East Kent Road Car Company Ltd: Services of the Jubilee Era E-Book

Richard Wallace

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 457

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

East Kent - Services of the Golden Jubilee Era takes the reader on a journey along the routes of all the stage-carriage services operated by East Kent in 1968, just after the Company celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1966/7 and immediately prior to the National Bus Company (NBC) taking full control. Supported by over two hundred and fifty photographs, most not published before, of nearly every bus route as well as most London express services and all the operational garages, this book reveals the contrasting nature of East Kent's services from rural byways to the seasonal, but very busy routes serving the still-popular resorts around the Kent coast. It includes a comprehensive fleet list and details a specimen allocation of cars to each service on a typical day in 1968; local route maps of all major town services as well as a sectionalised reproduction of the original East Kent network map of 1968 and, finally, a summary of the Centenary celebrations of 2016.

Leseprobe

Services of the Golden Jubilee Era

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of two former East Kent friends and colleagues who have sadly passed away in recent years: John ‘Fred’ Wilson (1942–2016), who worked for over fifty years for the Company, mainly at Head Office, and John Bennett (1941–2018), who was a conductor, then driver at Folkestone and who was instrumental in showing the Author, as a schoolboy, how to conduct! Both greatly missed by all their friends.

‘Fred’ enjoying a ride on the last BJG Guy Arab II in service at Minnis Bay in 1969.

John Bennett at the helm of an ex-Southdown Leopard at Hythe in 1971.

Services of the Golden Jubilee Era

RICHARD WALLACE

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2019 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2019

© Richard Wallace 2019

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 558 9

Acknowledgements

I must thank the M&D and East Kent Bus Club for the historic information they have gathered over the years, which has provided an essential research resource. Thanks are also due to Brian Weeden, Mike Ansell, Tony Smith and Barry Ovenden, who have provided much assistance on historic routeings and the supply of many photographs to illustrate the book. Without their help and resources, it would be a much lesser work. I hope that most of the photographs have been correctly attributed but some are so old it is impossible to identify the originator accurately. For any errors in attribution, I apologize. Stagecoach, South East (East Kent) must also be thanked for allowing the use of old East Kent maps, the local ones of which have been ‘reverse engineered’ to portray the 1968 routes.

All photographs were taken by the author or are from his collection, unless otherwise attributed.

Finally, thanks are due to my daughter, Sophie Wallace, for her work on preparing the town maps, and to my wife Anne, who has been supportive despite my hours closeted away writing!

An idyllic scene at the ‘omnibus stand’ of Chestfield, Golf Club as NFN 346 loads passengers bound for Canterbury on service 5 in October 1963. Note the child’s pram – a reminder of a bygone era – it will be a struggle to get it through the narrow doorway of the Beadle-bodied Reliance which sports the coach livery carried by these cars at first. BRIAN WEEDEN

Contents

Introduction

Notes

Part I Canterbury – East Kent’s Hub

Chapter 1 Country Services from Canterbury

Chapter 2 Canterbury City Services

Includes local map of Canterbury City and country services

Chapter 3 University Services

Part II Northern Coastal Routes

Chapter 4 From Countryside to Coast – Northern Rural Services

Chapter 5 Herne Bay Town Services

Includes local map of Herne Bay town and country services

Part III Isle of Thanet Local Services

Chapter 6 Thanet Town Services

Includes local map of Thanet town and country services

Chapter 7 Thanet Open-Top Services (Summer Only)

Chapter 8 Thanet Works Services

Part IV Stour Valley and the South Foreland Routes

Chapter 9 Country Services from Thanet

Chapter 10 Country Services from Sandwich and Deal

Chapter 11 Deal Town Services

Includes local map of Deal town and country services

Chapter 12 Country Services from Dover to the Coalfields

Part V From the White Cliffs and Channel Ports to the North Downs and Romney Marsh

Chapter 13 Dover Town Services

Includes local map of Dover town and country services

Chapter 14 Cliffs and Valleys – Connecting the Channel Ports

Chapter 15 Folkestone Town Services

Includes local map of Folkestone town and country services

Chapter 16 Westwards Towards the Weald and the Marsh

Part VI Services around the Wealden Edge and East Sussex

Chapter 17 Ashford Town Services

Includes local map of Ashford town and country services

Chapter 18 North Downs, Weald and Sussex Borders Country Services

Chapter 19 Rye and Hastings Local Services

Part VII Express Services and Garages

Chapter 20 London and Long-Distance Express Services

Chapter 21 East Kent Garages

Part VIII Postscript: Fifty Years On 188

Chapter 22 Into the Twenty-First Century and the Centenary Celebrations

Appendix I   East Kent Fleet as at July 1968

Appendix II  Specimen Route/Car Allocation – Summer 1968

Appendix III Network Map – Summer 1968

Bibliography

Index

In the mid-60s FFN 394 crosses Ashford’s railway bridge bound for Woodchurch Turning on service 121. 394 was allocated to Thanet when new but was eventually displaced by the arrival of the AEC Regents from 1959. By 1968, the front-line work for these cars was much reduced and most were by then confined to relief or special workings. MDEK CLUB

Introduction

The East Kent Road Car Company operated buses and coaches in the easternmost coastal area of the county of Kent but their stage carriage operations also extended into East Sussex, principally around Rye. Standardization of vehicle purchase in the 1930s saw Leyland chassis preferred for coaches and double-deck buses, with Dennis supplying most single-deck bus chassis. Immediately post-war, this policy continued but subsequent changes saw Guy chassis procured for double-deck buses in the 1950s, following successful experiences with Guy Arab IIs supplied during wartime. Eventually, however, large-scale purchase of AEC chassis commenced, starting with single-deck AEC Reliance 470s in 1955 and later double-deck Regent Vs from 1959. Park Royal was normally the preferred body builder but local firm Beadle of Rochester also saw significant orders in the 1950s.

