Blog Spot Barrow Buses part 3 -

In this instalemant of memories I will relate some of the differences that I recall in the fleet at the time it was Barrow Corporation. By the time I was born (1953), Barrow had a large fleet of Leyland and Crossley buses with a few examples of Guy Arabs -nine in total and two Daimlers purchased in the war years when fleets had to get what they could. The Crossleys did not last long in service, originally intended for Manchester Corporation they had red seating as opposed to the standard blue that became the norm right through until the 1980's.

On reaching an age to be interested , indeed fasinated by these large machines that roamed the streets of Barrow I began to learn more about them and what types they were and their fleet numbers. For quite a few years some of us may recall the mobile clinic that was around in the 1960's. This was former Barrow single decker bus number 2 a Leyland Tiger of 1933 which served the town right through the war years along with seven sisters. Number 10 resided at Bigger Bank caravan park for many years , and eventually ended up in Devon.

Hindpool Road bus garage opened just before World war 2 , my reserach does not give any indication where the buses were stored prior but it was known when trams ran in the town their was depot at Salthouse which went up in flames around 1902. Photos in more recent times (40's, 50's and 60's )show buses parked on land that became the Civic Hall , and the canteen was near to Paxton Terrace,but facilities eventually moved to the bottom of Greengate Street /Church Street corner , then to the back of the Town Hall in the 70's. Many a time I can recall the smell of veges and chips cooking as I walked back to the ALFS at lunchtime , one still can see the kitchen steam coming from vents and hear the laughing and conversations of staff at their canteen on a cold wet miserble day.

The corporation revamped the fleet in the sixties with a new colour scheme , part of a national change away from the traditional looks that had not altered for many decades. New Buses entering service were given the new livery . The last to be painted in the old style colours of royal blue with cream relief was number 54, a single deck Leyland leopard which came into service in 1966.The following year more Leylands arrived, and single deck number 55 was the first . By this time most of the older fleet had been repainted, 141 being the first with the remaining double deckers as they went through the workshops. I always thought it suited the single decks but was not so sure about the double deckers.

As mentioned in previous blogs , things were changing fast , the loss of many of the double deckers as patronage dropped and the private motor car began its invasion of streets and parking spaces made public transport less attractive and by 1978 Barrow had just one rear open platform bus left in service , number 165. Fortunatly their were people aiming to save some of Barrows transport for future generations to enjoy. The Furness Transport Group (FTG)was a group of dedicated enthusiasts who out of their own pockets bought several of the retired vehicles to preserve and run as private enterprises.

Most notable was Leylands 169 and 170 , and some 30 years on it is to their credit that these buses and others they have saved are here today and some in perfect working order. Anyone who dabbles with old cars or motorbikes can apprecaite the logistics of trying to find safe storage for such large vehicles and maintain them without revenue is enormous. Today the whole preservation movement is under threat , and even harder to find new members who like getting their hands dirty. Leyland Number 147 was saved , having been discovered on a farm in Scotland in the early 1980,s. This bus and sister 148 had electric doors fitted for the Coast Road service after being rebodied in 1960 .

Also numbers 159 and 160 were fitted in a similar fashion. Royal Tiger number 51 became the towns library bus in 1959. In the mid seventies it was retired , firstly to Kirkby Lonsdale 's Queen Elizabeth Grammer School then ended up at the Dalston disposal yard. Rescued by FTG , using borowed batteries from BCT number 101 -recently decommissioned at Hindpool, the members travelled by car with batteries in the boot. Such weight saw the Austin Princess 's suspension collapse three days later. 51 made it back to Barrow and was stored at the John Whinnerah. During the 1970's Buses magazine reported via a contributor the dwindling double decker fleet of Barrow in their fleet list.

Leyland open platform buses 161-170 featured regulary, 161 survived deposal and became a Cumbria Roadshow exhibition vehicle with the Council, 163 went to Wales , 162 , 164 and 168 to dealers, 166 to a Scottish brewery company, 167 scrapped after an accident, with 165 remaining as driver training vehicle and 169 and 170 preserved. Not so fortunate were the last group of double deckers of the BCT era , 101 to 110 , originally numbers 1 to 10 introduced in 1961. Whilst all ten ran without serious incident through their working lives , none were saved for preservation. First to go was 107 to Listers at Bolton - in October 1978, surprising since it was one of the last to enter service .

