• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

A West Midlands Travel 1993 Adventure

Thylacine said:
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?
Click to expand...

Any livery other than red and cream is all over advertising, a then new source of income that D.P.Prague was certainly cashing in on.
Mike
 
We had bought our tram tickets at the hotel reception which we self punched on the tram in a small machine inside the doors. As a group of English (and one Irishman) in blue uniforms we got some strange looks, not least from the motorman. Our host was amused that many thought we were police of some sort! After an entertaining mobile sardine tin ride to Prague centre we did a walkabout to catch the sights. Here is meself (on the right) and a colleague on a bridge over the River Vltava with Prague Castle and famous Charles Bridge in the background. Of more interest to me were the T3's gliding over our bridge. Seen here is 7248 with 7249 overtaking an East German built Ifa lorry. Behind the Ifa is a Lada car and an elderly Skoda follows the tram. Back off the bridge and 7156/7157 enter a Grand Union junction. I had to be dragged away from this spot as I could have spent the rest of the day watching the tram movements through this junction, well at least until it was goulash and pivo time. Note another Ifa (van). Tomorrow we leave Prague for Librec.
 
Last edited:
After a leisurely latish continental breakfast preplated and dropped in front of us by the non smiling moonlighting road building waitress we fell in behind Red Leader in the Ford estate and the RM for the final leg to Liberec (pronounced Liberetz). A lunch stop would be made at a motorway rest area. Just to recap, after top up at Dover, fuel had been taken on in Luxembourg (cheap) and again at a Benzina station after crossing the German/Czech border (even cheaper, but for cash only - no cards accepted, or even heard of!) Before leaving Prague we were to meet up with other vehicles joining us at the Autofest at a coach park opposite the Dynamo Prague football stadium. Both photos here show the football stadium in the background for firstly T3 's 7156/7 and then a less seen articulated KT8 in the form of 9022. Shortly after this shot we struck out for the motorway. Before leaving an elderly couple asked if they could come aboard 3247 as the old gentleman well remembered prewar days when he drove on the left in Prague (changed to the right by order of Herr Adolf Hitler). We invited the old chap to sit in the cab, which brought tears to his eyes. His wife told us (through our interpreter) that he would remember this experience and our kindness for the rest of his life as he shook us all by the hand.
 
Touching story of the old bus driver, Mike, and fascinating that they used to drive on the left side of the road (which is of course the right i e correct side in UK, Aus and Kiwi-land). Adolf has a lot to answer for! I believe Sweden also used to drive on the left, but changed over one weekend within the living memory of some of us. Does anyone remember the year?

I'm loving this Czech "transport tale". A few years ago I gave a lift to a young Czech hitch-hiking couple who were doing a walking tour of Tasmania. They were charming, intelligent youngsters (whose English was better than mine!). We talked about the momentous days when Czechoslovakia (as it then was) shook off communist rule and elected playwright Vaclav Havel president. Czech must be the only country in the world where a playwright could conceivably rise to the "top job". But having said that, I immediately thought of Ireland for some reason.
 
On leaving Prague we were instructed that if we got split up on the motorway we should look for a service area with an airliner for our lunchstop and to reform the convoy for the next leg of the journey. An airliner? we said, oh well, this is Czechoslovakia. In the event we all stayed together and sure enough as Red Leader indicated to leave the motorway and RM938 moved from our line of vision this airliner could be seen. It turned out to be a 1960's ex Czechoslovakian Airlines Ilyushin 18 turboprop with a certain likeness to British contempory the Bristol Britannia. In use now as a cafe and serving a mean goulash and cold pivos, we didn't take long to board it.(yes, they sell real alcholic beer on the motorways out there!). With the inner man taken care of we had a good look round the the plane and wondered how they got it there, the more fanciful among us suggesting it landed on the motorway and taxied into position directed by a man with headphones and two tabletennis bats. Expect nothing less from a group of busmen. Ian (RM938) was keen to find out why there was a London Transport bullseye logo on the tailfin but nobody with the plane knew so it was fall in behind Red Leader and back on the road for Liberec.
 
