Front-boarding only for BBs
 

Peter Able wrote:
On 15/01/2020 20:17, Marland wrote:

Though at that time the former Tram depot in between Chiswick and
Hammersmith at that time still had them visible as far as the gate. I think
they were still there when the fleet assigned to BEA link bus duties were
located there a bit later.




I don't remember a garage/depot between Chiswick and Hammersmith. Must
have gone before my time.

You almost certainly will have seen it ,possibly in one of its moribund
periods as a depot/garage.
Built originally for horse cars but rebuilt for electric by London United
Tramways who at the same time built a power station alongside.
Used for munitions manufacture in WW1 and ownership transferred to LCC in
the early twenties with LUT renting back some facilities until their trams
were replaced by their trolleybuses shortly before the formation of the
LPTB. They used it on a couple of occasions while work was done on garages
elsewhere providing a facility for Putney’s Motor buses in 35/36 and
Trolleybuses for a short period in 37 when a basic loop of overhead was
installed while Hammersmith was made ready.
It was basically just used as a workshop facility after that for the next
30 years along with the power station site which at sometime had ceased
generation but remained as a substation fed from Lots Road. The BEA fleet
moved in in 1966 and was their until 1978.
It was then returned to normal bus use in 1980 as Stamford Brook which
better describes its location,
closed again in 1996 and use as a store for vehicles held off the road but
returned back to a working garage later in 1999 which remains its current
status.
Meanwhile the adjacent power station has been turned into musical studios
and residential flats.
The power station building at least can easily be seen from the District
and Piccadilly routes just West of Stamford Brook station .

A short distance along the road towards Hammersmith in the era I lived
there when small there was also the terminus of the never successful
Hammersmith and Chiswick Railway still in use as a railway served coal
yard, and a shop whose window held a selection of interesting model trains
,non smaller than O gauge and many larger. Have never found out what it was
called or when it closed.
The Hammersmith and Chiswick went in 1965 and the land used for housing in
the 1980’s.
You would never know it had been a railway now.
The wiki on that line has a map which shows both it and the tram depot
before the power station and electric trams.

GH

Front-boarding only for BBs
 

On 17/01/2020 20:04, Bryan Morris wrote:
In message , Recliner
writes
On Thu, 16 Jan 2020 19:52:13 +0000, Bryan Morris
wrote:

In message , Robin
writes
On 16/01/2020 11:43, wrote:
On 16 Jan 2020 11:05:52 GMT
Marland wrote:
wrote:
On 15 Jan 2020 20:17:18 GMT
Marland wrote:

I wonder if it was Twickenham I saw some tram lines on my last
London
Trolleybus ride.
My Grandad took me out for a last day of rides on the Trolleys
just before
they ceased and we went to the end of the route 667 from
Chiswick to

I do sometimes wonder what - if anything - was going through the
minds of
the people who authorised the destruction of tram and trolleybus
systems
around the UK back then to replace them with diesel buses that in
those days
were utterly filthy with thick blue-grey and even black smoke
coming out of
the exhaust being the norm. I can't help thinking some brown
envelopes were
involved at some point.




There were several factors that intermingled and this far away
from the
Â*And they all sound plausible - but the same could equally be said
about
germany or eastern europe after WW2 but in general the systems
there were
kept and expanded.


Many cities in France removed their trams after WW2.Â* Some of them have
reinstated them since but it was a lot easier to do so with wide
boulevards. London is mostly different.

Problem with trams/trolley busses is they can't overtake each other and
go at the speed of the one in front. With narrow streets they cause
congestion.

We used to have a trolley bus route outside our flat, there was a
junction so the conductor had to get out to pull a chain switching the
poles in a form of overhead points.

You might be interested in how contemporary trams switch routes with
points in the overhead wires:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/reclin...57657326035738


From memory the default was straight ahead, if the bus had to use the
outside pair of wires the conductor got off, pulled this chain down and
held it, the driver then drove the bus forward till it was on the
outside pair when the conductor let go of the chain, ran after the bus
and (I think) thumped the back so the driver knew he was back on board.
I can't see from the photos how the points work or who (if anyone)
operates them.
I also recall at, I think Shoreditch, where the buses had to make a
right hand turn , more often than not, the trolley poles flew off the
wires.

Then of course trolleybuses didn't cross the Thames.

A bit like taxis then ;-)

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

Front-boarding only for BBs
 

On 17/01/2020 20:04, Bryan Morris wrote:

Then of course trolleybuses didn't cross the Thames.

