113
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This page showcases the best images of GCT 113 from her year built (1976) to 2016.
GCT 113 passed to me for private preservation on 24 August 2017.
Images taken from 26 August 2017 to the end of that year are shown in the 2017 Gallery.
Subsequent images thereafter are shown within their own Gallery page, starting with the 2018 Gallery.
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**NEWLY UPLOADED IMAGES WILL BE ADDED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE**
This is the oldest photo I have of GCT 113, wearing the blue and cream livery she was delivered in on 14 December 1976. The bus is seen here outside the GCT depot. GCT 113 lost this livery quite late on (1984); this photo can be dated to before September 1980, which is when her first re-paint took place and GCT 113 was given the short-lived blue and white livery (applied to buses painted between 1980-81).
The bus also has its original front, below the windscreen, with the cut-out displaying a Daimler badge in what was the demister inlet. You'll note Daimler badge, while inside the bus was badged as a Leyland.
This photo by Nigel Rhodes shows GCT 113 in the background, wearing her first coat of Stagecoach stripes. You'll note she also has her front fog lights in situ and orange-painted safety rails on the top deck. The photo was taken on 23 November 1994, at the end of GCT 113's first season as an open-topper.
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Daimler Fleetline 103 (BJV 103L) is in the foreground and at this point it had been sold to Pleasurewood Hills (owners of Pleasure Island, for whom the overall advert promotes), though operated and maintained by GCT. One of the more obvious differences between the two vehicles is the opening top deck windows.
What seemed to be an innocuous photo of a GCT Fleetline at Riby Square in 1990 has turned out to be the only photo I've yet to find of GCT 113 wearing her only rear-end advertisement (for The Plant Shop). I was more than shocked when I was offered it from Nigel Rhodes's collection.
This is the second application of the advert, as it was originally applied in 1987 while GCT 113 wore caramel and cream livery. It was reapplied in 1989, after it had been retained when the bus received orange and white livery. It had been lost by August 1990.
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While much has changed in Grimsby since GCT 113's day, this scene remains similar.
I don't believe this is one of my photos, but it could be. Following the removal of her roof during early 1994 and her repaint into Stagecoach stripes livery, GCT 113 was delicensed for six months a year, over the winter, and parked at the back of the main area of the 'Fridge' (the easternmost roofed building, so named due to the temperature therein).
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The front fog lights have been removed and this took place while she was painted in the dark-blue, all-over Pleasure Island livery from April 1997 for two years, so this dates the photo between the end of 1999 to very early 2003, when GCT 113 was given Stagecoach's swoops livery.
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GCT 113 always had a sheet over her upper saloon during the winter months and it is notable to see it missing in this photo.
Unwittingly, this was the last ever photo of GCT 113 I took while operational at Grimsby. I'd been allocated the bus all day towards the end of the Summer 2003 season and had returned to the depot for my meal break.
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The 'day glow' destination blind recreated times past with a 'Grimsby Cleethorpes' display, as per the original ones from 1957 and this is displayed deliberately here. This is GCT 113's first application of Stagecoach swoops livery and the incorrect Stagecoach 'in Grimsby & Cleethorpes' fleet name (it should have been 'Grimsby-Cleethorpes').
By contrast, the first time that I caught up with GCT 113 after she'd been withdrawn from passenger duty at Grimsby was at the Easter 2006 bus rally, organised by the LVVS (Lincolnshire Vintage Vehicle Society) and based at the Lincolnshire Road Transport Museum in Whisby, near Lincoln.
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GCT 113 looks to have been rallied in much the same condition as she was in when last operating Service 17 along Cleethorpes seafront.
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Frustratingly, the assault screen remains in place. This would be removed during September 2017 while in private ownership!
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GCT 113 had acquired a traditional GCT number blind and what looks to be a destination blind from a Tiger or F/G-reg Dominator, hence the black tape, obscuring other destinations that would otherwise be shown on the front.
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Being compared to the 'back end of a bus' is an oft-quoted insult, though I've always been of the opinion that the 'back end' of a GCT Fleetline is quite an attractive design. Dated, I'll grant you, but nonetheless attractive.
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11 years would pass before GCT 113 would again be a part of a LVVS rally - when in November 2017 it was hersecond rally in private ownership.
