West Bridgford bus centenary

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

Nottingham City Transport have painted a modern bus in the colours of the old West Bridgford UDC, to commemorate 100 years since the beginning of the West Bridgford system (it was taken over by NCT in 1968).

There are also more old photos of WBUDC buses on the Nottingham Transport website.https://www.nctx.co.uk/wb100/

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

It doesn't look right somehow. About 30 years ago I went to a transport do at John Player Social Club on Aspley Lane. As well as other exhibits there was a WBUDC low decker in WBUDC bus colours. I think I have an old NCT Ultimate ticket overlaid with the letters WB. Sadly we no longer have John Players Social Club on Aspley Lane.

[StephenFord 866]

Bilbraborn - I will almost guarantee that that ticket with the WB overprint is value 1d. I am pretty sure that on the WB joint services, they loaded one track of the Ultimate machines with these 1d tickets, and they were used for all journeys that were wholly in WB (i.e. didn't cross Trent Bridge into the city). It helped with dividing up the revenue between the city and the UDC.

[Trickymicky 57]

During the 1960's i remember WBUDC buses used to wait at a terminus / turnaround at the junction of valley rd and melton rd in wb. Theres no trace of it anymore. Are there any pictures of it?

[StephenFord 866]

That'd be the "11 Valley Road via Musters Road" (in big letters on those gigantic destination screens).

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

During the 1960's i remember WBUDC buses used to wait at a terminus / turnaround at the junction of valley rd and melton rd in wb. Theres no trace of it anymore. Are there any pictures of it?

The site is still there and if you look closely at the line of the trees, you can see where the terminus used to be. http://goo.gl/maps/Vtghi

And if you use the Streetview man, you can just about see - at ground level - the path the buses took.

[Paulus 541]

I used to catch the 15 & the 15A, when going to the Becket School, or catch the 43 trolleybus & walk along the embankment & over the suspension bridge (cheaper ride)

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

During the 1960's i remember WBUDC buses used to wait at a terminus / turnaround at the junction of valley rd and melton rd in wb. Theres no trace of it anymore. Are there any pictures of it?

To my surprise, I found this photo which was/is for sale on ebay.

[Trickymicky 57]

Thats brilliant, thanks for finding it Cliff Ton. I'd done some searching myself, but would never have thought of e bay.

[StephenFord 866]

Scrutiny of the number plate suggests that it had a single digit number. The only bus that fits the bill is fleet no.12 (registration DRR 9). It was the first of three AEC Regents bought in 1937. (The other two were DRR 10 and 11, fleet nos. 14 and 16 - presumably WB were superstitious, as they never had a No. 13, and there was an older No. 15 still running at the time - a 1927 single decker. Hence the non-sequential numbers). The bodywork was manufactured by Park Royal (London), and had 31 seats upstairs. 25 downstairs. Nos.12 and 14 were withdrawn from service in 1960, with 16 lasting until 1962.

[notty ash 371]

West Bridgford must have been like a working museum.

[bamber 128]

That brings back memories of catching the 21 from outside Macfisheries. And doesn't the "Wubyerduck" livery look fine even if it should really be sported by a venerable AEC.

Maybe NCT will take the hint and return to the traditional green and ditch the (pointless) colour branding of its routes that has blighted our streets for the past fifteen years.

[The Pianoman 1,535]

Scrutiny of the number plate suggests that it had a single digit number. The only bus that fits the bill is fleet no.12 (registration DRR 9). It was the first of three AEC Regents bought in 1937. (The other two were DRR 10 and 11, fleet nos. 14 and 16 - presumably WB were superstitious, as they never had a No. 13, and there was an older No. 15 still running at the time - a 1927 single decker. Hence the non-sequential numbers). The bodywork was manufactured by Park Royal (London), and had 31 seats upstairs. 25 downstairs. Nos.12 and 14 were withdrawn from service in 1960, with 16 lasting until 1962.

Think I am right in saying that there are houses in West Bridgford numbered 13

[StephenFord 866]

Indeed there probably are - but maybe there was a policy in the UDC to avoid upsetting the good burghers of the Bread and Lard Island by avoiding the doom-laden number in official affairs !

