Created 8-Jan-22
Modified 8-Mar-24
In chassis number order the first BUT 9611T chassis went in turn to St. Helens (eight), Bradford (twelve as 740-751) then Darlington (six). Eventually all twenty-six of these ended up in Bradford although the first of the Darlington ones was only used for spares.
St. Helens had bought their eight at the same time as they bought eight Sunbeam F4s. They carried identical East Lancs bodies except that the Sunbeams were H29/26R (and built at Bridlington) and the BUTs were H30/26R. The BUTs were numbered 182-189 (BDJ 82-89) when new but were renumbered 382-389 in June 1955. Both these batches were withdrawn following the abandonment of the trolleybus system in St. Helens after operation on 30th June 1958. The Sunbeams were sold to South Shields but Bradford took the BUTs which had English Electric equipment.
They were in quite poor condition when they arrived in Bradford and the chassis were overhauled at Thornbury works before they were dispatched to Roe's at Cross Gates for body refurbishment. Quite a lot of rebuilding proved to be necessary but the most obvious changes were the removal of the ventilators in the upper deck front windows and conversion of the destination display to the standard Bradford layout. The seating was also increased to H35/28R.
The batch entered service over a period from March to July 1959. Two that entered service in May (797 and 799) sported an experimental livery with blue lower-deck window surrounds instead of the normal primrose, also tried on ex-Brighton 802, but this livery was not perpetuated and eventually they reverted to standard fleet livery.
797 was the first withdrawal, as early as 1965 with half of the batch being withdrawn before 1968 was out. In addition some were withdrawn and stored before re-entering service. An unusual occurrence in 1969 saw 799 being towed to St. Helens to take part in the St. Helens Transport Jubilee Rally. It returned afterwards and continued in service, becoming one of the final two of the batch in service when withdrawn at the end of June 1971, the same time as the closure of the Saltaire and Greengates services. 799 went on to be preserved and is restored, as far as practicable, to original St. Helens condition.
© David Beilby