The 1960s saw East Kent’s fleet characterized by the dominance of AEC; by the end of the decade, the Leyland marque had all but disappeared from the Company, although significant numbers of Guy double-decks and a scattering of Dennis single-deck vehicles remained in service.

An idiosyncratic company, East Kent did not use fleet numbers, instead identifying vehicles by their registration numbers, which were pre-booked with the licensing authority to avoid duplication. There was however one exception in the 1960s: a late open-top conversion, BJG 339, had not been sold as was probably intended and its number was duplicated with a Beadle-bodied AEC Reliance, NFN 339. There was not much chance of confusing the two, however! East Kent persevered with this system until 1977, when fleet numbering was introduced.

The 1960s were seen by many to be the zenith of the Company’s operations. It was a period of intense change: more modern and technically different vehicles were starting to enter service, alongside the ‘old guard’, in the form of some pre-war vehicles, albeit modified or on special duties. Significant numbers of half-cab double-decks also remained. The services were increasingly being converted to one-man operation (although East Kent preferred the term D/C, or driver/conductor), but they were broadly similar in their route coverage to those that existed when a comprehensive numbering of services was inaugurated in 1937. Incidentally, apart from a short period between 1917 and 1920, it was another East Kent idiosyncrasy that the Company had managed without service numbers for a good twenty years after it had first been established in August 1916.

The Company’s Golden Jubilee was celebrated in 1966/7 with much more ceremony than the Silver Jubilee, in 1941. The earlier event had been very low key, coinciding as it did with the constraints of war. The Golden Jubilee saw a special Jubilee Luncheon and publication of a well-illustrated brochure charting the Company’s history over the past fifty years. The decade of the 1960s was a period of change but with an underlying sense of constancy. The Company was still run on traditional lines, although the younger managers now beginning to occupy senior positions were alive to the need to introduce more efficient methods of working if the books were to continue to be balanced. These two factors resulted, at the time, in an operation which had many contrasts and provided a lot of variation and thus interest. In addition, the East Kent area covered a beautiful part of England’s countryside, from the Wealden edge in the west through the valley of the River Stour to the dramatic White Cliffs of Dover. This charming and undulating countryside, called the ‘Garden of England’, was anchored around the iconic centrepiece of the cathedral city of Canterbury. Many would argue that East Kent was operating in some of the most picturesque parts of the country.

The full history of East Kent, from its origins in 1916, following the merger of five separate local concerns under the leadership of one Sidney Garcke, was covered in an earlier book, East Kent Road Car Company – A Century of Service, 1916–2016. Although this described the history of the Company, as well as the general development of services, the scale of change over 100 years meant that it could not provide the finer detail of the individual routes operated. The book’s publication stimulated comment from readers that they would like more such detail on services, particularly with more detailed maps, as well as further information on operating garages.

The timetable covers for the Jubilee year featured commemorative gold text in the top left corner. The winter 1966 and summer 1967 covers were treated in this way – both featured Margate’s clock tower and seafront, with two PFNs in evidence.

This book tries to meet that demand, providing greater coverage of the services operated, with detailed commentary, and a generous number of illustrations. A comprehensive description of all the route changes that followed over the decades would be an impossible task for one book and information on the early years is not readily to hand. As a result, this book focuses on a distinct period – the Golden Jubilee era – covering services broadly as they existed in 1968; further details prior to this time and developments immediately thereafter are also provided where deemed relevant. Furthermore, to provide interest and variety, the illustrations cover a wider period, both before and after this specific era. The aim is to illustrate East Kent’s network in the broadest sense and therefore many of the pictures in this book have been chosen to show the wider terrain through which the Company’s buses ran, rather than providing a repetitive series of ‘town-centre’ shots. In some instances, this, and the desire to provide a variety of colour illustrations as well as black and white, has led to the use of photographs that are hardly up to the standard of today’s digital photography. Some are lacking in definition, particularly where the location was rarely photographed. Colour film in those days was not cheap and processing was sometimes hit and miss, but I hope the reader will agree that it is better to provide a rare shot of a lower quality rather than none at all. I have tried to provide the best balance with an eye to illustrating most services, with a few, limited, exceptions. The majority of these photographs have never been published before.

Strictly speaking, East Kent’s Golden Jubilee year ran from September 1966 to August 1967, but 1968 has been chosen as the ‘anchor point’ for the service descriptions in this book, for a number of reasons. That year saw the arrival of a large batch of twenty-five 36ft (11m) AEC Reliance 53-seater saloons designed to introduce D/C operation on a large scale across the Company. Although high-capacity D/C operation had already commenced on some routes, predominantly using the batch of 51-seater saloons delivered in 1967, this had met with resistance from the Union. An interim solution had been reached, with a number of ‘cars’ (East Kent’s term for its vehicles) from both the 1967 and 1968 batches down-seated to 45. Agreement was reached in the summer of 1968 to operate them as D/C cars at their designed capacity and the service conversion programme commenced in earnest with the winter timetable in September 1968. In addition, the establishment of the National Bus Company (NBC) was under way. Formal transfer took place from January 1969, following a short period during which East Kent’s owning body BET (British Electric Traction) had, with agreement, sold off its bus interests to the government-owned Transport Holding Company (THC) pending establishment of the NBC. Clearly, 1968 was something of a watershed, with major change imminent. For a few years afterwards, the changes were barely perceptible, but things were definitely moving, albeit slowly at first.

In 1969, a standardized timetable cover appeared, superseding East Kent’s earlier use of attractive designs featuring images of the local area and the Company’s buses. Rationalization of operations between its sister company on its western border, Maidstone & District, also commenced with the transfer of East Kent’s local Hastings services and the closure of the Company’s Hastings (Ore) outstation in September 1969. This would be followed by the Rye garage and operations being transferred in1973 as well as the rationalization of operations between the two companies at Ashford and Faversham in the same year. The year 1968 can be said, therefore, to mark the beginning of the end of ‘proper’ East Kent and is thus a fitting period upon which to base this narrative.

