Jump to content

Cravens


Guest bus man

Recommended Posts

Guest bus man

Cravens of Darnall had a long and proud history of supplies bodies for railway vehicles and bus bodies world wide

The last bus to be bodied by Cravens was a Bedford supplied to Sheffield Transport: this bus was purchased for the rail replacement service which would run when the Hope Valley line was closed.

The chassis for this bus was delivered to queens road from Bedford and was shortened before bodying hence reports in some publications that there were two vehicles. In order to avoid further confusion this is NOT the committee coach which caused so much controversy either.

The line didn't close and the bus was sold to King Ecgbert School at Dore and then passed to Greenthorpes the garage people who used it as a family run about. The photo below shows the bus in their ownership

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest transit

Cravens of Darnall had a long and proud history of supplies bodies for railway vehicles and bus body’s world wide

The last bus to be bodied by cravens was a Bedford supplied to Sheffield transport this bus was purchased for the rail replacement service which would run when the hope valley line was closed.

The chassis for this bus was delivered to queens road from Bedford and was shortened before bodying hence reports in some publications that there were two vehicles. In order to avoid further confusion this is NOT the committee coach which caused so much controversy either.

The line didn’t close and the bus was sold to king ecgbert school at dore and then passed to greenthorpes the garage people who used it as a family run about the photo below shows the bus in there ownership

...as i have just posted on the "Greenthorpe" thread - although it is a bit of an "ugly duckling" ,i cant believe this bus was'nt bought for preservation due to its infamous local connections! :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I well remember going past the Cravens factory on the train (to Retford I think) many times & seeing carraige units freshly painted, often looking quite colourful to be shipped around the world in the 50's . Shame its gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget the TV program tonight on BBC 4 at 9 o'clock,

Some of the trams shown are in Sheffield, I believe it's been on before but worth a second viewing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cravens of Darnall had a long and proud history of supplies bodies for railway vehicles and bus body’s world wide

The last bus to be bodied by cravens was a Bedford supplied to Sheffield transport this bus was purchased for the rail replacement service which would run when the hope valley line was closed.

The chassis for this bus was delivered to queens road from Bedford and was shortened before bodying hence reports in some publications that there were two vehicles.

The line didn’t close and the bus was sold to king ecgbert school at dore and then passed to greenthorpes the garage people who used it as a family run about the photo below shows the bus in there ownership

Lets not forget that the Bedford was used by the STD band, occasionally it would be pressed into service due to bus shortages before its disposal in the early 70s. W/E.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To highlight what bus man put in the first post of this topic about Cravens' business being world wide:

From 1959

cravens 1959 Vol 49.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Diesel Multiple Units built by Cravens.

Class 106 introduced 1956. Motor Brake Second

Class 105 - 1957 - M.B.S.

Class 105/2 - 1957

Class 105/1 - 1957. & 1958 Motor Composite

Class 105/2 1959 Motor Brake Second

Class 141 1956 & 1958 Driving Trailer Composite

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cravens also built the three members of class 129, the single car parcels units in 1955, and the class 311 electric multiple units for use in the Glasgow area.

Not sure about the class 141's, they were a lot later and built by British Leyland from bus parts

 

Nigel L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Lemmy117 said:

Cravens also built the three members of class 129, the single car parcels units in 1955, and the class 311 electric multiple units for use in the Glasgow area.

Not sure about the class 141's, they were a lot later and built by British Leyland from bus parts

 

Nigel L

According to railcar.co.uk the DTCLs built for what became the Class 105 & 106 units were originally given the class number 141 when TOPS was introduced in the early 1970s, as listed above by HistoryDude. There were also some TCLs (for the three car sets) classified as 170s. I was unaware of those designations until HistoryDude's post, but I am now enlightened thanks to railcar.co.uk, where there is also a list of the class numbers allocated to all of the first generation DMU vehicles.

Cravens also built the Class 112 & 113 DMUs (50 cars of each type in total). These were built in 1960 and all withdrawn from use by the end of 1969.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It doesn't sound as if the class 112 and 113 trains were very successful either, if they had a working life of under ten years. What was wrong with them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 04/01/2017 at 08:26, Athy said:

It doesn't sound as if the class 112 and 113 trains were very successful either, if they had a working life of under ten years. What was wrong with them?

The carden shaft would shear a lot apparently, one sheared that baldly that it ruptured the fuel tank causing a fire, while it was in a tunnel! The resulting fire was really intense. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the early 1950's I lived on Littledale and my bedroom looked out across some fields into Darnall Depot and Cravens. Anything interesting and it was a swift trot before school to "kop" it. Probably the finest thing I ever saw at Cravens was a full train set of coaches destined for some royal potentate somewhere in Asia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If l may ask something slightly.off line has anyone any info ss to their Ww2 activities?

