London buses

[Bryanj]

Ted, because they were not registered no speedos either!

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

No 70 mph limit back then either.

[Athame57]

The best graffiti I saw on a bus. There was in the 1980s a public service ad on the back of London buses, about motorcycle safety 'It's not the bike that bleeds' it said. Someone had written on one 'A despatch rider is not afraid to die' 

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I think I read on here, for older riders it's not just the Honda of our youth that drives us to ride into old age, its also the knowledge that we are stradling a mobile branch of the Digitas Clinic, that thought keeps us focused and risk averse.

[Oddjob]

I remember the Leyland National, odd thing to drive. Had power steering on but not off, so you’d have hands going slow around the corner but going like bees wings trying to get the lock off again.

I learnt in a Leyland PD2, crash box. Still double declutch in the car to this day. Can’t seem to shake the habit. My favourite bus was a Bristol VRT, low bridge double decker. Fantastic brakes. Powerful as hell. I had a friend who was on what we called the last bus. In the 70s you left the bus station snd went hell for leather to the destination, turned round and leathered it back, sod the timetable. On the way back on the A6 the police stopped him. It was raining a little so the road was wet, You’ve got something dangling under your bus the police said. Get out and have a look, so they made him kneel down on a wet road and look under the bus. Nothing there he says, oh sorry they say, must have been your foot coming through the floor, now slow down.

[TrickyMicky]

I worked for London Transport for nearly 11 years in Romford. 3 years as a conductor, then passes my test in a RTW with a pre-select gearbox. One of my best ever jobs.  The final 28 years of my working life I was a coach driver.  Attached (hopefully!) is the actual bus that I leant and took my test in.  (RTW 62)

[Bryanj]

Those vrt were wonderfull machince as long as you could keep bevel boxes in them, and the early gardner engine ones with air throttle were real.fun to.reverse

[Oddjob]

There’s a picture on eBay showing a SELNEC southern British Leyland PD2 on a 192 bus service, which was run by both the Manchester and Stockport depots. I spotted it one day and was amazed to see the conductor standing at the side was actually me in around 1975. I bought the pic, even recognised who the driver was. There was another of the same type bus on the 316 service and it’s me driving with my normal conductor stood talking to me on the stand.

Your bus is a lot like the Leyland PD2 Tricky, very similar. Only ever drove one pre-select, we didn’t have any at our depot. Wicked things if you got the gear change wrong, used to jam your leg into the steering wheel when it kicked back.

[Laverda Dave]

I worked for London Transport for nearly 11 years in Romford. 3 years as a conductor, then passes my test in a RTW with a pre-select gearbox. One of my best ever jobs.  The final 28 years of my working life I was a coach driver.  Attached (hopefully!) is the actual bus that I leant and took my test in.  (RTW 62)

Nice bus Micky. My brother part owns (and drives a 1948 vintage RT in London Country colours). Working for LT you probably used to buy 'Griffin Home Sales'. This was food made at the LT Croydon food factory. They used to sell tea bags, sausages, huge shortbread biscuits the size of a side plate with a Griffin stamped in the middle. My ex-wife's sister had her wedding cake made there. All gone now in the name of privatisation and 'efficiency'.

[Orcade-Ian]

When I started at High School in 1960, I had to get a bus into Hull Paragon Station, then another (usually a trolley bus) to the School and the same on return.  I saw bigger lads jump off the bus platform and then run alongside to save a bit of time.  "I'll have some of that" thought I, but my next bus departed from the opposite direction.  I had obviously not worked out the physics, as I jumped down and promptly fell flat on my arse, to the great amusement of everyone watching!  I did perfect the technique eventually, until the Atlanteans came along with folding doors at the front, under the watchful eye and control of the driver.

Ian