The description of the services is designed to allow the reader to trace them in the landscape of the time, although major road, residential and retail developments since that period often make the task a challenge. Another point is that many old established landmarks, many used as service timing points, have either changed use or have been demolished. Indeed, an alternative title for this book might have been ‘A summary of closed country pubs and post offices of East Kent’, such has been the change in travel choices, shopping and leisure habits affecting the more rural areas of the county over the last fifty years.

In addition to the detailed stage carriage service descriptions, express services are listed in summary form; a detailed description of these could comprise a separate book in themselves. There are also route maps of local town services and a section on the operating garages, with further illustrations. To ‘square the circle’, there is a postscript covering the centenary year of 2016 – the special events and a short summary of how things have changed during the intervening fifty years.

Three appendices detail the fleet in 1968 followed by an allocation list of vehicles to service on a typical day in summer 1968, mostly based on actual observations. Finally, the Company’s network map of 1968 is reproduced in sections. This book is designed to complement the earlier history, providing detail that was not given there, with a completely different set of photographs. The aim is to take the reader on a journey in words and pictures through the towns and countryside of East Kent in its Golden Jubilee era. I hope it proves to be an enjoyable and interesting read.

Richard Wallace MA FCILT

Kenilworth, July 2018

By 1968 only two of the Dennis Lancet coaches remained and these were reserved for snow plough duties only. EFN 584 had already been sold by then but survived into preservation and was subsequently brought back to commercial use. It is at present operated by Catteralls of Southam and is regularly driven by the author, pictured here complete with his East Kent uniform jacket at Stratford-upon-Avon in June 2017. It carries the original livery style and fleetname unique to these cars and they reverted back to a more standard livery at first repaint.

Notes

Structure of Service Descriptions

Each service description carries details of the route and garage(s) operating it, together with the type of operation (crew or D/C). The frequency refers to the standard daytime weekday interval. In this context, ‘weekday’ is used in its original convention, thus Monday to Saturday; the introduction of the five-day week was not so widespread and, apart from school and factory workings, the timetable remained broadly the same through the week with the exception of Sundays. Peak and school enhancements are not generally described, apart from those on some infrequent rural routes and exceptional workings such as the limited-stop 4X/4AX/6X services. Details of Sunday services are omitted, unless relevant, as in the case of indicating where no Sunday service operates or special workings unique to that day.

General Abbreviations Used in the Service Descriptions and Elsewhere

D/C – driver/conductor (one-man) operated

EKLR – East Kent Light Railway

I/w – interworked

hr. – hour

min. – minutes

M&D – Maidstone & District

MDEK Club – Maidstone & District and East Kent Bus Club

NBC – National Bus Company

RHDR – Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway

s/w – short working

Abbreviations for Days of Operation

MTThO – Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays only

MWThO – Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays only

MThO – Mondays and Thursdays only

TO – Tuesdays only

TFO – Tuesdays and Fridays only

TSO – Tuesdays and Saturdays only

WO – Wednesdays only

WFO – Wednesdays and Fridays only

WFSO – Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays only

WSO – Wednesdays and Saturdays only

ThFSO – Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only

ThSSuO – Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays only

FO – Fridays only

FSO – Fridays and Saturdays only

FSuO – Fridays and Sundays only

SO – Saturdays only

SSuO – Saturdays and Sundays only

NMW – not Mondays and Wednesdays

NTS – not Tuesdays and Saturdays

NS – not Saturdays

NSSu – not Saturdays or Sundays

Local Maps

The local maps use bold lines for town services with open parallel lines for country services. Intermittent or diversionary routes are identified with dashed lines.

Early Service Numbering

Although East Kent’s established service network was fully numbered only in 1937, an earlier numbering system was briefly utilized. This dated from at least 1917 and was based around the original route structure inherited in 1916:

Service

Route

1

Folkestone, Harbour – Cheriton

2/2A

Folkestone, Black Bull (2) or Junction (2A) – Hythe

3

Ashford – Hythe (some extensions to/from Folkestone)

4

Folkestone – Dover

5

Deal – Kingsdown

6

Deal – Dover (via St Margaret’s Bay or Direct)

7

Canterbury – Dover

8

Canterbury – Sandwich – Deal (via Worth or Eastry)

9

Canterbury – Ashford

10

Canterbury – Herne Bay

11

Canterbury – Whitstable

12

Margate – Canterbury – Faversham

13

Margate – Ramsgate

14

Ramsgate – Canterbury

15

Margate – Westgate

A link between Whitstable and Herne Bay, probably extensions of the 11, was suspended due to the war. This numbering was abandoned by 1920, although the precise reason for this is unknown; it may have been due to the fast expansion of the network. Lack of service numbers for trunk routes continued until 1937, when a comprehensive system was introduced. This lasted until the 1960s, largely unchanged, covering the period described in this book.

PART I

Canterbury – East Kent’s Hub

Canterbury was the base of the Company, with the head office, central works and coachworks all located close to each other in the St Stephen’s area of the city. All have now gone, although the head office building does survive as flats. The bus station, built in 1956, was on the opposite side of the city close to the main shopping areas. It replaced the earlier site at St Peter’s close to the Westgate Towers. The magnificent cathedral, dating from the eleventh century, dominates the skyline and is visible from all of the main roads radiating from the city. In this section, the interurban routes serving Canterbury are dealt with first, followed by Canterbury’s local city services and then the special services running to the relatively recently established University of Kent, situated to the north of the city.

CHAPTER 1

Country Services from Canterbury

Canterbury, being centrally located, was the focus of the majority of the Company’s longer-distance interurban routes. These connected the hub of the cathedral city with the major towns in the east of the County of Kent, most of which are situated on the coast about an hour’s run from the city, and were generally 15 to 20 miles in length.

The numbering system introduced in 1937 commenced with these trunk routes and adopted a clockwise incremental progression, with the exception of services 10 and 67 which had already been utilized by sister company M&D for the jointly operated routes operating to the west of East Kent’s operating area.

