Images of Interstate Coach Terminals 50s/60s/70s/80s

[dominodc122]

Gidday out there in Gunzel land - Do any of you forward thinking enthusiasts have images of Terminals / Roadhouses / Set down- uplift points (with signage and coaches in the images) etc that we can share on this thread please??

[Looselion]

I wish I had more images to contribute, however here's Redline's head office and Brisbane terminal pictured in the mid - 1960's. This was located at 14 -16 Roma Street, in the old Windsor Hotel building, which was demolished and rebuilt as the Crest Hotel in the 1970's, later the Carlton Crest, and currently the Pullman Citigate, King George Square.

This was always a kerbside loading facility for Redline, which at the height of the company's ascendency catered to the near simultaneous Southbound departures (usually Easter Thursday evenings) of up to 20+ coaches.

[captainch]

was the mini behind for the overflow

[dominodc122]

nice - Any more anyone!!??...

[Looselion]

Love the overflow gag....
Here's an interior shot of the Redline Adelaide terminal in Franklin St. This was the rear coach parking, maintenance and loading area. The desk and passenger lounge were through to the right.
This photo was taken soon after Rex took over these premises, and was likely before the facility became operational. He can be seen in the shot doing an inspection, and two company units are parked in the background, already positioned into this port.
The establishment of this facility was an important step in Redline's evolution as a National carrier, providing the resources necessary to support the company's burgeoning services through Adelaide to the West, North and East.

[dominodc122]

Ansett Pioneer / Trailways Depot In Hartley Street-Portsmith, Cairns FNQ (Now a scrap metal yard!? The office and pick up / set down was 58 Shields Street - now a shoe shop )
Pictured next to the Toyota 4X4 is Merc 0303 M2 the the 2 MAN 4x4s we used to do Cape Tribulation/Cooktown tours (and the odd trip to Bamaga at the tip of Cape York) and 2 of the Scania Pioneer Express coaches to the right.

Ansett Pioneer - Trailways Depot Hartley Street Cairns.jpg (46.79 KiB) Viewed 10710 times

[CJT]

"Jilly's at the Jetty", Shute Harbour, Whitsundays... Coach Terminal / Ferry Terminal. Transfer point for all Whitsunday Island Resorts ferry transfers and Outer Reef Cruises. Jilly's was owned and operated by Jill Hutchen, wife of David Hutchen who used to own Fantasea Cruises. Two of Sampson's good looking MAN coaches dropping pax off for a day on the reef!. Year would of been around 1986 / 1987.

[mcpaton]

Have you got any other photos of Sampson's buses CJT?

[dominodc122]

Found this 1968 NZ scene while trolling the net - any ideas as to make and models?
(looks like an ex NZR Road Services Bedford!?(found out it is Gibson's Coach Services) Not sure on other bus type?

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[Looselion]

Here's quite a historic shot from 1952. Bertie Bond's Mt Gambier depot for his Bond's Motor Services, at Bay Road. Bert began the service from Adelaide to Mt Gambier in late 1925, having been in the road passenger transport business since before WW1.
He and the Withers brothers were all involved in the industry from around this time, although the Withers family had an earlier involvement during the late 1800's with horse drawn coaches in the Bairnsdale area in Victoria. The four brothers re-established the business as "Pioneer Tours" immediately after the war.
There's no doubt the Bond's and the Withers' were the great-grand-daddies of Australian interstate highway passenger services.

[Looselion]

Here's Bertie's old Depot as it is today. Note the left side of the original premises remains intact. This is a rare historic surviving monument to one of Australia's genuine highway passenger transport pioneers.

[dominodc122]

Here's quite a historic shot from 1952. Bertie Bond's Mt Gambier depot for his Bond's Motor Services, at Bay Road. Bert began the service from Adelaide to Mt Gambier in late 1925, having been in the road passenger transport business since before WW1.
He and the Withers brothers were all involved in the industry from around this time, although the Withers family had an earlier involvement during the late 1800's with horse drawn coaches in the Bairnsdale area in Victoria. The four brothers re-established the business as "Pioneer Tours" immediately after the war.
There's no doubt the Bond's and the Withers' were the great-grand-daddies of Australian interstate highway passenger services.

Is that a White model coach in the image??

[Looselion]

It looks White-ish....
Maybe System Improver could help out. I think he uploaded an image of this or a similar Bonds unit here in BA previously.

[Bedford-29]

The Bonds coach in the entrance to would be be this coach in this picture.Picture from the Ken Magor collection.

[Looselion]

No 222 Victoria Street, Kings Cross was the location of Pioneer's early 1960's Sydney terminal, which Redline took over after Reg moved downtown and off-street.
Therefore a lot of tangible interstate coach history was lost when that area towards the top end of this well-known street was re-developed into the Kings Cross Station precinct.
I have found one or two photos which caught just a glimpse of this site in 1960, when it was very likely occupied by Pioneer as a kerb-side loading terminal. I have pinpointed the location (the front awning visible) with a blue arrow in each photo. A substantial loading zone can be seen in front of the out-of-shot terminal in the second shot.
Redline was in occupancy during the mid- '60's prior to moving to off-street facilities in the Stack building, just around the corner at 178 William Street, which location still exists and so far as I'm aware is currently occupied by a car rental business.
Just as a matter of interest I've located the little terrace house at No 202, (red arrow) which was to later become the home of Mark Foys heiress Juanita Nielsen, who ran a little local newspaper called "Now" which advocated for a halt to re-development of the street. She was murdered in 1975 and never found.

