buseshistory

Two major changes occurred with the amalgamation of Blackburn and Darwen Transport operations, firstly was the influx of vehicles from the Darwen Corporation fleet, which were all re-numbered - see Ex-Darwen Fleet for full details - Many of the Darwen vehicles were transferred to Intack depot and operated out of there.

The second change was the introduction of a new livery. Bodies were painted white with red roof and dark green skirting, they soon attracted the nickname of 'Italian Flag'. The new Borough of Blackburn coat of arms was also placed on the vehicles. The coat of arms was a silhouette of a dove, with the title BLACKBURN underneath. The first buses to receive this livery, as new, were the twelve East Lancs bodies Leyland 'Atlantean' AN68 vehicles, No.'s 93-104, that arrived between February and May 1975. No.'s 93-99 were allocated to Intack depot and 100-104 were allocated to Darwen depot, with the specific purpose of operating the 'main road' route of Darwen - Blackburn.

Through-out the remaining years of the 1970's and early 1980's further batches of Leyland 'Atlantean' vehicles continued to arrive on a regular basis, allowing the withdrawal of older rear entrance buses.

In 1976, twelve further East Lancs bodies Leyland 'Altlantean' AN68 vehicles arrived No.'s 105-116, all being placed into service as they arrived from East Lancs Coachbuilders between mid-June and early August.

In 1977 it was decided that a series of re-numberings should take place. This involved all the single-deck vehicles, including Ex-Darwen, being grouped together. The Blackburn Leyland Tiger Cubs No.'s 11-18 were re-numbered 141-148, Ex-Darwen Tiger Cub No.10 became No.140 and the Blackburn Seddon Pennine RU No.'s 67-72 and Leyland Tiger Cubs No.'s 55-66 vehicles had 100 added to become 155-172. Ex-Darwen Bristol RESL's became No.'s 173-179. The batch of 'Atlantean' PDR1's No.'s 45-54 were also re-numbered. (See PDR1 Fleet List page for details)

Also in 1977, to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the Queen, two Leyland Atlanteans No,'s 52 and 77 were, temporarily, re-numbered 1952 and 1977 and re-painted with blue instead of green on the lower panel along with a Royal emblem and appropriate title.

Of the two remaining Guy Arab 'Joburgs' left in operation at this time, No.167, was re-numbed 16 for the last few months of it's life and No. 168 was converted to a service vehicle and re-numbered 506.

Further new buses arrived in 1978, when eight East Lancs bodied Leyland Atlanteans, No.'s 117-124, were placed into service, No. 123 was allocated to Darwen depot.

In early 1978 Blackburn Transport were ordered to take a number of buses off the road, after failing a Transport Authorities Inspection. To help solve the immediate problem of too few buses on the road, Blackburn Transport came to an agreement with Leicester Corporation who loaned eight buses to Blackburn. The vehicles arrived on 20th May and were allocated temporary Blackburn Fleet no.'s of 201-208, at that time the highest fleet number used by Blackburn. All the vehicles were Leyland PD3, 201-203 having Park Royal bodies and 204-208 having East Lancs bodies. It was soon determined that vehicle 208 had engine trouble and was sent back on 2nd June, to be replaced by East Lancs/PD3 numbered 209 on the same day. These vehicles operated until June 16th, before returning to Leicester on 17th June.

Although most of the vehicles that had been taken off the road were now back in service, the inspection had highlighted a problem and further vehicles needed major maintenance work carrying out, and so the alleviate the situation five Bristol RESL6L single deck buses were purchased from Leicester Corporation. The vehicles were given the fleet numbers 150-154 and were allocated to Darwen depot, which allowed some of the Darwen depot Leyland Atlanteans to be used out of Intack depot on major routes.

Between December 1978 and February 1979 the Seddon Pennine single deck vehicles No.'s 67-72 (167-172 in the 1977 re-numbering programme) were taken out of service and disposed.

With the problems of 1978 behind them the department took the opportunity to order new vehicles. Leyland Atlanteans No.'s 125-130 arrived in mid 1979, again with East Lancs bodies, but with 74-seat bodies, they were the first vehicles to have the two-piece folding doors. In addition this batch received the new revised livery where-by the green covered the whole of the paneling below the lower deck windows.

This new livery was adopted as standard on all re-paints and a new style for the coat of arms was also introduced where-by the title BLACKBURN TRANSPORT was placed to the side of the coat of arms.

The first Dennis chassis buses were also ordered in 1979. These two vehicles, No.'s 131 and 132 were Dominator DD110 vehicles. The East Lancs bodies of these buses made them, outwardly at least, almost identical to the current 'Atlantean' vehicle style.

