Timetables, gentlemen please.

[bamber 128]

It's amazing what you can find on the internet, and here is a website dedicated to the esoteric study of old bus timetables. They have Trent, Midland General and Barton from the late 1960s: when Leylands, AECs and Bristols dominated the roads.

 

Timetable World

 

 

 

 

[Newarker 22]

Old bus timetables tell us a lot about the way we lived, especially the rise in levels of car ownership and changes in employment. My Midland General/Mansfield District timetable issued in May 1963 lists a dense network of 55 MGO services covering the Notts/Derbys border plus 35 Mansfield District services. In addition there are about 30 colliery services and about 30 works and school services serving firms like Aristoc, Meridian and lllingworths. The frequency of services is almost unbelievable compared with today, as is the lateness of last buses. In 1963 cinema-going was still a regular ritual for many people who needed a late bus home. Towns like Eastwood, Heanor and Alfreton still had cinemas.

Barton's timetable from March 1964 has a huge network of services, also often high frequency, from garages at Chilwell, Long Eaton, Calverton, Kegworth, Ilkeston, Melton Mowbray and Stanford. Works services included Ericcsons at Beeston, Celanese at Spondon, Stanton Ironworks, Mapperley Pit, Clifton Colliery and Chilwell C.O.D. Summer services connected Nottingham and Leicester with all main seaside resorts, all of which have declined with the popularity of package holidays.

Very little remains of the Barton and Midland General networks but that was 58 years ago, as long ago as 1963 was from 1905!

[Newarker 22]

Another item of socio-economic history we glean from Barton's 1964 timetable is the weekend express service between Corby and Glasgow. This allowed expatriate Scots to visit haim by travelling through Friday night, arriving in Glasgow on Saturday morning, with the return trip on Sunday night.

 

The association between Corby and Scotland began when Glasgow-based Stewarts & Lloyds constructed one of the UK's largest steelworks in Corby in the 1930s.

By the 1960s the steel works employed half the town, with thousands of people moving from Scotland to work after a downturn in the Clyde Valley's steel industry. However, in 1979 British Steel announced the plants were no longer financially viable and would close.

 

I think National Express now work the route but Bartons got there first!

[Newarker 22]

William Gash began carrying passengers between Elston and Newark in 1919 on Wednesdays and between Elston and Nottingham from 1921. on Saturdays. From 1928 the Newark service was extended back to start from Hawksworth. Here are Gash's timetable and faretable from 1 August 1933 and for comparison the timetable for the same service from about 1970.

[Newarker 22]

[Newarker 22]