On The (Old) Buses

[Yorkshire 53]

In the 50's, it was fun to watch buses coming down Burngreave Road lean over alarmingly going around that half-moon, 'keep left' traffic island by the the Wicker Congs., especially in icy conditions when the back ends would skid around.

Never understood the need to make Burngreave Road buses deviate around the bottom, curved part, and the trams continuing on the straight, top side, as the top side was the main road I thought, not Ellesmere Rd which joined it; why couldn't the B.Road buses follow the trams on the straight ? There were possibly some accidents there I'm unaware of.

 

The drivers of those classic Regent 111's on the Petre Street route (fleet Nos.including my favourite 567 ) had to have their wits about them as the type had the Wilson 'Pre-selector' gear change where the driver selected the next gear on the pod by the steering wheel before needing to engage it. When ready for the already selected change, he would kick down the striker pedal, which replaced the clutch pedal but in the same position. If he didn't get the timing just right by listening to the revs, the striker pedal would shoot up about a foot higher than its normal position and cause injury to the legs/knees.

 

I'm using the Masculine term for drivers here as, with the exception of a famous 'well proportioned' lady driver on Rotherham Corporation buses, women drivers were unheard of; and she was said to have some less physical type specially reserved for her, whatever it was. Fair play though, she drove double deckers for years on the Sheffield run, a didn't take any sarcasm in the cafe, she'd have made a good hospital Matron !

[stpetre]

In the 50's, it was fun to watch buses coming down Burngreave Road lean over alarmingly going around that half-moon, 'keep left' traffic island by the the Wicker Congs., especially in icy conditions when the back ends would skid around.

Never understood the need to make Burngreave Road buses deviate around the bottom, curved part, and the trams continuing on the straight, top side, as the top side was the main road I thought, not Ellesmere Rd which joined it; why couldn't the B.Road buses follow the trams on the straight ? There were possibly some accidents there I'm unaware of.

 

The drivers of those classic Regent 111's on the Petre Street route (fleet Nos.including my favourite 567 ) had to have their wits about them as the type had the Wilson 'Pre-selector' gear change where the driver selected the next gear on the pod by the steering wheel before needing to engage it. When ready for the already selected change, he would kick down the striker pedal, which replaced the clutch pedal but in the same position. If he didn't get the timing just right by listening to the revs, the striker pedal would shoot up about a foot higher than its normal position and cause injury to the legs/knees.

 

I'm using the Masculine term for drivers here as, with the exception of a famous 'well proportioned' lady driver on Rotherham Corporation buses, women drivers were unheard of; and she was said to have some less physical type specially reserved for her, whatever it was. Fair play though, she drove double deckers for years on the Sheffield run, a didn't take any sarcasm in the cafe, she'd have made a good hospital Matron !

 

Yes Yorkshire 53, if you can access Picture Sheffield and in the search box enter s13971 you will see the 'half moon' you mentioned (Andover Street/Spital Hill), complete with buses and tram lines.

Edited March 30, 2017 by stpetre
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[francypants]

Thanks, just checked out the web site. Never knew they were so wide spread, only really remember the single deckers in Rotherham, as a kid.

 

---------- Post added 02-09-2015 at 15:30 ----------

 

Another question on this topic, does anyone know if any lowered double deckers were preserved. These buses were used by both Rotherham corp.(33) and Sheffield(21) to run under the Treeton railway bridge at he bottom of Mill Lane. Don't really know if they were used elsewhere. They were very peculiar as every row of seats was 4 deep starting from the curbside window, and a lowered walkway on the right hand side. Pain in the backside if you were in the window seat and was getting off before the others lol. Almost like being at the pictures and wanting to go, except the bloody seat could not be folded back.

 

 

I remember these buses being used in Cheshire. Even at the age of 5 years old in 1960 I used to think what a stupid design they were.

[stpetre]

 

I remember these buses being used in Cheshire. Even at the age of 5 years old in 1960 I used to think what a stupid design they were.

