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China Motor Bus Co. Guy UF Bus HK 4812 fleet No. 608 circa 1975 Hong Kong.
Near the junction of Chai Wan Rd and Shaukiwan Rd.
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Retired Guy UF buses and two Guy Arab V double deckers used as trainers parked at the Chai Wan
car shop, note the L plate slot on the radiator panel. 1975
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The front of a GUY UF bus, with "One Man Bus" decal and 6 cylinder engine identification.
| Please allow for the quality of this picture, it was discovered from one of the size 110 negatives in my collection with 30x magnification. The bus was heading east at Leighton Road, serving on route No.5. In 1976 whilst this picture was taken, route No.5 has a mixed fleet of GUY Arab V double deckers, Leyland PD3 double deckers and the GUY UFs.
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A replica of the first batch of "ONE MAN BUS" decal appeared on a converted CMB GUY UF bus. Long before the "Coin and Farebox" decal was in use.
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A bus stop at Queen's Rd East, the line up gates were built in 1955, the front and rear doors were aligned for the Guy UF, still in use in 2006.
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Note: I took these buses to school in the 1960's. They were my
favorite buses for their reliabilty and smooth ride, I had never missed a
class due to a bus failure.
The Guy UF buses left a legacy of high capacity public transportation
in Hong Kong between 1954 and the late 1970's, replacing a fleet of smaller
half-cab Tilling Stevens buses (25 feet and 27 feet), long before the perfection of the
rear engined, multi-axle double decker buses and low floor models.
The GUY UF buses were the first batch of buses converted into "One Man Bus"
operation in Hong Kong in the early 1970's with minimal modification.
Thanks to its full front design and the location of the front door. The length of the bus was 29 feet 6 inches(9 m.) and the width was 8 feet(2.5m), the length was increased by 6 inches with the front radiator installed.
The 100 Guy UF buses in Hong Kong were originally fitted with Gardner 5HLW diesel engines, ( the engines were modified 5LW engines, mounted horizontally )
floor-mounted mechanical semi-automatic gearboxes (technically known as "Wilson Pre-selector"), a very advanced technology at those days, making double-declutching obsolete.
A few buses were later retrofitted with Gardner 6HLW engines. Only those buses fitted with the 6HLW engines assigned the 600 series fleet numbers.
Retired Guy UF buses found their lives as trainers and mobile kiosks in the 1970's.
The Guy UF buses in these pictures were upgraded in the late 1960's,
the original under floor radiator was
moved to the front and housed within a "Birmingham" style panel silmilar to
the other Guy Arab IV and V buses,
buses with the cream white front were fitted with 6 cylinder engine
whilst the ones with a red front were fitted with the original 5 cylinder
engine.
The Guy UF buses were built by the Guy Motors in Wolverhampton, England,
and their metal bodies were supplied by Metal Sections and assembled in Hong Kong CKD ( Completely knocked down ).
Each bus carried 65 passengers.
(Original-1 driver 2 conductors 39 seated and 24 standing)
(One Man Bus - 1 driver 41 seated and 24 standing)
Guy Motors was absorbed by Jaguar and later by Leyland and continued to design and build buses under the Leyland trademark. Guy Motors was closed in 1984.
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Routes served by Guy UF Buses 1954-1968
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1969-1978
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*** The routes and destinations represented the period when the GUY UF buses were in service
to the respective routes. Some route numbers and some destinations have been changed. Some destinations have adopted new names (in brackets) Vehicular Ferry (Central) Cleverly Street (Macau Ferry) North Point (North Point Ferry) The last GUY UF bus served the route 5C in 1979, peak hour limited service circular route from Wanchai Ferry to Central. None of the Guy UF buses in the CMB fleet were preserved. CMB preserved one 27 feet two door Tilling Stevens bus in running condition. |
In England there were quite a few under-the-floor, horizontally mounted engine designs in the
1950's, they included the Leyland Tiger Cub, Albion Nimbus, AEC Reliance and Bristol's self propelled railcar. In America, the E.G. Budd Company designed the Rail Diesel Car (RDC) on the same idea.
The underfloor engine design was superceeded by the low-floor, rear transverse engine design, the later took 30 years to perfect the technology.
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Recommended Readings |
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| Chan, C. Y. | Hong Kong Classic Buses 1949-1972 Northroup 1998 |
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| Hanny and Broatch | 80 years of Guy Motors Venture 1994 |
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| Wilson W.G. | Epicyclic Gearing Institute of Automotive Engineering 1932 |
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