tyneside:
I am sure this is the bus station that was at the bottom of High St West in Gateshead. The entrance onto the High Level Bridge would be about 200/ 300 yards to the right.
Tyneside
Spot on Tyneside, I regularly worked into that station in the sixties, service 18 from South Shields to Gateshead. The left turn behind the stands was particularly tight, not helped by the cars parked all over the place. Those buses shown are 36footers with a long overhang behind, when we first got those on service 18 several cars were swiped with the overhang. They soon got the message about dodgy parking!! The High Level Bridge was two way traffic then, notorious for clashing mirrors, looking at it now itâs a wonder more damage wasnât done. We also crossed the old Redheugh Bridge on service 82, another mirror graveyard! In fact mirror damage didnât count on your safe driving record at that time. Regards Kev.
Hi Kev never mind the narrowness of the Redheugh and High Level bridges I had my offside mirror taken off near the south end of the Tyne Bridge by one of Murphyâs Ford D series tippers you know the green pipe track digging gangs, makes me wonder how much mayhem they could cause on the High Level & Redheugh. All I got was a mouth full of abuse when I caught up to them at the traffic lights.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Leyland600:
Hi Kev never mind the narrowness of the Redheugh and High Level bridges I had my offside mirror taken off near the south end of the Tyne Bridge by one of Mirphyâs Ford D series tippers you know the green pipe track digging gangs, makes me wonder how much mayhem they could cause on the High Level & Redheugh. All I got was a mouth full of abuse when I caught up to them at the traffic lights.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Mirror damage was a regular occurrence with all the " navvi" transport in that area in the 60s/70s Gerald. I dread to think what it would cost now to repair a modern mirror, back then it was usually just a glass lens change, now youâd need to take a mortgage out!! Regards Kev
kevmac47:
Mirror damage was a regular occurrence with all the " navvi" transport in that area in the 60s/70s Gerald. I dread to think what it would cost now to repair a modern mirror, back then it was usually just a glass lens change, now youâd need to take a mortgage out!! Regards Kev
Which is why Iâve heard them referred to as âP45 mirrorsâ, because thatâs what youâll get if you break the mirror assembly!
Leyland600:
Hi Kev never mind the narrowness of the Redheugh and High Level bridges I had my offside mirror taken off near the south end of the Tyne Bridge by one of Mirphyâs Ford D series tippers you know the green pipe track digging gangs, makes me wonder how much mayhem they could cause on the High Level & Redheugh. All I got was a mouth full of abuse when I caught up to them at the traffic lights.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Talking of the narrowness of the High Level, when you travel over it today in a bus one way its hard to imagine we used to drive over when it was two way traffic.
However I remember my dad and one or two of our older drivers discussing the Blackwall tunnel when it was two way in the mid 1950s. Our Bedford SBs were not busses but Pantechnicons built on bus chassis to the maximum length in those days of 27ft 6 in and 7ft 6in wide, the same size as the London Transport Deckers and he said when they met a bus cming the other way they both had to stop and turn their mirror in and bearing in mind in those days they hadnât come up with the idea of a nearside mirror it must have been very tight. However he said the bigges problem was the bend on the tunnel and you had to listen to hear if anything was heading towards you as you couldnât see round the bend.
Leyland600:
Hi Kev never mind the narrowness of the Redheugh and High Level bridges I had my offside mirror taken off near the south end of the Tyne Bridge by one of Mirphyâs Ford D series tippers you know the green pipe track digging gangs, makes me wonder how much mayhem they could cause on the High Level & Redheugh. All I got was a mouth full of abuse when I caught up to them at the traffic lights.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Talking of the narrowness of the High Level, when you travel over it today in a bus one way its hard to imagine we used to drive over when it was two way traffic.
However I remember my dad and one or two of our older drivers discussing the Blackwall tunnel when it was two way in the mid 1950s. Our Bedford SBs were not busses but Pantechnicons built on bus chassis to the maximum length in those days of 27ft 6 in and 7ft 6in wide, the same size as the London Transport Deckers and he said when they met a bus cming the other way they both had to stop and turn their mirror in and bearing in mind in those days they hadnât come up with the idea of a nearside mirror it must have been very tight. However he said the bigges problem was the bend on the tunnel and you had to listen to hear if anything was heading towards you as you couldnât see round the bend.
