Although it might have appeared that little was going on in the gallery for some time, in fact a major update has been in progress on the Pontypridd gallery.  Whilst things like this are never complete, there are no further planned updates to this gallery although if suitable new material becomes available it will be added.

This new update comprises approximately 450 new images covering all aspects of Pontypridd UDC and Taff-Ely BC operation.  The trolleybus fleet is now included and the coverage of the route network has been improved, both in geographical coverage and in outlining the evolution of the network.

I should like to thank again the many photographers who have supported the gallery with some truly excellent images, it has been a delight to work with much of the material made available.

After many months of working on this I have lost the ability to read through the captions critically and so there are bound to be errors and omissions.  Please feel free to point them out as I want the gallery to be as accurate as possible.

Work will now proceed on updating several other galleries and moving on to other aspects of bus operation in South Wales, with the emphasis being on operation in the Valleys.  The next new gallery will be on Rhondda Transport but I'm not making any promises when!

9394Subject: Pontypridd UDC 12 (TG 1954)
Chassis: Bristol B
Body: Eastwood and Kenning B32R
Location: Pontypridd, Taff Street
Date: c.1948

Bristol B 12 is poised to operate Pontypridd’s hilliest route to Penycoedcae. It is carrying the pre-war lined-out livery, probably a legacy of its rather inactive war period. It was converted to producer gas in August 1940 and reduced to B29R. It was then laid up from December 1941 to February 1947. It was withdrawn in 1949, not long after this photograph.

The billboards behind display a range of once-famous names including Claude Rains, Betty Grable and David Niven. “Bonnie Prince Charlie” was in Technicolour but that seems to be its one redeeming feature. “Mother Wore Tights” was better-received, winning an Oscar for the score and being nominated for two others.

From an original negative in the David Beilby collection, photographer unknown.