< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright Philip Hambling Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details 2391L NYR391Y Location Link/s Bexleyheath Garage Date added to site 30/10/2020 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: Leyland Freighter bus recovery truck 2391L was caught leaving Bexleyheath Garage in January 1988. The garage here (a former trolleybus depot) had been closed in August 1986 following route tendering losses, but it was reopened in January 1988 (at the expense of Sidcup Garage) to be the home of the new 'Bexleybus' low-cost operating unit. 2391L was the second Freighter recovery truck for London Transport, being delivered in February 1983. Apart from an initial period at Cricklewood, it was based at Camberwell Garage and carried the Selkent District 'hops' logo in front of the larger roundel. It was the first of the type to be withdrawn, going in late-1990/early-1991, and it appears to have not had its twin-booms replaced with more modern lifting gear, as occurred with some of the other Freighters. There are (as usual) a couple of interesting aspects to this photograph. The first is that the truck is carrying its allocated registration of NYR391Y rather than trade plates. I had understood that until 1990 tow trucks were allowed to operate on trade plates. Perhaps the date of the change in legislation was in fact earlier. The second point concerns the buses visible parked in the garage's back yard. Bexleybus started with a mixed fleet of new, reinstated and third-hand buses, the latter being former DMS class buses bought back after working for Clydeside Scottish for a few years. All of the buses were repainted in a distinctive blue and cream livery, as seen on the Leyland National single-decker visible in the background. However, beyond that are a pair of double-deckers with red tops and white around the upper deck windows. I presumed these were some of the DMSs that had been reinstated from sales stock, though I can't confirm whether any of these were still in the so-called 'white-top' livery. However, a small part of each bus can be seen through the windows of the single-decker, and these also appear to be white. Unless I am mistaken, the Clydeside Scottish livery was yellow and red, so I cannot really explain this. Any suggestions...?

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Thomas Young	Phil has advised that the two buses visible at the back were DMS2100 and DMS2158, which were transferred to provide a source of spares for the other DMSs returned to service. These two buses were in LT red livery with white upper-deck window surrounds.	Fri 29/01/2021, 11:24