Subject: Manchester C.T. 1308 (GNA 456)
Chassis: Daimler COG5
Body: English Electric H28/26R
Location: Preston, Abingdon Drive
Date: 1940

Manchester opted for English Electric bodies for 75 of the 116 Daimler COG5 chassis they had ordered. However, the Luftwaffe were to intervene and bombing of the Coventry factory saw 43 chassis not delivered, 33 of which were due to have English Electric bodies. These bodies were built (see the photo here) and some were used to repair buses badly damaged by bombing, but many were released and used by Birmingham Corporation.

1308 was chosen for the English Electric photographs but was by no means the first of the batch, which was 1287.

The Daimler COG5 proved a good choice, almost all gave at least sixteen years' service, although notably those with Crossley bodies on Metro-Cammell frames lasted longer, in one case for twenty-two years.

Photograph from the GEC archive