Ray Smyth:
240 Gardner:
Ray Smyth:
This Albion Lowlander, Reg.No. 747 EUS, started life in 1961 as a demonstrator in Edinburgh,
Glasgow, and probably other bus fleets. After its time as a demonstrator, it was purchased by
Bamber Bridge Motor Services near Preston. In 1968, the company was bought by Ribble, and
747 EUS became a Ribble bus. I don’t know which depot or depots it was based at, but during
the 1970s, it became a Wigan depot machine, where there were many other Albions.Ray Smyth.
It operated with its original destination display in Ribble days, and I believe that it was modified after damage to the front dome. For a super anorak point, I remember the mould for that front dome lying in the yard of the paint and bodyshop, visible from the road, for years. It was right next door to my primary school
Untitled by Chris Roberts, on Flickr
Thank you for the picture of Albion 1968, it is one that I hadn’t seen before. I always thought that the original front dome looked better
than the remainder of the Ribble Albions, it being at the same level as the side windows. Cheers Chris, Ray.
Looking at the drivers door & the strong steps into it I cannot help but wonder why Health & Safety hasn’t demanded similar doors on double deckers for driver’s access in the event of an emergency. I will relay an experience I recently experienced.
I have Dementia and have had my driving licence taken away & therefore travel a lot by bus.
Up here in County Durham sadly Ariva have a virtual monopoly and the standard & average age of their busses is dreadful. with buses always late (Only 2 days ago I had to wait 40 minutes for their X12 service with first bus not turning up & second 15 min late) The standard of even the very few new buses they operate are in my opinion dreadful, as even these seem so badly built they vibrate & rattle along the road as though they are going to fall apart. An the older ones (many about 20 years old) regularly break down.
However a few weeks ago I was travelling from Durham to Spennymoor & got on a new (Only a few months old) Go-ahead decker which was a beautiful bus with tables upstairs & felt like you were travelling on a train.
However he’d just left Durham & onto A167 (In middle of no-where) it stopped. I was sitting at the front of the bus near the driver & he explained his cab door had jammed locked. As he was a largish man he had no-way out as the small area where he took the fares was far too small to climb through & he had rang his depot.
Within a few minutes another bus pulled up in front driven by a mechanic. He had a screw driver & leaned over the top of the cab door to try to free the door catch without any luck.
Within a few more minutes another bus pulled up behind driven by another mechanic pulled up. The driver was carrying a huge crow bar. He asked all passengers to get off the bus & get on the bus behind and before all passengers got onto the bus our driver had been freed & was there to carry on the service with the other bus. what damage the crowbar had done to the cab door & frame I hate to think. I again carried on talking to the driver & we agreed had the bus been on fire his only way out would have been through the front windscreen had he been able to kick it out.
If there had been a cab door like old buses he could have been out & seen his passengers got off safely. When we look at the old buses & compare with todays we have s much to learn & in my opinion with the possibility of the driver being trapped an accident is waiting to happen.