Wow - I didn't expect much, if any, reaction to this group of photos!
I caught Campbell's (and Bridgland's) buses to and from North Plympton to Marion to and from school between 1962 and 1966, so I got to know both companies' buses pretty well - they shared operation of the Seacombe Gardens, Dover Gardens, Paringa Park and Warradale routes until October 1965, when they were restructured.
Before then, you had a Bridgland's bus one day, a Campbell's the next and so on.
Campbell's still had quite a number of CAC Bedfords in 1962 - all petrol, expect No 7, which had a diesel engine. (I was rather wet behind the ears then, and wondered why No 7 was so much noisier - I had the idea that the engine was about to explode! The petrol engines when idling were just as quiet as the MTT trolleybuses!)
Yes, as systemimprover says, they also had two Commers (Freighter), and, I think. four of the early 1960 Freighter bodied Reliances - these last were my favourites.
Yes - the two Commers were sold off quite early, one going to Bridgland's as their No 15 - don't know what happened to the other.
I always remember my first sighting of the first 'lantern-front" Reliance, No 9. It was late 1962 - I got on my bus on Marion Road, a little before Mooringe Ave. As we headed down Marion Road, I caught a glimpse of something totally unexpected just coming across Anzac Highway - from a distance, it looked as though the whole front was made of glass! (not all that far from the truth, actually! This was the era of early space exploration, Sputniks, satellites, whatever! So nothing was really a surprise - this had clearly been designed by NASA! I couldn't wait to get a ride on it, and I was soon able to - in the same week, I think.
The interior didn't match up to the promise of the exterior - basically not much different to the older Reliances.
Soon further of these space machines appeared, replacing, not so much the Bedfords, but the earlier Reliances (Campbell's purchases and disposals didn't always make a lot of sense!)
Then in 1965, something again quite different - a Hino demonstrator, with two doors, and fully automatic transmission, appeared! (No
Most of the Bedfords, and all the earlier Reliances had gone by this time, but one Bedford still remained - No 13 - this had high back seats, and was painted a little differently with more green on the front, and tinted windows! It seemed to be mostly used on charter work, and was not often out on route service. When it was, it was usually driven by the manager.
One afternoon, late in 1965, I was on my way home, when we passed No 13 heading towards Seacombe Gardens on a service run . A little further along, we passed the next bus heading south, and our driver called out to that driver "Why is No 13 out?" The reply was "They've got the automatic in pieces on the workshop floor!"
It didn't remain an automatic for long - a standard manual box was fitted, and at the same time, the centre door was removed.
Further Hinos followed right up to the time of the MTT takeover in 1974, including two full coaches.
By this time, all the Bedfords had gone, and even the first lantern-front Reliance, No 9, had been disposed of.
There was a bus numbered 7309 in the fleet in MTT days, but this was not the original Campbell Reliance - the MTT sent Morphett's solitary Reliance to Campbells - it had a similar body, and renumbered it to fill the gap. Ironically, it rarely, if ever, operated from Campbell's depot. I recall it spending some time at Ex-Servicemen's, and possible also at Choats.
And, Burrumbus, yes - Campbell's always kept their fleet immaculate- I cannot recall ever seeing a bus dirty, or in any way below par.
Bridgland's had a much more varied fleet, including the ex MTT Daimler Freeline (No 166), which was Bridgland's Number 5 - we usually had that on the morning run to school on Bridgland's days.
And Denv12, I can't recall just when the Campbells Reliances were sold by the MTT - they certainly weren't in the early withdrawals in 1977 when Volvo B59s arrived in quantity.
A number of ex-private buses were kept even after all the B59s had been delivered, to operate hills, and outer south and north services until the B58s arrived. I seem to remember that the Campbell Reliances were amongst this group, and possibly operated the route 700(?) service along States Road in Morphett Vale, at one stage, and possibly on other such routes.
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When I get time, I'll have a hunt back through the old Fleetline magazines of the era - they kept pretty up-to-date with that sort of 'gen' (Neil Mackintosh was one of the enthusaists who provided this information.)
The Henstridge Reliances, also referred to, I think also continued in MTT use for some time. In 1976, preparatory to the impending opening of Morphettville depot in early 1977, the MTT began painting a number of ex-private buses into MTT silver, to avoid confusion if they were required to operate on routes other than their own, once Morphettville opened.
Henstridge routes were slated to become the first to be operated by the Volvo B59s, so Henstridge buses were almost all painted silver in 1976 - in the case of the Reliances, instead of being painted, they actually had all the paint removed! As they had a lot of bare aluminium to start with, it was simpler to remove the green with paint stripper, and leave them as all-over aluminium! They used to do this in their depot yard in between peak hour runs - it wasn't unusual to see a bus running with green on one side, and bare aluminium on the other! It was wild times in those days!
I'll see if I can find out where the Henstridge Reliances went to as well!
Cheers,
trevor