Steepest gradient in Nottm.?


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Breck Hill Road in the 1950s.

Bit different now. A solid row of cars and vans parked half on the downside pavement and half on the road, so you don't see the bus coming up until you get to the brow of the hill and then have to slam the brakes on.

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A great photo - even if it has a watermark - of another bus going up Breck Hill Road. Judging by the fashions of the couple on the pavement, I'd guess around the early 70s. The white church

#62 Several of those roads running from Westdale Lane to Porchester Road could win the 'steepest gradient' prize.  I had to perform my driving test Hill Start on Kent Road in 1969 

At the risk of boring everyone to tears, the 25 and 25A were once a circular route. It started from Huntingdon Street, with the 25 going by Carlton Road, Burton Road, Gedling Road and Westdale Lane. T

Family stories I can recall talk of my great-grandfather who lived somewhere in Mapperley Park taking out his motor car before the Great War equipped with a bag of farthings to toss to the children who would help by pushing the vehicle up the steeper inclines.

And my dad used to say that in the twenties if a car could climb that hill on the Melton road just south of Nether Broughton without boiling its radiator it was quite a feat.

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Re #21, I know Cliff Ton is writing tongue in cheek - but honour has to be upheld!

Unfortunately the registration number is not legible, but the bus is an AEC Regent with A173 7.7litre engine and pre-selector gearbox. The bodywork is by Metro-Cammell of Washwood Heath, Birmingham. It is one of 46 such buses purchased by NCT in 1938-39. Their running numbers were 1-36 and 51-60 (registration ETO485-504, FTO604-619, ETV774-778 and 782-786).

They were a bit short of breath on hills like this, and were replaced about the mid-50s by the post-war AEC Regent III's with 9.6litre engines.

The destination blind reads "25A Westdale Lane via Sherwood".

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At the risk of boring everyone to tears, the 25 and 25A were once a circular route. It started from Huntingdon Street, with the 25 going by Carlton Road, Burton Road, Gedling Road and Westdale Lane. The "terminus" - if a circular route can have a terminus - was the junction of Westdale Lane and Plains Road. It returned via Breck Hill Road, Thackerays Lane, Mansfield Road and Huntingdon Street. In the opposite direction it was a 25A. So basically the 25 went anti-clockwise round the circle, and the 25A clockwise. Later (and for many years) the Mansfield Road section was dropped, and the terminus became the junction of Thackerays Lane and Knighton Road, being route 25 in both directions. It's one of the few routes that remain recognisably similar up to the present day. The only others I can think of are the 17 and 53.

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Love your bus info Stephen, takes me back to my childhood. I had a book where the numbers+ reg could be underlined.

Do you remember the ones with a permanent starting handle that was hinged so it could be locked against the rad ?

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At the risk of boring everyone to tears, the 25 and 25A were once a circular route. It started from Huntingdon Street, with the 25 going by Carlton Road, Burton Road, Gedling Road and Westdale Lane. The "terminus" - if a circular route can have a terminus - was the junction of Westdale Lane and Plains Road. It returned via Breck Hill Road, Thackerays Lane, Mansfield Road and Huntingdon Street. In the opposite direction it was a 25A. So basically the 25 went anti-clockwise round the circle, and the 25A clockwise. Later (and for many years) the Mansfield Road section was dropped, and the terminus became the junction of Thackerays Lane and Knighton Road, being route 25 in both directions. It's one of the few routes that remain recognisably similar up to the present day. The only others I can think of are the 17 and 53.

yes you managed it Stephen,that was totally boring :biggrin:

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Now now benjamin, that will do. I personally enjoy Stephens bus anecdotes. Each to their own as Mrs red frequently insists on telling me. Again and again !

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I used to travel a portion of the route you have described Steven. So would it have been the 25 from the Tavern on Westdale Lane to near the Vale Pub on Thackerays Lane and the 25A on the return journey. The only other time I used "The Green Bus" as we called them, was on journeys to and from Town, going down hill from the Tavern. For some reason long forgotten, The 67 or 67A were always first choice. It may have been something to do with the hill to walk up, Adbolton Ave, at the side of the Tavern and Queens Ave, from home on the outwards journey. Big Hills and Stilleto heels, not a good combination!

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The only other time I used "The Green Bus" as we called them, was on journeys to and from Town, going down hill from the Tavern. For some reason long forgotten, The 67 or 67A were always first choice. It may have been something to do with the hill to walk up, Adbolton Ave, at the side of the Tavern and Queens Ave, from home on the outwards journey.

I hate to put my anorak on here.........but the 67 was a Clifton route, so I don't think that was your number :happy:

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On bad weather days, I used to catch the 25 every day when I had to get to school (Carlton le Willows) from Westdale Lane, and again after I left school, to work on Lowater Street on Carlton Hill.

