| Nine of London Transport's Ford Thames Trader lorries were fitted out as towing vehicles, to rescue broken down buses. The first three were bought in 1962 and replaced pre-war AEC Regal conversions. Two more followed in 1963, then a final 4 in 1965, these mainly replacing AEC Regent conversions from the 1950s. The Traders remained in use until 1977, when they were supplanted by Ford D-series lorries that were noticeably shorter due to a change in the regulations regarding towed train lengths. 1239F, from the first trio of Traders, would have been one of the busiest, since it was based at the very central Victoria Garage. As such it was probably called on to attend breakdowns of any bus in the area, since the home garage would likely be rather distant. Towing vehicles still carried trade plates at this time and 1239F was assigned 975GH from new (this plate transferring from Regal 444W), then 973GH and finally 635LA. Withdrawn in July 1976 it was stored at Chiswick Works until sold in January 1977. This undated photo was taken at Chiswick during this time. Parked near to 1239F are one of the AEC Matador breakdown tenders and what looks like an AEC Mercury in grey. Note the 7 suffix to the fleetnumber on 1239F, this denoting the vehicle's 7-ton carrying capacity, even though it was largely irrelevant in this role. |
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Photo ID: |
6816 |
| Photo date: |
c.1976 |
Size: |
Regular |
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| Date added: |
12/07/2021 |
