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A West Midlands Travel 1993 Adventure

motorman-mike

motorman-mike

Brum visitor who stayed.
View attachment 55302View attachment 55301View attachment 55300In 1990 a group of WMT busmen at Yardley Wood including myself formed a bus enthusiasts club to take a company 'showbus' to bus shows and rallies. At first the bus used was a withdrawn Daimler Fleetline double decker retained by the company numbered 4041 which was to be later donated to the Aston Manor Transport Museum where it can still be seen now. In 1993 an advert appeared in the bus magazines for an 'Autofest' to be held in the Czechoslovakia so the club asked the management if a bus could be taken to this. To our surprise the management agreed but would not permit us to take the Metrobus we requested, as a breakdown would be costly to attend or even worse if recovering it back to UK. Instead they insisted that a then new Scania from Birmingham Central should be taken as they were under warranty and Scania had breakdown cover as far as the German/Czech border plus it was good for the company image. So Scania 3247 was swopped for a YW Metrobus for the duration of our trip and the adventure began! Photos here show our ultimate destination Liberec, us in Yardley Wood Garage just before setting off to Dover for a ferry to France and the destination blind specially prepared for the journey. (More photos to follow)
 
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Ok John and Thylacine here we go then. Having reached Dover in good time to refuel, we found at the port already a London Transport Routemaster. It turned out to be privately preserved RM938, booked on the same ferry as us and heading for the same place, and better still had been before to the 1992 Bohemia Autofest, so we agreed to run together. The organiser of the Autofest had sent us a detailed double deck safe route but it was reassuring to join the RM.
First view is through the windscreen of 3247 as we chased RM938 along the French Autoroute near Dunkerque - heading for Lille.The second view features yours truly at a tea brew up stop at the old French/Belgian border control (no longer in use since the EU opened the borders). An overnight stop was then made in Luxembourg.
 
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A handsome travelling companion for 3247, Mike. From the history of RM938 on this page (from Ian's Bus Stop), we learn that it was new in November 1961, was withdrawn in September 1987, and passed to preservationists in July 1989. It first visited the Czech Autofest in May 1992, and returned to the Czech Republic for a third visit (to Ústí nad Labem) in June 1999. RM938 is still going strong, and is seen here "on the continent" again (Belgium) on 12 June this year.
 
Thanks again Mike, I remember you going on that trip but didn,t know any details about it, find it very interesting, pity 3247 could not have been preserved. Kind Regards. John.
 
John, 3247 is still working with a private operator and when withdrawn by them is on first refusal to David Griffiths who organised the Czech Autofest events. He wants to put it back in to WMT livery if the deal goes through. If this happens 3247 will make it's third trip to the Czech but not come back.

Thylacine, thanks for those links. We meet Ian Hoskins, now a friend and the owner of RM938 every year at the Cobham Bus Museum events and at Showbus. (He is a motorman instructor on the Croydon Tramway in London).

Next photos: After our night in Luxembourg it's over the border in to Germany and here is 3247 on another tea brew break alongside the Autobahn that we are using to reach Saarbrucken and then another overnight stop near the Czechoslovakian border. Second view, next morning, we are through the German border post and parked in no mans land just before the Czech border post. This was to change our Pounds for Koruns (Crowns) as at that time it was impossible to get them in England before leaving. All fuel bought now had to be paid for in cash as Visa was unavailable there at the time. (The only fuel was at former Communist Benzina filling stations so our Shell Bunkering Card was useless as well). The passengers on the homebound Shearings tour coach in the background were changing their spare Koruns back to Pounds and their faces were a picture when they saw us pull up.
 
Thanks again Mike! And thanks for rationing the story: I'm looking forward to my daily serving of 3247.
 
Hi. Mike.
Thanks for the photo,s and updates of your trip, wish I had been with you all. Nice to know 3247 is still in use and going to be preserved I hope, its had an interesting existance all in all, after spending most of its life at Liverpool St. where in the country is it now with its new operator?.
 
Armed with plenty of Koruns we are now looking forward to entering Czechoslovakia which can be seen at the head of the traffic queue in the first view. Second view and once over the border the traffic seemed to evaporate as seen in the first small town we came upon. Note the obsolete level crossing sign. RM938 had left us to our night in a German hotel as Ian and Co were staying in the 'Routemaster Hotel' and had arranged to wait for us on a Motorway Service area over the Czech border where we would be met by David Griffiths who would pilot us to our next hotel.. We were surprised to know they had any Motorway but then found out on joining it that it was really an upgraded dual carriageway 'A' road with Motoway signage but no hard shoulders!
Of interest, to get through the border post out of Germany, because of our height we had to pass through the Exit side of the post for which the Police held the traffic for us to go through. This worked well as our papers were only glanced at and passports quickly checked and sent through with minimal delay except that we then had to park to await the return of the one and only Republic of Ireland passport held by one of our party. (No EU passports at that time and the Germans seemed a bit confused by its green cover bearing a gold harp when the rest of us had UK passports on an English bus). With no mobile phones we had to hope David and Ian didn't give up on us as we were heading for Prague and wouldn't have a clue where we were actually staying.
 