When did the Blackwall stop lorries ? I know I went through regular in the 70s cheers coomsey
Leyland600:
Hi Kev never mind the narrowness of the Redheugh and High Level bridges I had my offside mirror taken off near the south end of the Tyne Bridge by one of Mirphyâs Ford D series tippers you know the green pipe track digging gangs, makes me wonder how much mayhem they could cause on the High Level & Redheugh. All I got was a mouth full of abuse when I caught up to them at the traffic lights.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Talking of the narrowness of the High Level, when you travel over it today in a bus one way its hard to imagine we used to drive over when it was two way traffic.
However I remember my dad and one or two of our older drivers discussing the Blackwall tunnel when it was two way in the mid 1950s. Our Bedford SBs were not busses but Pantechnicons built on bus chassis to the maximum length in those days of 27ft 6 in and 7ft 6in wide, the same size as the London Transport Deckers and he said when they met a bus cming the other way they both had to stop and turn their mirror in and bearing in mind in those days they hadnât come up with the idea of a nearside mirror it must have been very tight. However he said the bigges problem was the bend on the tunnel and you had to listen to hear if anything was heading towards you as you couldnât see round the bend.
When did the Blackwall stop lorries ? I know I went through regular in the 70s cheers coomsey[/quote
From what I read they had been building the second Tunnel since the 50s and it finally opened in 1967 making the old tunnel one way and restricting the height of Commercial vehicles to 13ft in the old tunnel. I think that was part of the problem that I didnât mention about while the old tunnel was two way as both our vans & the Double Deckers were high so couldnât get too far over to the near side as they would hit the top of the tunnel
If you were pulling a 40â 4m trailer you still had to take some of the outside lane to get round the bend when it became one way - thatâs if you ignored the overheight warning first
whisperingsmith:
If you were pulling a 40â 4m trailer you still had to take some of the outside lane to get round the bend when it became one way - thatâs if you ignored the overheight warning first
When you considered it was opened in 1897 and had been in-build several years before that. Designed for pedestrians and horse drawn vehicles, they were the days when we had planners who thought 100 years ahead to accomodate vehicles they never could have imagined. Todayâs âPlannersâ can hardly imagine 2 years ahead with many roads built unable to handle the traffic flows when they opened.
Not far wrong there Carl, many examples including the Royal Albert Bridge linking Cornwall to the rest, built in 1859 & still carrying passenger & freight trains
robinswh:
About the tricentral ford coach on the previous pageâŚdoes this company still operate ?. I did a little part time work for their Loughborough garage in 1977 just before I left for Canada . I drove a small minibus and a Bedford coach only worked a couple of times .
Not sure if they"re still going but seeing that pic reminded me of a school trip on one from Warrington to Paris, via Dunstable in 1978. There were 58 of us on a 57 seater (I think) but we were only kids. Happy days! Did that firm have something to do with Dawsonrentals by any chance?
Water Street in Liverpool looking toward the Pier Head and River Mersey, late 1950s.
The tram tracks are still there, but the overhead electric cables have been removed.
The Trams finished running in September 1957. The AEC Regent 111 is from 1952/53.
Ray Smyth.
This location is Hope Place, a side street off Hope Street in Liverpool.
I imagine these school children have been to the Royal Philharmonic Hall
which is just to the left of this picture. The 4 AEC Regent Mk III buses are
from about 1955, they have MCW Orion bodywork. Away to the right at
one end of Hope Street is the Anglican Cathedral, (Protestant), and at the
other end to the left is the Metropolitan Cathedral. (Roman Catholic).
Nowadays a short school hire like this would require a coach or bus fitted with seat belts and a tachograph with one child to each seat.
Here is my coach parked on Cairngorm coach park all day while my school group enjoy a days skiing. Now I know how brass monkeys felt after sitting up here all day with very little heat sometimes so cold I had to keep starting the engine every hour just to make sure the engine did not cool off too much and make starting difficult.
Happy Christmas to you all Leyland 600.
Thanks! The kind of bodywork I love, and it wasnât as common here in France where most coaches were fitted with standard bodies by the chassis manufacturers.
