Bridge bashing

[chriswright03]

That sort of thing (taking the wrong road) can happen very easily when you are new to the job.  The amount of routes you have to learn and if you are new to the area as well it is very difficult.  In Grimsby you were given a couple of weeks to route learn all of the routes by driving around in service with a trainer/mentor with you.  After that you were expected to go out on your own.  Some of the routes were quite complex especially the ones that were not as frequent partly because during your training you would not be on them very often.

 

If you did not now the routes by the end of the two weeks you were not very popular and if they had to have a mentor with you for longer even less so.  Then there is the problem of having to divert on the route for some reason and whilst there generally are set diversions you would not be taught them at all.

 

In my very early days I took a route that was used to spin a bus round to get back into the bus station from the opposite directions.  Having only seen it once I took the wrong turn and ended up going towards the railway bridge that I mentioned earlier in this thread.  Luckily I saw it straight away and realised the bus would not go under and had to manage to turn it round, itself not an easy task.

 

So had the driver above been new and seen buses take the turn and go under the bridge he may not know that another turning would take him to a lower bridge even if in front of it the gap seemed small having gone under it before as they would have mistakenly thought it was OK. 

 

Another thing that may not be known is that you are as a rule not allowed to reverse a bus with passengers on unless the Council agree as it is part of the route.  On top of that you are not allowed in the depot to reverse a bus without a banksman.  So consequently when you do have to reverse because you have taken a wrong turn and you have no one to guide you it is that little bit more difficult.  I left Public Service driving and went to Private Hire where I was expected to reverse a coach into a single commercial unit at night on my own and let me tell you the first few goes were buttock clenching!

[royaloak]

Slightly off topic, as it's not related to bridge bashing as such, but it seems there's a lot of knowledgeable bus people on here.

 

Has anyone tried fitting couplers & MU gear to buses & running pairs of single deckers with one driver?

Yorkshire Traction had some mark 2 Nationals fitted with a coupling and air pipe connectors at the back so they could be used as tow buses, I remember watching one of them recover a broken down Olympian, it was quite a sight.

 

Does that count?

[Coryton]

Slightly off topic, as it's not related to bridge bashing as such, but it seems there's a lot of knowledgeable bus people on here.

 

Has anyone tried fitting couplers & MU gear to buses & running pairs of single deckers with one driver?

 

Trolleybuses in Leningrad in the 80's.

 

I think I had some photographs (well, slides) but I haven't seen them for many years.

 

In those days it was, so far as I know, legal to take photographs of trolleybuses, trams and buses in the Soviet Union, unlike trains (or planes, bridges, or anything out of a window more than a few stories high....)

[JZ]

And sometimes even single decks won't fit! As these press photos show.

 

 

 

The driver, running dead (empty) to depot turned left one road too soon and instead of emerging from a "single deck only" bridge on the 5 route, failed to negotiate an even smaller arch. 

Ah, yes. Jew's Lane Twerton.

[HillsideDepot]

Northern General (or GoAhead Northern as it styled itself by then) in the 80s/90s used to have a towing bar fitted to the back of a Chester-le-Street VRT to use as a recovery truck. We once asked about this on a depot visit and was told "the VRs are on the way out, so we use one as a tow truck until it destroys the back axle, then we park it up and move the gear to a different one". 

 

I've never driven an artic bus, but talking to those who have they say the most disconcerting thing to start with is to check your mirror as you turn and immediately think "he's too close behind" before then thinking "oh, that's still my bus". I'll stick driving buses that don't bend in the middle (lengthwise) and concentrate on making sure I don't do anything to bend (or worse!) them in the middle height-wise! 

[Coryton]

I've never driven an artic bus, but talking to those who have they say the most disconcerting thing to start with is to check your mirror as you turn and immediately think "he's too close behind" before then thinking "oh, that's still my bus". I'll stick driving buses that don't bend in the middle (lengthwise) and concentrate on making sure I don't do anything to bend (or worse!) them in the middle height-wise! 

 

The "double-bendy" buses in the Netherlands must be particularly fun to drive.

 

I'm told they can be reversed...very very carefully....

[JZ]

I've never driven an artic bus, but talking to those who have they say the most disconcerting thing to start with is to check your mirror as you turn and immediately think "he's too close behind" before then thinking "oh, that's still my bus". I'll stick driving buses that don't bend in the middle (lengthwise) and concentrate on making sure I don't do anything to bend (or worse!) them in the middle height-wise! 

You could have a double bendy one, like this one I saw in Bergen.

[keefer]

That would make sense.  Crumple zones absorb the energy in an impact and dissipate it so damage is minimal elsewhere.  If the roof were to bend inwards it would intrude into the saloon and cause injury to anyone in there.

 

A quick Google for images though has produced this which didn't do as described above.

 

https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article6807117.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/JS76347871.jpg

presumably the 'tree bars' on the front stopped the bridge from making a clean cut and the roof was just squished down as a result

[chriswright03]

Quite possibly but if the roof is designed to come off rather than crumple it seems strange to then boot on a bar to change that.

[Coryton]

You could have a double bendy one, like this one I saw in Bergen.

20171120_151012.jpg

 

Snap!

[melmerby]

Reading trams were always open top, because the old arched Reading West bridge precluded the use of enclosed double deckers. There was a sign on the bridge telling passengers to remain seated!

