Merthyr Imp 729 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 #130 - I think this is the only Hall Bros. photo I've got that doesn't show any Barton insignia - although it may date from just after the takeover by Barton in 1967. A busy summer Saturday at Huntingdon Street. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Further info for Colly: The Hall Bros. timetable in my ABC Coach & Bus Guide for Summer 1966 shows the following timings: Huntingdon St. depart 1155am Calling at: Mansfield 1230pm Warsop 1240pm Worksop 1258pm Langold 1.10pm Doncaster arrive 1.35pm Doncaster depart 2.15pm Wetherby 3.15pm Boroughbridge 3.40pm Catterick 4.30pm Darlington 4.55pm Ferryhill 5.20pm Durham 5.35pm Chester-Le-Street 5.55pm Newcastle 6.15pm South Shields 6.45pm Additional refreshment stop: Leeming Bar Nottingham was also meant to be a refreshment stop (the service having started at Coventry). 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DAVIDW 1,674 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Margie H . marriage lasted long enough for 3 kids and a tempestuous relationship but my mum was right ! Sister got out when it all got too much and never returned to Notts . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,594 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 David, sorry your sister didn't have a satisfactory marriage. I hope she's found happiness since leaving... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Laying back and scrolling i am in love!!-Mertyhr posted a pic yonks back of a Southdown co. bus / Chichester destination. If i win lottery that is my first purchase!! Second is 1940's breakdown bus at I O W bus museum in Newport-- oh! I forgot me wife!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Southdown coaches could occasionally be seen at Huntingdon Street but not on a regular basis. This was sometime in the late 1960s and shows a bit of the street itself. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 The two Art Deco buildings have managed to survive. https://goo.gl/maps/3bf5E 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colly0410 1,181 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Mrrthyr Imp. Thanks for photo & info, 6 hour journey to Chester-le-Street I see, no wonder it seemed to take ages.... I drove Mam mad by asking "are we there yet?" she'd say "no, were still in Yorkshire!" When we stopped at Durham I knew next stop we'd be there. I was bursting with excitement, & then there was Uncle Jim waiting for us at Chester-le-Street market place, "hooray we're here" I shouted. First thing I noticed was the tea tasted funny because of the soft water. Oh yeah & the local kids talked all funny & they couldn't understand me.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 '...the local kids talked all funny & they couldn't understand me..' That reminds me of when I moved from Lincolnshire to Nottingham aged 9. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colly0410 1,181 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 # 159 Merthyr Imp. Know what you mean.... A year or so after moving to Chester-le-Street we moved back to the Meadows, of course I'd lost most of my Nottingham accent & acquired a Geordie one, took me years to get my full Nottingham accent back.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Britain from Above - 1937. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colly0410 1,181 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Brill photo.. Been thinking: In the 60's was long distance coach travel cheaper than the train? I'm wondering why we went on the bus to Chester-le-Street & not the train.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 colly - it probably was cheaper by coach, but no doubt took longer. On that subject, I'm currently sweating on this rail strike going ahead next week and have been comparing present day coach with rail times as a contingency plan. From Merthyr Tydfil to Lincoln by coach there is only one service a day (at 9.05am) which, changing at Birmingham, would get us into Lincoln 10 hours 35 minutes later - cost works out for us at about £73 single. For the same journey by train, there's an hourly service from a time earlier than we'd want to travel!, changing at Cardiff and Nottingham, which takes around 6 hours 15 minutes to get to Lincoln - cost for us is about £67. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bamber 128 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Ten and a half hours to cover 200 miles from Merthyr to Lincoln !!! I bet the stage coach was almost as quick. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StephenFord 866 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Don't count on the trains having been quicker in them days. I think I may have mentioned it on here before (so at the risk of boring you) we used to return from holidays in Cornwall as far as Bristol by an express train that ran from Penzance to Manchester. It took 7 hours to Bristol, and that works out at an average of under 30 mph. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mercurydancer 1,104 Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Merthyr Imp If you consider that the bus went to the town centres of each of the places you listed, its not bad timings at all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
banjo48 928 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 #161 Interesting to see where the Brook st sorting office was going to be built and all the buildings on Bath st where the new Bowman telephone exchange is now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 And the 'sorting office' is still there but is now flats, and known as Marco Island. I also noticed that the bus station is entirely open-air; no shelters or cover of any sort, just island platforms. And the fairly new Central Market on the right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TBI 2,351 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 #161 Great picture. I think there was also a police house on the bus station, just out of sight on the lower left-hand side. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 I don't remember it but there are photos of it. http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;NTGM015692&prevUrl= And it includes the front end of a Barton coach. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TBI 2,351 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 That's the one Cliff. I can certainly remember it from the early sixties Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colly0410 1,181 Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Not struck of long distance coach travel nowadays, longest coach trip I've been on was Miami to Orlando & then back again, didn't look very far on the map but boy did it drag.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Merthyr Imp If you consider that the bus went to the town centres of each of the places you listed, its not bad timings at all. Lincoln and Merthyr Tydfil railway stations are just as central to the respective town centres as the bus stations. In fact the coach timing is so especially poor for that journey because of having to wait three and three quarters of an hour for a connection in Birmingham. I was also making the point that the service by train is many times more frequent than the single daily journey by coach. #165 - Re the train taking 7 hours from Penzance to Bristol, my trusty old ABC Coach & Bus Guide from 1966 gives the coach time by Associated Motorways service of 8 hours 30 minutes from Penzance to Bristol. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mickyp 23 Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Hi Guys, only just joined Nottstalgia Nottingham so forgive me coming in late on this blog. Sorry, Stephen Ford, I have to challenge your (much) earlier statement re the ownership of Notts and Derby Traction, Midland General and Mansfield District Traction although the rest of your information is astoudingly informative and much appreciated. These three companies, along with many others throughout the country prior to the formation of the NBC, were part of the Tillings Group of Companies which also owned the Bristol Motor Co from, believe it or not, Bristol plus Eastern Counties Bodyworks in Lowestoft. This is why - at the end these companies they almost invariably had Bristol chassis, EC Coachwork and, usually, Gardner Engines. I personally have ex Yarmouth Corporation 329 Bristol VRT2 (vertical, rear, transverse engine) its body number is 23456. I worked for British Transport Advertising in the 60s and sold bus (exterior and interior) advertising on the aforementioned bus companies vehicles plus Trent, East Midlands and North Western Road car. These latter 3 companies were part of the BET Group - British Electric Traction - yes, part of Balfour Beatty (historically from tramway days). Although I sold purely bus advertising my wage was actually paid by British Rail(ways) and I was actually a Railway employee and received BR priv tickets and concessions. The local office was on Low Pavement. Fact is stranger than fiction.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Pianoman 1,531 Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 That is the way I had always understood it to be. All Tilling Group Company buses were Apple Green and Buttermilk Cream, apart from Midland General and one other. All Bristol Buses were only available to Tilling group companies because they also owned Bristol. I hadn't realised that they also owned Eastern Coachworks but I am not surprised to find that out. Oh and I want to have go with your Bristol VR Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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