I know Roy Leembruggen quite well through his church membership of Wesley Mission and of the Hornsby Baptist Church. Doreen and I were married at Wesley Mission [then Central Methodist Mission]. We are now members of Hornsby Baptist Church.

Roy lived in Hornsby for many years and is now living at a retirement village. He is still enthusiastic about battery electric traction. He considers that the Townobile bus could operate again after some lubrication and attention to batteries and tires.

Several years ago I suggested that the STM might make use of the Townobile bus for trial , considering that the double deck ex Kogarah trolley bus No. 19 is a non-mobile exhibit but there was no interest expressed.

Noel Reed.

From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:TramsDownUnder@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Saturday, 25 March 2017 9:19 AM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Townobile

There is an excellent article on the Townobile in the current issue of Australian Bus. One thing I didn't appreciate is that Leembruggen also incorporated a stepless floor (gangway) in the interior, which was really a world-leading thing to say the least, as it was almost another 20 years before this became standard in European citybuses (and still hasn't in Australian buses).

I might call on your recollections Tim, but it seems it was not quite a "low" floor in respect of outside access, as the ground clearance was significantly higher back then (before the likes of portal axles were used), but it did have a ramp that could be used if level access was required. It looks as though there was a low entry at the doors though and I assume the gangway must then have ramped into the interior. Anyone recall?

There is a Townobile still stored away somewhere but nobody seems to know where, so personal observations of the i nterior might be the best bet on these details.

With the state of battery technology at the time, of course new battery packs had to be loaded in at regular intervals so it wasn't a greatly practical proposition. Just some typical Aussie innovation that ended up being rejected here (e.g. also Comeng's low-entry B class tram for Melbourne) and then adopted in the rest of the world.

Tony P

---InTramsDownUnder@..., <mmmoop@...> wrote :

G'day all, Interesting that the Townobile should get a mention. I think I went for a ride on one back in the 70s when I lived in Orange.

It was visiting Orange for some kind of transport convention or something & this was also the time a Melbourne Z class car (86 I think) came to town on the back of a table top truck.

I have pics of both but don't think they're scanned into the computer.

Regards,

Tim, in Sydney.

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