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Title:	Conversion of ex WD AEC Matadors
Category:	Central Fleet Owned Vehicles
Posted by:	Thomas Young
On:	01/12/2013 16:55
Text:	Three queries in one here. 8 ex War Department AEC Matadors were bought by LT in late 1947/early 1948. They eventually entered service as Master Breakdown Tenders. 1. Six of the vehicles were stored for a while (not concurrently) at ''Slough''. I have entered this as the (later) LCBS garage, but it has been pointed out that this did not open until the 1980s. LT had three garages in Slough. Alpha Street closed in 1933, Bath Road in 1936 and Langley Road in 1937. So where were the Matadors? 2. Most of the Matadors went to Metro Coach Building at Hayes for conversion, usually after a spell at Slough. Indeed 749P was recording as visiting Metro three times. However, 750P and 754P seem to have entered service directly from Chiswick, without going to Metro. 3. Why did these conversions take so long? 747P entered service in 1948 but the rest took until 1949. In particular, 753P only went to Metro in May 1949, over a year after acquisition.

1 reply, shown below.

Posted by 1260F at 08:55 on 03/12/2013
I have copies of the Chiswick record cards for the 8 Matadors, which give some further information. The card for 751P shows specifically Langley Rd. Slough. 749P's card gives the full details of the coachbuilder as Metro Automobile Co. Ltd. Uxbridge Rd, Hayes, Middlesex. Also there is no card entry for 750 or 754P going to Metro, although surely they must have been built there and somehow the information did not get recorded. The records show 748/49/53P were sold to British Road Services, 222 Marylebone Rd. NW1., whereas 754P is shown as sold to Western Region (B.R.S.) Slough.