In the early days all Birmingham trams were open top because the relevant authorities wouldn't allow roofed trams on 3' 6" track.

Something to do with the centre of gravity being too high with a roof. Later they relented and all were roofed over.

 

Keith

[melmerby]

I recall being told by somebody who worked for one of the bus manufacturers that the roofs are deliberately designed to shear off at the base of the pillars to minimize injurys to Passengers in the case of a bridge strike as the roof effectively passes over their heads rather than crumpling on top of them. This change came on the back of an accident, possibly the Glasgow one refered to earlier. If you look at images of bridge strike from 1st gen rear engine buses such as a fleetline or Bristol Vr you will see the roof crumples up like a ball of paper, unlike the Trident in Birmingham today where the roof has come cleanly off.

However as the Brum bus was reduced to the height of the seat backs I think many a person would also have been sliced cleanly off!  

 

Keith

[chriswright03]

In reality no matter what the design is or isn't it is better not to drive under bridges unless you now it fits.

 

While we are talking about roofless buses I used to drive the open top bus in Cleethorpes some days in the summer.  Most people wanted to be upstairs but on one cold and windy day two couples got on, the blokes went straight upstairs leaving the women to pay.  One of them said "why have they gone upstairs it is cold?"  I told her it was OK I had put the heater on up there for them.  Up she goes telling the others I had put the heater on for them!

[melmerby]

 

 

While we are talking about roofless buses I used to drive the open top bus in Cleethorpes some days in the summer.

Summer?

Softies!

 

In Cumbria in November they were still running the 599 open top service.

 

Keith

[LMS2968]

Summer?

Softies!

 

In Cumbria in November they were still running the 599 open top service.

 

Keith

Well, yes, but in Cumbria they probably had to change the horses every twenty miles or so.

[rodent279]

In reality no matter what the design is or isn't it is better not to drive under bridges unless you now it fits.

 

While we are talking about roofless buses I used to drive the open top bus in Cleethorpes some days in the summer.  Most people wanted to be upstairs but on one cold and windy day two couples got on, the blokes went straight upstairs leaving the women to pay.  One of them said "why have they gone upstairs it is cold?"  I told her it was OK I had put the heater on up there for them.  Up she goes telling the others I had put the heater on for them!

Once again, the gullibility of grown adults never ceases to amaze me!

 

I mean, come on.......summer in Cleethorpes........

Edited December 23, 2017 by rodent279

[chriswright03]

Summer?

Softies!

 

In Cumbria in November they were still running the 599 open top service.

 

Keith

With folk in T shirts!

[Coryton]

They might be insisted on if they were at all practical but they'd trigger so many false alarms as to be worse than useless (think of all the trees that have bus-shaped sides from being constantly scraped by them). Transponders on bridges or a GPS-based warning system might work.

 

Well, it turns out that low bridge alarms do exist.

 

I was on a double decker bus today in Cardiff when there was suddenly a rather melodious chime followed by a voice announcing a low bridge 100 m ahead. (There wasn't).

 

It carried on announcing the bridge for some time.

 

A quick chat to the driver confirmed that this was not an unusual occurrence and in fact somewhat irritating.

 

Worse than useless? Probably. But there is at least one bus in the UK fitted with one.

[kevinlms]

Probably the driver still did a double check of where he was and going!

[JDW]

Slightly off topic, as it's not related to bridge bashing as such, but it seems there's a lot of knowledgeable bus people on here.

 

Has anyone tried fitting couplers & MU gear to buses & running pairs of single deckers with one driver?

 

Someone else mantioned bendy buses.  This http://www.agk.bayern/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BUS_3900.jpg might be closer to a pair of single deckers though... (not legal in the UK, but seen in certain other European countries)

[PhilJ W]

Someone else mantioned bendy buses.  This http://www.agk.bayern/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BUS_3900.jpg might be closer to a pair of single deckers though... (not legal in the UK, but seen in certain other European countries)

In some eastern European countries they run trolleybuses linked together in pairs with one driver.

[PhilJ W]

Back on topic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-45964816

Edited October 24, 2018 by PhilJ W

[F-UnitMad]

Back on topic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-45964816

Someone says "I suspect the lorry driver may get a letter from his bosses..."

 

P45, more like. because regardless of the ill-informed opinions of some - that drivers can do this sort of thing with impunity - in reality they really can't.

He'll end up like the train driver in the 'runaway train' movie "Unstoppable" - during the closing credits; "Dewey is now working in the Fast Food industry".

[PhilJ W]

Someone says "I suspect the lorry driver may get a letter from his bosses..."

 

P45, more like. because regardless of the ill-informed opinions of some - that drivers can do this sort of thing with impunity - in reality they really can't.

He'll end up like the train driver in the 'runaway train' movie "Unstoppable" - during the closing credits; "Dewey is now working in the Fast Food industry".

Because of their height car carrier drivers are given a specific route which they have to keep too. So he either decided to take a short cut or took the wrong turning. There has been instances however where the instructions were in error and on one occasion were a police officer directed a driver under a low bridge.

[Wickham Green]

Because of their height car carrier drivers are given a specific route which they have to keep too. So he either decided to take a short cut or took the wrong turning. There has been instances however where the instructions were in error and on one occasion were a police officer directed a driver under a low bridge.

Probably following his SatNav ............