On The (Old) Buses

[Minimo 59]

I remember the first type and the machine.

 

What amazes me is how you can always find a photo hillsbro. What would we do without you.

[hillsbro 28]

...What amazes me is how you can always find a photo hillsbro...

Well, in this case it was "googling" that found the photos; sometimes I use my little collection of memorabilia - here is an example.

 

Here are a few excerpts from an article I wrote in 1998 for "Routes" - the staff magazine of "First Mainline":

 

As every 1950s driver or conductor knew, the No 82 Ecclesall-Middlewood route was known as the Main Line, and some of its crews were among the most friendly, witty and welcoming. For example there was the elderly conductor, full of old-world geniality, who would say “thank you, much obliged” every time he sold a ticket.

I also remember the elderly crews who were “regulars” on the No 31 Lower Walkley route (known as the “mountain goat”). This route used rather special hill-climbing single-deck buses, and the crews were special, too. One Sunday afternoon in 1958 I got on a No 31 at Forbes Road with a bag full of chrysanthemum plants, which my father wanted me to take to my uncle at Walkley. As soon as I got on, the conductor noticed the chrysanthemums and commented that they were “good healthy plants”. Of course, at the age of ten I didn’t know a healthy chrysanthemum from a chronically sick one - but I soon learned. Between leaving Forbes Road and arriving at Cundy Street I was given a detailed lecture on the finer points of growing chrysanthemums.

 

The 16 (later 61) to Low Bradfield was was a popular route. At least, it was popular in the days before all the regular Damflask fisherman bought themselves the cars that now impede traffic on the B6077, while their owners catch tiddlers. The bus used to terminate at the now long-gone “Cross Inn”, and this involved a tricky three-point turn with little space to spare, especially if the pub regulars’ cars, tractors etc. were in the way. One incident was the talk of the public bar for months - it involved a bus driver who, one summer evening, came into the pub and not-too-delicately demanded that the owner of a Land Rover parked outside remove it, as it was preventing the bus turning round. The “culprit” turned out to be a local farmer, who curtly told the driver that his Land Rover was not in the way. The bus driver insisted that he could not turn the bus round until it was removed, whereupon Farmer Giles replied “If tha can’t turn that bus round in that space, tha dun’t deserve to be drivin’ it”. The driver then replied “If tha thinks tha can turn it round, thee ‘ave a go”. The farmer finished his pint, went outside and turned the bus round at the first attempt. Maybe it was this driver whose idea it was, some time later, to move the terminus away from the pub. This spoiled the fun.

 

In the 1950s an indispensable work of reference was the “bus guide”. This was a small, buff-coloured paperback, about half an inch thick, which had all the details of bus and tram services (also a list of train departures from Victoria and Midland stations). You could obtain one free of charge from a grey-haired functionary who inhabited an obscure office at the end of a dark corridor, at the back of the Transport Department's headquarters. This was a building in Division Street (which, rather confusingly, had the words “Sheffield Water Works Company” carved into its stonework at the front). Another dark corridor, or rather a flight of steps, led down into the bowels of the earth from an entrance in Fitzalan Square, and (for people who didn’t suffer from claustrophobia) transport information and bus guides were also available there. Another subterranean enquiry office was in the late, lamented "Hole in the Road" (Castle Square) where a comely ex-clippy called Marion would dispense information, weekly tickets and all the latest gossip.

[trastrick 866]

Tickets were certainly of different colours for different fares. The ones I remember came in coils - here's a sample - which were issued from this type of machine, but earlier than that the tickets came in wads or stacks, sometimes stapled together. Here is a ticket of this type. But I'm not old enough to remember those tickets - honest I'm not!.

 

Yep, the second one. "That's the ticket!". Thanks.

 

They were held tight in a multiple mousetrap device, and were punched from a belt attached machine which made a distinctive "ding" as it was pressed. They sold these toy conductor sets in Woolworths.

 

On thinking hard my granddad was the Sec/Treas. of the ST&GWU (All out lads)and maybe he brought them home after the new roll ones came into use, anyway I know I had stacks in all colors in mint condition. Around 1950.

Edited August 29, 2015 by trastrick

[Minimo 59]

Loved the bit about the farmer turning the bus. Those were the days eh.

[hillsbro 28]

... punched from a belt attached machine which made a distinctive "ding" as it was pressed...

Yes, I vaguely remember these machines with the bell. The later machines that dispensed tickets from rolls - like this one - were made by the "Bell Punch Company" that had made the earlier, bell-equipped machines.

[darra 10]

Tickets were certainly of different colours for different fares. The ones I remember came in coils - here's a sample - which were issued from this type of machine, but earlier than that the tickets came in wads or stacks, sometimes stapled together. Here is a ticket of this type. But I'm not old enough to remember those tickets - honest I'm not!.