The remainder of our journey to Liberec was without incident although we were rather taken aback to overtake horse drawn carts twice on the motorway! On arrival in Liberec our first port of call was to check in at our hotel , the Dum Recreance, another high rise building but this time purpose built in Communist times as a hotel for visiting politburo class and foreign visitors. As seen from the first photo, the exterior was hardly more impressive than the multitude of Communist built residential tower blocks that characterised the outskirts of every town and large village we passed along the way. The interior was embellished throughout with dark polished wood and whilst rated as 4 star would compare well with a 2 star in UK. That said, the tariff was was lower than a Blackpool boarding house so there were no complaints. That formality completed, it was on to the Autofest showground which was the grass runway Liberec Airport, once quite a lively domestic airport handling scheduled inland flights and 'international' flights into nearby East Germany and to Russia. Demand for such services ceased with the end of Communism, so all that remained was a summer pleasure flight, a number of crop dusters, private aircraft and a flying club. The terminal building still boasted a working control tower, cafe and bar. We were directed to an overnight parking spot on hard standing seen in second view. A quick look at the surrounding scenery showed a backdrop of Mount Jested (third view)on the horizon with it's silver cone shaped buiding at the summit, of which more later. We were then ushered aboard our hotel shuttle, a Karosa coach belonging to David Griffiths who at the time was operating coaches trading as Freedom Bus. We would be shuttled back next morning (Saturday) for the first day of the Bohemia Autofest. Meantime we had dinner and pivo or three to look forward to.
 
So here we are on the morning of the Autofest and all on board for a much publicised road run around Liberec. In the city centre crowds had gathered to watch and we gained a police escourt. Red Leader has handed over to Blue Leader in the form of the Freedom Bus Karosa. On our way off the airport we pass the original 1930's airport (second view, now home of the pleasure flight company). Upon return we line up for the visitors, the mysterious Jested Tower in the background. At the Autofest are cars, lorries, buses coaches and entertainments such as live Country & Western music by Czech 'Cowboys' using a giant artic lorry trailer for a stage and a parachute display team dropped in at regular intervals. Gallons (or should it be litres) of local Vratislav Premier Pivo are being dispensed in the Airport bar at the equivalent of 25p a litre and a whole rotissery chicken with chips at the eqivalent of 75p! Goulash comes with dumplings at 50p. With an exchange rate of 43 Koruns to the pound we couldn't believe the low prices and large amount of money we had for spending but then we found out that a D.P.Liberec bus driver was earning £25 pounds for a 40 hour week before tax and a tramdriver £21 so their cost of living was relative. It was like being in a 1950's timewarp.
 
Thylacine said:
Gripping tale, Mike! :thumbsup: I hope I'm not jumping ahead of the story, but I couldn't resist a closer look at "the mysterious Ještěd Tower".
Click to expand...

Not at all Thylacine. That is a better view of the Jested Tower than I have in store, so will give you a better idea of where we were later in the tale..

Meanwhile back at the Autofest and after lunch we have ageed to operate a short onsite circular journey every 20 minutes to allow locals to experience double deck travel. Ian likewise is running RM938 in a different direction and together we have a 10 minute departure headway. The crush to board on each departure had to be seen to be believed and people had to be made to get off on return or there would have been no change of load! After a few trips a particularly heavy loading saw 3247's back wheels bog down. This caused much amusement to the gang given the duty driver was the oldest (and most experienced !) member of our party which no one let him forget afterwards - cruel lot).The passengers had to reluctantly evacuate but entering the spirit of the thing then tried to push 3247 out of trouble. This didn't work but as if by magic a local farm machinery dealer showing tractors onsite arrived with a demonstration Zetor 7011 tractor. A steel cable was quickly attached and to rousing cheers 3247 was pulled backwards on to terra firma. Normal service was then resumed as soon as possible i.e. immediately.
 
