Vintage Daimler to East Beach - Southend 244

Hi there - welcome to my new series of classic videos from the years from 1990 to 2007 :)
(Don't forget - this was filmed 20+ years ago on equipment of the time)

In this video, enjoy the vintage pre-select Daimler sounds during an hour long ride aboard Southend Corporation Transport 1945 Daimler CWA6 / Duple 244 (FOP 429). These buses ran SCT's seafront services 67/68 between 1956 and 1970, replaced in 1971 by Leyland Titan PD3/6s 311-4 (PHJ 950-3).

This was the first time the only survivor of the 5 SCT Daimlers ran over service 68 to Shoeburyness, East Beach for 20 years!

We leave Canvey Island, the video starting with a fuel stop, to then tackle the testing gradient of Essex Way, with an emergency first gear change on the hill, after a change to 2nd from 3rd did not go as it should (244 sometimes goes into neutral instead of the gear you've pre-selected), followed by a lengthy crawl in musical 2nd gear.

We then head past Hadleigh Thamesway depot and into Sutherland Boulevard, after which we run the full route (some short sections edited out for length) 68 to East Beach and then back as far as Thorpe Bay.

See Southend seafront as it used to be before the 'Shared Space' and 'City Beach' too.

With grateful thanks to Gordon Claydon, who returned 244 to running condition and drove the bus on this trip.


244 has been inactive for some years now and has had its upper deck bodywork partly dismantled, but it's still based at Canvey Island Transport Museum.


The Daimler open-toppers were:
242 (FOP 462) - 1945 CWA6 / Park Royal, new as Birmingham CT 1462
244 (FOP 429) - 1945 CWA6 / Duple, new as Birmingham CT 1429
245 (FOP 452) - 1944 CWA6 / Duple, new as Birmingham CT 1452
246 (JVW 561) - 1944 CWA6 / Duple, new to Benfleet & District
247 (FOP 340) - 1943 CWG5 (A6) / Park Royal (rebody ex-FOP 416), new as Birmingham CT 1340
All these were acquired from Benfleet & Canvey by Westcliff-on-Sea Motor Services, then passing to Eastern National before acquisition by Southend Corporation Transport in 1955 and open-top conversion in 1956.

Enjoy!

Ref: Dig8-70