And as a child, I used to go on it with my mum when she went to Sneinton Market on Saturday mornings.

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I am always intrigued by Mr Fords knowledge of buses,I never knew that there was an 'anorak brigade' that did the 'buspotting', untill I joined Nottstalgia.

I like the photo's showing the old buses,it brings back many pleasant memories of bus rides as a kid.

Long may you keep posting Stephen.

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On bad weather days, I used to catch the 25 every day when I had to get to school (Carlton le Willows) from Westdale Lane, and again after I left school, to work on Lowater Street on Carlton Hill. And as a child, I used to go on it with my mum when she went to Sneinton Market on Saturday mornings.

And I caught it every day for a year from bottom of Breckhill Road to Westdale Lane near Digby College, and return again in the afternoon. A friend at college used to get on the bus at Digby and get off at the top of Breckhill before the conductor came to collect her fare (EVERY journey and got away with it!)

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Cliff Ton, I think Carni is referring to the Trent 67, which ran from Huntingdon Street to Arnold White Hart, via Colwick, Netherfield and Gedling. Don't want to go rabbiting on too much (!), but it was seriously afflicted by the fact that it dodged in an out of the city (NCT protected area) between Gedling and Arnold. The Trent timetable listed about half a page of restrictions on what journeys you could and couldn't make on it, along the lines of "If you get on between x and y you can't get off again until after z."

Now come on - we can't hog this thread with bus trivia! It's supposed to be about the steepest gradient in Nottingham - intit?

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Hunger hill was quite steep is it still there? .Mr Ford have you thought about being a coach,if I remember right 61 a 67 and 68 ran through meadows to Clifton,I used to catch the 43 mostly when going into town ,that ran from trent bridge to bullwell ,have I remembered right Mr Ford.

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Yes Stephen, but it's all uphill with some folk. LOL

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Brecvk hill Road was a challenge for we teenage cyclists. Steve Brown (A Sneinton lad) used to boast that he could get up in top gear without standing up on the pedals. I could make it in top gear but never wholly in the saddle.

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And my dad used to say that in the twenties if a car could climb that hill on the Melton road just south of Nether Broughton without boiling its radiator it was quite a feat.

That brings to mind the time I was making my way to Southend-on-Sea on my Lambretta. I was wearing pit boots that day and as the scooter fell beneath me on the Nether Broughton hill, my toecap stuck under the running board. It dragged me to the bottom of the hill before stopping, breaking the steering cover plate into the bargain. I got up, somewhat battered and bruised, took my wing mirror off the right hand side and clamped it over the break in the cover plate on the left hand side. It kept the steering together for several years until I sold it on. Incidentally, I made it to Southend that day, albeit a little later than planned.

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As someone who carried the tools in the early 60s I well remember having to carry them up "Donkey Hill" and also Freda Ave being very hard if it was a winter with ice on the ground,anyone remember the "Totum Pole " in someones garden on Freda Ave could not find it in 2012 on one of my long walks from Arnold to town and back via various routes as i drift back in time.

Also had to laugh that it was bitterly cold here on Saturday only reached 15C..........

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My driving instuctor's 'acid test' as to whether you could really do a hill start was Marshall Street and Winchester Street in Sherwood - a real test for the clutch on a 1971 BSM Morris 1300!

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My driving instuctor's 'acid test' as to whether you could really do a hill start was Marshall Street and Winchester Street in Sherwood - a real test for the clutch on a 1971 BSM Morris 1300!

Yes, it was Hood Street - turn right off Winchester Street, then across Marshall Street and then you came to the hill. My mother's shop was on the corner of Hood Street and Marshall Street.

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Perhaps not the steepest but Woodthorpe drive in the winter of 63' was a bit scary, i had the company van and went down it 'sideways' on thick ice,passing the general Managers house on the way,hoping he was'nt looking out of his window,wer'nt supposed to use it for private use,i'd been to a party and it was about 2 in the morning.

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Perhaps not the steepest but Woodthorpe drive in the winter of 63' was a bit scary, i had the company van and went down it 'sideways' on thick ice,

And the same winter I was 100 yards away doing exactly the same thing on Breck Hill...to this day the most frightening bit of driving I've ever done. A 7.5 tonner going downhill sideways threatening to topple over onto it's side.

Brakes useless...the only thing that stopped me was gradually coming to a stop with the front wheels at full lock scraping against the kerb.

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Ay up tmagames, welcome to The Forum, you'll find lots on here to get stuck into so keep posting!

My roller skate was topped with a Radio Fun annual and used on the somewhat gentler slope of Great Freeman Street.

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