Surviving Leeds city transport buses

Railways, trams, buses, etc.
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sevenvan
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 9:24 am

Post by sevenvan »

Hi folksMy first contribution to SLI used to sit on the back seat of the open ended buses and when the conductor stood on the stairs to change the rear destination blinds we would place used tickets on the top of his flat cap, and then take bets on how long before either he would find out or they fell off.Hpow about that for a great intellectual contribution to the discussion.

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blackprince
Posts: 878
Joined: Tue 04 Sep, 2007 2:10 pm

Post by blackprince »

The story of the incredible vanishing man.In the mid sixties I sometimes used to get a late night bus home to Bramley from city square . These buses ran through the night on an hourly schedule after midnight. Very often a police van would stop by the bus stop and the cops would question anyone waiting . They didn’t seem to know about the late night buses. I often had to show them the bus timetable to prove I had a legitimate reason to be hanging around outside the Queens Hotel after midnight. Any obvious drunks or vagrants were rounded up and chucked in the back of the van ( possibly to be beaten up and chucked in the river !).On one such occasion I got on my bus and sat on the long bench seat at the back over the rear wheels near the open platform . I was the only passenger downstairs The conductor gave me a ticket and went upstairs where he stayed for a long time presumably chatting to someone on the top deck. A couple of stops further along a drunk got on and sat on the bench seat opposite incoherently expressing his opinions about the world to the empty bus and myself. Near the bottom of Whitehall Road the bus used to do a sharp 90 degree right hand turn, pass under the railway viaduct and then a sharp 90 degree left hander. Being late at night with an almost empty bus the driver took these turns as if he fancied himself as a racing driver.I had been trying to avoid making eye contact with the drunk , as you do, but when the bus returned to the vertical after lurching around the corner I looked up and he had disappeared, almost in the blink of an eye and without a sound.I always assumed that he must have exited the speeding bus via the open platform in the middle of the violent cornering manoeuvre. Either that or he was beamed back up to his starship. I bet he had a hell of a headache in the morning.            
It used to be said that the statue of the Black Prince had been placed in City Square , near the station, pointing South to tell all the southerners who've just got off the train to b****r off back down south!

gooders
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri 14 Aug, 2009 12:31 pm

Post by gooders »

Hi,My father worked as a fitter on LCT buses in the 1970's at Torrey Rd and Bramley depot. He has some great stories. Once he was called out to recover a bus (can't remember where he said) and when he got there he could not find the bus. To cut a long story short he located the bus 3 floors up in a tower block. Something to do with air brakes and the bus taking off caused it. I think it was an Atlantean?. At the time my father had his photo taken with the bus in the towerblock. Does anybody know where a copy of this photo would be available or any photos of this crash. Cheers.

String o' beads
Posts: 1360
Joined: Wed 06 Feb, 2008 6:09 pm

Post by String o' beads »

gooders wrote: Hi,My father worked as a fitter on LCT buses in the 1970's at Torrey Rd and Bramley depot. He has some great stories. Once he was called out to recover a bus (can't remember where he said) and when he got there he could not find the bus. To cut a long story short he located the bus 3 floors up in a tower block. Something to do with air brakes and the bus taking off caused it. I think it was an Atlantean?. At the time my father had his photo taken with the bus in the towerblock. Does anybody know where a copy of this photo would be available or any photos of this crash. Cheers. I think you're Dad was having you on. There is no way an Atlantean would get higher than the second floor.

BLAKEY
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon 24 Mar, 2008 4:42 am

Post by BLAKEY »

Well Gooders and Geordie - I don't have any photos just to hand, but I can verify all the details of this appalling episode. The bus was at the terminus of the number 54 service from Cottingley Flats to Moortown. During the standing time the air pressure had rapidly escaped, which means that the electro- pneumatic gears will not engage. The elderly experienced driver, who should have known better but there's not one of us who's never made a mistake, found that the bus would not move for the above reason. He should have ensured that the gear lever was returned to neutral and that the handbrake was applied, and then built up the air pressure by revving the engine. It appears that he left it in first gear position and the handbrake OFF and revved the engine full bore as time was no doubt of the essence. Well you've guessed the result - as soon as the air built up sufficiently first gear (very low ratio) engaged and the vehicle shot forward with sufficient power to fly across the empty "moat" round the flats and embedded itself in the wall of the building where it remained in a very precarious position until recovered.The bus was a nearly new 33' dual doorway Atlantean out of Middleton Depot, and I believe but may be wrong that it suffered a broken chassis.
There's nothing like keeping the past alive - it makes us relieved to reflect that any bad times have gone, and happy to relive all the joyful and fascinating experiences of our own and other folks' earlier days.

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blackprince
Posts: 878
Joined: Tue 04 Sep, 2007 2:10 pm

Post by blackprince »

BLAKEY wrote: Well Gooders and Geordie - I don't have any photos just to hand, but I can verify all the details of this appalling episode. The bus was at the terminus of the number 54 service from Cottingley Flats to Moortown. During the standing time the air pressure had rapidly escaped, which means that the electro- pneumatic gears will not engage. The elderly experienced driver, who should have known better but there's not one of us who's never made a mistake, found that the bus would not move for the above reason. He should have ensured that the gear lever was returned to neutral and that the handbrake was applied, and then built up the air pressure by revving the engine. It appears that he left it in first gear position and the handbrake OFF and revved the engine full bore as time was no doubt of the essence. Well you've guessed the result - as soon as the air built up sufficiently first gear (very low ratio) engaged and the vehicle shot forward with sufficient power to fly across the empty "moat" round the flats and embedded itself in the wall of the building where it remained in a very precarious position until recovered.The bus was a nearly new 33' dual doorway Atlantean out of Middleton Depot, and I believe but may be wrong that it suffered a broken chassis. Great story - real life stranger than fiction! I have to ask what became of the driver? Also I expect the local papers would have a photo of this unusual event in their archives.
It used to be said that the statue of the Black Prince had been placed in City Square , near the station, pointing South to tell all the southerners who've just got off the train to b****r off back down south!

BLAKEY
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon 24 Mar, 2008 4:42 am

Post by BLAKEY »

Nothing serious became of the driver - just a disciplinary interview I imagine, and a black mark on his record. I can't remember his name (and of course wouldn't post it publicly if I did recall it) but he was an elderly chap with hearing difficulties.
There's nothing like keeping the past alive - it makes us relieved to reflect that any bad times have gone, and happy to relive all the joyful and fascinating experiences of our own and other folks' earlier days.

String o' beads
Posts: 1360
Joined: Wed 06 Feb, 2008 6:09 pm

Post by String o' beads »

And have you managed to keep a straight face so far Blakey?

BLAKEY
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon 24 Mar, 2008 4:42 am

Post by BLAKEY »

Geordie-exile wrote: And have you managed to keep a straight face so far Blakey? Oh yes indeed I have Geordie, because whichever way you look at it, it was a very serious incident which could have caused fatalities etc. I can, though, see the zany side of it, and I can understand why many folks would think that it was a spoof report - but it wasn't !!
There's nothing like keeping the past alive - it makes us relieved to reflect that any bad times have gone, and happy to relive all the joyful and fascinating experiences of our own and other folks' earlier days.

String o' beads
Posts: 1360
Joined: Wed 06 Feb, 2008 6:09 pm

Post by String o' beads »

Now even I'm beginning to believe it!

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