The second occasion that I bumped into GCT 113 was by accident. I'd headed to Stoke, to attend a Potteries Running Day in 2007.
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Here GCT 113 can be seen doing what she was acquired for: being used as a promotional vehicle.
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Still sporting that (now) retro white steering wheel, as synonymous with Grimsby as the bus type herself, GCT 113 had received in-house external adverts to promote the new-look network of local bus services in Barnsley.
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Following the Traction Group purchase in December 2005, Stagecoach's Chesterfield depot 'moved' from the local East Midland group to the newly set-up Yorkshire one, with the log book for GCT 113 showing this taking place during April 2007.
With Stagecoach keen to work its magic on the former 'Tracky' area, a new Barnsley network was produced and GCT 113 visited the town on a number of occasions where residents and passengers could obtain new timetables and other literature pertaining to the changes.
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A traditional GCT number blind continues to be in situ on the back, along with more promotional advertising for the new Barnsley network.
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Service 3F (the 'F' standing for Freeman Street) was a remnant of municipal operation lasting, quite astonishingly, until 2006, when 56-reg ADL Darts were acquired. The inter-worked circular services 3F & 4/4X became LoZone 13 & 14/14A and now 3 & 4/4A.
There are precious few photos of GCT 113 wearing her only all-over advertisement livery. This is one of them that I found for sale at a bus rally a few years ago. Pleasure Island theme park paid for this livery to be applied for 2 years. Sister open-topper 103 also wore an identical version of the livery.
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Seen at the Cleethorpes Pier terminus, GCT 113 is loading passengers bound for Thorpe Park. An integral part of the special livery was a great rear-end promotion for McCormack's family fun bar and restaurant located at the front of Pleasure Island and still open today. The livery was worn between April 1997 & April 1999.
Roy Marshall's great shot of GCT 113 turning right out of George Street in Grimsby town centre depicts the solitary rear-end advert that she wore from 1987 to 1990 for The Plant Shop.
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This was the last livery she wore before losing her roof and acquiring Stagecoach stripes in 1994. The paint job looks fairly recent, so I'd suggest the photo was taken in 1989 contrasting with Andy Reeve-Smith's photos below (1991), that show the livery a little more worn and devoid of rear-end advert. This livery was always my favourite and reason enough to be recreated on GCT 113.
As you'll have read in the Detailed History section of the website, GCT 113 returned home during Summer 2014 offering, for the first time since she left, a two-bus open-top operation along Cleethorpes seafront.
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Leyland Olympian/Northern Counties 14667 (PIW 4457 (H667 BNL)) replaced GCT 113 directly during July 2005 and the two had never previously worked together.
Frustratingly, neither bus shows a destination display and both had one fitted. The photo was taken at Sea Road in Cleethorpes on 14 June 2014 by 'memory snatcher'.
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Daniel Shaw has captured this 'in service' photo of GCT 113 shortly after her first repaint into Stagecoach swoops corporate livery.
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Seen here on 12 June 2003, GCT 113 is heading towards Cleethorpes Pier along Kingsway with long-time GCT and Stagecoach driver 'Bubbles' at the helm.
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Note the assault screen and the fluorescent number and destination blinds. The handrails that lined the edges of the upper saloons had also been painted red, from orange.
The Disabled Discrimination Act of 1995 gave the Transport Secretary the necessary power to improve accessibility on public transport through numerous (now) commonplace means. These changes were contained in the Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR) 2000 and included the phasing out of step-entrance buses and coaches operating registered stage-carriage services.
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1 January 2017 was the cut-off point for double-deckers (single-deckers, sub-divided into two weight-determined categories, had previously needed to conform) and this sadly meant that GCT 113 would be unable to operate in passenger service on a registered bus service ever again.
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(An exemption of up to 28 days a year is permitted, provided the journeys the bus is making are advertised as 'historic'.)
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A number of first-generation Dennis Tridents would also fall foul of the PSVAR, despite being of low-floor stature, and to mark their passing, Stagecoach in Chesterfield ran a special Trident Farewell Day on Saturday 13 August 2016, based around the town and GCT 113 joined in, as she too would be so affected by the end of that year.
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It is believed that this is the last time GCT 113 ran in passenger service.