As the afternoon wore on the double deck rides became the star attraction and we took in turns to drive trips. I also did several for Ian in RM938 and for a change he drove 3247 to help us out. Later whilst not driving I had the opportunity to take a closer look at a D.P. Liberec Karosa [View 1]on display. It was not in the standard red and cream livery and proved to be a specially adapted bus for wheelchair users. In place of the centre entrance was a primitive chain driven hoist lift which I doubt would be approved by the Health and Safety brigade in this country! The driver without any English or German spoken demonstrated this contraption and then invited me to the cab of his obvious pride and joy. Never one to miss such chance I sat in the well worn driving seat fitted with a chintzy seatcover and checked out the cab layout. First thing to notice was the 3 pedals and big gearstick which operated a full crash gearbox. Around the cab were many stickers of various descriptions other than obvious official notices. This was because as I found out later the driver kept this bus all the time because on different days of the week Monday to Friday it ran on a different bus and tram route every day for the benefit of disabled and wheelchair passengers. Although a rather spartan cab it sported not only a cooling fan but a radio to entertain the driver and passengers. I got the driver to take a photo of me at the wheel as seen [View 2] after which he started the engine and indicated I should drive round the Airfield. I couldn't offend him by refusing and certainly didn't want to pass up the chance to drive a Karosa. With doors closed off we went, my old Midland Red driving skills serving me well, it was obviously a cunning copy of a Midland Red S16. The driver was delighted at my gearchanging, beaming all over his face (he maybe thought I might wreck his gearbox). Our gang looked a bit amazed when I passed them, horn at full volume, but afterwards said it didn't really surprise them knowing me. After a circuit I parked the Karosa and actually thanked the driver in Czech (word for thank you is sounded as dekwee, one of the few words I had picked up other than pivo). He pointed to a sticker on the bulkhead then to himself. It read Jan which he pronounced as Yan (as in German) so now I knew his name, I let him know I was Mike. I pointed to 3247 indicating he shoud come to look round it. (but as it was almost packing up time that would have to be tomorrow (Sunday).
 
Sunday presented us with a beautiful sunny day and with no road run we arrived at the airport at 0930 to find Jan already there and waiting to look over 3247. We put him in the cab after he had looked under the bonnet and viewed the top deck. Using sign language we explained most of the controls which he had no real problem recognising anyway. In the meantime a crowd was gathering outside RM938 and ourselves which we suspect were many from yesterday back for more rides. Opening the doors, a crowd surged on. When we tried to chop the queue Jan shouted something in Czech and those in the doorway literally stepped back in amazement not knowing he wasn't an English driver. We started the engine and indicated to Jan that he was now our driver. Without hesitation, away he took us obviously enjoying the automatic transmission. For one who had never driven a righthand drive vehicle before, he took to it like a duck to water which was no surprise as never having driven a lefthand drive vehicle, I was just as soon at home in his Karosa the day before. Jan went on to take regular trips during the day and mastered the Routemaster as well. David's Czech wife Olga joined us for the day and so we were able to communicate better with Jan. I said as he was an honourary WMT driver he should have my tie. Unfortunately D.P. Liberec didn't issue a tie with a logo so a swop for his was accepted but not as meaningful. This was made up for later in the day when his family arrived on site and his wife brought me a Communist era uniform cap complete with metal badge that Jan phoned her to bring. Through Olga we learned that Jan's Karosa was not in a special livery for it's use as disabled persons bus but because it was one of a number fitted with a catalytic converter, hence the word 'KATALYZATOR' on the front. We were to see more in this livery in the city later in the stay. Olga was told that one day Jan would be telling his grandchildren about the day he drove an English bus. We made sure that with Jan at the wheel his family had upstairs front seats for their rides on 3247 and RM938 and I made sure photos of Jan were posted on to him later.
Again, the Airport Bar was dispensing Premier Pivo which caused a minor fallout with our off duty Irish member Bill and his best mate Ray when Bill appeared with a bottle of Premier without bringing one for Ray. Bill's offer to share it was turned down but as seen, whilst arguing, they were heading towards the bar (entrance through the Terminal building seen tacked on to the right of the hanger in the background) An hour later when they returned, all was well... Note, the driver of 3247 for it's next trip is Ian (RM938).
The service was rested for a couple of hours to give us lunch time during which we were booked to take to the air for a sightseeing trip over Liberec.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all these updates and photo,s Mike, have enjoyed reading them. Happy retirement to you.
 
