backpacker
Posts: 2978
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Posted At: 06/11/2008 11:26:33
I am sure I have memories many many years ago (late 1950's) of getting on a bus (or tram/trolley bus) somewhere in England, going upstairs, and instead of an aisle down the centre of the seats as now, the 4 seats were together and the aisle was down the side of seats. This was probably up north somewhere.
Everyone is tellling me I am going bonkers, so can anyone put me out of my misery or do I just accept the decline?
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Terry W
Posts: 129
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Posted At: 06/11/2008 11:48:32
Hi Backpacker
Back in the 60's I was a coach driver and the company I worked for also had buses, I found this on the web and hope this is of some help.
Introduced by Leyland in 1948 the PD1 quickly established itself in many bus fleets across the country, including London Transport, eventually replacing many of the pre-war buses. In 1961 the most northerly services of the Alexander empire transferred to a separate company, W.Alexander & Sons (Northern) Ltd. which adopted its own striking yellow and cream livery. This is a 'Lowbridge' bus with a side gangway on the upper deck.
The 'Lowbridge' buses had a side gangway above where the lower deck people sat, the upper seating was raised. The lower gangway was in the centre as normal. This enabled a lower roof line for country buses encountering low bridges etc.
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Tradestone
Posts: 54
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Posted At: 06/11/2008 12:27:19
BACKPACKER,you are perfectly right as is terry.Buses in many districts of Scotland had to be so constructed to negotiate low bridges and there have been a number of accidents where buses for whatever reason took the wrong route and lost the upper part of the top deck sometimes resulting in quite serious injury.
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Phaedra
Posts: 176
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Posted At: 07/11/2008 15:13:04
Back in the 50's I travelled to school (scheduled route) on buses like this between Chorley and Bolton.
Downstairs had the normal central aisle although some of the seats near the (rear) entry were sideways on and seated three people.
Upstairs you had to negotiate a deep step and then the seats were five (I think!) across .... very useful when teenage hormones were rampant as it enabled girls and boys to squash up together without being told off ... Ah, happy days!
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Mad Jock
Posts: 409
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Posted At: 12/11/2008 01:07:30
I was a conductor on buses like these in the 1960s with Alexander Northern. The passengers in the long bench seats had to remember to bend down when they stood up. There wasn't a lot of headroom, but people got used to it.
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Robbyem
Posts: 5707
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Posted At: 16/11/2008 21:15:23
Crosville had some of those side-gangway double-deckers, which they used to run across the Wirral from Birkenhead. I can't remember where the Low Bridge was that necessitated the use of the reduced headroom buses though.
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John Dee
Posts: 204
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Posted At: 16/11/2008 21:38:35
Huddersfield Corporation also had buses of this type, but I never realized they were designed with low bridges in mind. We live and learn.
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Mad Jock
Posts: 409
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Posted At: 16/11/2008 22:08:13
There were also buses specifically designed to get under a peculiarly shaped arch in Beverley, Yorkshire, which I believe was called the Beverley Bar.
The roof had a peak in it to match the profile of the arch.
See a photo at [url]http://www.eyms.co.uk/content/enthusiasts/vehicle.aspx?intvehicleid=6&vehicletype=heritage[/url]
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William Bikie
Posts: 149
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Posted At: 26/11/2008 15:20:00
There were also buses specifically designed to get under a peculiarly shaped arch in Beverley, Yorkshire, which I believe was called the Beverley Bar.
The roof had a peak in it to match the profile of the arch.
See a photo at [url]http://www.eyms.co.uk/content/enthusiasts/vehicle.aspx?intvehicleid=6&vehicletype=heritage[/url]
There were also similar buses designed for use under the Blackwall Tunnel in London (STL's)
Alan |
William Bikie
Posts: 149
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Posted At: 26/11/2008 15:30:04
Have just found a web site for Blackwall Tunnel buses
Alan
http://www.countrybus.org.uk/STL/STL11.htm
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backpacker
Posts: 2978
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Posted At: 30/11/2008 21:31:53
Thanks to everyone for putting me out of my misery.
I still can't remember where it was though, although Ribble comes to mind for some reason. Because I was a pain in the rear end I used to get shunted around different institutions all over the country so could have been anywhere.
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Uncle Mo
Posts: 418
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Posted At: 30/11/2008 23:16:00
Hi Backpacker, I'm a bit late to join the topic several members have confirmed your memory.
Being a bus driver for 33 years, I did drive double decker buses with an aisle down the side. All our double deckers at the United Counties bus garage in Hitchin Herts were special 'Bristol Lowdeckers'. As the name suggests, Lowdeckers were used for the low rail bridge on the A505 at Hitchin. Standard routemaster style double deckers at nearby Stevenage were not allowed through the bridge.
