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The
Madhouse and the Boys' Route. |
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| In April
1975, when I moved from Hants
& Dorset to the Portswood
depot of Southampton City Transport,
we had two sets of routes operated
as circuits. |
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| Crew changeovers
took place in Portswood shopping
centre, although this would eventually
move to Vincents Walk in the city
centre once only the Shirley routes
were left crew operated. |
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| The first circuit was
known as 'The Madhouse'. The routes were City
Centre to Bassett Green via The Avenue (15),
Bassett Green to Docks via St.Mary's (13),
Docks to Townhill Park via Lodge Road (14),
Townhill Park to Docks via Lodge Road (14),
Docks to Bassett Green via St.Mary's (13).
Bassett Green to City Centre via The Avenue
(15). |
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| The second, known as
'The Boys' Route' because it was supposedly
easier, was City Centre to Glen Eyre via University
(11A), Glen Eyre to Royal Pier via Swaythling
(11), Royal Pier to Glen Eyre via Swaythling
(11), Glen Eyre to City Centre via University
(11A), City Centre to Bullar Road (12), Bullar
Road to City Centre (12). On Sundays the number
12 was not run between the two 11A journeys
but was added to the madhouse between the
two number 15s. |
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Our buses were
the rather ugly Park Royal bodied Leyland
PD2A and the much better looking AEC
Regent V, the early ones with East Lancs
bodies and the later ones with a similar
but longer Neepsend body and semi-automatic
gearbox.
In 1981 the last rear-platform buses
were withdrawn and the Leyland Atlantean
became the standard double-decker for
both crew and PAYE routes.
The 12 route varied over the years,
sometimes operating via Northam and
Bitterne, sometimes via Portswood and
at different times to Bullar Road or
Townhill Park.
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| SCT also
had crews on services 7, 9 and 17 from Shirley
depot with the remainder being one-man operated
routes often referred to as Woolston depot
although they were actually based at Portswood. |
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