Fishwicks bus driver

[anacortesdamp]

Bernard:

I told the guy driving the ex-Fishwicks Atlantean in Victoria that he couldn't have used it on the 109. I suggested changing it to the 111 - Earnshaw Bridge to Preston. He said he'd had quite a few ex-pats beat on him about getting a double-decker under Pack Saddle, even though he had no idea where it was or what clearance limitations it had!

When we next visit Victoria, I hope I get to see him and the bus again.

Frank

[bmann2007]

hi frank.some double deckers would pass under the bridge on croston road nr lostock hall,but you had to get dead centre and always glad when through.hope you are fit and well.
Best wishes Bernard

[anacortesdamp]

Hi, Bernard. I'm as fit and well as most 67-year olds, I suppose. Hope you and the family members I remember well (yourself, Frank, Winifred and Christine) are also doing OK. I have vague memories of your older siblings, but can't remember any names. Do you remember when I fell against a stub root of a tree in your front garden and got the wooden spike in my leg? I still have the scar.

None of the double deckers, even the lowbridge models could get under Pack Saddle and I don't think they could negotiate the bridge just east of the intersection of Wigan Road and Euxton Lane. I remember an incident from the LEP not too long ago where a high-bridge Atlantean on a school run coming from the Chorley side tried the Euxton Lane bridge and got clobbered. I think that bridge was about 13 feet, but Pack Saddle was only about 11'3".

Just adjacent to our main bus station in Mount Vernon is a freeway overpass with a height of 14' 4" and the road slopes down towards it quite a bit. Across the intersection, left to right, it's horizontal, not like an English style arch.

The double deckers starting to show up with the transit agency in the county to the south of us are Dennis models with an overall height of 14' 0", so I think they would pass under, but it would give the top deck passengers food for thought! They have been running one bus as a trial and are sufficiently impressed that they just ordered 23 more. The biggest advantage is that they can hold as many passengers as a 70' articulated rig and only take up 40' of street. In downtown Seattle, three 70' artics take up a whole block.

Americans are a bit scared of riding up top, because they can't see what the driver is doing, but the folks riding Communty Transit seem to have acclimatised to it.

Skagit Transit's load factors are low enough (about 40 % overall, except on our inter-city runs) that we aren't considering either double deckers or articulated rigs yet.

Our biggest buses are 40' single-decker coaches on our inter-city services. They're air conditioned, have reclining seats and aircraft-style reading lights and overhead air outlets. They're rated for 40 seated passengers and 16 standees, but we frequently get 60 or more on a couple of the evening commuter runs. I have a hard time accepting standing pasengers when you're doing 65 mph on the motorway, but it's legal!

Best wishes,


Frank

[bmann2007]

hello frank sorry I dont remeber the accident with the root,Do you remember little ronnie Holsead who lived directly across from us on mayfield rd He died very young poss 9 to 13 cannot be sure and Kieth Maguine who lived next door to us,the beech trees are now long gone spent hours in the branches We once got the fire brigade out to a snake which turned out to be a branch curled around another branch
I could go on all day Best wishes to you all
Bernard Mann ps betty was the eldest then margaret,then Joe,

[katb]

quote:

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Originally posted by bmann2007

hi frank.some double deckers would pass under the bridge on croston road nr lostock hall,but you had to get dead centre and always glad when through.hope you are fit and well.
Best wishes Bernard

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Sorry, couldn't help chipping in here because i remember being a passenger on the 111 and going under the old (long since removed) railway bridge at penwortham and ducking as the bus went under it. I wonder how many others did the same.

I'm sure the guy in the video is still at fishwicks. I've seen him round there but I think he's in the offices now taking bookings.

[Ron Christopher]

Hi All,
I don't say much but take great pleasure keeping up with the posts.
On the subject of the Fishwick Bus Driver, the driver is Billy Pilkington who has been with Fishwicks forever. He was a conducter around the late 1960's and became a driver as soon a he could. He is still driving, i spoke to him the other day. I thought Bernard Mann would have remembered him, I remember Bernard when he had a buthcers round on Wade Hall in the early 1960's. Keep up the reminicences.
Ron

[bmann2007]

Hello ron,I remember Billy pilkinton been a driver a long time ,Remeber me to him next time you see him.please, I did opperate the butchers van for a short time for Tom Clarkson (who passed away not long ago aged 92 yrs) my working life has been between driving and butchering and enjoyed both.but i think of the two the time as a tour driver was the best
Best wishes Bernard

[tonytony]

Hello everyone, just back from holiday and was perusing the Fishwick stores and noticed some of the names of drivers mentioned.
My Father was a long time fishwick bus driver. His name was Bert Harrison who started with Fishwicks before WWII when Fishwicks also ran a small fleet of lorries and finally retired from Fishwicks after many many years driving buses and then the coaches.
Dad was a keen North End Fan and must have often caused chaos in Fishwicks if he was not rostered onto the Specials that used to line up at the Cross in Leyland to take supporters to Deepdale on match days. Despite not being rostered Dad would invariably end up at the match driving a Special. It was a common sight for a bus to stop on its way back to Leyland and for Dad to leap out of his cab and climb into the cab of a Special going in the opposite direction and I remember he once claimed that up to four different drivers once changed their buses to enable him to get to a match. True or not, but he also claimed that if North End were playing away it would be him that took the lead bus because he could always guide the other drivers to any football ground in the country.
However I was a little surprised and disappointed that when I visited the Fishwick Office some time ago there was a large photo of the Fishwick Staff on the wall but Dad was not on it, someone had to keep the buses running.
With the sometimes awkward split shifts that the drivers worked Mother would persuade me to take his lunch and meet him at a certain time when Dad would often take me onto the bus for a free ride to Preston or Chorley and back. Wow that really was a treat for a small boy in those days!

[bmann2007]

Hello son of Bert Harrison I remember you father very well,I worked for Fishwicks on and off in the late fiftys and up to the seventys,then went as a tour driver for 25yrs for Smiths tour of wigan then shearings when it was a small company and four years with Robinsons Great Harewood ,good days .Best wishes Bernard Mann

[Spitfire]

Do any of you Ex-Fishwicks men recall the name of `John` the manager of Fowlers on Hastings Road? Try as I may - I can`t recall it. He, as you probably know, designed and built two Fishicks single deckers up there in that small works. I knew ALL of the coach drivers having looked after the radios in the fleet for many years. I well remember going through the shop on Chapel Brow with John Brindle and entering the coach station for the first time. Talk about Gob smacked. Was this Leyland`s most closly guarded secret?