Subject: SELNEC Central 3257
Location: Bell Street, Oldham
Date: 14-Feb-1970

This was just an attempt to photograph an unusual service diversion and I had not expected such a vintage bus to appear. 3257 was one of the only batch of buses still in service at the formation of SELNEC which were to the distinctive postwar Manchester design and by this time they were very rarely seen in Oldham.

The reason for the diversion I no longer recall, but presume it was a closure of the railway bridge on Shaw Road. It entailed the buses to Shaw on the 3 and 59 going up Bell Street and along Egerton Street. It’s the only occasion I’m aware of that Bell Street was used by a normal bus service.

The traffic light is a reminder that this road wasn’t always one way, but the sign in the left foreground would appear to be a one-way sign for vehicles pulling out from the premises on the right. This would explain why no aspect of the traffic light is illuminated.

In the background an Oldham Atlantean passes and behind that can be seen the incomplete by-pass, covered in snow.