Surviving Leeds city transport buses

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Tue 15 Jul, 2008 9:50 pm

Plenty of drivers did run round with the front doors open - it seemed as much a part of summer as wasps and ice-cream men when I was a kid.And I can remember being on the top deck of those Atlanteans too - it was like being transported in a greenhouse!

XJSC · Post by **XJSC** » Wed 16 Jul, 2008 1:17 am

A big "Thank You" to everyone who has responded about 101 LNW - it has brought memories flooding back. She sure looks good in her original livery. I had never heard the story about the opening windows before, but you definitely see them on the Corn Exchange photograph in her later life.Funny really, I've lived in Australia so long that it brought a smile to my face to hear that people in Leeds were complaining about the heat on their buses - it would usually be an Australian complaint. I guess the problem would be exacerbated as, if my memory serves me correctly, a lot of the buses from the early to late 60's all had coloured panels in the upperdeck roof, almost like a sun roof, which would have magnified the heat somewhat.This is a great thread - long may it continue...

riclam · Post by **riclam** » Fri 18 Jul, 2008 8:10 pm

XJSC wrote: A big "Thank You" to everyone who has responded about 101 LNW - it has brought memories flooding back. She sure looks good in her original livery. I had never heard the story about the opening windows before, but you definitely see them on the Corn Exchange photograph in her later life.Funny really, I've lived in Australia so long that it brought a smile to my face to hear that people in Leeds were complaining about the heat on their buses - it would usually be an Australian complaint. I guess the problem would be exacerbated as, if my memory serves me correctly, a lot of the buses from the early to late 60's all had coloured panels in the upperdeck roof, almost like a sun roof, which would have magnified the heat somewhat.This is a great thread - long may it continue... 101 isn't preserved, 131 is however, the first of the infamous tommylordboxes at keighley bus museum

Fleetline · Post by **Fleetline** » Thu 11 Sep, 2008 2:01 pm

Hi All101 didn't survive, but was withdrwan in 1978. Others of the batch made it to 1980. As was mentioned 131 has and this also was displayed at the Earls Court motorshow in 1966. 331 (which looked similar to 110-110) also survives at Keighley It wasn't the first of the Tommy Lord Boxes that was Fleetline 146 (Pub146G) Incedently at least one of these (xum J Atlanteans) were exported to Aus in the 1980s!Fleetline

Fleetline · Post by **Fleetline** » Thu 11 Sep, 2008 2:05 pm

Does anyone remember the Swifts single deckers. I especially remember them on the 9 ring road (which killed 2 hours on bored school holidays! The local WM club used to hire them for the annual club trip. 26 Aec Swifts heading in convey along the A64 was a sight!Fleetline

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 12 Sep, 2008 12:01 am

Fleetline wrote: Does anyone remember the Swifts single deckers. I especially remember them on the 9 ring road (which killed 2 hours on bored school holidays! The local WM club used to hire them for the annual club trip. 26 Aec Swifts heading in convey along the A64 was a sight!Fleetline REMEMBER THE PERISHIN' THINGS ???? I don't think anyone who had to drive them will ever forget them !!They suffered from several very serious and unforgivable design faults which were inexcusable for a major manufacturer in the second half of the twentieth century.1) The weight distribution was all wrong - there was insufficient load on the front axle, which caused frequent skidding and sliding and dodgy braking - in all seriousness they were known to slide on dry roads, let alone wet or ice or snow. Smoking was only permitted in the rear saloon and if, by chance, all the passengers were in there and none in the front end the vehicle became totally and dangerously unstable.2) The same front axle "lightness" made them prone to develop without warning terrifying steering judder, which could only be cured by slowing considerably or by pulling up.Funny you should mention service 9 (Ring Road) because that's where the long high speed stretches of road brought out all these nice little party tricks more than anywhere else.3) The AEC problem of overheating and blowing cylinder head gaskets was prevalent especially as the engine was now poorly ventilated at the back.4) Frequent loss of gears without warning was a real pest. The clean smartly clad driver had to turn off everything in the cab and then go to the external offside rear panel - at great danger of being knocked down in the middle of the road. After raising the panel (filthy inside and out) you had to turn off the main master switch ( filthy and often partly seized) and wait for thirty seconds or so. Then turn back on, put the panel down, and get back in the driving seat - switch on and all would be well - until next time !!Talking of the 25 strong club outings to the coast - do you recall that a service van with spares for frequently failing parts always accompanied the entourage ??To be fair the buses had their good points. They were very presentable looking indeed, and had first class passenger flow via good entrance and exit doorways. Interior finish was top quality and pleasant. Suspension, comfort wise, was very good - and the gear ratios were ideal, the engines smooth and powerful and, on the last 70, the automatic (driver optional) gearboxes were well behaved as a rule.For a second opinion though on "does anyone remember them" just ask London Transport who lashed out on around 1300 of the brutes, some of which were withdrawn hopefully for resale almost before the paint was dry. At least Leeds only fell for 120.The single deck Daimler Fleetlines (which I loved but most people loathed) were a far superior model, based on the the finest rear engined double decker of the first generation.

edgey2001 · Post by **edgey2001** » Sun 28 Sep, 2008 11:51 pm

Apologies if this has been posted before, but here is a link to some pics of buses and trams recently added on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/9832585@N03/

Brandy · Post by **Brandy** » Sun 28 Sep, 2008 11:55 pm

edgey2001 wrote: Apologies if this has been posted before, but here is a link to some pics of buses and trams recently added on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/9832585@N03/ links not grafting buddy!

edgey2001 · Post by **edgey2001** » Mon 29 Sep, 2008 2:58 pm

Have you copied and put the whole link in Brandyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/9832585@N03/

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Mon 29 Sep, 2008 3:17 pm

edgey2001 wrote: Have you copied and put the whole link in Brandyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/9832585@N03/ It deffinitely dislikes the @ in the URL. I can't even get the UBB tags to work [urldescription="Try this"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/9832585@N03[/url]