Coventry Buses - past and present

"THANK YOU" for your "MUCH APPRECIATED" replies Annewiggy and Helen F!!!! With the bus having trainee clippies on it, I reckon it's doubtful really that the photo was taken at a skid track somewhere, or at MIRA? If it was just the bus drivers on their own, then maybe they could be the photographed at either of the above mentioned places, but I still think it's just been taken on a road somewhere and having the house in the background, makes me think that even more so! Prof mentioned Allesley and that has got me thinking that it could be taken along what we know it today as the Allesley bypass? It was interesting to hear that your dad took a bus round a skid track, as I never knew that Coventry bus drivers ever did anything like that? I've no idea at all whereabouts the track might have been, as they certainly never had one at Harnall Lane Garage and for the 14 years (1940-1954) that some of the buses were based at the old Foleshill Tram Depot (until the new Sandy Lane Garage opened!), I've not heard of them ever having a skid track at that depot either (unless it was located up along the side of the building, in the yard where the buses were all parked?) The Keresley Bus Works might have had one, but that place always seemed a bit too small to me to have had one, but you never know???? lol. ("Personally, I doubt It ever had one up there"!) I'll certainly need to look into this though and try and find out where it actually was, that your dad went to on the skid track???

Dad joined Coventry Corporation Transport when the war finished. Athough he worked for the Gauge and Tool he was moved to the Daimler on Browns Lane for the duration of the war. He left when the war ended and his job there finished. He wanted a change so he joined CC as a conductor, so probably 44/45. He then became a driver. I know he was driving in 1947 as I have a safety certificate for that year. The track he talked about was a circuit because he mentioned tipping it (double decker).

CKV, I take your point about the conductresses. I agree if it is a test track they wouldn't have been along. Talking to my other half about the test track he has a vague recollection (very vague) of my dad mentioning the Dunlop. Apparently there was a skid pan when Roy worked there after leaving school. He also worked later at Coventry Dunlop and they did testing there for brakes and tyres but was not sure if there was a skid pan there

I was talking to my brother-in-law Pete James who worked for the buses as a mechanic for 30+ years, he told me that the skid track used to be at Watery Lane near Corley.

The "Keresley Works" as the Watery Lane premises were called, were the workshops where buses were overhauled, repaired or rebuilt. They opened in 1942 and lasted until 1966. I wasn't previously aware that there was a skidpan there, though I believe there was a tilt test facility for double deckers.

Can you tell me where were the works were situated on Watery Lane please ?

Hi Annewiggy, About here. Map.

Not going to find much evidence on Google maps there then Philip! Going back to the picture there are some spots on the Tamworth Road that look a bit like that with a footpath but again things are changed. Possibly where the M6 goes over now. I wondered if was Old House on Old House Lane on the hill but I think it is bigger than that.

Hi Annewiggy, Roughly where the road junction is on my street view, there was a short section of tramway, left over from it being a tram depot repair. The trams arrived on piggyback trailers, but mounted onto just a short section of tramway. My now deceased friend Peter who grew up in Holbrooks, his dad repaired trams there before the war at that site. It was then in private ownership. I was told that Coventry trams were an odd loading gauge, & mods were often applied to new or secondhand trams coming from elsewehere. That is how it may have started before being taken over by CCT. "A century ago at least four brooks would have been visible in Holbrooks. Today Coventry City Council maintains the culverts which hold them under the built up area of the suburb. The brooks descend from the relative heights of Corley which overlook the City. The Hall Brook said to be linked to Keresley Hall is behind the naming of "Watery Lane" where today it enters its culvert adjacent to the old bus depot site before running under the length of the same lane. The Victoria County History describes two main brooks running through the ancient Whitmore Park, the Hall Brook, heading east to the River Sowe and the Springfield Brook, heading west for the River Sherbourne." Holbrooks info site Map from previous posting.

Annewiggy, did your dad live at Aldermans Green?

No Greg. Mum and dad lived in Holbrooks for a couple of years when they were first married in 1945 and then moved to Poole Road in Radford where they lived most of their lives, dad until 2003 and mum moved to sheltered accommodation until 2013. He left the buses at the end of the 40's and then worked for Sutton's Bakeries driving a big van.

Was looking back for something and saw a previous mail with your dad's safety cert on it and, coincidentally, a chap with the same name (who had driven for CCT) used to live near me.

Not as far as I know, when would that have been?

I was under the impression the test track was nearer Leicester than Coventry?

Wasn't there a photo on this forum, about two years ago of the skid pan testing track? Have no idea of the topic.