A good friend of ours had the newsagents on Barber Road about no.36 or 38.l think.from at least 1930.on. About 1936 he moved to Scarborough as as hotelier. All.was well till.someone thoughtlessly dropped a bomb on it followed shortly by an instruction (Direction of Labour Regulations) to return at once back to Cravens in his trade as a jig and tool maker.which he did till 1946. The Ministry obviously found  him after several.years and  conveniently his mother still lived opposiite the works.

He was remarkably reticent about what he did and rather oddly only ever would admit to making ta fixtures for the Westland Lysander, hardly a fighting machine.  So please can anyone tell me what did go.on in the war? Was it buses still or what?  Anything top secret? Somebody will.know

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I apologise for starting a new topic but I cannot find the original thread. Someone asked what the company did apart from assemble  Lysander airframes ( a STOL Army Co-Operation type a few of which operated coastal patrols from  Sheffield Aeroclubs airfield at Netherthorpe and later made its name by flying agents in and out of occupied France) The company made Horsa glider wings (  mainly used on D Day and at Arnhem) They made and repaired railway wagons,. They also manufactured aircraft components for:- the Welkin,Barracuda, Lancaster and Lincoln as well as exhaust manifolds for the Merlin engine. They completed;-artillery limbers,gun shields, armoured vehicle gun turrets, ammunition racks,generating plants as well as boring and heat treating a range of gun barrels. An interesting array despite 100,000 sq ft of  the main assembly area being damaged during the Blitz.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 23/05/2019 at 22:12, History dude said:

Any pictures of the factory?

A couple  pictures here of a fine vehicle in Craven's works. Though I have no information of the bus they must have been very proud of such a beauty.

cravens_works_2.jpg

cravens_works_v1.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 14/06/2019 at 15:58, Keith_exS10 said:

If l may ask something slightly.off line has anyone any info ss to their Ww2 activities?

A good friend of ours had the newsagents on Barber Road about no.36 or 38.l think.from at least 1930.on. About 1936 he moved to Scarborough as as hotelier. All.was well till.someone thoughtlessly dropped a bomb on it followed shortly by an instruction (Direction of Labour Regulations) to return at once back to Cravens in his trade as a jig and tool maker.which he did till 1946. The Ministry obviously found  him after several.years and  conveniently his mother still lived opposiite the works.

He was remarkably reticent about what he did and rather oddly only ever would admit to making ta fixtures for the Westland Lysander, hardly a fighting machine.  So please can anyone tell me what did go.on in the war? Was it buses still or what?  Anything top secret? Somebody will.know

 

 

 

 

Just came across a video of Cravens and lead me to this website. My Grandad used to work there (who passed away quite a while ago now) and he told them they also used to make Spitfire parts. He specialised in the wooden parts on buses/trams. He told me he was involved in making Spitfire propellers and once showed me a picture of him stood next to a propeller which was taller than him. I wish I still had that old photo but it must be long gone now. I think he was in his 20's during the war, my mum was born in 1941. They were not called up to do service because they were vital to the war effort and as it was a very skilled job it would take to long to train others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 20/04/2020 at 17:19, lysandernovo said:

I apologise for starting a new topic but I cannot find the original thread. Someone asked what the company did apart from assemble  Lysander airframes ( a STOL Army Co-Operation type a few of which operated coastal patrols from  Sheffield Aeroclubs airfield at Netherthorpe and later made its name by flying agents in and out of occupied France) The company made Horsa glider wings (  mainly used on D Day and at Arnhem) They made and repaired railway wagons,. They also manufactured aircraft components for:- the Welkin,Barracuda, Lancaster and Lincoln as well as exhaust manifolds for the Merlin engine. They completed;-artillery limbers,gun shields, armoured vehicle gun turrets, ammunition racks,generating plants as well as boring and heat treating a range of gun barrels. An interesting array despite 100,000 sq ft of  the main assembly area being damaged during the Blitz.

 

3 hours ago, Varkanoid said:

Just came across a video of Cravens and lead me to this website. My Grandad used to work there (who passed away quite a while ago now) and he told them they also used to make Spitfire parts. He specialised in the wooden parts on buses/trams. He told me he was involved in making Spitfire propellers and once showed me a picture of him stood next to a propeller which was taller than him. I wish I still had that old photo but it must be long gone now. I think he was in his 20's during the war, my mum was born in 1941. They were not called up to do service because they were vital to the war effort and as it was a very skilled job it would take to long to train others.

Topics merged

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...