I remember those machines. At the end of their shift the conductor(ess) would write down the numbers on their time sheet and hope that they had the right amount of money in their bag when they got back to the depot to cash up

 

---------- Post added 29-08-2015 at 12:41 ----------

 

Anybody remember those buses to town with the smoking upstairs?

 

In winter with the windows closed with all the snorting and coughing, it was like the TB ward at the hospital.

 

How about those comic bus conductors who rattled off street names, like a bingo caller?

 

Ranmoor Inn, became "Ram More In", and my own street, Hartopp Road, became "Hard Up Road"

 

Lad I used to knock around with worked down the pit. He told us that sometimes in a morning going to work on the top deck of the bus you could hardly see a hand in front of your face because of the cigarette smoke.This was because you couldn't smoke down the pit and they would be getting there quotas in before work.

[trastrick 866]

Yes, I vaguely remember these machines with the bell. The later machines that dispensed tickets from rolls - like this one - were made by the "Bell Punch Company" that had made the earlier, bell-equipped machines.

 

Good info, Hillsy, thanks!

 

But, the machines that first replaced punched tickets dispensed a roll of all white paper receipts, much like a long grocery bill.

 

The conductor turned the handle twice to get the requisite amount of paper.

 

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.skinnerandhyde.co.uk/item_images/13255195083052.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.skinnerandhyde.co.uk/item_detail.php?id%3D244%26ti%3D1950s%2BBus%2BTram%2BTicket%2BMachine%2Bin%2BOriginal%2BBox&h=336&w=416&tbnid=ijJZPtTIb3VpsM:&docid=vXoJJ0wmTFO1KM&hl=en&ei=mZ7hVdS8Ns6nyAT43Y0Q&tbm=isch&ved=0CCQQMygIMAhqFQoTCJTtvvKezscCFc4Tkgod-G4DAg

Edited August 29, 2015 by trastrick

[hillsbro 28]

...the machines that first replaced punched tickets dispensed a roll of all white paper receipts, much like a long grocery bill...

Yes - In Sheffield I think they were "Gibson" type machines. Later, the "Setright" model was used - this issued a narrower ticket on heavier paper. These single-roll machines operated to a "base" of a halfpenny, which simplified the arithmetic at the end of the shift, as instead of having to account separately for each value of ticket, a 1d ticket was 2 units, a 2½d ticket 5 units etc.

 

In Germany in 2003 I got on a bus in the Hamburg suburbs and was surprised when the driver issued a ticket from a Gibson-type machine. It was fixed by his side and electrically driven but it issued the same type of ticket - like this one.

[mikeG 16]

In the 50's I'd sit downstairs on the front seat watching the driver. All buses had gearsticks about a yard long and they'd always set off in second gear, even if they were going uphill. I remember Leyland, AEC, Guy, Crossley and Daimler.

[trastrick 866]

In the 50's I'd sit downstairs on the front seat watching the driver. All buses had gearsticks about a yard long and they'd always set off in second gear, even if they were going uphill. I remember Leyland, AEC, Guy, Crossley and Daimler.

 

I honestly think we learned to drive at a young age by watching the drivers.

 

On our main route we knew exactly when he had to change gear, just by the sound. We even knew how to move our feet.

[handypandy 14]

My Grandad Kelford was a conductor up until his retirement in the 60's. (His sister was our Auntie Ethel, whom the Kelford School in Rotherham is named after.) I well remember the " Bell punch" machine and the satisfying "click" it made when issuing the ticket. I also remember his big leather satchel that he would tip onto the table to count the mountain of pennies and ha'pennies.

 

I also recall the ticket machine with the telephone type dial that would issue a cheap looking ticket with purple (??) ink.

 

Incidentally, we always thought it 'lucky' to get one of the Bell punch tickets, where the serial numbers added up to 21. I wonder if that is how the one that Hillsbro linked to has survived!

 

Grandad used to tell us that he'd worked on the horse drawn trams when he first started, I never knew if this was just him kidding or not.

 

As a kid, if it was a really cold day, we would try to get near the front of the bus to feel the heat from the engine. When I was a bit older, I would be upstairs with all the smoking and coughing workmen with their white sweat towels and mashing cans on their way to work down the 'cliffe.

 

 

 

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[phantom309 10]

The ticket machine which issued the white ticket off of a roll was a TIM but I am not sure if this was just the brand name as I was a conductor and driver in the mid 60s for Sheffield Corporation Transport at Townhead Street.

 

It was a waybill which you recorded the start and finish numbers of the tickets on and hoped the tickets issued tallied with the cash you had in your bag