We had a comment from a Bill Crompton whose now living in Spain, he thanked us for the memories this site gives him. Bill mentioned the No.15 bus.. I know we have shown a picture of the No. 15 before, but thought I'd show it again for Bill and add a few more as well..
Bus in Hamnett Street at the side of Woolworths around the 1950s. The shop opposite was the U.C.P. cafe.
Single deck bus stoped outside of Woolworths in Hamnett Street, on it's way to Walker Fold.
A couple of old buses parked up in Hyde bus station around the early 1960s.
The 125 bus parked up in Hyde bus station. The bus is parked up in front of what was later to become the joint doctors surgery... Donnybrook House.
A No.4 double decker bus on its way to Hyde bus station from Carrbrook crossing the Bennett Street bridge over the old Great Central Railway line in Flowery Field.
A No. 125 bus parked up in the old Hyde bus station on George Street. The 125 was the faster of the two services to Manchester from Hyde, the other being the 210 service which reputedly stopped at every other lamp-post.
This photo is of a painting by my Dad, Jack Morris.
It is called "The last 210" and shows the 210 bus at the Market,outside the Town Hall. The painting was done circa 2003 and now resides in Utah ,USA !
The 125 limited stop service ran every 30 minutes from Glossop to Manchester {Chorlton Street} and before Hyde bus station was built its stop was in Greenfield Street opposite the school. This bus, with its journey time of approximately 25 minutes, was the preferred means of travel to Manchester; its competitor being the 210 trolley bus service from Gee Cross to Piccadilly with a journey time of nearly an hour but no extra charge for the travel sickness which was one of its more endearing features! It certainly did stop everywhere and sometimes for what seemed like lengthy periods, ie crew changing at Hyde Road depot and mass boarding and alighting at Belle Vue, where there was usually a queue of buses, but overtaking isn't an option when the overhead wire is shared. I remember that the conductors on this service had a special (d of humour - the signal when the Ring O' Bells was approaching was about 6 rings on the bell. The stop call for the cemetery was "Cemetery - dead centre of Hyde"!
ReplyDeleteAll this talk of the trolley bus is making me feel nauseated - fetch some more sawdust!!
Great comment Werneth Low.. I will try to sort out a picture or two of the trolley buses just for you... so have some sawdust handy.... ha!
ReplyDeleteI remember the 210 being called the Alsatian bus - it stopped at every lamppost
ReplyDeleteThe third photo down shows an SHMD bus in the bus station in the early 1960s. It's got a 'B' registration number which was issued in 1964, so the photo's certainly no earlier than that.
ReplyDeleteMany times my mother and I have caught the trolley bus from the market to the ring o bells the fare being 1 old penny for mum and a halfpenny for me. If I was ever taken to Manchester we had to break the journey half way there so I wouldn't be sick. Also caught the Walker Fold bus a lot as it stopped out side of my house on Mansfield Rd. Good Memories once again -- thank you
ReplyDeleteI thought it was just me who kept feeling sick on trolley buses!
ReplyDeleteI remember the trip to Manchester on the 210 and 125. I used to live in Denton near to Moores's factory in Heaton Street and when I started work I worked in Manchester. The 125 didn't stop at the bus stop nearest to where I lived (more or less opposite the Rotunda works) so I'd usually walk back to the previous stop at Seymour Street to catch the 125.
As well as the innumerable bus stops on the 210 route and the change of crews at the Hyde Road depot (and the bus never stopped opposite the depot; they would always leave it at the bus stop on the other side of Devonshire Street - out of sight, out of mind I always used to think), there was the clocking-on to be done at Thornley Park when going towards Manchester, and at Denton Golf Club on the way home. It wasn't a problem in the rush hour when they'd struggle to stick to the timetable, but outside of that the drivers always seemed to go as fast as they could to the clocking-on point, then the conductor would get off and go to the front of the bus where he and the driver would have a cigarette and a chat till it reached the correct time. It was particularly galling when going home as it would have been a 10 to 15 minute walk from there, whereas if the clock had been a couple of stops nearer home I would always have walked from there.
I'll email you a newspaper clipping I've got of a trolley bus, Tom.
Clocking on, I'd forgotten about that. The card which went into the machine had on it in big letters: THIS SIDE TOWARDS YOU - DONT USE FORCE. Like Dave I found this unnecessary lingering very frustrating, especially on a homeward journey.
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy these pictures have stirred so many memories... makes it worth while.. :O)
ReplyDeleteAs my Dad, Bill Lewis, was a regular bus conductor then driver of the No 15 in the late 40s and early 50s I could be that he was on that Bus in the first photo. As a regular conductor his driver was Alan Stelfox. He also drove the 125 to Piccadilly.
ReplyDeleteBarry Lewis in Oz.
Did your dad live on Victoria Street, in that row of houses just past Sawyer Brow.. they would have been pulled down in the 1980's.. ?
ReplyDeleteI've added a photo of a painting by my dad to this post. It's called "The last 210".
ReplyDeleteThought it was appropriate.
Perfect addition to the post Nancy..
ReplyDeleteI used the 125 from Greenfield St for much of my schooldays in Manchester, getting off at Bellevue. But on the way home I had a choice: the 210 or the 125. It was then that I realised the acceleration of the electric motor was far superior to the petrol engine. You could run after the 125 and have a reasonable expectation of catching it up to about 12 mph. But the 210 was yards ahead in seconds and you had very little chance!
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