Surviving Leeds city transport buses

gooders · Post by **gooders** » Tue 18 Aug, 2009 3:38 pm

geordie exile There were many mechanics and fitters at the scene of the crash. It took my father three atempts to locate the bus, His gaffer sent him out to recover a broken down bus at the terminus. The first time he went he could not find anything. the second time he went still nothing so he went back to the garage at middleton to carry on what he was doing then his boss came over (his name was Outhwaite) and said are you going to sort that bus. my dad said there is no bus. and he boss insisted there was. So third time lucky he went to the terminus and still no bus so he drove a bit further and saw a crowd of people gathered around the bus. There are many credible witnesses to this incident. My dad had his photo taken with the bus for the newspaper and there were many other photos too. That is what I am trying to source.

gooders · Post by **gooders** » Tue 18 Aug, 2009 5:21 pm

Blakey, Thanx for your detailed description of the tower block incident but you don't happen to know the approximate or actual date of the incident do you?

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 18 Aug, 2009 11:20 pm

gooders wrote: Blakey, Thanx for your detailed description of the tower block incident but you don't happen to know the approximate or actual date of the incident do you? Not offhand gooders, but I would guess perhaps 1973/4. I do, however, know a chap who will very likely know precisely, and I'll be very surprised if he hasn't got a picture. I'll contact him asap so please bear with me.

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 12:08 am

Phill_d wrote: Daimler 514. A real growler!! Thanks Phil for this. To think I may have driven this Old Girl when I started at LCT in '73.

Fleetline · Post by **Fleetline** » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 1:40 pm

stutterdog wrote: Phill_d wrote: Daimler 514. A real growler!! Thanks Phil for this. To think I may have driven this Old Girl when I started at LCT in '73. Hi ShutterdogOnly if you worked out of Torre Road as that's where she spent it's whole life. It entered service on the last night of the trams and was also the last rear loader in Leeds. Its sister went to Lille transport museum in France. Don't know if it still exists thoughFleetline

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 7:15 pm

Fleetline wrote: stutterdog wrote: Phill_d wrote: Daimler 514. A real growler!! Thanks Phil for this. To think I may have driven this Old Girl when I started at LCT in '73. Hi ShutterdogOnly if you worked out of Torre Road as that's where she spent it's whole life. It entered service on the last night of the trams and was also the last rear loader in Leeds. Its sister went to Lille transport museum in France. Don't know if it still exists thoughFleetline Hi Fleetline. Possibly not then as I was out of Bramley for 20yrs.Enjoyed virtually every minute of it too! Although I did not like driving the backloaders really.I found it hard to guage the width of them as you couldnt see the nearside front part of the vehicle so well. I wasn't blind honest!

Hannibal69 · Post by **Hannibal69** » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 10:44 pm

stutterdog wrote: Fleetline wrote: stutterdog wrote: Phill_d wrote: Daimler 514. A real growler!! Thanks Phil for this. To think I may have driven this Old Girl when I started at LCT in '73. Hi ShutterdogOnly if you worked out of Torre Road as that's where she spent it's whole life. It entered service on the last night of the trams and was also the last rear loader in Leeds. Its sister went to Lille transport museum in France. Don't know if it still exists thoughFleetline Hi Fleetline. Possibly not then as I was out of Bramley for 20yrs.Enjoyed virtually every minute of it too! Although I did not like driving the backloaders really.I found it hard to guage the width of them as you couldnt see the nearside front part of the vehicle so well. I wasn't blind honest! Hi StutterdogJust wondered if maybe you knew my uncle Paul Smith? He drove buses and was based at the Bramley depot from the mid 1970's onward.All the best,Han.

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 11:33 pm

Hannibal69 wrote: stutterdog wrote: Fleetline wrote: stutterdog wrote: Phill_d wrote: Daimler 514. A real growler!! Thanks Phil for this. To think I may have driven this Old Girl when I started at LCT in '73. Hi ShutterdogOnly if you worked out of Torre Road as that's where she spent it's whole life. It entered service on the last night of the trams and was also the last rear loader in Leeds. Its sister went to Lille transport museum in France. Don't know if it still exists thoughFleetline Hi Fleetline. Possibly not then as I was out of Bramley for 20yrs.Enjoyed virtually every minute of it too! Although I did not like driving the backloaders really.I found it hard to guage the width of them as you couldnt see the nearside front part of the vehicle so well. I wasn't blind honest! Hi StutterdogJust wondered if maybe you knew my uncle Paul Smith? He drove buses and was based at the Bramley depot from the mid 1970's onward.I did know Paul and I spoke to him about 2yrs ago at Morrisons ,Swinnow.He told me he had terminal cancer.I think he died last year? I've just found out I have it but it's operable,luckily.All the best,Han.

Hannibal69 · Post by **Hannibal69** » Thu 20 Aug, 2009 12:18 am

Hi stutterdog,Paul passed away in the LGI 1/09/2004. It was mercifully quick in the end, a heart attack brought on by the lung cancer/breathing difficulties. He had been on "do not resusitate" status for some time, but, like the old soldier he was, stuck it out with courage and good humour to the end.Sorry to hear about yourself, hope that all goes ok and that you get well soon. I got diagnosed with Polycythaemia (a type of blood cancer) last November, back to Jimmy's next week again. We wouldn't make a good one between us would we!!! Cheers,Han.

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Thu 20 Aug, 2009 11:37 am

blackprince wrote: 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. A very funny story!