Service 1: Canterbury – Chartham – Chilham – Wye – Ashford

Operating garages: Canterbury; Ashford

Operating mode: Crew

Weekday frequency: Hourly

Running time: 54 min.

The 1 was one of the Company’s original routes from 1916 (originating with Deal & District) but by the mid-1960s it was struggling financially, due in part to the proximity of the competing rail service, now electrified. Despite this, it was still crew-operated, with 72-seat AEC Regents. Although the distance to Ashford was shorter as the crow flies, the route had a number of diversions that impacted on its overall journey time. Ashford was once a major market town, but although the Tuesday cattle market with associated shopping stalls survived at this time, it would move out of the town centre in the late 1990s.

MFN 952F, the very last of the AEC Regents delivered to East Kent in 1967, waits at Canterbury Bus Station in April 1969 on service 1, the blinds displaying the onward connection to Hastings available at Ashford on this service.

Leaving Canterbury’s bus station, the route headed south in company with the 22 and 67 as well as the City services bound for Thanington, skirting the Dane John Gardens and the remains of the city walls on the right and Canterbury East Station on the left. A sharp left turn then took it under the railway bridge carrying the railway line between Dover and Faversham and out via Wincheap. In its formative years, the 1 also crossed under the old Elham Valley line a little further down. Although this line closed soon after the Second World War, with the bridge subsequently being demolished, its former passage could still be discerned in the 1960s before the development of a shopping retail park and the adjacent diverted A2 obliterated most traces.

The route headed straight on, down Thanington Road, before bearing right, crossing the River Stour and railway by a bridge with fairly tight corners, particularly on the western side. Before the bridge, one service operated from Canterbury by Drew’s, the last independent stage carriage operator in East Kent territory at the time, would head off via Larkey Valley to Chartham. Past the bridge, another would turn right to serve Chartham Hatch. Heading out into more open countryside, at the time graced by many hop fields but increasingly given over to fruit cultivation, the 1 served Chartham. It stopped on the main road whereas one of Drew’s other services turned left here to access the centre of the village. Shalmsford Bridge was passed where the 22 diverged right to serve Old Wives Lees. Seven miles from Canterbury the service reached Chilham, a picturesque village; as at Chartham, the 1 did not serve the village centre. Swinging left off the main Charing Road, leaving the 67 to head straight on towards Maidstone, the nearest the 1 could get to the village proper was the Woolpack pub at the bottom of a short hill leading to the square. As well as incurring a time penalty, this diversion also required the bus to reverse at the Woolpack, a terminal shared with the 31 from Faversham. This was a tight turn, which made crew operation mandatory for larger buses, with a conductor to supervise reversing. Eventually, planned conversion to D/C operation in 1969 required an easier reverse further east down Bagham Road at Felborough Close, even further away from the main village.

Peak short workings to Chilham were operated by Canterbury garage, as shown by Loadmeter car WFN 839 seen in the Bus Station in 1969.

Leaving Chilham and retracing its steps, but then bearing right to reach the Ashford Road directly, the bus turned right at the road junction, heading south through more rural country and crossing the Stour again before passing the hamlet of Godmersham. The attractive flint church here, which is visible from the road, mostly dates from Norman times but there is evidence of an earlier Saxon church as well. There is now some ribbon development of houses alongside the road at Bilting. The last major village on the 1’s route is Wye, which also required an extended double-run off the main Ashford road. Turning left, along Bramble Lane, the route had to cross the Ashford to Canterbury railway by a level crossing adjacent to the station, as well as a further bridge across the Stour before a loop was performed around the village. It would briefly meet service 118/A before returning to re-cross the river and railway before turning left down Harville Road to rejoin the Ashford road, now in company with schooldays service 120.

One reason for the 1 hanging on to crew working was the tight reverse at Chilham, Woolpack, which was unsuitable for the longer single-deckers. GJG 742D reverses there in May 1969.

On the last five miles into Ashford, the service skirted the suburb of Kennington near Penlee Point, where it was joined by town service 125 and then M&D’s service 11 at Faversham Road. Finally, the 124 came in at Bybrook Road before the services crossed the Ashford by-pass, entering the town via North Street and turning left into the High Street. By this time, Ashford had introduced a one-way system and, while most passengers would get off here, the 1 continued, turning right into Station Road and terminating outside the Company’s garage and enquiry office. Before returning, the bus would turn left off Station Road and run through the garage itself before stopping at the small bus station for country services, facing west on to Station Road.

On its return to Canterbury, the service exited the garage, turning left then right into Vicarage Lane and Tufton Street, before taking a further right into Bank Street, thence High Street, and left into North Lane to leave the one-way system.

The 1 had a close relationship with service 2, which in earlier summers also ran from Canterbury to Ashford before continuing on its main itinerary to Rye and Hastings. By summer 1966, the 2 had ceased to operate north of Ashford or west of Rye, although cars on the 1 connecting with the 2 advertised ‘Ashford for Hastings’ on their destinations, maintaining a link with earlier days. The main weekday frequency on the 1 was supplemented by peak short workings between Canterbury and Chilham on weekdays and Ashford and Wye/Godmersham, although the latter were mainly on schooldays.

As noted earlier, the 1 was not the most profitable of the Company’s routes and by the late 1960s there was an imperative to convert it to D/C operation, in order to reduce losses. However, the double-runs at Chilham and Wye and the assumed need for more running time to cater for driver fare collection meant that the hourly frequency could not be maintained with two vehicles. In addition, an alternative reversing point had to be found at Chilham, which could be negotiated by a driver-only vehicle. Eventually, in May 1969, the conversion was achieved, although allocating three vehicles to achieve the original frequency was untenable and this was initially reduced to every 90 minutes, plus odd short workings to fill key gaps. The hourly service did return later.

By 1971, D/C working had commenced following revised reversing arrangements at Chilham. AEC Swift VJG 199J crosses the river Stour at Wye, bound for Canterbury.

