catfan 14,793 Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 When I see old corpo buses in museums etc, I suddenly feel quite old ! Having driven most of em ! 4 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deepdene Boy 642 Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 14 hours ago, mary1947 said: Hi Deepdene Boy when you stated about Hucknall Bus Museum where is it please? one more question with you signing in as Deepdene did you use to live in Broxtowe.?   Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deepdene Boy 642 Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 Mary, yes, like many on here I was born at the Firs, and then lived on Deepdene Way for the first three years of my life. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 19 hours ago, catfan said: Hucknall bus museum is situated in the old Trent bus garage! Â The Trent bus garage is something that had entirely left my memory of Hucknall. Am I right in thinking that it was/is about halfway down Portland Rd on the left going toward Boo - ul, near a garage and the entrance to the Miner's Welfare? I have looked on Google Maps but things are so much changed in that area (no Bottom Pit, for one thing) that I am unable to work it out. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trogg 2,016 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 Here is a shot of the depot with a city transport bus parked , It is as you said on Portland road just by the old entrance to No 2 pit. Â 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 trogg, thanks for that. I used to walk that way every day when I was at Butler's Hill Junior school. It was all very different then. The garage had a swinging sign outside saying "Punctures 2d". I couldn't understand why anybody would pay tuppence to get a puncture - such is the odd mind of a 9-year-old. Â Regarding the naming of the pits, we always said Top Pit and Bottom Pit. This No 1 Pit and No 2Â Pit is completely new to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 A Daimler with a pre-selector gearbox I think, not very nice to drive at all. Remember some of the Bulwell old timers talking about them if you didn't quite get the gear change right you could easily end up with a broken ankle ! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trogg 2,016 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 Jonab, Top Pit as you know it is referred to a number 1 Pit which was on Watnall Road. Bottom Pit is number 2 Pit on Portland road. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Pianoman 1,532 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 Well just driven the road from Risley through to Stanton-by-Dale and noticed a roller shutter barn door half way up and parked in the barn was a nice blue and cream Midland General Bristol FLF with another bus parked at the side of it. Anyone know anything about them? Maybe they will be on Wollaton Park on Sunday. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 I'm not sure about that Ian, those low height buses were first registered new in Notts, perhaps DDB will know ! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
taxi ray 170 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 3 hours ago, The Pianoman said: Well just driven the road from Risley through to Stanton-by-Dale and noticed a roller shutter barn door half way up and parked in the barn was a nice blue and cream Midland General Bristol FLF with another bus parked at the side of it. Anyone know anything about them? Maybe they will be on Wollaton Park on Sunday. I have been to the farm, where the buses are, it is on the left hand side going from risley, I used to have the restoration of 1 of there buses on my favourites, but as I have not used it for a while I have lost it. I think that they had a bus that was restored by an ex Ilkeston bus driver, and he chronicled his experiences. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
taxi ray 170 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 this is a link to 1 of there restorations  http://midlandgeneral296.weebly.com/ 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deepdene Boy 642 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 1 hour ago, IAN123. said: Small but interesting. Can yer mek it bigger? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deepdene Boy 642 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 1 hour ago, catfan said: I'm not sure about that Ian, those low height buses were first registered new in Notts, perhaps DDB will know ! Ian, you are correct the Daimler at the top of this page is a CWA6 that originated with Bradford City Transport, NCT acquired four, I believe to start the Clifton Estate services, prior to the delivery of the low-bridge AEC Regent IIIs numbered 199-208 (SAU199-208). 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deepdene Boy 642 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 Does anybody know what has happened to Stephen Ford? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deepdene Boy 642 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 Ian, thanks, he used to post regularly on the Old Bus Photos website, but I hadn't seen anything from him on there either recently 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 Stephen is also red hot on railway timetables too. Pity he doesn't like the new format, well not many folks do actually, but I miss his input. A true gent indeed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mary1947 2,079 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 14 hours ago, trogg said: Jonab, Top Pit as you know it is referred to a number 1 Pit which was on Watnall Road. Bottom Pit is number 2 Pit on Portland road. Was no 1 pit just before the bypass going into Hucknall? there is now a house built on the site it looks like it could have come from deep American South, I remember it been built, at the time I thought that it was in the wrong place, it seems to fit in very well now. As a lot of member's use to be miners (just a suggestion) but they should start a Topic as I expect they have some good stories to tell. Many years ago my granddad was a miner but he worked at Clifton Pit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonab 1,644 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 Mary, from what I remember of the size of Top Pit, you could have built a whole housing estate there, not just one house. Likewise with Bottom Pit, where I see from Google Maps Tesco Extra and Argos are now located, as well as several roads unknown to me e.g Ashgate Road which used to be much shorter and called Baths Lane, Griffiths Way, Voce Gardens, Robin Bailey Way and more plus a large area is given over to nature. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trogg 2,016 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 Hucknall Top pit The best way for me to describe the location is leave Hucknall on Watnall road , just before you get to the bypass on the left at the end of the old houses the pit land started there, a mini industrial estate is now there. It then continued up on that side across the bypass and the petrol station and ended on a footpath that is rarely used now, the other side of the footpath is a house that is set back from the road . I believe the house was at sometime belonged to the pit. The pit grounds stretched back towards Bulwell Hall Park ending again at a footpath which follows a stream ,near the bypass from the stream is the spring where generations of kids have drunk water from on there way to Bulwell Hall Park. The pit grounds beside all the normal structures had a plant where they fire proofed under pressure all the wood that was used down the local pits and was easily visible from watnall road. After the pit stopped turning coal it was kept open as a ventilation shaft for another pit and also a training centre for trainees, many I believe are members on this forum who will be able to tell you much more about it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denshaw 2,871 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 That mini bus 864 was before my time, I did drive some second hand ones that were acquired about 1990,  about 5  25 seaters, we called them Tonkas. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deepdene Boy 642 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 4 hours ago, denshaw said: That mini bus 864 was before my time, I did drive some second hand ones that were acquired about 1990,  about 5  25 seaters, we called them Tonkas. Den, those would have been Renault S56s from Northampton Transport, hideous bloody things that the drivers were glad to see the back of. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denshaw 2,871 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 Manuals as well, we had to take a separate driving test. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 We had double decker manual gearboxes, nowadays the same as wagons, an automatic gearbox gets you a manual license with buses & HGVs. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Pianoman 1,532 Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 When I did my PSV it was Class 1 and Class 1a. A for automatic. As you say people with a 1a licence couldn't drive manuals. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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