Thursday 29th December 2005 ~ Ipswich Buses During The 1970s And 1980s

Stuart Ray ~ summarised by John Day

Appeared in Journal 493

Twenty-two hardy souls braved the icy Arctic conditions on Thursday 29th December to be delighted by our guest speaker Stuart Ray’s presentation about Ipswich Borough buses during the 1970’s and 80’s. Stuart opened with a narration, first a brief potted history of the system from it tram and trolley bus days then into a more detailed year on year description. All the various types of motor buses were mentioned, from the AEC Regents through to the Swifts and Atlanteans to mention just a few. Not forgotten were the numerous standard liveries, special liveries, route changes and fare structures, the former being more fully shown with the slides that were to follow. Ipswich Borough had a reputation for bringing in loan vehicles to test and indeed also sent buses to other operators either as a loan or for them to test. This did make for interesting times in the town, especially for enthusiasts, with a variety of makes and other operator liveries on a wide range of chassis and bodies. Even bendy-buses reached the town. Whilst many of the hired-in/demonstrator vehicles stayed for a while some examples only spent a few days in the town as it quickly became obvious that the type was not a practical option for the town’s services or passengers.

Following the break Stuart supported his narrative with well over 100 slides depicting pretty well all the types and liveries of both Ipswich Borough and visiting buses on routes around the town and also the undertaking’s incursion into rural routes beyond the town boundary. When looking at slides, some now well over 20 years old, it becomes apparent how much our town has changed with building projects and traffic management plans. Some classic landmarks were shown, with places like Lloyds Avenue, Tower Ramparts with the school building still in place at Electric House. The old Mann Egerton building brought back many memories whilst our presenter was able to show events on both last and first services on routes as they changed with the introduction of gyratory systems mostly around the town centre. Seeing buses on the Cornhill, along Westgate Street and two-way traffic along St Helens Street past the County Hall brought back memories. It was the latter shown on the last day of operation then followed by the Sunday workings that instead of coming past the Gaumont had come up Woodbridge Road past the Mulberry Tree then down Argyll Street to reach St Helens Street. Infrastructure was not forgotten with shots of the turning circles at various points around the town and including shots of the bus shelters at Clapgate Lane/Nacton Road and Rushmere Heath, the former still in existence.

Several anecdotal comments were made about things like double-deck buses attempting self-destruction under low bridges. The introduction of similar types onto some of the new housing developments whereby residents didn’t want passengers to see into their bedrooms from the top floor of the bus. The Shopper Hopper was not forgotten nor were the omnibus predecessors, the trolley bus, with Walsall and Sandtoft being represented with former town vehicles. Also shown was a dramatic shot of a Shotley service bus overturned by the side of the road with onlookers amazed at the lack of serious injury or indeed severe damage to the vehicle.

Stuart has obviously gained much from his 50 years of “commuting” on our town’s transport network and has built up an encyclopaedic knowledge, second to none, of all aspects of the systems operation. Perhaps, unusual? In the field of bus photography was a series of “night photographs” which our presenter had mastered to perfection. In concluding it seemed appropriate that some seasonal shots were shown with snow and Christmas lights to the fore.

In his vote of thanks Chairman John Day thanked Stuart for an excellent evenings entertainment and reinforced comments that much of the history of Ipswich tram/trolley and bus vehicles were presiding over the event in the Ipswich Transport Museum’s collection in the building where the meeting was held. The audience responded in it’s usual manner in appreciation of both Stuart’s presentation and the kindness of the Friends of The Ipswich Transport Museum for allowing us use of the Sunbeam Tea Room.

Front Cover. A Wessex Express to Essex! South West Trains' 2401 is seen passing through Manor Park behind 47841, en route for attention at Ilford, on 4th January. Photo by Craig Leaper

Rear Cover. One's 156416 undergoing a C4 underframe exam at Tyseley on 15th January. Photo by Iain Scotchman.