The BD class comprised two dozen or so small Bedfords, taken over by the LPTB from a variety
of operators. Most had twenty-seater bus bodies, although some were better-appointed as coaches.
The chassis was the WLB for the main class, although some smaller chassis were taken into stock initially.
They wore a wonderful variety of bodies by a thorough mix of body-builders - Strachan, Duple, Reall, Thurgood and others.
Most sported one-line destination indicators built into the roof front,
but Chiswick set about lumping its massive standard boxes onto them at overhaul.
Nearly all of them were allocated to the Country Area, and were used on small-bus routes
at garages like St.Albans, Dunton Green and Epping.
One, with coach seating, (later BD23), was allocated to the Private Hire department at Brixton.
Another was converted to a 2-ton truck.
The surviving buses were numbered BD1-BD23 when Chiswick took over Country Area records and overhauls in 1935.
Four (BD2,4,6,11) were converted to stores vans in December 1935, and allocated to garages
(Northfleet, Windsor, Hertford and Windsor). The Hertford van was altered to allow it to tow producer gas trailers in July 1943.
The four vans survived the war, but were then sold on.
Some of the remaining buses were made redundant in 1938,
and the onset of the Second War in September 1939 saw most of the others withdrawn
(as small petrol-engined buses).
Apart from the vans, they were sold by February 1940.
Ian's Bus Stop
CH
BD main text.
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