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Thanks John, there are quite a few photos to come and then I could go on to bore everyone to tears with the 3247 1995 trip and even another one organised by Birmingham Central Garage who relied on the YW gang to get them there and back via the Channel Tunnel in an Optare 'decker after the National Express takeover of (sorry, merger with) WMT.
Mike
 
motorman-mike said:
Thanks John, there are quite a few photos to come and then I could go on to bore everyone to tears with the 3247 1995 trip and even another one organised by Birmingham Central Garage who relied on the YW gang to get them there and back via the Channel Tunnel in an Optare 'decker after the National Express takeover of (sorry, merger with) WMT.
Mike
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Far from boring Mike, very interesting in fact, be great to see the other pics. and hear about the other trips also, hope you and Drin are keeping well.
 
Thanks againThylacine and John,

We are John, and will be down to W-S-M for the pier next month all being well.

So, on with the show and the first town we encountered, Pilsen home of the original Pilsner Beer brewery that gave the world the type of beer called Pilsner. We were delighted to catch sight of our first Czech trams here which we learned were the Tatra T3 type running in pairs. the livery was still the standard Communist red and cream which we would see elsewhere as well. The view is through the windsceen of 3247 as is the second view of a Pilsen Skoda trolleybus. We got used to the attention we got as seen here with the locals completely bemused at the sight of our double decker with it's steering wheel and platform doors on the 'wrong side' of the bus. Just after this shot we went under a railway bridge using the crown of the road with the trolleybus wires dipped down to level with our upper deck windows on both sides. We now know what it was like from the top deck of a Birmingham tram under Aston railway bridge. Everyone joked, it's OK, if we touch the wires our rubber tyres will insulate us so keep yer feet inside the bus and don't touch the road, as if we would!
 
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Thanks Mike! I don't think I've seen Czech trams and tolleybuses before. The people waiting at the trolleybus stop are all staring incredulously at 3247!
 
Our deadline for the planned meet up on the Motorway services after Pilsen was easily met (David and friend arrived late shortly after) and so it was follow the red car to Prague. Through the windscreen again and it's our first passing Prague tram, a pair of Tatra T3's, the driving car in all over advertising livery (a new revenue earning gimmick adopted from us in Western Europe and unimaginable in Communist times) whilst the trailing car is in original State livery. Of interest is that both cars are powered when running in multiple. In the second view, RM938 and 3247 are seen in the morning sunshine where they were parked the night before outside our hotel part of which is the multi storey block in the backgound. Out on the edge of Prague the hotel complex was originally offices and accomodation belonging to the Russian KGB and left empty when they returned to Russia after the fall of Communism. The restaurant in the hotel had already been a massive dining room with no frills - we christened it the KGB Canteen with hefty elderly waitresses who plonked the plates down on the tables without a smile and then, we suspect, went off to repair roads. In this view was our first close up meeting with a Czech built Karosa coach (the white one) which was a really just a bus with coach seats although it had a fridge full of beer and soft drinks! The other coaches seen were German to the left and Dutch to the right. Our buses stayed put as we were off for a day exploring Prague and had a tram to catch.
 
Mike, was your "KGB Hotel" room bugged? :D Nice tram pic showing the suitably wide Prague streets. (Melbourne was able to keep its trams over the decades because its city planners originally decided on lovely wide streets). And what a great pic of RM938!
 
Never thought of that, Thylacine, but the staff did whisper a lot:D.

It was a short walk from the hotel to the outer terminus of tram routes 22 and 26 and what a treat the terminus was. Below street level and hidden by a wall, it was quite a surprise to look over the wall. Both views here are the arrival stops, the trams then pulled forward to take break time before moving on to the loading stops on the opposite side of what was a turning circle. All Prague T3's are single ended running in pairs and whilst some routes have cars formed in back to back sets most routes both cars face forward requiring turning circles. The gang commented on being at Rednal in the tramway days, but this layout dwarfed that one. We noticed buses above the trams on the far side and as we needed the loading stops on that side, went round for a closer look, so the in views to come will be what we saw over there.
 
Interesting current pick-ups; are they called "pantographs" or am I thinking of something else? Prague trams have very high fleet numbers, e g 7092 and 7112 --- they can't have that many! Perhaps the 7 is an "area code". And is that your shadow in the second shot, Mike?
 
A fascinating story, Mike (just found it!)
Incidentally, a search of the DVLA datbase shows H247 LOM has been off the road since the end of October 2009 - has it gone for scrap?? Who had it after TWM?
 