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Soon after these photos (by Steven Knight Media) were taken, the bus was repainted in readiness for Showbus, held at Donington Park for the first time.
The orange and white livery is displayed here in two shots of GCT 113 taken in 1991 by Andy Reeve-Smith at Grimsby's Freshney Place bus station. The location opened two years earlier and sadly closed rather prematurely on 6 January 2014.
From her delivery on 13 December 1976 to February 1994, GCT 113 ran with a roof and operated all double-decker routes for GCT in four different liveries.
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Service 45, once operated in partnership with Lincolnshire Road Car, was the longest route the municipal undertaking ran, with the terminus being outside the (now demolished) Lock Inn on ABP property.
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This livery is the most synonymous to me and the reason why GCT 113 is in this colour scheme, now in private ownership.
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The front fog lights have been refitted, which were lost under Stagecoach tenure. The front indicators, both on the sides and front have been replaced for more modern versions and the wing mirrors became the black oval type even under GCT tenure. The rear light clusters have also now been replaced for more modern examples.
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By 1991 GCT 113 had lost her rear-end advert for The Plant Shop. The orange livery was only worn from 1989 to 1994.
This is my favourite photo of GCT 113. During August 2003, while returning empty to the depot for my meal break, I diverted via Grimsby Docks to try and create an iconic photo in which GCT 113 would feature.
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Grimsby's docks were once the largest in the world, and at the time they purported to be the largest in Europe (Grimsby was known as 'Europe's Food Town'), yet as time passed by and manufacturing developed, much of the dockyards had been abandoned.
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The photo was taken on Wharncliffe Road North one Saturday lunchtime with the Grimsby Dock Tower in the background.
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Tram lines are still evident (as they are to this very day, according to Google Street View) and this area of the docks is still used today. Other, more derelict areas, resemble Bulgaria at the turn of the 20th Century, though are sadly less photogenic.
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During 2003, buses regularly operated onto Grimsby Docks - peak time extensions to Service 5 (5X), the first two Cleethorpes-bound journeys on Service 3F (3A) and Ross Youngs paid for Service 21 to call, linking its factory with the Willows and the route of Service 45 to Immingham and then to South Killingholme.
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Today the sight of public transport on Grimsby Docks is non-existent. Security has also been heightened here.
The non-political caramel and cream livery is displayed here in a photo from The Bus Gallery. This livery was introduced from 1981. Coincidentally, the photo depicts GCT 113 at the Sea Road bus stop, adjacent to Cleethorpes Pier - the bus stop that was also the terminus for Service 17, a route that she would operate for many years to come.
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Taken in April 1988, the caramel and cream livery was on its way out and the following year GCT 113 would receive orange and white livery. For many, the caramel and cream livery will always be their least favourite, chosen purely because it showed up dirt the least.
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The last time I caught up with GCT 113 before I bought her was at Donington Park during September 2016, the new 'home' of Showbus.
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She had recently been repainted and had the panels covering the former fog lights removed (ironically something I resurrected during December 2017). The black steering wheel almost camouflages the analogue tachograph.
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Other than modern equivalents of indicator and side light clusters, GCT 113 is almost identical to how she looked during her orange and white livery days (minus its roof, of course).
This great 'at work' shot of GCT 113 taken by Tony Wilson depicts the bus returning to Cleethorpes Pier along Kingsway with Cleethorpes Leisure Centre in the distance.
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I would date this photo as being taken in the year 2000 owing to the removal of the metal clip board from the dashboard (as can be seen here) and the small green vinyl by the emergency door button, promoting the bus's green fuel credentials. The driver's shirt is white, not blue and this will be the bus's second application of Stagecoach stripes livery.
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I've often thought that this livery, with its horizontal lines, suited her well.
In 2009 GCT 113 attended the Meadowhall Bus Rally, located in the former coach park (that doubled up as a Helipad!) and was one of the vehicles that ran short circular trips from the site to the Sheffield Bus Museum. (Photo: Nigel Rhodes)
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It was at this event that GCT 113 was reunited with GCT 35 (GEE 418D) & GCT 57 (NAT 766A (TJV 100)), though sadly time wasn't made for the vehicles to pose together.
