44 YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 51, 1 March 1930, Page 15

44 YEARS AGO

OLD-TIME BUSMAN TALKS

"MONKEY-BOARD" CONDUCTOR

Tales of busmen in the days of the old knifeboard horse-drawn omnibuses, when conductors fought each other in the streets for passengers, were told by Mr. Thomas.Dale to representative ot the "Sunday Express." . . Mr. Dale/who is 63, joined the London General Omnibus Company in 1886, and will be retiring shortly. He is at present "skidding" instructor and unofficial ser-geant-major"-: at the company's works at C"The Cbusmen of to-day arc,nothing but hothouse plants compared with us, said Mr. Dale, easting a critical eye over a vounc conductor with pink' cheeks ami smooth hair who eutered the room as we "Hothouse'plants," he said, "with good pay and a propel- platform to stand on. Mr Dale explained that a conductor of ISB6 had to stand;'on a "monkey board, .! about the size of a tea tray,, and hang on as best "hj: could with the aid of a strap.J ' "We'had'four shillings and about three] fights'a day," said Mr. Dale, "and we worked seventeen hours out ot frnentj-| four. On my day off I used to drive the local fire engine, to earn a bit extra. PUGILISTIC WAYS. "You had to be something of a boxer to be a successful conductor, because London was full of rival omnibus, companies, and the -man who took the least fares had the sack; "When a fight occurred the passengers' would form a. ring and patronise the omnibus of the winner. '"My route' then was between Hammersmith and Liverpool street. It took us between two and three hours, because in the morning we used to wait;for special passengers to finish ■ their , breakfast, and my driver always bad.a drink at each stopping place. ;■; . ■'■ ■ "He was paid six shillings a day as a driver, and used to - spend; four shillings and sixpence a day on threepenny 'dog's noses'—pints of gin and beer. . "Our greatest' rivals at y.ie time were the green buses," he continued. 'One morning a green 'un tried to pick up scfme of .my passengers near the Albert Memorial. . '■■■■'■■ "I stepped down. He stepped down. Our drivers held our coats and bowler hats. I knocked the stuffing out of him in the first round, and my passengers cheered like mad. Gentlemen made bets and ladies screamed. "Then he turned and ran, and I chased him lip the steps of the Albert Memorial. "When I returned all his. passengers were on my bus, and I gave him another hiding at the depot just to keep him quiet." Mr. Dale thinks that I'oad manners were very much better in the 'eighties than they are now. ■"' . "Our route was along, the 'toffs' road,' round Prince's Gate," he said, "and my driver and I knew all the 'nobs'—Garibaldi and Sir John Millais (the man who painted 'Bubbles'), "If they were driving, out in their phaeton or landeau we would pull up, and my driver would salute with his whip. "And the passengers on top would take their hats off to any passing gentleman; If a lady was driving her own phaeton behind us I would kick the monkey board twice, and my. driver would stop to let her pass." "'''... A HORSE-BREAKER. Mr. Dale became a driver later on, and was put in charge of wild Canadian horses. ' "Some of them had never even been shod before," said Mr. Dale, "and I used to drive them across Barnes Common at the gallop with the old bus rattling fit to burst/ Mr. Dale said that one of the greatest problems of a conductor in the 'eighties was how to fit a bustle into a bus. ■• "All the' younger women wore bustles and the old women wore crinolines," he explained. "Those who wore crinolines had to walk or hire a private carriage, and those who wore bustles had to be shoved through the omnibus door, sideways. "Sometimes the bustles were so large that they wouldn't go in cither way, au.d it was the conductors job to shut the bustles up like concertinas —without being familiar. "A ticklish job," concluded Mr. Dale, glaring, through the window at a group of young conductors, "and more than those hothouse plants could do without being reported." .-.■■■.•