Ah, you let the cat out the bag there John and many thanks. Yes, last Wednesday's cash count at the Wood brought to a quiet end 51 years of work within the bus industry most of which as a driver. Where those years have gone I really don't know. The timing is ideal though, because our Club single deck BCT Fleetline 3472 is about to go for M.O.T and all being well will be operational in time for August Bank Holiday at Wythall Museum. I am away that weekend but will be keeping my hand in driving it after that.
Mike
 
May I too wish you a happy retirement, Mike, after a wonderful career "on the buses"! It's an honour and pleasure to have made friends with you on this lovely Forum. :cool:

And thanks for the continuing (and excellent) 1993 adventure, beautifully told and illustrated.
 
motorman-mike said:
Ah, you let the cat out the bag there John and many thanks. Yes, last Wednesday's cash count at the Wood brought to a quiet end 51 years of work within the bus industry most of which as a driver. Where those years have gone I really don't know. The timing is ideal though, because our Club single deck BCT Fleetline 3472 is about to go for M.O.T and all being well will be operational in time for August Bank Holiday at Wythall Museum. I am away that weekend but will be keeping my hand in driving it after that.
Mike
Click to expand...
Sorry I let the cat out of the bag Mike, 51 Years is an exellent achievment, and as I have said before you are a credit to the bus industry, pleased 3472 is allmost ready for the road, will have to come up to see it soon. Wishing you all the very best for your future. John.
 
Many thanks Thylacine and John but as they say in football circles "they think it's all over - but it is now". Today that came true for me because I finished work at Yardley Wood last Wednesday and thought that was it, but my employment with WMT actually finishes tomorrow which meant that the organiser of the last Metrobus Runng Day at Acocks Green Garage today got kind permission off the Garage Manager there for me to drive a Metrobus in service as a retirement present. I don't think in my 46 years of PSV driving that I have enjoyed any driving duty more than to take over Metrobus 2903 at 1133hrs this morning to Acocks Green Village for a round trip to the Birmingham Town Hall and back on the No.1 service. I may not have got a photo record of my very last outing in 3225 but I will certainly have many of todays journey as well as being filmed on camcorders all over the place.
Even more unreal was to find myself doing something I was glad to give up in 2005 - carrying the general public! Had the last three operational Metrobuses not still been equipped with the Autofare ticket system I would not have been able to make this last trip as I had not received any training on the new system in use on every other type of WMT bus in service so I reckon I am one lucky bloke. (I suspect my line manager and Garage Manager at Yardley Wood also had a hand in making this a day to remember).
 
At the agreed time we made our way to the Sight Seeing Flights assembly point where we found our plane waiting to take us on our 'Private Charter' aerial circular tour of Liberec and district (sounds like a bus company). The plane was a substantial single engined biplane of unknown make but on seeing it our Irish member Bill decided he would rather stay behind and his best mate Ray said he would keep him company. On boarding we found longitudinal seating with a small staircase to the cockpit. We were half expecting to be greeted by a moonlighting road builder hostess but instead, the co pilot counted us on. There were no seatbelts and all red lettered notices on display were in Czech and Russian so of no use to us at all. With the co pilot in his seat the engine was started and as the pilot opened up the throttle a cloud of blue smoke emerged from between the throttle levers filling us with some trepidation. It soon cleared and we were off bouncing out to the grass runway. Once lined up, radioed instructions (in Czech) could be heard from the Control Tower and with more smoke and noise we galloped down the runway and lifted off. Once airbourne and levelled out the engine noise reduced to a purr and we enjoyed about 20 minutes circling over the communal heating plant below with it's red and white painted chimney and the countless Communist built blocks of flats all heated like every other property by said plant. Here and there we saw trams in the streets which became a game of spot the tram. (the aircrew were probably thinking what a weird lot English bus drivers are). Soon we were descending and waited for the bump as we hit the ground but the landing was surprisingly smooth on the grass runway. Back at the terminal we all agreed it was well worth the 50p each they were charging for the flight and then repaired to the bar for a pivo to celebrate our safe return.
 
