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I know there are a few transport experts around so can anyone explain to me how the old City Protection Points were created?

How were the boundaries defined as they didn't seem to be the limits of Corporation operation?

In May 1986 we moved from Bulwell to Nuthall. Bus fares from Bulwell to Nottingham were 35p adult, 10p child.

I was very surprised to find the fares from Woodland Drive Nuthall to Nottingham were the same - 35p & 10p(ie set by the City Council I presume). But from the next stop, Trent fares applied at 48p adult, 24p child (all the kids walked down a stop obviously). There never had been any Corporation buses into Nottingham from Nuthall so why was the limit at Woodland Drive and not at Cinderhill Island?

 

Thoughts......

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Hi Mitch. I think that the protection point being at Woodland Drive dates back to when Notts & Derby operated trolleybuses through to Ripley. N & D and NCT had co-ordinated services as far as Cinderhill Island and it may be that the Act of Parliament that granted trolleybus operating powers stipultated that the protection point was Woodland Drive.

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14 hours ago, Stuart.C said:

Might have been posted before but this is interesting on the history of NCT and when bus types were changed

 

Thanks Stuart.C I found that most interesting including the fact that it started with the newest history whereas most historical time lines start with the oldest.

Surprising that the first O.M.O. bus operated in 1951 although in quite a different way to which we are now used to.

Post 1975 is all new to me having left the UK then.

Correct me if I am wrong but surely having dedicated colour buses on specific routes leads to having to have more spare buses of the same colour to cover for breakdowns and servicing than having a common livery with destination and route boards.

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Yes I was surprised about OMO in 1951.

 

I'd guess they may have a couple of each colour spare then some non coloured ones as multiroute reserves.

 

I haven't been on a City transport bus for years but do drive past them but never noticed if a wrong or plain colour is on the route.

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Can't say that I am a fan of route branding, as no matter how hard an operator tries a wrongly branded bus will eventually end up on anincorrect route, causing needless confusion to the travelling public. Green and cream buses with red wheels, and properly set destination blinds, is how NCT should be.

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Surely it must be cheaper to have the whole fleet in one colour! 

Mansfield District Traction also had Green and Cream livery, to my eyes it was more of an "apple" green than the darker (dirtier) shade of green that NCT used.

The best looking buses were the blue and cream of Midland General.

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Looking at that link they obviously operated around Chesterfield, Matlock, Ollerton etc etc, which I wouldn't have thought of as East Midlands - more North.

 

And the one in Notty Ash's photo is going to Blackbird Leys, which is in Oxford !

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12 minutes ago, Cliff Ton said:

I don't think I remember seeing them.

They were mostly in Derbyshire and North Notts, they served Clipstone, Ollerton, Shirebrook, Worksop, Chesterfield  and Mansfield.

I think they serviced the Nottingham, Mansfield, Chesterfield and later Sheffield with Route No 63

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The no. 63 is the East Midlands service I remember into Nottingham. It ran jointly with Trent 12A. East Midlands used lowbridge double deckers on the 63. The service ran through Hucknall. I caught it sometimes on my way home from school.

 

Other companies once serving the Nottingham area include Mackeson, Midland Red, United Counties, Lincolnshire...

 

Before the consolidations of the 1930s and 1950s, there were probably many more.

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1 hour ago, Cliff Ton said:

Looking at that link they obviously operated around Chesterfield, Matlock, Ollerton etc etc, which I wouldn't have thought of as East Midlands - more North.

 

And the one in Notty Ash's photo is going to Blackbird Leys, which is in Oxford !

I think the sticker in the front window may say 'on hire to City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd' which would explain the destination. Looks like a school run. It was the only photo I could find quickly in that livery.

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A friend pointed me to Makemson's livery on the Bulwell Bygones facebook page

 

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Had a ride on one of their half cabs on a colliery service from Hucknall to Bestwood when I was very young.

 

correction from previous comments - the East Midland service was 12A and the Trent equivalent 63, not the other way around.

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With regard to the picture of the East Midland Leyland Atlantean operating in Oxford, this would have been in 1973 when City of Oxford Motor Services were suffering from a severe vehicle shortage. They had to hire in a large number of vehicles including a number of NCT's Northern Counties bodied Daimler Fleetines from the 64-94RTO batch.

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That Mansfield District Traction Bristol Lodekka is a smart looking bus.

The MGO bus with the Vernons advert on the side was an AEC lowbridge series that had four seats on the nearside and a sunken aisle on the drivers side of the upper deck.

Buses like that one often serviced the B8 route due to the low bridges around Bestwood/Hucknall before MGO bought Bristol Lodekkas.

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  • 3 months later...

A bit late to reply to Oztalgian but NCT have several spare buses in a silver livery with multicoloured swirl, so they should not cause confusion although l wonder whether people really notice the colour as long as the destination and route number are correct,  

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  • 2 weeks later...

NCT's colour coded route identification always seemed to me be a solution in search of a problem. That said, the green n' cream might look a little odd to modern eyes rendered as a vinyl wrap rather than the efforts of a chap with a spray gun and masking tape.

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On 6/1/2021 at 6:17 PM, philmayfield said:

I don’t know if they still do but City Transport used to hand paint their buses. A spray booth for a double decker plus the extraction system would have been a formidable structure.

I think they are contracted out for painting nowadays, not certain though.

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On 6/1/2021 at 5:45 PM, bamber said:

NCT's colour coded route identification always seemed to me be a solution in search of a problem. That said, the green n' cream might look a little odd to modern eyes rendered as a vinyl wrap rather than the efforts of a chap with a spray gun and masking tape.

Colour coded buses are a silly idea. Bulwell is served by yellow. Brown & torquoise coloured buses.

Not much use on dark nights. !

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