Service 3: Canterbury – Harbledown – Dunkirk – Boughton – Faversham

Operating garages: Canterbury; Faversham

Operating mode: Crew (D/C from 9/68)

Weekday frequency: 30 min.

Running time: 35 min.

Resuming the logical clockwise order of the trunk routes radiating from Canterbury, the 3, following the A2 to Faversham, had only recently been reincarnated. Prior to the summer (30 June) 1968 timetable change, it had, for a time in the early 1960s, been linked to the Margate service as a through route, numbered 8, crossing Canterbury. Interestingly, a link such as this was part of the initial East Kent services upon formation in 1916 before being separated, certainly by the early 1920s. Impending D/C conversion meant that such long routes were split once again to facilitate ease of operation, although through fares to/from Margate interchanging with service 8 were offered for a time.

In this period, routes could run both ways through Canterbury’s High Street and the 3 would do that, leaving the bus station and turning left to run through the city centre. It passed over a narrow bridge crossing the Great Stour river, flanked by the Eastbridge Hospital on one side and the sixteenth-century Old Weavers’ House on the other. Care was needed on the bridge when passing other buses, especially as the 3’s later D/C conversion in September required three of the new longer AEC Reliance Marshall-bodied saloons from 1967/8, which were over 8ft (2.4m) wide. Approaching the Westgate Towers, as with all other outbound services the 3 skirted around the southern flank of the towers, but on return passed directly through the arch. This normally required a retraction of the driver’s offside mirror on these wider single-decks. Services 5 and 26/28 part company here, heading right down North Lane.

Picking up opposite the historic Falstaff Hotel, Station Road West, site of the Company’s head office, is passed on the right before St Dunstan’s level crossing on the line between Ashford and Canterbury West/Ramsgate, the cause of much congestion on this heavily used road, even in the 1960s. The 29 turned right just afterwards. Bearing left along London Road, where the 4/4A/6 group, 23/27 group and 32 part company, the service then joined what was at the time the main road towards London. City service 25 departed to serve London Road estate on the left whilst the 3 headed up through Harbledown before descending past the church to enter the main village. Before the church and behind the trees to the right was situated Odsal House, the Company’s head office after the Second World War until new premises were completed at the pre-war site in Station Road West, Canterbury, which was occupied in December 1960. As in many places, the local road layouts have been rendered somewhat indistinguishable from what existed in the 1960s by extensive road developments from the mid-1970s. These involved first a local by-pass cutting through the grounds of the former Odsal House (now called Lawrence House), and then the widening and diversion of the A2. The road straightens through the village of Dunkirk, which was little more than a truck stop on the main road, before the service descended the steep Boughton Hill to enter the village of the same name. This was the only substantial area of habitation on the route.

The 3 was another early candidate for conversion to D/C with the 1968 batch of AEC Reliance saloons, although they had already appeared on the route crew-operated before the conversion. OFN 714F, by now converted to D/C, awaits departure to Faversham from Canterbury in July 1970.

Running through the narrow street of Boughton, on the western outskirts the imposing building of Nash Court is on the right, with its entrance gate marked by pillars, thence the junction with the M2 and Thanet Way is reached at Brenley Corner (nowadays the road is much modified). It is now a short run into Faversham, the 31 joining from the left, turning right into the tree-lined Mall where at the end the service skirted to the left. The road dipped under the railway bridge to avoid the former level crossing adjacent to Faversham station on the North Kent main line. Today, high-bridge double-decks cannot negotiate the bridge due to changes to the road surface. Prior to the D/C conversion, in 1968, AEC Regent V highbridge double-decks were the standard allocated type, although the new 36ft (11m) Reliances also operated with crews before conversion. The small Faversham garage in Cyprus Road was an outstation of Herne Bay and Faversham cars on the 3 were interchanged with a Herne Bay working on the 4/4A/6 at Canterbury to facilitate transfer.

One of Canterbury’s medieval buildings is shown to good effect in this view of OFN 716F nearly at the end of its journey from Faversham on the 3 in 1977, by now in NBC Poppy Red livery. THE LATE BRIAN BEER (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)

Pedestrianization has completely changed access into Faversham but in 1968 the 3 turned left at the station into Preston Street, past the M&D garage on the right before running down into Faversham’s market place in Court Street, passing wonderful period buildings before turning right into Crescent Road. This was where all East Kent services at Faversham terminated. Connection was made here with a number of M&D services to Maidstone (3), Ashford (11), Gravesend and the Medway Towns (26), as well as the local town services, which were operated by M&D.

Services 4/6, 4A/6: Canterbury – Whitstable – Swalecliffe (4)/ Swalecliffe Court Drive (4A) – Herne Bay – Sturry – Canterbury (clockwise)

Anti-clockwise services numbered 6/4 or 6/4A

Limited-stop short workings (NSSu) numbered 4X, 4AX (Canterbury to Whitstable/Herne Bay) and 6X (Canterbury to Herne Bay)

Operating garages: Canterbury; Herne Bay

Operating mode: Crew

Weekday frequency: 20 min.

Running time: 1 hr. 28 min.

These routes were the product of an amalgamation, in September 1965, of three services from Canterbury, which previously terminated at Swalecliffe from the north-west (4, 4A) and Herne Bay from the north-east (6). Their linking now provided through circular services via Westbrook Farm replacing localized services between Herne Bay, Swalecliffe, Whitstable and Faversham, which were curtailed to operate mostly to Swalecliffe/Chestfield from Faversham (see services 37/A, 38/A). The earlier individual services were part of the Company’s original constituents in 1916, being operated by Wacher of Herne Bay prior to being amalgamated with other fledgling companies to form East Kent.