1979 saw the 50th anniversary of bus operations in Blackburn and to celebrate the fact Leyland Atlantean No. 129 was painted in original 1929 livery, along with lining out and commemorative logos, the vehicle entering service in this condition. A special one-day exhibition was held on Saturday 3rd November outside the Town Hall, between 10am and 4pm, the exact same spot where the first buses had been inspected 50 years previous. Special souvenir publications were issued which included Commemorative Timetables (15p); - 1979 Fleetlist (10p); - First Day Cover envelopes (25p) and sample tickets (10p). In addition buses past and present were parked outside the Town Hall. Vehicles taking part were Guy Arab 131 (in preservation at this point in time), Guy Arab 156, Leyland PD2 40, Leyland Atlantean 90, Dennis Dominator 132 and, naturally, Atlantean 129.

Leyland PD2 No. 24 was taken out of service in 1979 and converted to a service vehicle and re-numbered 504. In late July 1979 Guy Arab No. 152 was withdrawn from service. This was the last 7ft 6inch wide bodied vehicle to be withdrawn.

Administration AND Depots 1980:

	ADMINISTRATION
	15/17 Railway Road, Blackburn BB1 5AZ Telephone 51112

	ENGINEERING
	NORTH GARAGE
	Accrington Road, Intack, Blackburn BB1 2AL Telephone 51112

	SOUTH GARAGE
	Blackburn Road, Darwen BB3 1QJ Telephone 72765

A return to 'Atlantean' vehicles was made for the 1980 and 1981 deliveries. No.'s 133-142 in 1980 and No.'s 143-147 in 1981. No.'s 143-147 were the first to be constructed with the modified East Lancs body styling with the flat end to the roof instead of the curled lip. All vehicles in this section had the 'high' driving position and the GMTPE style instrument panel.

A new fare scheme was introduced at Easter 1981. The exact-fare scheme was promoted as 'Easi-Fare' and over the Easter weekend all vehicles were fitted with Exact Fare ticket machines.

Five further Dennis Dominators arrived in 1981, and it was decided to start the numbering process afresh, so these buses received No.'s 1-5.

To promote the new Exact-Fare scheme, Dennis Dominator No. 4 was painted in an all over 'Easi Fare' livery. This vehicle, along with Dennis Dominator No.4 which entered service in a special Century of Passenger Transport livery designed to replicate the original Darwen tram livery of crimson lake and vermilion and cream. No. 4 was the first all-over advert livery carried on a Blackburn bus, but was not the last. Many of the AN68 vehicles received all-over advert liveries in the next few years, a trend which continues today with, in the main, midi buses.

The first withdrawal of an Leyland Atlantean PDR1s took place in August 1981 when No. 53 (renumbered 63 in 1977) was taken out of service.

All subsequent deliveries though were to be 'Atlantean' vehicles, and in 1981 No.'s 6-15 and 16 & 17 arrived in two separate batches. In 1982 a further four vehicles were added to the fleet, these being No.'s 19-22.

1982 also saw the closure of Darwen depot, all vehicles being transferred to Intack, and five further Leyland Atlantean PDR1s were withdrawn from service, these being No.'s 45-47 and 50 & 51.

Also in 1982 a new building complex was built at Intack. The new building consisted of a purpose built maintenance depot and office block.

In 1983 a new livery was adopted, a return to olive green and ivory in the style of the 1929 vehicles, though with the more up to date lighter green was applied to Leyland Atlantean No. 93 in January. In addition to the new livery the traditional Blackburn coat of arms was aslo re-introduced. All repaints were now applied with this livery, as was a further batch of seven East Lancs Leyland Atlanteans No.'s 23-29, delivered in July 1983. These were the only buses to receive this livery from new.

With the arrival of No.'s 23-29 the remaining Leyland Atlantean PDR1s of 1968 vintage, No.'s 48, 49, 52 and 54, were taken out of service along with No.'s 77 and 79 from the 1971 batch.

During 1984 all AN68 vehicles had their front panels altered to incorporate a bumper. Four further PDR1 vehicles, No.'s 73, 74, 76 and 78 were taken out of service leaving No. 80 as the sole surviving PDR1.

In 1985 seven Leyland Atlantean AN68s were withdrawn from service, these being No.'s 81-85, 87 and 89 along with the last PDR1 No. 80.

1986 saw major changes to bus operations in Britain with the Government bringing de-regulation of bus services and operation, supposedly to create more competition, in other words the privatisation of municipally operated bus services. In Blackburn plans were put into operation to form a separate company which was to be wholly owned by Blackburn Borough Council. The new company was to be known as Blackburn Borough Transport Limited (though it operated as 'Blackburn Transport'). De-regulation came into effect in October and yet another new era in Blackburn transport began.

It had been decided that a new livery would be adopted for the new company and several buses were re-painted prior to the company beginning operations. This new livery was first applied to Leyland Atlantean No. 141 in August 1986 and was two-tone green lower half and cream upper half.