Premier Roadlines History.

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Denv12
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:17 pm

Premier Roadlines History.

Post by Denv12 »

Back in 1985 I worked for Premier Roadlines at their Bowden depot.I started there cleaning their buses and coaches.These included the various ex Greyhound Tourmasters and Dennings and the various buses on service.And they did have 1 Volgren single axle coach.I saw a couple of coaches ex Greyhound going through the refurbishement process a in a nearby street at times.I learnt to drive the coaches with their crashboxes after 1 of the drivers would take me out in 1 of the coaches.I'm grateful to him for teaching me how to master those crashboxes.It helped me when I worked for "Quest Tours" later that year.

I would like to see the history of the company here,fleet photos and the various changes from Premier Roadlines to Premier Stateliner,etc.You are welcome to contribute here.Thanks.
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Bedford-29
Posts: 4942
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 1:31 pm

Re: Premier Roadlines History.

Post by Bedford-29 »

Here you go for pictures for.Pictures from the Andrew Potts and Graeme Turnbull collections.
Attachments
STATELINER (6) ALBION VK55
STATELINER (6) ALBION VK55
STATELINER (19) DENNING RGY-127
STATELINER (19) DENNING RGY-127
PREMIER ROADLINES DENNING RRO-499
PREMIER ROADLINES DENNING RRO-499
PREMIER ROADLINES DENNING RON-528
PREMIER ROADLINES DENNING RON-528
Previoulsy known as United Diesel 15
Denv12
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:17 pm

Re: Premier Roadlines History.

Post by Denv12 »

Bedford-29 wrote:Here you go for pictures for.Pictures from the Andrew Potts and Graeme Turnbull collections.
Thanks for the great photos.Some great history there.What a collection.
AndyMV
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2018 9:25 pm

Re: Premier Roadlines History.

Post by AndyMV »

Hello everyone, I've just joined after discovering this discussion about Premier Roadlines and its history.
I lived on the Thrushgrove Estate when Premier Roadlines started their MorphettVale East service in 1967/68. Suddenly we didn't have to walk all the way to the Main South Road to catch a bus to work or town, so the service was welcomed by all.
Dave Binyon, the driver of the bus, lived in Noami Avenue directly behind us. He parked his bus in the street in front of his house over night so it was very handy. More than once we had to push the old bus to get it started on cold winter mornings, and Dave always had a can of Ether on hand
Dave drove the bus into the city in the morning and then went to his normal job. Then he drove it back to MorphettVale in the late afternoon. I think this was the only service each day to and from the Thrushgrove Estate.
I've lived in North Queensland for many years now, and worked in the heavy transport industry for much of that time. We often see "Premier" buses on the highway up here and I've wondered if there's a connection between this Premier and the old Premier Roadlines. I asked one of the Premier drivers one day but he didn't know. He was based in N.S.W.. Somewhere in this forum I've read that there is a connection.
Anyway, yet another part of my early life re-discovered on the internet. Thanks everyone!
Peter T
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 5:19 pm

Re: Premier Roadlines History.

Post by Peter T »

Premier Roadlines was started by Alan Crawford and myself Peter Thompson in about 1964 with one Bedford Coach purchased from Bull's Busways with sub-contracted charter work from Bulls. For a time we operated the Croydon -Glenunga route licensed by MTT. We had a fleet of 4 buses (several ex Bowmans) and sold 2 with the transfer of the route to Joe Chaplin who also had the Adelaide Birdwood Mannum service. We started the Thrushgrove Estate - Adelaide service with another ex Bowmans vehicle soon after. I still have copies of the original timetable and drove the first service on the route. The partnership broke up when I took over the Adelaide - Yankalilla - Rapid Bay service from Schultz's. Alan, who at the time had a full time Government job, kept Premiers. When the railways closed the Adelaide - Kapunda - Eudunda line, tenders were called for a replacement bus service by the Transport Control Board. Alan won the tender, and Premier Roadlines which had struggled since beginning, progressed rapidly, next taking over the Victor Harbor service from Bonds, then came the amalgamation of the Stateliner services and name. One of the ex drivers from Premier, had a lot of the early Premier photos and memorabilia given to him and set it up in a garage at his home.
ArfaBrayne
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2019 4:15 pm

Re: Premier Roadlines History.

Post by ArfaBrayne »

AndyMV wrote:. We often see "Premier" buses on the highway up here and I've wondered if there's a connection between this Premier and the old Premier Roadlines. I asked one of the Premier drivers one day but he didn't know. He was based in N.S.W.. Somewhere in this forum I've read that there is a connection.
The current Premier Buses you see are from John King's bus company originating in Nowra NSW.
Premier has expanded to take over most of the original bus companies on the NSW South coast. I know our trainers and head blokes are travelling to North Queensland all the time to look after Premiers other bus aquisitions in Qld.
Kingie's a good bloke with a lot of vision and extreme work ethic. He's heart and soul into looking after the customer.
Whistle
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2020 6:33 pm

Re: Premier Roadlines History.

Post by Whistle »

Peter T, thanks for your history on Premiers. Do you remember which buses were purchased from Bowmans.? And roughly what years.
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