 

East Midland had some of those buses-Sheffield to Mansfield (via Eckington).

[Yorkshire 53]

Yes that's the island stpetre. The PD2 on the left has just passed the 'tipping point' , but it looks like a similar lurch happened with the ones going around the top side. I never saw that service 20 turning into Burngreave Road, I presume it had travelled up Gower Street to get there ?

That old bus 409 has loads of character, the short windscreen with the front panel bulging out, and few Sheffield buses had the upstairs front windows able to be opened. I think it wasn't until the 1959 Walter Alexander Regent 5's that front upstairs opening windows appeared again ?

 

That tri-angular chimney stack always looked precarious. Also in the shot, the tramway overhead wires show Sheffield's reputation for having one of the tautest catenery in the land. How easy it would have been to have kept the tram system and to have progressively updated it, as did Blackpool under its far-sighted General Manager Walter Luff; are you listening from down there where it's hot councillor Sidney Dyson ?!

[stpetre]

Yes that's the island stpetre. The PD2 on the left has just passed the 'tipping point' , but it looks like a similar lurch happened with the ones going around the top side. I never saw that service 20 turning into Burngreave Road, I presume it had travelled up Gower Street to get there ?

That old bus 409 has loads of character, the short windscreen with the front panel bulging out, and few Sheffield buses had the upstairs front windows able to be opened. I think it wasn't until the 1959 Walter Alexander Regent 5's that front upstairs opening windows appeared again ?

 

That tri-angular chimney stack always looked precarious. Also in the shot, the tramway overhead wires show Sheffield's reputation for having one of the tautest catenery in the land. How easy it would have been to have kept the tram system and to have progressively updated it, as did Blackpool under its far-sighted General Manager Walter Luff; are you listening from down there where it's hot councillor Sidney Dyson ?!

 

Yes the No20 (at year of photo was 1950) was a workman's special from Norfolk Bridge to Southey Green. It's route taking it up Gower Street then -for whatever reason- turning left on Ellesmere Road (no bus stop there) and as seen in photo a sharp right onto Burngreave Road. Around 1968 the No20 became part of the regular City to Southey Green route (via Scott Road, Pitsmoor).

Edited March 30, 2017 by stpetre
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[EdmundH]

ghjghjkghjjff

Edited January 29, 2018 by EdmundH

[soft ayperth]

Remember the request stops? if you didn't specifically request the conductor to stop and there was nobody at the stop wanted picking up, the bus wold fly right past it. Maddening when that happened.

[stpetre]

And the one on the Ecclesall-Middlewood route 82, who when the bus stopped outside the West Bar hostel would announce "GRAND HOTEL". And if the downstairs was getting full and elderly people were getting on, he would call out "Seats upstairs for them as can climb"..

 

There used a be in the Hillsborough area, an older semi-retired conductor. I think they were called 'Part Day men', working non rush hours, who used to announce 'Fairys please". perhaps the same bloke.

Edited April 3, 2017 by stpetre
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[hillsbro]

Remember the request stops?...

Yes indeed - here's another excerpt from the article I wrote for "Routes" (see post #14):

 

I remember a driver I encountered on a Middlewood-bound “Main Line” bus in the 1970s. Having, at that time, lived most of my life in Dykes Hall Road I knew that the stop near the bottom of the road was a “compulsory” stop and not a request stop. The practice of passengers pressing the bell to indicate a wish to get off didn’t (strictly speaking) apply in the days when conductors were on all the buses, though by the 1970s it had become common practice in the case of request stops. The driver of this 82 was clearly under the impression that Dykes Hall Road was a request stop, and he evidently thought that he would teach me a lesson for not having pressed the bell, as he approached the stop at cruising speed with no attempt to slow down. He then saw, to his surprise, that it was not a request stop, and had to slam on the brakes to let me off. I couldn’t resist turning to him and saying “clever b*gger” as I got off.