By the time I left for New Zealand a year later, only five remained , 103, 105, 106, 109, 110 108, 102 and 104 were stored at the back of the depot awaiting their fate. 106 had a different exhaust sytem fitted giving it a much throatier sound that its sisters. 104 in its last weeks was giving out a perculier ominous knocking sound , as number 4 it was the first to go into revenue service of the ten back in May 1961. 108 was spotted some years later in the south sporting a red livery .I understood 109 and 110 survived until 1981 , and a small parade was held for them as they were the last of the double deckers of that era.

Ironically not long after, more double deckers were indeed purchased by the Council, some ex London Transport Leyland Titans, others new. Of these number 104 has been preserved (pictured above) and was on some of John Earnshaws photos at transport meetings in Lancashire on the old LRU site.. The single decker fleet soldiered on during the 70's, with at least one example of the first batch of Leyland Leopards (68-72)been preserved . Since then preservationists have managed to save several others including National number 9 which entered into service in 1974. None of the Daimler fleet (1-5) were saved but several of the Leopards (50-64)went onto varied careers with other operators as the fleet were sold . For most of us wherever we were born , the buses we travelled on, whether to work , the shops, beach or cinema, were a strong part of our lives back then.

They had character, were fun to ride on and always someone to say hello to. People were happy and glad to have a transport system that was dedicated to being apart of their lives. Sadly, we may never get that back, having worked in the industry for many years I know its flaws and strengths of today , Drivers, mechanics and management are under much pressure , traffic is alot heavier , timetables tight and the general public demand high quality service and reliability.

It was a real pleasure to recall Barrows buses as I remember, and I hope that which ever town or city you grew up in, you have similar happy memories. Have a safe and happy week. Next time-the music memories of childhood and beyond.

regards Wallace

The picture of BCT104 is taken from Bill Clarks SOUTHLAKES SITE with thanks

Barrow Bus Memories Part 2 .' THE CASUALTIES'

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

Memories of Barrows Buses.

Trusting everyone had a good Christmas and Happy New Year to you all wherever you may be.

One LRU member mentioned in a posting about Dalton in Furness and being the birthplace of the painter George Romney. During my sea days I was contracted to work on several Lamport and Holt ships under Blue Star Ship Management . Lamport and Holt operated mainly general cargo ships to South America and more recently recaptured some of them on canvas.
The one attached ( At the top of the page ) shows the Romney named after the artist which sailed under Lamport and Holt in the 50's to 70's. I had several adventures to Latin America and will recall them in future blogs.
This painting is still available for sale, painted as a spec work for the 2008 calendar, though most others have sold. Details available by emailing me direct or via JOHN EARNSHAW at earnshaw.j:googlemail.com.

Over the past few years on both Southlake's, and Talk and Chat I have recalled a few incidents of memories of Barrows bus fleet so for LRU members and visitors here are some of them..
Transport has always been a fascination to me, in early days I well recall trips with my parents to town and the beach at Walney or the Coast Road and even on the Ribble services through the country lanes to Ulverston or up to Ambleside.

Several historians and enthusiast have written very competent articles on Furness's transport history and am not trying to compete here, but mention a few things I remember.


At Roose the bus service used to terminate at the west end of North Road opposite Jackson's garage, the double deckers actually reversing around the corner where the phone box stood then moving across to the stop opposite the cricket field. It was only after requests to council and the planned extensions to North Row around to Leece Lane did the stop move to the end of the second block around 1959/60 as I was at school at Roose Primary and remember my Mum always telling me to watch out for the buses which passed our home almost at the corner of the first block on South Row.
Sometimes playing on our bikes in the summer evenings a driver who was perhaps new or just forgot would turn into the wrong block, usually the first one !! Often they would brake down creating quite abit of interest for us all and education in learning new words as the driver tried to start the bus to no avail.!!!
As I grew to know the fleet with the numbers it became even more interesting seeing which ones were on the service each day. On the Roose Service three buses operated daily. The circuit would -if on time, have one bus leaving Roose and would pass the Ship Inn bus around Second Gate or Friars Lane. It would also pass the Harrel Lane bus in either Marsh Street or Ramsden Street. On arrival at the Town Hall the next Roose Bus would be just leaving , and our bus would continue onto the Tea House before returning to the Town Hall stop to make up the following Ship Inn Service. Alternating so on for all three.

