. UUR 347W is a Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Tiger new in May 1981 and A747 MNE is a Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tiger new in March 1984. During the 1960s/1970s vehicle purchases were mainly Bedfords, although a few Fords and a solitary Leyland Leopard were included, always brand new and always bearing the lucky number ‘7’ as the final digit in the registration number. Heavyweight Leylands were favoured in the 1980s. Bill and Beryl started the business operating minibuses with full sized coaches becoming favoured. The business later grew to include a travel agency and also a fleet of trucks with demountable box van bodies to carry hanging garments for the retail clothing trade. For the latter a creative name was chosen which embraced the transport and clothing aspects, Top Gear Transport. The name Top Gear was also applied to the coach and travel agency side of the business. The Pickup’s always had well turned out clean, tidy coaches which operated on private hires and contract work. It was I believe on one of the latter contracts transporting employees for one of the department stores in Oldham that Bill saw an opportunity to expand into the hanging garment business. I knew Bill at my time with Yelloway for his coaches were without doubt always at the top of the list for hires to cover duplicates and excursions during busy times. In my later career he provided the coaches for an office contract on which I travelled. In fact I was very fortunate that whilst I was walking from home to the town centre pickup point (one cannot avoid a pun like that!) he would often pick me up which was very helpful particularly on rainy Rochdale mornings. The old established family name of Pickup is widespread in Lancashire.

Thursday 1 August 1985 – Top Gear World Wide Travel was owned by Bill and Beryl Pickup based in Norden, Rochdale. Two of their very tidy fleet are seen here at the garage property in Forsyth Street, Norden. UUR 347W is a Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Tiger new in May 1981 and A747 MNE is a Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tiger new in March 1984. During the 1960s/1970s vehicle purchases were mainly Bedfords, although a few Fords and a solitary Leyland Leopard were included, always brand new and always bearing the lucky number ‘7’ as the final digit in the registration number. Heavyweight Leylands were favoured in the 1980s. Bill and Beryl started the business operating minibuses with full sized coaches becoming favoured. The business later grew to include a travel agency and also a fleet of trucks with demountable box van bodies to carry hanging garments for the retail clothing trade. For the latter a creative name was chosen which embraced the transport and clothing aspects, Top Gear Transport. The name Top Gear was also applied to the coach and travel agency side of the business. The Pickup’s always had well turned out clean, tidy coaches which operated on private hires and contract work. It was I believe on one of the latter contracts transporting employees for one of the department stores in Oldham that Bill saw an opportunity to expand into the hanging garment business. I knew Bill at my time with Yelloway for his coaches were without doubt always at the top of the list for hires to cover duplicates and excursions during busy times. In my later career he provided the coaches for an office contract on which I travelled. In fact I was very fortunate that whilst I was walking from home to the town centre pickup point (one cannot avoid a pun like that!) he would often pick me up which was very helpful particularly on rainy Rochdale mornings. The old established family name of Pickup is widespread in Lancashire.