Thats great news you being able to drive 2903 and in service Mike, very pleased for you, must have brought back a lot of memories to you. It shows the high regard the garage managers have for you to let you do this, should not imagine thier are many drivers they would do it for. Know what you mean about carrying the general public, Jeff says it would be a great job these days if you only carried the 50% who cause no trouble.
Looking forward to the photos and the video.
 
No photos or video as yet John, but after a short break I now getting the the rest of the 1993 Adventure on the road again here.
Our day soon came to an end and the visiting vehicles departed. Here we see two small 1950's Praga buses (one converted to a motor home) and a 1960's Skoda RTO type luxery coach awaiting their drivers. Note the tracks in the grass from 3247's many goodwill trips for the visitors. In the second view 3247 and RM938 are by the exit waiting to depart for overnight parking at the D.P.Liberec tram depot. In the background, Jan waits in his Karosa for his party of D.P.Liberec employees and their families to board for the ride back to the City centre. It's been a good Autofest but the advenure is not over yet. Tomorrow we meet the Mayor of Liberec.
 
Hi. Mike. Hope you enjoyed your break, good to be back on your adventure with you. If George Cave had known about those Skada Coaches in the 70s, he would have had a fleet of "em.
 
Glad to have you back, Mike! I love that fleetname "Bohemia Classic Travel" on the Skoda RTO (and the Praga Bedford OB look-alikes!).
 
john70 said:
Hi. Mike. Hope you enjoyed your break, good to be back on your adventure with you. If George Cave had known about those Skada Coaches in the 70s, he would have had a fleet of "em.
Click to expand...

Thanks John, George would have certainly liked the heavyweight indestructable RTO but not the 7 to 8 miles to the gallon, although knowing George he would probably have put a notice in the cabs 'FUEL ECONOMY - ALL DRIVERS MUST COAST OUT OF GEAR WHENEVER POSSIBLE':D

Thylacine your comparison of Pragas to Bedford OBs was spot on. The petrol engined Praga was the mainstay of local country bus services in the 1940/50's and many were in military service too. Apparently there were coach seated versions but there was little demand for such luxeries during Communist times.

After two nights at Liberec Airport (and much to my delight) for the rest of our stay 3247 and RM938 were invited to reside at the DP Liberec tram depot. It's here we see them looking sparkling after unexpectedly being washed for us during the night! We had arrived early for a bit of a look round although an official visit was arranged for later in the week. Leaving the depot we drove to the Rathaus Square (Rathaus being German for Town Hall and referred to as such although German has not been spoken since the Russian 'liberation' after the war). On arrival in the square we were welcomed by the Mayor who inspected our buses and took part in a photo shoot and filming for local TV news. Crowds of onlookers gathered and it all got a bit chaotic, many were disappointed to find it was not a display of the next new buses for Liberec. In the first photo we see 3247 and RM938 in the tram depot with a Tatra T3 Communist livery tram looking on. We had quite a few motormen look over the buses during our stay. Next views show the Rathaus, the first with the Mayor (wearing a bowtie) and last showing David Griffiths organiser of the Autofest on left in front of RM938 and to his left our interpreter Frantisek who was soon renamed 'Frantic' by the team. During the afternoon we were treated to a visit to the DP Liberec bus depot and works, but guess who ran out of film and hadn't brought a new one with him - no prizes (and no pics either). Lot to be said for these newfangled digitals eh?
 
Last edited:
Thanks for carrying on with this story Mike, I did not realise just what a real adventure it was for all of you and 3247, some great photo,s once again also. As for George Cave and his dad, you cant guess how close you are to the truth with your comments.
 
