Hello Folks

From 1965 till 1971 I was employed as a conductor on H&D, first at
Bournemouth , later at Poole.

Having just discovered this site and having a quick look at some of
the posts, a lot of old memories are being refreshed.

I agree that Bournemouth Bus Station was the nicest. From my seat in
the staff canteen -on the firsts floor - I could overlook nearly all
the platforms and see what what going on all over.

Are there any other ex staff on this site ?

My favourite type of bus to work on was the older open platform ones.
The conductor could oversee everything the passengers were up to both
below and upstairs from the platform .The passengers were mainly
facing away from you so you could have a crafty smoke during a quiet
moment.

The least liked were the front loading type. The conductor's station
was right at the front and you felt that the passengers were all
staring at you. Also harder to be in full control. If you were facing
backward towards the passengers you missed seeing the road in front.
So more difficult to anticipate when the the bus was going to brake or
swerve in response to a traffic incident ahead.
If you faced the front then you weren't scanning the passengers so
you would be bound to miss the signs of an old lady getting a bit
restless as her stop was coming up. That would mean her missing her
stop and getting a justly deserved telling off.

Also the much older buses had ordinary light bulbs - it was at the
time when flourecent lights were just coming in . During the winter
mornings when your hands got very cold, you could take out one the
light bulbs and use it to warm your hands 'til it got cold. Then you
would put it back in and take out another one.

I could go on about the the tricks we got up to in those days - making
little bonfires of the contents of used ticket box, the visits to the
pub during the country journeys - the pranks seemed endless.

Must go now , it's bedtime

Jim Hall