Except where they did.

PA

Front-boarding only for BBs
 

In message , Peter
Able writes
On 17/01/2020 20:04, Bryan Morris wrote:

Then of course trolleybuses didn't cross the Thames.

Except where they did.

PA

Where? I can't recall seeing wires on bridges
As far as I remember trolley buses, like trams, had odd number routes
north of the Thames and even numbers south.


--
Bryan Morris

Front-boarding only for BBs
 

On 18/01/2020 14:03, Bryan Morris wrote:
In message , Peter
Able writes
On 17/01/2020 20:04, Bryan Morris wrote:

Then of course trolleybuses didn't cross the Thames.

Except where they did.

PA

Where? I can't recall seeing wires on bridges
As far as I remember trolley buses, like trams, had odd number routes
north of the Thames and even numbers south.



Trolleybuses crossed the Thames at Putney and at Kingston.

Your odd / even idea is wrong, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolle...List_of_routes

PA

Front-boarding only for BBs
 

On 17/01/2020 21:00, Marland wrote:
Peter Able wrote:
On 15/01/2020 20:17, Marland wrote:

Though at that time the former Tram depot in between Chiswick and
Hammersmith at that time still had them visible as far as the gate. I think
they were still there when the fleet assigned to BEA link bus duties were
located there a bit later.




I don't remember a garage/depot between Chiswick and Hammersmith. Must
have gone before my time.

You almost certainly will have seen it ,possibly in one of its moribund
periods as a depot/garage.
Built originally for horse cars but rebuilt for electric by London United
Tramways who at the same time built a power station alongside.
Used for munitions manufacture in WW1 and ownership transferred to LCC in
the early twenties with LUT renting back some facilities until their trams
were replaced by their trolleybuses shortly before the formation of the
LPTB. They used it on a couple of occasions while work was done on garages
elsewhere providing a facility for Putney’s Motor buses in 35/36 and
Trolleybuses for a short period in 37 when a basic loop of overhead was
installed while Hammersmith was made ready.
It was basically just used as a workshop facility after that for the next
30 years along with the power station site which at sometime had ceased
generation but remained as a substation fed from Lots Road. The BEA fleet
moved in in 1966 and was their until 1978.
It was then returned to normal bus use in 1980 as Stamford Brook which
better describes its location,
closed again in 1996 and use as a store for vehicles held off the road but
returned back to a working garage later in 1999 which remains its current
status.
Meanwhile the adjacent power station has been turned into musical studios
and residential flats.
The power station building at least can easily be seen from the District
and Piccadilly routes just West of Stamford Brook station .

A short distance along the road towards Hammersmith in the era I lived
there when small there was also the terminus of the never successful
Hammersmith and Chiswick Railway still in use as a railway served coal
yard, and a shop whose window held a selection of interesting model trains
,non smaller than O gauge and many larger. Have never found out what it was
called or when it closed.
The Hammersmith and Chiswick went in 1965 and the land used for housing in
the 1980’s.
You would never know it had been a railway now.
The wiki on that line has a map which shows both it and the tram depot
before the power station and electric trams.

GH


Thanks for that. Very intersting. Looking on that map, I reckon that the
tramway depot, wouldn't have been visible from a 267 - unless you knew
where to look for it.

The Hammersmith and Chiswick yard, as it was by then, was easily spotted
from the bus. An odd little line with no obvious original purpose. I
think I read somewhere that it was built as part of a swindle?

PA

Front-boarding only for BBs
 

On Fri, 17 Jan 2020 14:58:45 +0000, Ian Clifton
wrote:

Recliner writes:
You might be interested in how contemporary trams switch routes with
points in the overhead wires:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/reclin...57657326035738

The trams seem to have the same type of pick?up as the trolley buses.

An image search shows Riga trams with either of the usual options,
single-wire trolley pole or pantograph.

Is
it possible to combine pantograph pick?ups with trolley buses? I’m just
trying to visualise it, the two cable systems would have to be at
slightly different levels, I suppose.

You can see it in Zurich, the wires are side-by-side where necessary,
with the trolley wires offset from the centre. They are at the same
level, necessarily, where they cross and I suppose everywhere else.

There is even a railway/trolleybus crossing on the S10, which is OK
while the line is electrified with a DC supply, but there were plans
to standardise on AC so I hope they'll test everything! (Because that
line is parallel to an AC line in places, there are two contact wires
there as well with the DC pantograph offset.)

Richard.