[The Pianoman 1,535]

LOL. Got that post I made wrong. I should have said: I think I am right in saying that there are NO houses in Bread and Lard Island numbered 13

[MELTONSTILTON 452]

Think I am right in saying that there are houses in West Bridgford numbered 13

13 Blake Rd, My sister used to live there in the 1980s

[Riddo 47]

I used to go home for dinner when I was at Fairham Comp, and if time was tight I used to get the bus back for the afternoon session.

Invariably it would be a 61a from opposite the Winning Post pub, and more often than not it was a cranky old WBUDC bus that arrived at the stop. A lot of kids used to catch it and most headed upstairs to sit on the 4 or 5 seater bench seats that the buses were kitted out with. One of the older lads (no names!) used to come around and collect everybody's fare, so that when the conductor came along he could ask for something like 20+ tickets. The tickets were printed off a roll of paper, and we'd count them off as the conductor cranked the handle round. The resulting "streamer" of tickets was then held out of the window for the rest of the journey.

One of the advantages of these buses was the open deck at the back, and if we caught a 67/68 that went all the way up Southchurch Drive to Farnborough Road, we could hop off at the traffic island at the last road junction as the bus slowed down to make the turn onto Farnborough Rd. It only saved about 50 yards of a walk, but that could be the difference between being on time or late for the afternoon's first lesson. There were a few scraped knees if you weren't off before the driver picked up speed again!

[Bing 78]

The 68 went that way to Farnborough Rd., but the 67 turned up Green Lane to its terminus at Langstrath Road.

And I, ladies and gentlemen, had the honour of being the conductor of the very last West Bridgford UDC bus to run. It was the 67 from Langstrath Road to Broad Marsh and went the route with many streamers hanging out of the windows. Before I moved here to Thailand I ditched all my memorabilia including blank ticket rolls and a WB uniform.

From the next day we all transferred to Parliament Street depot, opposite the Ice Stadium. It was funny because the stuck-up burghers of West Bridford who spoke happily to us when we were wearing our West Bridgford UDC uniform, then ignored us when wearing the green uniform of Nottm City Council.

Shortly after this I was the conductor on a Clifton bus from Broad Marsh. It was one of our old WB buses with an old manual gearbox and the Nottm City Council driver had never handled one and had to call in for a change of bus as he couldn't change gear.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

City Transport crash boxes were absolute sh-t. I had a test in one when I returned from Glasgow to live back in Nottingham. Unfortunately I failed my medical so didn't get the job although I'd happily driven all sorts of ancient buses while working for Glasgow corporation transport. The Leyland crash boxes in Glasgow were very challenging also no power steering or self-centering. The hardest buses to drive up there were the old Daimler rear entrance with pre-selector gears. Although they were semi automatic they were hell having to select your gear and then hit the selector pedal when you wanted to change. Some of them used to kick back so hard it nearly broke your leg. I was glad when they were all converted to epi-cyclic like some of the newer Leyland back-enders. That said, I preferred driving the lighter old rear entrance buses, whether crash box or semi auto, to driving the then modern Leyland Atlanteans. The latter were clumsy and freezing cold in winter when cold air came up through the hole the steering column disappeared through in the floor owing to loss of grommet seal. Some very busy routes up there but happy days.

[StephenFord 866]

Bilbraborn - every discussion on every bus-related book and web-site I've seen sooner or later homes in on the mean, vindictive nature of the Daimler pre-selector gear-change pedal. (I for one am fully convinced!) Nottingham only ever had a few Daimler pre-selectors (some wartime deliveries when they had to have what the Ministry of Supply gave them, and 31 peace-time ones ordered in 1946 or 47, (when NCT's beloved AECs were only available in crash gearbox form). Many of these were allocated to Sherwood depot, and my memory of the early 1950s is that the route 31 Mapperley was virtually monopolised by them. They may have been pigs to drive, but the sound of them pulling away from stops such as Manning Street up Woodborough Road hill was sheer music.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

The conversion to epicyclic must have been a bodge job as the gear selector box used to seize up and I remember on more than one occasion when I started the engine after a lie over at the terminus the flippin' started motor fell off. At least they weren't as run down as the old AECs. I am sure some of the drivers used to pray before driving them - they were so cussed. In my last year driving up there, the corporation purchased some brand new Volvos for one man operation. The bosses forgot to tell us that they were 6 inches wider than the 8 foot wide regular buses. OOPS! Some very near misses. They did however discourage the bad habit of pulling on the hand brake as we coasted to a bus stop. They had parking brakes instead. Terrible to see so many passengers kissing the windscreen.