Category: Articles
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If only…
Ian Thompson Like most of us, I’ve got a long “If only…” list. Among my regrets are that, as far as I know, no pre-war Guy Arabs survive; no double-deck Thornycrofts or Maudslays or Tilling-Stevens; that the low floor Gilford double-decker and the Leyland TB10 trolleybus were scrapped; that I didn’t save ex-Leeds PD1 JUG…
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Why I Became a Bus Enthusiast or “Buses Galore on Route 54” Part 3
Paul Haywood To read Part 2 Click here or Part 1 Click here Until recently, the Corn Exchange was the terminal point for West Riding’s unusual centre-entrance AEC Regent IIIs running over what was once their tram route all the way from there to Rothwell, Wakefield and Sandal until 1932. Buses serving these former tram…
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Why I Became a Bus Enthusiast or “Buses Galore on Route 54” Part 2
Paul Haywood Not read Part 1 Click here As we got nearer to the city centre, at Wellington Bridge, we joined Tong Road. Here we saw further Leeds buses, mainly on the former tram routes from Whingate and New Inn, using a mix of Roe or Weymann-bodied AECs and Leylands, as well as routes 42…
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Why I Became a Bus Enthusiast or “Buses Galore on Route 54” Part 1
Paul Haywood In the 1950s, use of public transport was a daily experience for most people. As a child, I obviously used the buses, trams and trains in my area for school and leisure, but to understand why this daily use converted into enthusiasm is not easy to answer. However, I’m convinced that a major…
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Visiting Grandad
Stephen Ford When I was about 4 my grandparents moved from the Nottingham suburb of Mapperley to Hucknall – now the northern terminus of the Nottingham tram system, but then way outside the precincts of Nottingham City Transport. Hucknall was a mining “village” and my grandmother always referred to it disparagingly as “Mucky ’Uckna’ ”.…
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An Amusing Memory
Roy Burke There are many things about old buses that interest us fans, and for me this includes memories of the people who worked them. As a student, I worked as a conductor for West Yorkshire for about ten months in total, and so met lots of fascinating staff. A recent posting on the Old…
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Wanted an AEC, but ended up with an Albion
Ian Thompson From 1933-4 until 1949-50 Reading Corporation ran a batch of eight Park Royal 6-bay L26/25R AEC Regents, some petrol (mostly later coverted to 7.7 oiler) and some with 8.8 oil engine. The lowbridge bodies were most unusual in having straight staircases, of which you can see a skeletal view on p71 of Alan…
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The Stowaway
Chris Youhill …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…
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Penny wise, pound foolish
Ian Thompson 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…