The bridge now has special sensors to detect over height vehicles, unfortunately some lorries still ignore the flashing warnings and smash into the bridge.
Unc' Mo
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Mad Jock
Posts: 409
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Posted At: 02/12/2008 00:08:47
Actually, Lodekkas ( the correct spelling) did NOT have a side aisle. In fact the engineers constructed the chassis so that a central aisle could be used in the top deck.
The following quote explains it....
"Bristol's designers worked for many years to overcome the height issue from a vehicle chassis point of view. In 1949 the first of two prototype vehicles was constructed. The transmission on the vehicle was mounted along one side of the chassis and the rear axle was of a drop centre design. This then allowed a much lower floor in the lower deck and a conventional layout on the upper deck with an overall height of approximately 13 feet 6 inches. The LD was born and aptly named Lodekka by Bristol."
There are still some Lodekka's running on "heritage" services today, one of which we rode on in Yorkshire in September on a return trip from Hawes to the Ribblehead Viaduct.
Take a look at Lodekka |
Uncle Mo
Posts: 418
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Posted At: 02/12/2008 10:26:28
Mad Jock; yes Bristol Lodekka is indeed the correct spelling and thanks for the link describing Bristol buses. However some of the Bristols I drove and conducted on were as Phaedra described; upstairs the walk way or aisle was along one side and you stepped up onto a platform where long single seats stretched across to the other side window; and indeed, naughty boys and girls crammed together.For passengers down stairs a normal layout; a notice on one side said , 'Please lower your head before taking your seat'.Passengers still banged their head on the low ceiling below the upstairs walkway / aisle.
The bodywork by Eastern Coachworks Lowestoft and transmission was along one side of the bus.
For a description go to < http://www.thecryptmag.com/Online/38/Bodyshell.htm>, and scroll to the bottom of the page. Cheers...
Unc' Mo
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Mad Jock
Posts: 409
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Posted At: 02/12/2008 21:20:39
The Bristol Decker you drove would most likely have been a K type, which had both highbridge and lowbridge bodies.
Very similar to the ones driven by Reg Varney in "On the Buses". Incidentally he passed away a few weeks ago, aged 92.
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Uncle Mo
Posts: 418
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Posted At: 02/12/2008 22:31:19
Sorry folks Mad Jock and I seem to have taken over the topic.
I was never one for knowing every type, body or engine, but they were as M' J' says K types and indeed they were the same buses that Reg Varney drove. And..... they had crash boxes.
Unc' Mo
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Mad Jock
Posts: 409
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Posted At: 02/12/2008 23:49:00
Well, if no one else decides to post, why shouldn't we share our memories of buses. All threads die out eventually.
I always wish I'd had the chance to drive a bus, it must have needed great skill back then with those crash boxes. When I was a conductor, I never knew of any drivers missing a gear, and that was with old Leylands. And no power steering either.
Modern buses seem so sophisticated now.
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Uncle Mo
Posts: 418
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Posted At: 04/12/2008 00:40:58
I passed my bus test 1st time; for that driving test in Luton I had a double decker with a crash box. Stockingstone Road is a busy fairly steep right curved hill towards the bottom a sharpish left bend , half way down was a set of traffic lights
I had to park on the steep incline facing down hill; I had to move off in bottom gear and go throuigh the box and engage all gears up to top gear then back down to bottom gear before I reached the traffic lights, a distance of less than half a mile.Not easy I can assure you, on an incline from start to finish. Press clutch; engage 1st; together release clutch press accelerator and release handbrake; together release accelerator and press clutch, gear in to neutral;, release clutch then press clutch; engage 2nd; together release clutch press accelorator; onto 3rd, 4th back to 3rd 2nd and 1st and stop with handbrake on.When I started at Hitchin a small garage in 1973 a 3rd of the fleet had crash boxes, easy when you know how.
Unc, Mo
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backpacker
Posts: 2978
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Posted At: 04/12/2008 09:25:03
Sorry folks Mad Jock and I seem to have taken over the topic.
Unc' Mo
Why not? My question has been comprehesively answered and I have no problems with anyone who share an interest carrying on their own little conversations.
My sister was a bus driver with Coventry Transport back in the 60's. She was a clippie who retrained. When the first lot of female drivers came to the garage to work the men staged a token walkout in protest at having their male domain invaded! She ended up doing continental tours for a large coach company. |
Mad Jock
Posts: 409
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Posted At: 04/12/2008 21:57:27
Actually, our posts aren't that far away from the original topic.
Female bus drivers are taken for granted now, but let's face it, modern buses are just like large cars, and many are automatic too.
I'm not being chauvinistic, but I'm sure that many women would find driving a 1950s bus just a bit too much of a challenge.
How many women have actually heard of double de-clutching?
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