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Certainly, GCT 113's time at Chesterfield saw her visit places she would never have done had she continued to operate along Cleethorpes seafront!
This is the first photo I managed to take that recreates times past at Stallingborough Roundabout, a location between Immingham Docks and Cleethorpes High Street on Service 45, one of the long-standing GCT routes. It was taken on 12 December 2016.
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Service 45 effectively saw off the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Tramway and was incredibly popular with dockworkers travelling between Grimsby's Riby Square and Immingham Docks. So much so that a special token (known as a 'button') was issued that offered a return fare between these two points.
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GCT 113 operated Service 45 on countless locations over the years, except, of course, with her roof on!
Taken on 12 December 2017 this is the last photo taken of GCT 113 in Stagecoach's corporate 'swoops' livery that was first applied in 2003.
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It was taken at the Immingham paint shop as I handed her over for the first repaint, which would see an error made by my paint rep (whom I'd trusted to get the correct paint colours since he was the individual who supplied the exact same paint to GCT in the 1980s) that would result in the bus wearing the prototype orange not the shade ultimately adopted.
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This photo was also taken shortly before GCT 113 was taken on an unauthorised 'jolly' covering 72 unauthorised miles; I have images of this from CCTV cameras on the factory opposite.
This uniquely fascinating shot shows GCT 113 in orange and white in the immediate aftermath of having her roof removed during February or March 1994, in a depot full of buses wearing the orange and white livery despite the recent Stagecoach purchase (Nov 1993).
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Some body repairs took place and the bus is displaying the destination that she would wear until 2003 when the 'day glow' version superseded it.
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Proof that the bus did wear orange and white while being devoid of her roof!
This is one of the last widely available views of GCT 113 that shows her in service in Grimsby and taken by Mark Hodgkinson. Her rear-end advert has gone and the bus looks in similar condition to the photo taken by Andy Reeve-Smith in 1991 so it could be dated as early as then or as late as January 1994.
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Unlike Andy Reeve-Smith's shot, however, the side advert is for BBC Look North and to the left a H or J-reg Dominator can be seen which dates the view to no earlier than May 1991 for the former and March 1992 for the latter.
Les Sims captured this shot at North Sea Lane terminus days after 26 July 1994 when GCT 113 first entered service in stripes.
To note are the following:
>A new number plate, replacing the original
>New side indicator casings
>Front side light units replaced and now house indicators too
>Upper deck guard rails were painted orange, which lasted until the first repaint when they became red until 1 May 2018
>Fleetline wing mirrors retained but painted black
>New number blind, originally destined for Olympians/Falcons (the '1' had a tip at the top).
GCT 113 was one of the last 7 buses in the fleet to be painted into the caramel and cream livery. Only one application was given to her and the two photos on the right depict the subtle change adopted to this rather drab colour scheme.
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The bus was painted into caramel and cream from her second coat of blue and cream during October 1984. The top photograph taken by Les Sims shows GCT 113 at Cleethorpes Sea Road working Service 4 to Bradley Cross Roads. The paint job looks very recent. A red exact fare hopper can be seen, as well as a sticker in the windscreen stating the driver has no change and that passengers should use exact change. GCT 113 lost this by June 1985 so the shot can be narrowed down to an 8-month window. You'll note the thin GCT stylised fleet name above the driver's cab.
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From July 1985 DEM Associates refreshed GCT's image and introduced the larger stylised fleet name and orange and black stripe as seen in this shot also taken at Sea Road by Les Sims at some point after the end of November 1985, which is when they were applied to the bus. By chance the bus is seen working Service 17, which for a short time ran from Fitties Camp to Grimsby Town Centre. Service 17 would be GCT 113's only route from 1994.
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In her life, GCT 113 has undertaken many roles in addition to that of a public service vehicle, moreso during her time at Chesterfield. On 20 August 1997, GCT 113 deputised for a breakdown recovery vehicle when she was dispatched to assist stricken Volvo Olympian/Alexander 134 (N134 AET), which had come to grief on the Fredrick Ward Way subway, immediately before the Asda traffic lights.
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In a chance encounter by photographer Graham Taylor, this and the following two images show GCT 113 recovering and returning bus 134 back to the Victoria Street depot.
