Southdown at Amberley
Southdown Motor
Services was formed on the 2nd June 1915 by the merging of three
companies. One of the companies,
‘Worthing Motor Services’ was using a pleasing apple green and cream livery and
it was this livery that was chosen for the new company. Over the years the company has been a firm
favourite with bus enthusiasts, although the original company has now passed
into history we are blessed with a good number of preserved Southdown vehicles
that we can all enjoy. The excellent
Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre in West Sussex is home to a superb
collection of former Southdown vehicles, many dating back to the 1920s and
1930s. On the 12th April, in
Southdown’s one-hundredth year, 2015, the museum put on a special event to mark
the anniversary. They ran most of their
historic collection of Southdown vehicles along with a number of visiting
Southdown buses and coaches, which added to the historic scene.
The independent
transport videos cameras were at Amberley to record the event. Set in a
disused chalk pit, the museum has developed over the years to create a bygone
era, with buildings, long lost crafts, a small railway, a fire station, a
country garage and of course a Southdown bus garage from the 1930s. All this gives a lovely backdrop to our film
as we see the buses running in service just as they would have done in days
gone by. Apart from the many locations chosen
for our film at the museum we take some rides on the buses to get even more
atmosphere and to see how much bus design has moved on over the years.
Rides were taken on
873 (UF 6473) a 1930 Leyland TD1 with a Leyland 48 seat body, 1205 (UF 6805) a
1930 Tilling-Stevens single decker with a Short Bros. body seating 31, 928 (UF
7428) a Short Bros. bodied Leyland Titan TD1 dating from 1931 and 347 (HCD
347E) a 1967 Leyland PD3/4 with a Northern Counties full fronted 69 seat body
built in 1967. The oldest bus in service
on the day was IB 552 a Tilling-Stevens Petrol/Electric TS3 with a Newman body
dating back to 1914. This bus was one
taken over from Worthing Motor Services at the formation of Southdown in 1915.
Our penultimate ride of the day was on board 24 (ECD 524) a 1937 Leyland Cub
with Park Royal B20F bodywork beautifully restored at Amberley. Our final ride was on a 1929 Leyland Titan
TD1 with a Leyland low height body that was built originally as a trolleybus,
but was transferred to its current chassis, which still has a petrol engine
from 1931. The bus ran with Jersey Motor
Transport and when it was withdrawn from service in 1960, had the distinction
of being the last petrol engined bus to run in service in the British Isles. We
hope you enjoy your journey back into the past with our celebration of one
hundred years of Southdown Motor Services.