There is a Wiki article on the Prague tramways, called this now, and the present-day website (for those of you with A level Czech!).

Oh, and I have (unofficially, aged 17) driven a Prague tram - this one at the National Tramway Museum, Crich.

Electriche Drahy Kral Hlav Mesta Prahy (Royal City of Prague Electricity Company) 180.
"Constructed in 1905 this tram has enjoyed more press coverage than any other tram in the Museum’s prestigious Collection. In 1968 it "escaped" from Czechoslovakia as Warsaw Pact troops were advancing, only hours away from the border being sealed."
I was a working member there (staying for a working fortnight) when it arrived, on a Skoda tram-transporting lorry. Although the Czech crew were offered asylum in the UK, they opted to return to their families.
 
Thanks for those links, Lloyd. I was fascinated by the Wikipedia article on Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy (DphmP), which contains a nice fleet summary, explaining that the current fleet (of a respectable 1,000 or so trams) is numbered in the range 69xx - 92xx. DphmP (and its predecessors) obviously maintained the same fleet number sequence for many decades. Your motorman experience with Electriche Drahy Kral Hlav Města Prahy tram 180 at NTM is a lovely memory!

And I didn't need Czech for the DphmP website: Mr Google kindly provides a "Translate" button, which does a pretty good (if not A level) job!
 
Praha is obviously an anorak-friendly city. ;)

DphmP maintains a small fleet of heritage trams which it uses on "nostalgic" sightseeing service 91. Below are a few pictures, and here is a short video of number 412.

The full version of the old fleetname seems to be "ELEKTRICKÉ DRÁHY KRÁLOVSKÉHO HLAVNÍHO MĚSTA PRAHY", of which the abbreviated form "ELEKTRICKÉ DRÁHY KRÁL. HLAV. MĚSTA PRAHY" appears on the trams. (Though 412 in the video appears to show "ELEKTRICKÉ DRÁHY HLAV. MĚSTA PRAHY").
 
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A quick walk around to the other side of the tram circle found D.P.Prague Ikarus bendybus 4014 thundering past but parked up nearby was our first close up encounter with the only other type of motor bus to be seen in normal service anywhere during our stay in Czech let alone Prague - the Karosa. This was D.P.Prague 5240 built like a tank with crash gearbox and all steel panels (the Russians kept all available aluminium for themselves during the Communist era). Every one we saw in action had a tendency to lay a smokescreen when hauling the incessant standing loads at all times of the day and night. Onwards then to the tram stop but a look out over the circle gives you an idea of the trams involved in the 5 minute frequency on both the services from this terminus - always a tram in sight and within a couple of stops, packed out with passengers. Note in the background our ex KGB hotel complex of the five tower blocks interconnected at ground level. No wonder they could accommodate multi coach parties.
 
Lloyd said:
A fascinating story, Mike (just found it!)
Incidentally, a search of the DVLA datbase shows H247 LOM has been off the road since the end of October 2009 - has it gone for scrap?? Who had it after TWM?
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Lloyd, Dave Griffiths knows of it's whereabouts as he has been been promised first refusal on it when up for disposal so from your information it would appear to be withdrawn but still retained. Will contact him to find out operator, which did tell me but I can't recall.
Thanks for the links above, for all my visits to Czech I have only learnt a very few words, the most important being Pivo = Beer! My schooldays German has been far more useful (and improved). Each new visit finds more and more English spoken as it has replaced Russian in schools and joins German on information signs and leaflets etc.
 
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Thylacine said:
Interesting current pick-ups; are they called "pantographs" or am I thinking of something else? Prague trams have very high fleet numbers, e g 7092 and 7112 --- they can't have that many! Perhaps the 7 is an "area code". And is that your shadow in the second shot, Mike?
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Thats right Thylacine, that is a traditional diamond pantograph of which a smaller version was also used in Blackpool. It is indeed my shadow in the second shot there. The mysteries of the fleetnumbering you have already solved (which I didn't know anyway to be honest!). Many thanks for adding the Heritage Trams. Have ridden the complete route and watching the Motorman is a treat in traffic with total use of braking notches being the norm. The crew wear period uniforms and souvenir hand clipped 'old pattern' tickets are issued.
Mike
 
Thanks, Mike, and for the latest episode in this fascinating travelogue. Re the red and blue liveries in the tram stop pic: do they indicate different services, or is there some other significance?
 
Thylacine said:
... The full version of the old fleetname seems to be "ELEKTRICKÉ DRÁHY KRÁLOVSKÉHO HLAVNÍHO MĚSTA PRAHY" ...
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... which, according to Google Translate, means (word for word) "Electric Railway Royal Capital City of Prague", but the A level Czech student might revise that to "Royal Capital City of Prague Electric Tramway". (Though the Czech for tramway is "tramvajové".)
 
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