Two solutions to one problem
High buses and low bridges don't mix. Our Victorian ancestors were surprisingly generous with railway bridge headroom on the whole, considering that at the time the only vehicles traversing the highways were horse-drawn carriages and carts. But with such an extensive rail network, we were still left with a legacy of many low bridges around the country especially in more rural areas.
As motor buses became more popular and double deckers came into widespread use, this became a problem. Even after the development of the revolutionary Leyland 'Titan' in the late 1920s, a typical double decker was (and indeed, still is) around 14 feet 6 inches. A fot could be reduced by adopting the 'lowbridge' layout, with the upstairs gangway moved to the side of the bus and lowered over the offside seats. But this was very inconvenient for conductors and passengers and led to many bumped heads below that sunken gangway.
In the late 1940s, Bristol developed the 'Lodekka', a new chassis with specially lowered components and in particular a rear axle that wasn't a straight pipe, but had a 'dropped centre' so the lower gangway could be lower. As a nationalised company, Bristol was unable to sell their model to private bus companies; but they could license the design, and they did so - to respected but small bus builders Dennis of Guildford who called their version the Loline.
Other companies brought out rivals including AEC which created the Renown, a similar chassis to the Lodekka. But by the time these models got going attention was turning to the new generation of bus model like the rear-engined Atlantean, so these front-engined low height buses didn't sell in the thousands that their makers had hoped.
The North Western Road Car Company of Stockport had many low bridges in its area, and quite a lot of lowbridge buses, so it was keen to try the new low height models and bought both Dennis Lolines and AEC Renowns. We can see one of each here - Dennis Loline on the left, and AEC Renown on the right.
North Western got good use out of their low height buses but then along came the Daimler Fleetline and that was that - no more front-engined buses. Fortunately one Loline survives, number 872, in private preservation. Meanwhile the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester has both a 'lowbridge' bus, number 224 of 1948; and one of the rear-engined Fleetlines that swept away the older types, number 174 of 1965. If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to www.gmts.co.uk.
© Greater Manchester Transport Society. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society.
Two solutions to one problem
High buses and low bridges don't mix. Our Victorian ancestors were surprisingly generous with railway bridge headroom on the whole, considering that at the time the only vehicles traversing the highways were horse-drawn carriages and carts. But with such an extensive rail network, we were still left with a legacy of many low bridges around the country especially in more rural areas.
As motor buses became more popular and double deckers came into widespread use, this became a problem. Even after the development of the revolutionary Leyland 'Titan' in the late 1920s, a typical double decker was (and indeed, still is) around 14 feet 6 inches. A fot could be reduced by adopting the 'lowbridge' layout, with the upstairs gangway moved to the side of the bus and lowered over the offside seats. But this was very inconvenient for conductors and passengers and led to many bumped heads below that sunken gangway.
In the late 1940s, Bristol developed the 'Lodekka', a new chassis with specially lowered components and in particular a rear axle that wasn't a straight pipe, but had a 'dropped centre' so the lower gangway could be lower. As a nationalised company, Bristol was unable to sell their model to private bus companies; but they could license the design, and they did so - to respected but small bus builders Dennis of Guildford who called their version the Loline.
Other companies brought out rivals including AEC which created the Renown, a similar chassis to the Lodekka. But by the time these models got going attention was turning to the new generation of bus model like the rear-engined Atlantean, so these front-engined low height buses didn't sell in the thousands that their makers had hoped.
The North Western Road Car Company of Stockport had many low bridges in its area, and quite a lot of lowbridge buses, so it was keen to try the new low height models and bought both Dennis Lolines and AEC Renowns. We can see one of each here - Dennis Loline on the left, and AEC Renown on the right.
North Western got good use out of their low height buses but then along came the Daimler Fleetline and that was that - no more front-engined buses. Fortunately one Loline survives, number 872, in private preservation. Meanwhile the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester has both a 'lowbridge' bus, number 224 of 1948; and one of the rear-engined Fleetlines that swept away the older types, number 174 of 1965. If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to www.gmts.co.uk.
© Greater Manchester Transport Society. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society.