Leaving Canterbury, the clockwise workings were jointly numbered as 4/6 or 4A/6, whilst anti-clockwise were 6/4 or 6/4A combining the indicators of the former, separated, routes. During the evening peak hours, the normal clockwise workings were supplemented by short workings to Whitstable/Swalecliffe/Herne Bay, retaining either the former singular number or in some cases limited-stop workings omitting all stops between St Dunstan’s and Borstal Hill, numbered 4X or 4AX. In the anti-clockwise direction, the limited-stop workings, numbered 6X, terminated at Herne Bay, omitting all stops between Kingsmead and Herne with one stop at Broad Oak. As peak demand was high on these routes, with many services leaving full and standing from Canterbury, restrictive fares applied on outward journeys on weekdays between 1530 and 1800 to Rough Common Turning (clockwise) and Sturry Road, Vauxhall Road (anti-clockwise). This was intended to discourage local traffic and reserve capacity for longer-distance passengers.

GJG 750D demonstrates the means of portraying linked services 4, 4A and 6 whilst waiting to depart Canterbury on a clockwise working in June 1969.

Clockwise services followed the 3 as far as St Dunstan’s, where the route branched right ascending St Thomas Hill. It was a strenuous climb, even for an AEC Regent, which was by now the standard vehicle for the route, having replaced Guy Arabs from 1961, when the WFN-series Regents were allocated new to Canterbury and Herne Bay. The services at this time required an allocation of ten cars in order to maintain the off-peak frequency. The destination for clockwise workings from Canterbury would show WHITSTABLE–HERNE BAY, whereas those heading anti-clockwise via Sturry would show purely HERNE BAY, indicating the direct and faster itinerary.

University service 32 heads right down University Road and the 34 serving Whitstable/Swalecliffe joins here. Looking back, the silhouette of Canterbury’s cathedral dominated the city below before the service reached Rough Common Road, where City services 23 and 27 diverged left to head down to their terminus. The 4/6 or 4A/6 now head away from the outskirts of Canterbury on the Whitstable Road, still jointly served by City services 23A and 27A, which followed the Whitstable service as far as the village of Blean. The 4/6 and 4A/6 now had sole access to the ribbon development along the road north of the village before leaving it behind. The undulating road passes the Royal Oak pub on the right, thence the Red Lion (which was to close at the end of the decade), before finally ascending Clapham Hill, where the route crossed the Thanet Way, with the Long Reach pub on the left. This is another area now transformed by modern road developments. The service descended Borstal Hill down into Whitstable, allowing views over the Thames Estuary; this hill presented another fierce challenge for buses on the anti-clockwise itinerary heading towards Canterbury. On the left a former Toll Gate house marks where the 35/36 from Seasalter and the 37/A and 38/A services from Faversham joined and they all enter Whitstable, passing under the bridge of the railway, joined here by service 5, which had run from Canterbury via Chestfield and which terminated in the centre at a small one-way system.

Buses bound for Herne Bay ran via the Horsebridge, site of the Company’s local enquiry office and also a small garage (which closed around 1950), whilst in the Canterbury direction all services ran via Harbour Street. The two-way system would soon be rejoined with the harbour on the left and before long the gatehouse entrance to Whitstable Castle gardens would be seen as the service headed right along Tankerton Road, an eastern suburb of the town. The main feature here was Tankerton Circus, in reality just a small roundabout!

MFN 947F is captured at Westbrook Farm between Whitstable and Herne Bay in February 1968. This narrow road was surrounded by ditches and often buses came to grief when attempting to pass each other here. BRIAN WEEDEN

A straight road now leads to Priest & Sow corner, where the service looped round a small one-way system, giving brief views of the sea; the services returned via St Swithin’s Road. It was at this point, in 1946, that one of the Leyland TD4s on service 4 (JG 7027) collided with a Dennis Lancet on service 33; the incident is alleged to have resulted in the introduction of the one-way loop. Briefly heading away from the coast, by the Wheat-sheaf pub the 4A/6 service turned left to serve Swalecliffe Court Drive and Plough Lane, whereas the 4/6 carried on, turning left by the station to pass Goodwin Avenue on the right. This was now the terminus of the 37A/38A and the place where the 4 reversed, prior to the linking with service 6. The former 4A performed a loop via Goodwin Avenue in either clockwise or anti-clockwise directions, avoiding the need to reverse. Heading past the Plough on the right, the 4A/6 rejoined and the route twisted and turned, passing via Westbrook Farm. It was a narrow section of road where buses often ended up in the ditch when trying to pass other wide vehicles. Hampton Pier Avenue on the left was the erstwhile terminus of the 39 and 42 town services before September 1965, when the local services hereabouts were completely revised. Blinds would be changed on this section, with clockwise services showing CANTERBURY; anti-clockwise services would have already changed their blinds when entering Herne Bay from the east, and would now be displaying WHITSTABLE–CANTERBURY. Local services 41/42 from Greenhill joined from the right at Greenhill Bridge Road whilst the 40 from Westcliff came in from the left at the next major junction, Grand Drive, where the 35/36 headed off direct into the town and Pier via Sea Street. All other services then turned right at Fleetwood Road to access Herne Bay station forecourt, where the 7 commenced and the 43 also joined before heading directly down Station Road.

After January 1970 the dual numbering was abolished and 4 or 4A was used for clockwise working and 6 or 6A for anti-clockwise working. 6787 FN is on the latter as it leaves Herne Bay, Pier, in October 1971, showing the dual destination for the Whitstable leg of these services.

Prior to September 1967, only the 4/6 served the station, the 4A/6 running direct via Sea Street and Avenue Road before rejoining the 4/6 at the Station Road junction where both 4/6 and 4A/6 services ran down to the Pier, now again with the 35/36, turning right into Central Parade and then right again into Dolphin Street. There was then a left turn into High Street to stop opposite Herne Bay garage on the right, where a crew change could occur if the vehicle was allocated here. Before the linking of services, the 6 (from Canterbury) always terminated in a clockwise direction, accessing the Pier via Station Road and returning via Dolphin Street with only one stop, on the seaward side of the road.

GJG 747D shows the revised clockwise singular numbering as it runs up Herne Bay’s High Street, bound for Canterbury, in October 1971.

