Category: Articles
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The Stowaway
…one of many happy memories from ‘On the Buses’ One night when I was a young conductor for Samuel Ledgard we arrived in Leeds (King Street) at 10.45pm and nipped along for a coffee at ‘The American Coffee Bar’ beneath Wellington Street. Returning to the bus at 11.00pm we found the usual full load on…
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Penny wise, pound foolish
A pioneer in the the teaching of English to foreign learners once declared that he never taught proverbs; he felt they were folksy and old-fashioned. Well, I thoroughly disagree with him. The anecdote below exemplifies at least the following handful: “A penny wise and a pound foolish.”“Better safe than sorry.”“Many a true word spoken in…
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An Arresting Experience
As a conductor in the Spring of 1960 I was off duty one fine Sunday and decided to visit a friend in Leeds for the evening. When I got on the bus in Burley in Wharfedale it was full to capacity with day trippers from Ilkley and so I rode on the platform chatting to…
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My memories of A Mayne & Son
I lived along with A Mayne & son most my life now being 53. I have a tape recording in the loft of an AEC ride from Stevenson Sq to Sunnyside Road, I loved the sound of the AEC engine, the only other AEC’s were LU?s I lived in Shakespeare Rd just off the main…
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“’Arf a day trip she’s paid for…”
Round about 1956 my uncle, aunt and cousin booked a half-day pleasure tour with Trent from Nottingham to Dovedale. I guess it would cost about 4/6 in those days. I haven’t a clue what the vehicle was, but it had a central entrance, and uncle and cousin managed to snaffle the front nearside seat alongside…
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A Really Great Guy
It was during the dark days of World War 2 and in November 1943 The Ministry of Supply allocated to Samuel Ledgard two Guy Arabs with rare Pickering utility bodywork. One was an FD1, with a short flush fitting bonnet (JUA 762). This vehicle had little connection with Otley and Ilkley but the other one,…
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Fog!
There can be few sights more incongruous than that of a half-century-old bright red Manchester Corporation Leyland PD2 making its way through lush, green Derbyshire countryside on a warm sunny day with the word FOG displayed in huge letters on its via blind. But that was one of the attractions of the June 2009 Chatsworth…
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Burlingham’s flock of Seagulls – Part 3
To read Part 1 click here or Part 2 click here Not Really Seagulls Burlingham’s bodywork for front engined chassis evolved from the “full fronted” Sun Saloon model of the late 1940s (some later versions of which carried the Seagull “tank” moulding on their sides) into this nameless “Seagull lookalike”. The 1953 body on this…
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Burlingham’s flock of Seagulls – Part 2
Not read Part 1 Click here The move to lighter designs (by both bodywork and chassis manufacturers) had been occasioned by tumbling revenues as operators felt the pinch from increasing private car ownership. Similar economic pressures led operators to demand a front entrance version of the Seagull which could be one-man operated on scheduled express…
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Burlingham’s flock of Seagulls – Part 1
The original Mark 1 Seagull was a beautiful machine and is represented here by PSU1/15 Royal Tiger HAW 579. Delivered to Whittle of Highley in 1951, and painted in their stylish dark blue and red livery, it was a 39 seater. It was later sold to Buckminster of Leighton Buzzard.(R F Mack via G R…