Cumberland Motor Service in WW2

[ceylon220]

I began this thread yesterday but somehow it got deleted before I had a chance to submit it but here we go again.
During the war years fuel was rationed,this hit everyone including the haulage companies and bus companies, the CMS came up with a great idea and it worked, now some of you youngsters are going to think this is a "wind up" but believe you me it is true, the wife does`nt believe it happened either but may be there`s just a chance someone on here will confirm it, here goes,
the CMS ran single decker buses which towed a trailer and on this trailer was a coke/coal/wood fired boiler which produced gas to a balloon shaped bag on top of the bus roof and this fueled the engine thus doing away with the use of petrol, can`t remember if buses ran on diesel during that time, my wife scoffed when I mentioned this so I got in touch with an ex CMS bus driver and put this to him and it turned out that he actually drove these buses with the boiler attached, but I`m sorry to say that the chap passed away 5/6 years ago.
Just to finish off, there was a fatality with one of these buses, do any of you remember when you would jump off a bus when it slowed down at a stop to let people off well one bloke had a habit of doing this after several warnings from the conductor to stop it but being young and daft he kept on doing it until one day he jumped off the bus and forgot about the trailer behind,the trailer went over him, did`nt kill him but he is lame to this day----so guys,wait till the bus stops,you don`t know whats coming up behind!!!!!!!!!


Honestly, this is no leg pull, I`d would be interested to hear from anyone who remembers these vehicles on the roads during wartime.

[Ian]

Hi Dave

re your gas powered bus I'm sure there is a photo of it on this site:-

http://www.chrishodgephotos.co.uk/pa...ruckphotos.htm

It's worth a scan through any way

Cheers

Ian

[ceylon220]

Thanks Ian, the trailer is the type CMS would run, pity there was`nt a photo of a bus pulling the trailer and showing the gas bag on the roof, wife keeps saying after I`ve showed her these on the site"well I can`t remember them"----maybe she does`nt want to show off her age, she keeps saying that she`s 21+ and who am I to argue with her!!!!!!!

Thanks again Ian, mate.

Dave.

[Trapper John]

Dave
I THINK I've seen the photo you're referring to, but I can't find it on the web-site mentioned here. There is a photo of a gas-producing trailer in London service and an Eastern National 'something' with a gas produce in the REAR of the bus, but no Cumberland bus.
The photo that I recall simply showed a rear view of the trailer and bus, so I don't know what the vehicle was. I do remember that the gas bag on the top of the bus was enclosed by something solid, presumably to prevent the bag being ripped open by overhanging trees.

John

[stephenford323]

Dave,

You are definitely right about this - and not just CMS. I come from the Nottingham area, and Nottingham City Transport used these vehicles and so did local independent operator Barton Transport. Actually, I think NCT went one better and filled their balloons from the (gas) street lamps. Now that should get your wife rolling in the aisles! I seem to remember tales that performance was appallingly flat using this "Producer Gas."

Steve

[klingon]

Yeah-there's photos in Glasgow Transport museum of a Glasgow Corporation bus with a gasbag on the roof-was pretty much doomed to failure due to the fact that at the time Glasgow probably had the biggest Tramcar system in the UK outside London and fuel for trams comes out of wires!

[Energumen]

There is another example of a coal/coke burning bus on the following site.

My Brighton and Hove select Transport then Buses

Regards
Energumen