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After World War 2 , interest in railways and road transport companies grew tremendously and formed new hobbies for many men and boys in UK . The fascination bringing about many new periodicals, books, records and films on Britain's transport heritage and is still happening today despite the very sad fact no main line locomotives are built in Britain and the bus industry is almost at the same corner..
During the war, damage to trains, buses and stations by bombing were often recorded for newspapers giving an insight to the horrific daily and nightly pounding the populace faced and proved a record of lost vehicles, trains and stations at the time. Having not been born until 1953 those years are not memories for me , and no solid records to date show if Barrow sustained losses to its bus fleet during the bombing waves which did so much damage to the town . Most of the fleet bought in the early 1930's were withdrawn by the late 40's , one such batch of 20 Crossleys that arrived in 1948 ,were intended for Manchester Corporation and entered service with red interior seating. These vehicles did not prove a success in Barrow and were withdrawn by 1959 .I cannot remember travelling on these buses , though perhaps did as a child , maybe other Barrow folk remember them?
Barrow seems to have held a good safety record , with few accidents recorded publicly in the 60's and 70's. From my own experience driving large vehicles, most of the minor damage of scrapes and dings occurs in the confines of the depot , with drivers or mechanics sometimes carelessly misjudging on parking or not watching properly with other distractions going on around or perhaps just tired after or before the commencement of the shift. Most minor damage where I worked a few decades later in Masterton at Tranzit Group would happen in the morning, especially winter time with windows fogged up ,but that's another story.- back to Barrow. One of the earliest accidents I well remember occurred outside Vickers yard around 1968 on the approach to the road across the Jubilee bridge. Number 158 (EO 9509) was traveling past the gate empty where a railway line crosses the main road one weekday afternoon .
The yard ran their own fleet of Hunslet Shunters , most named after Planets or Greek Gods. Usually a signal man would hold up the traffic whilst the loco and its consist ran across the road, however for some unexplained reason on this particular day both the loco and bus decided to take each other on with the bus coming off second best. Fortunately nobody was killed but according to the report at the time both the bus crew and train driver were shaken. 158 was written off . What happened after that was quite unusual (because I knew the entire fleet) and found it odd the Corporation replaced 158 with older sister 128 (EO 9058) re numbering to 158.
These double deckers were being phased out as the single deckers were slowly replacing the older deckers. Drivers I met in the 70's when down at the depot helping out with the preserved buses would tell me they enjoyed the one man operation as they could talk to passengers and regulars making the job more interesting. The draw backs seemed to be more pressure to keep to time, having to sort the drunks out on the late runs and no clippie to enjoy a cuppa and smoke with at the terminus!!
Another drawback of the pressure on busy days seemed to be a somewhat rough driving experience from my memories of the seventies and being treated to centrifugal G force on the Ramsden Square roundabout , or us all in a praying position when the brakes were applied hard on Ramsden Street corner!! Having been in the drivers seat for many years I sympathize , though always better to be 5mins late and keep your passengers than loose them altogether...... In the mid seventies a Barrow bus decided to modernise the Public Hall Veranda one night during a dance.. Unfortunately this was not Council approved and had no building permit and whilst Double Decker 167 (CEO 944) almost achieved its objective , modified in a few moments as a single decker was not to the Corporations liking. No injuries sustained. In the early 1980's passengers waiting to board the bus at the Strawberry Hotel one winters morning had a lucky escape when a Barrow bus ( number unknown) skidded on black ice demolishing the shelter and fortunately with nobody seriously hurt.
Again in the same winter single decker number 14 (NEO 832R)came to grief on the Barrow Ulverston Coast Road service near Rampside Church one quiet Saturday morning skidding across the road and ending up in the paddock next to the Church. Driver and passengers shaken but saved by divine intervention-a soft landing. More seriously was an accident as reported in the Evening Mail in Marsh Street around 1985 when single decker number 48 (HEO 248G)was heading towards town and a vehicle pulled out from the intersection halfway along , the bus swerving to avoid a collision and careered into a corner shop narrowly avoiding a child in a baby pram. Several injured and shocked patrons, but thankfully no fatalities. The bus damage bent the chassis and was written off.
Back in the 1950's and 60's cyclists fought for space on the High Level Bridge as they headed home from the Shipyards and photos recorded back then clearly show it was no easy task for any bus driver to keep his eight ton machine from hitting any one straying into his path. .
Hence it was not hard to understand how upset one driver appeared at Bigger Bank one sunny hot afternoon as we awaited with my Uncle for the bus home from a busy Walney promenade. Two cyclists thought it a huge joke to deliberately ride in front two abreast and slow the bus to a crawl laughing and thinking they were so clever with a captive audience. Many a time it must have been tempting to slip the clutch and give em a fright.
Many more incidents must have occurred which possibly only staff will remember though recently one became known to me from our webmaster whose father drove for BCT . Single decker number 72 (JEO 772) was at the terminus by Lakeland Laundries when the driver Mr Earnshaw ) started to move off the front axle fell away with the duel wheel sets. (a Cartoon I did for his son John of LANCASHIRE RE-UNITED FAME ) of the event can be seen at the top of this article
It so happened the Transport Manager was walking past at the time. The result of a broken hanger which hold the leaf springs in place on the old designed chassis, rare but not unheard of and thankfully not at speed. Barrow bought five Daimler Fleetlines single deckers in 1971, numbered 1 to 5 . Unluckiest of the five was number 2 (LEO 142J), spending much of its life in the garage with engine repairs or body damage. One afternoon awaiting the bus home outside the Kings gate I noticed it approaching and aware it had something of a bad reputation stood back from the stop. My fears were well founded as next minute the bus hit the stop showering pieces of indicator lenses in all directions.
At one stage BCT were considering cannibalizing it for parts for the other four sisters but she was re- engined again and placed back into service. It was not that uncommon for fleet operators to have one black sheep in its flock. I will continue with these memories next time and look back at some of the Barrow buses in their more unusual roles.
Until then, a safe and happy week to you all.
regards Wallace