Having successfully attached bus 134 to her rear using tow ropes, GCT 113 then attempted to recover the stricken bus at a considerably reduced speed back to the depot on Victoria Street South in Grimsby Town Centre. This was reached via Freeman Street, Riby Square, A180 Flyover, Lock Hill and Victoria Street North. The bus is viewed here on the approach to the depot having just passed the old Central Market, with bus 134 closely 'following' behind.
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Stagecoach policy would, over the coming years, be to dispense with their breakdown recovery truck at Grimsby, though during August 1997 the vehicle was still operational.
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This final shot shows GCT 113 turning into the depot from Victoria Street South.
Since this took place during August 1997, the all-over advertising livery for Pleasure Island was very recent and this final shot shows possibly the clearest image of the incorporated rear-end green advert GCT 113 wore for McCormack's Bar, located at the front the the now erstwhile Pleasure Island theme park (though McCormack's still trades).
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A stirling effort for a bus some 20 years senior than its classmate.
This view of GCT 113 dates from 1982, and shows the bus wearing the second application of her original livery, Transport Blue & County Cream.
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From the Andy Reeve-Smith collection, the bus is shown travelling along Victoria Street South bound for Bradley Crossroads working Service 3A. The original frontage is seen, with the Daimler badge by the demister inlet.
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Of interest is that the bus is seen in exactly the same location as the image above, albeit 15 years earlier and not towing one if its younger sisters!
From the side, the first application of Stagecoach Stripes livery (the bus wore three!) is easily identifiable as the Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes fleet name was shown above the first side window. And the upper saloon guard rails were painted orange, which were painted red from the next repaint onwards.
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GCT 113 is seen here at Sea Road in Cleethorpes, the terminus of Service 17, which she operated from July 1994 until July 2005. A little frustrating is the poorly set destination blind.
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8 August 1994 is the date taken.
During the summer of 2014, GCT 113 returned home to the Victoria Street depot in Grimsby, where she would operate along her former route between Cleethorpes Pier and Thorpe Park as an additional bus on Service 17.
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Taken on 23 April that year, while undertaking driver familiarisation duties in Grimsby, the bus can be seen turning right from Pasture Street into East Street while sporting its Chesterfield number and destination blinds. These would be temporarily replaced with Grimsby blinds.
Baxtergate was the location for most eastbound departures from Grimsby Town Centre and this is the location that GCT 113 can be seen waiting time.
Taken by Steve Mickleburgh (who has kindly supplied this and the following four images), the bus is seen working Service 4 to Old Clee, which dates the photo to before 1980, so she is still wearing her original coat of blue and cream paint.
Baxtergate was demolished when the Freshney Place shopping centre was expanded and the town's short-lived Bus Station opened in January 1989.
Returning to the depot after finishing a run on Service 15 (Bradley Park to Riby Square via Hainton Avenue), Steve Mickleburgh unwittingly captured an image that would be recreated a number of years later by Graham Taylor when GCT 113 was seen in virtually the same spot while towing a stricken Stagecoach Volvo Olympian back to the depot for mechanical attention. The photo can be seen by clicking here.
Noticing the difference between the first and second applications of blue and cream paint seems to be possibly by the location of the fleet number - directly beneath window on the second and above number plate for the first.
Steve Mickleburgh has captured GCT 113 at the North Sea Lane bus terminus outside the zoo that would become the site of Pleasure Island Theme Park from the early 1990s. Known today as Service 7, the bus is working the 3C to the Grange Estate - a route that has seen only the most minor of changes to its route from that worked when she was photographed wearing her original livery, dating the view to between January 1977 and September 1980.
This location is featured again in a shot by Les Sims in July 1994 with the bus wearing Stagecoach Stripes (click here) and again during September 2018 with the bus in preservation and the orange and white livery (click here).
Steve Mickleburgh has captured an almost contemporary shot of GCT 113 passing though the Old Market Place. She is wearing her second coat of blue and cream paint (applied from September 1980). A special notice in the windscreen informs passengers that the driver has no change, meaning the exact fare system was in full swing, which dates this view to after July 1982 but before October 1984, which is when she had been given her first (and only) coat of caramel and cream livery. GCT 113 is heading to Bradley Crossroads on the long-standing Service 3F, which by now was being inter-world with Service 4 at both ends.