Proceeding down the High Street, the service turned right at Canterbury Road Corner, demarcated by a set of traffic lights where the 41, 43 and service 7 parted company heading up Beltinge Road. The remaining local Herne Bay services and the 35 diverged left at Mickleburgh Hill by the former Queens Hotel (now closed), whereas the 4/6, 4A/6 and 36 headed south under a prominent arched railway bridge where double-decks had to take the centre of the road. Crossing the Thanet Way for the second time, the 36 departs, heading east, while the 4/4A/6 heads up through the narrow street of Herne village before housing thins out. In quick succession, the First & Last pub was passed on the left followed by Herne Hospital (a former workhouse) on the right. Heading out through woodland, the main landmarks on the road were the Fox & Hounds (now closed) and then the Punch Tavern, both on the left and both fare stages. This is a fast road for buses due to the lack of residential development and Calcott Hill would soon be descended, where, if still operational, the roar of the exhaust brakes on the Regent would cut in to arrest its speed. The bus would then sweep through the curves at the bottom of the hill before ascending up to Broad Oak. It was in this area that one of the ex-Isle of Thanet Daimler COG5s was strafed by an enemy fighter in 1942, resulting in the death of the driver and many passengers. In a similar incident, another Daimler was caught on the Sturry Road near Canterbury, with the loss of the conductress and more passengers. Both vehicles were operating service 6.

After the Broad Oak junction, the bus picks up more passengers as housing density increases, before descending Sturry Hill to the junction with Island Road at the bottom. The busy railway level crossing on the Canterbury–Ramsgate line is then traversed. The 4/6 and 4A/6 were now joined by services 7 from Hoath and the 8, 9 and 65 from the Isle of Thanet, skirting around a mini by-pass avoiding the centre of Sturry before crossing the Stour over Black Mill Bridge and entering the outskirts of Canterbury. A weight restriction on this bridge, introduced in early 1968, resulted in the heavier WFN-registered AEC Regents being transferred away from Herne Bay and Canterbury garages, operators of the 4/6 and 4A/6. A new bridge has since diverted the road away from the old structure, which is still extant. On the right, Vauxhall Road was passed, where City services 23/A and 24 joined, and the route then encountered housing and military barracks lining the Sturry Road before passing the Vauxhall Tavern on the right. Country routes and the 23/A turned left down Union Street, leaving only the 24 to head straight on to Eastgate. The main services now turned right into Military Road, where new housing has largely replaced the former barracks. Union Street is now a minor road, replaced by the new Tourtel Road link. In front, the city walls were encountered to the right, with the cathedral rising up behind. The service skirted the walls by way of Broad Street, with Lady Wootton’s Green on the left and St Augustine’s Abbey lying behind. Turning right then immediately left, the services ran into the bus station to finish their journey using the stand immediately beyond the offices. Anti-clockwise services (for example, the 6/4) would set down opposite the enquiry office before turning round to take the Herne Bay stand on the opposite side. Crews would then take a well-earned break, as many have been on the road for nearly 90 minutes and this group of services was one of the Company’s busiest.

Both routes, uniquely for East Kent at this time, had limited-stop workings during peak hours. YJG 813 nears the end of its journey at Herne Bay, Queen’s Hotel, in June 1968. BRIAN WEEDEN

Service 5: Canterbury – Tyler Hill – Chestfield – Tankerton – Whitstable

Operating garages: Canterbury; Herne Bay

Operating mode: D/C

Weekday frequency: Ten journeys (plus local s/w in Whitstable)

Running time: 45–48 min.

This route took a more rural course to Whitstable than its main-road counterparts, such as the 4/6. It followed the latter to the Westgate Towers before branching right down North Lane with City services 26/28, passing the Company’s central works, coachworks and Canterbury, St Stephen’s garage all on the left. The 5 was not one of the Company’s original routes, but appeared in the late 1920s and was probably instrumental in the demise of the Canterbury and Whitstable railway passenger service in 1931 as it paralleled the line. It turned left at the junction with Broad Oak and Kingsmead Roads, joined by services 33A/B/C, passing the market on the right, which had been a major attraction on Wednesdays in the 1960s, but is now a distant memory, having been replaced by housing. It crossed the Ramsgate railway line on the level before skirting Ye Olde Beverlie pub by St Stephen’s Green and then climbing St Stephen’s Hill, where, halfway up, at Downs Road, the 26 and 28 parted company. At the top, Giles Lane was passed on the left; leading to the recently established University this road was taken by services 33A/B/C. At the time of this account, one late journey on the 5 followed the 4/4A/6 up St Thomas Hill before running via the University to rejoin its main route here.

The road narrows prior to passing through the hamlet of Tyler Hill. The 5, like many of the minor rural routes based on Canterbury, saw only light loadings emanating from such small villages, except for school traffic and traffic on market days (Wednesday). The service was therefore an early conversion to D/C, in 1958, and was normally operated with one of the 41-seat AEC Reliances with Weymann or Beadle bodies dating from the mid-1950s. Prior to their withdrawal, the Dennis Lancet D/C conversions would also operate the route.

KFN 229 waiting to depart Canterbury on service 5 in July 1968, showing the double-line destination display used on single-deck blinds for some routes.

Now running through farmland and wooded countryside, there was little to delay the service as the Reliance 470 sang its way through the lanes until dropping down Radfall Hill, with houses starting to appear on either side of the road. Once it had passed the junction with South Street, the 5 performed a double-run approaching the Whitstable suburb of Chestfield from the south, providing a direct service to/from Canterbury for residents here. The service turned at Chestfield golf club, marked by an attractive thatched building, where it met the 37/38 group of services, which reversed here from the north. Returning to South Street, the 5 now turned right, heading north into Whitstable, normally by way of the Thanet Way, Foxgrove Road, Ham Shades Lane and Church Street. In earlier days (1966 and before), it ran direct into Church Street, although as late as 1968 one schooldays northbound short working from Canterbury still crossed direct to terminate at Bartlett’s corner.