[dominodc122]

The Bonds coach in the entrance to would be be this coach in this picture.Picture from the Ken Magor collection.

Many thanks ... but what breed of coach is she?

(I always love the spllt rims on coaches...gives them a real "truck" look ) Many of the GBW / International Harvester units that Clarrie Skenner operated(and I had the luck of driving at Coachtrans)had these which gave them a very rugged look (unlike modern coaches ...My opinion only, but the modern units look like a semi streamlined cross between a fridge and an insect tipped on their side with wheel arch cut outs and antenna like mirrors out the front (no bloody character at all... )
Now THAT'S a Coach! (it's got that "Im kickin arse and takin names" look about it and growls when accelerated

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...and this is what it is tagged as... and sounds like a vacuum cleaner with asthma when it trundles by ...Again...just my opinion

Cretin mobile.jpg (124.51 KiB) Viewed 10275 times

[system improver]

In Melbourne, the terminals were all over the place in the CBD. Here are some taken in the early 60s from the John Masterton Collection:

In Flinders Street:





In Franklin Street:



In Swanston Street (near Franklin):



And in Lonsdale Street:

[Looselion]

The two Redline vehicles above were photographed outside the original Melbourne office and 'terminal' at 273 Lonsdale Street in the early 1960's. This office had some prior history in the industry, previously being Bond's Tours sales office and depot, and as a matter of further interest, prior to that it was TAA's first ticket sales office in Melbourne when the new airline was inaugurated after WW2.
Below is a shot of the later off-street terminal at 667 Bourke Street. This was converted by Rex Law to a full drive-through terminal facility, with arrivals entering from Little Bourke Street and departures exiting onto Bourke Street. Russ Penfold's Greyhound took over the premises after Redline in the early 1970's.
The photo shows the Little Bourke Street arrivals access.

[dominodc122]

It's great to see some comparative photo's of different time lines for these facilities - a good capturing of history ...anymore anyone??

[Looselion]

Here's one of the more remote pick up and set down points around Redline's network....
Brewster's at Coober Pedy, in the mid '60's.
This shot illustrates that at some point between Nos 53 and 72, Rex and I had a little discussion that resulted in the livery being altered to give more prominence to the company name. Retrospective alterations to all earlier units never did get completed....
Just did a little checking....No 53 did later receive the updated livery.....

[Looselion]

For history's sake I should mention that Rex had conducted in-depth discussions with the agents for the TAA city terminal premises on the corner of Swanson and Franklin streets, Melbourne, during our program to establish our own off-street terminal facilities in that city.

It was a close to done deal when the availability of the 667 Bourke Street location was made known to us. Although this meant bigger ingoing costs the premises were far more practical due to the much larger area available for both passenger and coach accommodation.

Qantas Airways (Cargo) became the next tenants of the ex-TAA building, copied again here from SI's John Masterton photo. This is the view in Franklin St, with the Swanston St corner to the left of shot.

[Doc68]

(I always love the spllt rims on coaches...gives them a real "truck" look ) Many of the GBW / International Harvester units that Clarrie Skenner operated(and I had the luck of driving at Coachtrans)had these which gave them a very rugged look
(unlike modern coaches ...My opinion only, but the modern units look like a semi streamlined cross between a fridge and an insect tipped on their side with wheel arch cut outs and antenna like mirrors out the front (no bloody character at all. )
Now THAT'S a Coach! (it's got that "Im kickin arse and takin names" look about it ) and growls when accelerated )

...and this is what it is tagged as... and sounds like a vacuum cleaner with asthma when it trundles by ...Again...just my opinion )

edited & pics removed by Doc68


Yes goes like a tired snail, handles like a wet sponge, BUT it does have 50+ seats yaaaay

[dominodc122]

Anymore terminal and setdown images (and stories too ) great to see we are getting a compilation and history together here guy's...keep em comin

[Looselion]

I guess there are many industry enthusiasts who have heard of the prominent tourist agency business in Melbourne known as Whight's Tourist Bureau. Many post-war coach tour and passenger service operators relied on Whight's for promotion and ticket sales as well as being a central pick-up and set-down point,
Looking at the above shots from SI last night, showing some interesting and historic general views of the tour coach scene as it was in Flinders Street, I realized that one of them included just a glimpse of the rather low key Whight's Tourist Bureau facade.
For the sake of the record, I thought I should identify this to the reader, as this location represents a significant part of the industry's history, especially as the original premises at 100 Flinders Street still exist today. Many of the "kerbside=loading-war" battles between the coach and bus industry and the Melbourne City Council during the '50's and '60's were fought over the piece of road pictured outside this address...!
Below I'm showing the original image and the same location as it is today. I have circled Whight's actual office location in both images.

[dominodc122]

I'm amazed it still exsists, given the 'modern' developments around it!?...Many thanks for sharing looselion