Eastern Coach WorksCompanies House extract company no 318856
318856 Limited formerly Eastern Coach Works Limited was a bus and train bodybuilder based in

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

, England.

History

The origins of Eastern Coach Works (ECW) can be traced back to 1912, when

United Automobile Services United Automobile Services was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It provided bus services across a wide geographical area, stret ...

was founded in

to run bus services. United began a coach building business at the Lowestoft site in 1920. In 1931, the East Anglian operations of United were hived off into a new company, Eastern Counties Omnibus Company, and Eastern Counties inherited the coach works - now concentrating on building bus bodies, with a workforce of over 600 people.White, Malcolm R. (2007) ''Coachwork by Eastern Coach Works, Lowestoft'', Coastal publications. In July 1936, the coach works were separated into a new company, Eastern Coach Works Limited, which developed into the largest full-time employer in Lowestoft. In May 1940, the factory received orders from the military authorities to cease production. It was thought that, following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the East Coast would be the first target for an invading German army, so all wheeled vehicles were moved away from the site so that they did not fall into enemy hands. As a result of this, 950 staff were laid off with production shifted to

Irthlingborough Irthlingborough () is a town on the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 8,900 at the 2011 census and was the smallest town in England to have had a Football League team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C., prior to the ...

. By 1947, though, production was back to pre-war levels. ECW was nationalised in 1947. For the next 18 years, its business consisted mainly of building bus bodies, which were mounted on

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

chassis, for state-owned bus operators. In 1965, the state-owned

Transport Holding Company The Transport Holding Company (THC) was a British Government-owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transport C ...

sold a 25% share in ECW to

Leyland Motors Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1 ...

, which enabled ECW to sell to the private sector. During the 1960s, it was common to see a bare bus chassis being driven through town by a goggle-wearing driver, delivering the chassis for a body. In 1969, ECW became part of a 50/50 joint venture between the National Bus Company (successor to the Transport Holding Company) and

British Leyland British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...

(successor to Leyland Motors). The materials to build the buses came into the Coach works via Essex Road at the back of the factory, but the newly built buses were driven out of the big doors at the front. They drove down the short, narrow lane, with no pavements called Eastern Way, on their way to their new depot. Eastern Way used to be called Laundry Lane, but the name was changed to Eastern Way following the opening of Eastern Coach Works. The joint venture came to an end in 1982, when British Leyland bought out NBC's shareholding. ECW closed in January 1987. The site was subsequently demolished to make way for the North Quay Retail Park, which opened in 1990. ECW was one of Lowestoft's largest employers, with around 1,200 staff at its peak.

Products

ECW was probably best known for its close association with

Bristol Commercial Vehicles Bristol Commercial Vehicles was a vehicle manufacturer located in Bristol, England. Most production was of buses but trucks and railbus chassis were also built. The Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company started to build buses for its own use ...

. Amongst the Bristol buses most frequently bodied at Lowestoft were the: *

Bristol LH The Bristol LH was a single-decker bus chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles (BCV) in Bristol, England. Nearly 2,000 were built between 1967 and 1982 in a variety of sizes and body types, including some as goods vehicles. Models The LH de ...

- a small, single deck bus (1970s) *

Bristol Lodekka The Bristol Lodekka was a half-cab low-height step-free double-decker bus built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles in England. It was the first production bus design to have no step up from the passenger entrance throughout the lower deck; alth ...

- a front-engined double deck bus (1950s and 1960s) *

Bristol RE The Bristol RE was a rear-engined single-decker bus or single-decker coach chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles from 1962 until 1982. It is often considered the most successful of the first generation of rear-engined single-decker buses ...

- a single deck bus (1960s and 1970s) *

Bristol VRT The Bristol VR was a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was manufactured by Bristol Commercial Vehicles as a competitor to the Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline. Development The Bristol VR was originally designed for s ...

- a rear-engined double deck bus (1970s), successor to the Lodekka *

Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as t ...

- a rear engined double deck bus (1980's) successor to Bristol VRT

References

External links

Lowestoft, Eastern Coach Works War MemorialsYouTube clip
{{Coord, 52.477540, 1.7340803, type:landmark_region:GB-SFK, display=title, format=dms British Leyland Companies based in Suffolk Defunct bus manufacturers of the United Kingdom 1920 establishments in England 1987 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1920 British companies disestablished in 1987

History

Products

Further reading

References

External links