In September 1971, NFN 343 reverses at Chestfield, Golf Club, midway point on service 5, showing an alternative method of incorporating a via point in the single-aperture display.

In Whitstable, the 5 adopted a mixed identity – in fact, there were so many variations of routes on weekdays that it seems that there were few journeys that were the same! Services from Canterbury normally accessed the town centre by crossing the railway on Castle Road then turning left to pass Whitstable station on the left and running straight down Cromwell Road, joining the 4/4A/6 to head right to the Horsebridge to terminate, returning via Harbour Street. However, in this period, the 5 also served local estates from mid-morning to the late afternoon by virtue of a few journeys. Clover Rise was the easternmost local terminal. Inbound, the service ran from the junction of Grasmere Road down to the Thanet Way then via Foxgrove Road, Bennell’s Avenue and Pier Avenue, turning left to run down Tankerton Road (joining the 6/4/4A and 37/38) past Tankerton Circus, down Tankerton Road to turn left into Castle Road to rejoin the normal route (and briefly the 37A/38A) by turning right before the railway bridge.

Some journeys – both through from Canterbury and the local short workings – also diverted between Castle Road and the Horsebridge to turn off south of the railway bridge and run westwards via Old Bridge Road and Millstrood Road to serve Grimshill estate running via Grimshill Road, Sydney Road and Saddleton Road before running back into town under the railway bridge with the 4/4A/6, thence rejoining the main 5 route. However, no through southbound journeys either to Canterbury or Clover Rise diverted via Grimshill estate and the area was served by a couple of short workings from Harbour Street on weekdays (one) or schooldays (one), which both terminated there.

In 1969, the 5 was tidied up, with all through journeys diverting at Foxgrove Road to double-run to Clover Rise and the number 5A thence used for journeys via Tankerton Circus, which would now run direct to/from town. This made matters clearer and coincided with an extension to Seasalter, expanding the 5’s role as a local Whitstable service.

Service 7: Canterbury – Sturry – Hoath – Broomfield – Beltinge – Herne Bay

Operating garages: Herne Bay; Canterbury (certain workings, for example, schooldays)

Operating mode: D/C (certain school workings crew)

Weekday frequency: Nine return journeys (plus school workings)

Running time: 48 min. (49 min. via Pier towards Canterbury) via Hoath

Another service like the 5, mainly using AEC Reliance 41-seaters and traversing sparsely populated areas en route to the north Kent coast, the 7 headed eastwards from Canterbury with the 6/4/A, 8, 9 and 65 until Sturry. After bearing right from the level crossing and a brief sojourn on Island Road, it then turned left to run up Babs Oak Hill, which was the eastward limit of residential development around Sturry at the time. Like the other trunk services on this route out of Canterbury, restrictive fares also applied to the 7 between 1530 and 1800 (weekdays) as far as Vauxhall Road, the limit of the City services.

At the top of Babs Oak Hill, the road to Hoath levels out and eventually views open out over to the north coast and Chislet and Marshside in the east, when the height of the hedgerows permits. A number of farmhouses and the odd oasthouse are passed before Knaves Ash where most services turned right into Hoath, except for the occasional peak-hour or schooldays journeys which ran direct to/from Maypole. The windy Church Road was traversed with the timing point of Hoath, Post Office on the left (now closed) before the church appears on the same side. Bearing left in the village centre and left again, the bus curved round narrow lanes before entering Maypole Lane and the junction by the Prince of Wales pub, turning right to rejoin the direct road. As it swung through more narrow lanes before encountering Ford Hill, it is worth reflecting that, not that many years before, double-decks had also been used on the route (albeit low-bridge in those days).

The land opens out and on the right the junction with Highstead is the point where the 35 joined from Marshside and Upstreet. Soon after, both services would turn left into Margate Road, indicative of former roadways before the Thanet Way was built. The 7 then ran through Broomfield, now absorbed into suburban development between Herne and Herne Bay, although the Huntsman & Horn pub is a reminder of its village origins. Turning across the Thanet Way, Blacksole Bridge over the railway was crossed before entering Beltinge, where the 7 shared the road with town services as they merged. The normal route into the town for the 7 is by Reculver Road and left into Seaview Road at Dollies Corner before descending via Beltinge Road to Canterbury Road Corner. In peaks, however, some journeys ran to or from the town via Mickleburgh Hill, joining Canterbury Road at the Queens Hotel.

It is a tight turn for NFN 341 as it negotiates the corner at Maypole near Hoath, bound for Herne Bay on service 7. TONY SMITH

The route of the 6/4/4A was then followed through the town to Herne Bay, but running direct via High Street, Station Road to the station terminus. On the return only, the 7 served the Pier using Central Parade and Dolphin Street, accounting for the minute extra running time in this direction. This was a throwback to the pre-June 1967 route, when the 7 terminated at the Pier, performing a clockwise loop via Station Road’s northern extremity. Whilst Herne Bay was the predominant operating garage, some workings, particularly on schooldays, were operated by Canterbury, at this time often with crews on either single- or double-deckers, depending on availability.

At this time, Canterbury’s minimal contribution to service 7 was a crew working evidenced by the conductor as well as the driver, who are both visible through the offside windscreen of TFN 437 at Hoath in March 1968. BRIAN WEEDEN

Thanet’s PFN 844 leaves Canterbury en route for Margate on the busy service 8. TONY SMITH

Service 8: Canterbury – Sturry – Upstreet – Sarre – St Nicholas – Margate

Operating garages: Canterbury; Thanet

Operating mode: Crew (partial conversion to D/C from 9/68)

Weekday frequency: 30 min. (summer); 60 min. with combined 30 min. s/w Canterbury/Upstreet (winter)

Running time: 55 min.

The 8 was another one of the constituent services of East Kent in 1916 previously operated by Margate, Canterbury & District as part of a through route to Faversham. The link was reestablished in the 1960s only to end in June 1968 as part of the D/C conversion programme, which required the Canterbury–Faversham leg to be split off once again and revert to service 3.