Mike, lovely pictures of the buses in front of the 16th century "gothic" style Liberec Rathaus (a word which sounds a bit comical to English ears, but just means "Council House"). Do you happen to remember the name of the "bow tie" Mayor?
 
'Fraid not Thylacine, I was taking the photo when the team was introduced to him and couldn't get near him for people afterwards. He didn't stay all that long, due to having other commitments. We dispersed for some lunch, the younger members of the team bemoaning the fact that the new McDonalds being fitted out in the Rathaus Square was not yet up and running (what's wrong with goulash and dumplings we told 'em). On our way now to the DP Liberec bus depot and works in an outer suburb of the city, just look at the state of the road surface. Our 3247 pretends to be a tram whilst following RM938 to the tram depot for parking. Ian then joined us to the bus depot, accompanied by the English speaking tramway Chief Engineer, Tomas Krebs, to show us the way. On arrival we had to park 3247 in the street due to limited headroom through the entrance gates to the depot. It was after this photo that I ran out of 35mm film and found I hadn't brought a new film with me, worse luck. The depot housed a 100% fleet of Karosas of various ages, many 10 years old all of which had to be repaneled every 3 years due to severe winter rust corrosion, this being because under Russian rule all panels were of steel, all aluminium being reseved for Russian use only. Proudly we were shown in the workshop undergoing refurb was the first DP Liberec Karosa to receive aluminium panels, made now possible because of Czech independence. All future refurbs would be of aluminium which would extend panel life and hopefully improve fuel consumption. Of interest was that few buses were under overnight cover so during winter each bus was plugged in to an electric hook up to keep the cooling system warm. Starting failures were almost non existant and each bus left depot with instant heating inside. We envied them that! Tomorrow we are VIP guests at the tram depot - no fear of not having a film in the camera for that one!
 
Last edited:
Mike, the internet is a wonderful thing! The primátor (mayor) of Liberec in 1993 was Jiří Drda (born 26 May 1947), who served in that office from 11 December 1990 to 30 November 1998. He is pictured below in 2008.
 
That is indeed amazing Thylacine, thank you. He was of course some 17 years younger when I saw him, but he reminds me in this photo of Lech Walesa, former Solidarity union leader and President of Poland.
(If you can, please could you tell me how you get the accents to put over the Czech letters?)

So after a leisurely breakfast we set off walking to the tram depot for our 10a.m. meeting with the Manager of DP Liberec. From thr Rathaus square we go down a steep narrow street and find ourseves walking on a 3 foot wide (metre gauge) single track tramline no longer used. We notice how little there is in the shops and and Frantic tells us this is how it still is from Communist times. Things on display are mostly not for sell, you can look them over but then have to order them and they will be available for collection eventually! Looking in a television shop there were sets on a single perimeter shelving, one each of different makes that we had never heard of in a few different screen sizes. Order one and wait at least a month for it to arrive! Frantic pointed up to a big Red Star on the front of a large shop and told us this was the last state owned shop in the city (can be seen in photo, on left down street). We just had to see inside it and found it was like a poorly stocked Woolworths of the 1950's with polished wooden floors and square island shaped counters, each with a girl in the middle serving and putting the cash in a old mechanical till with typewriter style keys. There was even emergency gas lighting with wire mesh covered white glass globes.
It was so obviously based on our Woolworths in style. I went to take a photo but Frantic advised against it so we moved on. We arrived at the depot on time and were met by Tomas Krebs who took us up to the second floor of a very drab office block but in to a elegant staff dining room with a stage at one end where we were welcomed by the manager Milan ? with a surname I can't remember (or spell probably). He was elderly and informed us he was to retire soon. Through Frantic he told us about the tramway and changes and improvements to come now Russian interference was no longer a problem. We then had coffeee and snacks before being shown round the depot. The large badge in the photo was a Communist leftover at the back the stage, although I thought it looked quite attractive. It was, he told us, to be replaced by the Liberec coat of arms when the trams had a planned new livery that would also include the coat of arms. On the way down to ground level I took the next two photos one from each landing window.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top