Services began around 5.30 am with several Shipyard buses passing the house and the twenty minute service operating Mon day to Saturday until around 11.30pm. Sunday service began around 10am lasting until about 11pm.

Barrow operated a fleet of around 70 buses, at its peak in the 40's and 50's it was alot higher. Crossleys, Guys and Leyland's had been the main types but by the end of the 50's only Leyland's were in abundance. Like many towns recovering from World War 2, the supply of new vehicles had been slow and rather crude as materials was in short supply and municipals had to often wait until the larger areas were up to speed with their requirements. That said Barrow was one of the first in the country to have the new 8 foot wide buses, which would become standard to this day . The fleet was mainly double deckesr with a few single deckers for the Coast Road service and Barrow -Dalton -Ulverston link. During the last few years in producing paintings of Barrow s buses I have researched quite allot on Barrows transport system . Another interesting aspect was the use of colours on the destination blinds as many folk could not read and the colours helped identify the route . These remained on the buses until the 1960's. Barrow also introduced the rotating advertisement block fitted to the front of the lower saloon so it would advertise local business on a loop , dropping each page every minute- quite entertaining on a wet day, and perhaps the first on board video system!!
The Corporation would dress several buses each Christmas with interior Christmas lights. As a child I always made a bee line for these , though I think it would have been a hard task for the conductress in the somewhat subdued lighting.
In 1961 Barrow introduced a fleet of 10 buses within air controlled loading door at the front, making for lots of humour as they pulled into the stop watching elderly passengers walk to the rear to find no door . Two of these vehicles numbers 1 and 5 were picked to be dressed with Christmas decorations over the grill, one having a Christmas Tree the other a large Bell. A scene with one the buses is captured in the image available as a print from LRU. These new buses fascinated me and of an evening I would listen out for the bus starting at the terminus and the squeak of brakes as it turned into South Row, without my parents knowledge I would sneak into their bedroom which faced South Row and stand at the window to watch it go past , whilst they were downstairs watching television.

In 1962 the Corporation had a change in livery, introducing a fresh new look with cream over most of the body broken by Royal Blue skirt and relief under the top windows. The first bus to be selected was Leyland 141, which was a Roose regular. The morning we first saw it was a bright Saturday on our way to town with my Mother and all the inside had been repainted white giving the top deck a bright appearance from its smoke stained and tobacco smells that usually were there. Within a year most of the fleet were in this livery , even the eldest buses used for just specials wore these colours.
Around 1965-6 the corporation experimented with a brighter Blue on some of the buses, but was not a popular choice , one of which was number 4 , as when painted looked fine but as the cream became stained from day to day use the blue did not match so a return to Royal Blue was made.

I will continue with more memories next time.


Have a safe and happy week.

regards,

Wallace

A New Beginning

Welcome to this new blog page in which I will share my memories which I hope you will find of interest .I have had a wonderful life ,Begining in my home town of Barrow in Furness and after many travels around the world now live in New Zealand where I now have a reputation as a leading Heratige Transport artist and cartoonist .I came across a website some time ago which was owned by a fellow Barrow expat John Earnshaw and through his site have become firm friends not only with John but many members of that site . I began a series of Prints for that site one of which you will see above of a 1950s Hollands Pies Van which has become a firm favorite There are many others in the collection which I will be adding to over the coming weeks .I also began writing a blog for that site but alas John has now decided to close it down but has designed this new site for me to continue recalling many happy days and the adventures I have had .(John is also working on a NEW site for the sale of the afore mentioned HERTITAGE PRINTS of which JOHN is the only source WORLDWIDE ) Details of which will appear soon (Please note the prints are COPYRIGHT of MYSELF & JOHN EARNSHAW---LRU2FORUMSPLUS )
You can also find out more about me and see my many paintings and cartoons by clicking on the link below
http://www.bluestarline.org/wallace_trickett/about_wallace_trickett.htm
Where you will find my e-mail address for any enquires you may have about commissions for paintings or maybe a humorous cartoon as a gift for a loved one or event