West Bridgford | |
---|---|
West Bridgford Urban District shown within Nottinghamshire in 1970. | |
Area | |
• 1911 | 1,123 acres (4.54 km2) |
• 1961 | 3,046 acres (12.33 km2) |
Population | |
• 1911 | 11,632 |
• 1961 | 26,973 |
History | |
• Created | 1894 |
• Abolished | 1974 |
• Succeeded by | Rushcliffe |
Status | Urban District |
Government | West Bridgford Urban District Council |
• HQ | West Bridgford |
West Bridgford was an Urban District in Nottinghamshire, England from 1894 to 1974. [1] [2] It was created under the Local Government Act 1894.
It was enlarged in 1935 when the part of the civil parishes of South Wilford and Edwalton were transferred to the district.
The district was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 and combined with the Bingham Rural District and the southern detached part of Basford Rural District to form the new Rushcliffe district.
West Bridgford UDC operated its own fleet of buses from 1914 until 1968. The first five were delivered ready for the opening of the new services on 28 January 1914, but their Dennis chassis were requisitioned by the War Department in November the same year. Their bodywork was retained by the UDC, and fitted to some new chassis bought from Alldays & Onions, of which a total of seven of this make were bought in 1915–16. The next new buses, bought in 1920–24, had Straker-Squire chassis. These early buses had a short life; mostly four or five years, none lasting more than seven.
In 1926, the first AEC chassis were bought, and from that time on, AEC manufactured virtually all bus chassis for West Bridgford, although some of those delivered during 1927–28 were badged as ADC. The only exceptions to the all-AEC policy were three Daimlers (with AEC engines) built in 1945 – one was bought new, the other two being bought secondhand in 1955. Once AEC became established in the fleet, West Bridgford buses tended to have a long life – those built between 1937 and 1939 all lasted until the 1960s, and five of those built in 1947 lasted until the end of the fleet in 1968.
Bodywork was predominantly double-deck from a variety of coachbuilders, but from 1934, most were built by Park Royal with East Lancs being favoured from 1960. A number of single-deckers were bought in 1926–28, but no more until 1967 when three East Lancs-bodied AEC Swift were bought, which were also the last buses supplied to the UDC.
To begin with, the UDC buses primarily provided services in West Bridgford, some of which connected to the terminus of the Nottingham Corporation Tramways system at Trent Bridge. Once the Nottingham tramways were converted to motorbus operation, UDC buses began to run into the centre of Nottingham. From 1928, Nottingham City Transport and West Bridgford UDC collaborated on a group of jointly-operated bus routes, where each company provided a proportion of the vehicles and received a share of the receipts. This arrangement became more significant in the 1950s, when new housing developments were constructed at Clifton; until the opening of the Clifton Bridge in 1958, all of the buses running between Nottingham and Clifton needed to cross the river by the Trent Bridge, and thus had to pass through West Bridgford, providing the UDC with a further source of income. The Clifton routes ran along Wilford Lane, which passed beneath a low railway bridge. To suit this, some of the double-deck buses were reconstructed to have a reduced height, and other low-height buses were bought either new or secondhand.
During the 1960s, passenger numbers declined and the buses became less viable. The three AEC Swift single-deckers bought in 1967 had been intended to begin a gradual conversion to one-man operation, but union difficulties meant that they had to be operated with conductors. West Bridgford UDC decided to sell the whole fleet, and the last UDC-owned buses ran on the evening of 28 September 1968. The livery was chocolate and cream, with the fleetname "WBUDC".
The fleet was bought by Nottingham City Transport, and repainted green and cream. At the time, the stock comprised 28 buses, all with AEC chassis; of these, 25 (11 Regent III, 12 Regent V and two Renown) were double-deck and three were single-deck. The two Renowns and three Swifts were still in service with Nottingham in February 1976, but all had been withdrawn by May 1978. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
West Bridgford is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies south of Nottingham city centre, east of Wilford, north of Ruddington and west of Radcliffe-on-Trent. It is also southwest of Colwick and southeast of Beeston which are on the opposite bank of the River Trent. The town is part of the Nottingham Urban Area and had a population of 36,487 in a 2021-census.
The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new.
The AEC Regent III RT was one of the variants of the AEC Regent III. It was a double-decker bus produced jointly between AEC and London Transport. It was the standard red London bus in the 1950s and continued to outnumber the better-known Routemaster throughout the 1960s.
Nottingham City Transport (NCT) is the major bus operator of the city of Nottingham, England. NCT operates extensively within Nottingham as well beyond the city boundaries into Nottinghamshire county. Publicly-owned, it is today the second largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom after Lothian Buses in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The East Lancs OmniTown was a low-floor midibus body sold in the United Kingdom by East Lancs and Scania built only in 2004. It used the Scania N94UB chassis, which is the single-decker version of the N94UD double-decker chassis, with East Lancashire Coachbuilders bodywork. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the OmniTown chassis. The confusion concerning the chassis, and indeed the buses, arises due to the complexity of the OmniTown's and other Scania products' histories.
Western Scottish Motor Traction Co. Limited was a bus operator in south-west Scotland from 1929 to 1985.
Wilford is a village and former civil parish in the Nottingham district in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. The village is to the northeast of Clifton, southwest of West Bridgford, northwest of Ruddington and southwest of Nottingham city centre. It is at a meander of the River Trent.
The West Yorkshire Road Car Company was a major bus operator operating in North and West Yorkshire between 1906 and 1987.
United Automobile Services was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear, England. It provided bus services across a wide geographical area, stretching from the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the north, Filey in the south, and Carlisle in the west.
A lowbridge double-deck bus is a double-decker bus that has an asymmetric interior layout, enabling the overall height of the vehicle to be reduced compared to that of a conventional double-decker bus. The upper-deck gangway is offset to one side of the vehicle, normally the offside, and is sunken into the lower-deck passenger saloon. Low railway bridges and overpasses are the main reason that a reduced height is desired.
Barton Transport was a bus company that operated in Nottinghamshire from 1908 until 1989.
South Notts Bus Company was a bus company operating in Nottinghamshire from 1926 until 1991 when sold to Nottingham City Transport who continue to use the brand name today.
Red & White Services was a bus company operating in south east Wales and Gloucestershire, England between 1929 and 1978.
The AEC Swift was a rear-engined step entrance single-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC between 1964 and 1980. The chassis design was closely related to the Leyland Panther. It was available in 33-foot (10 m) and 36-foot (11 m) lengths, with an AEC AH505 or AH691 engine.
The Mancunian double-decker bus is a type of bodywork for double-decker bus designed by Manchester Corporation Transport Department (MCT) and built on Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline chassis. A total of 472 Mancunians were ordered by the department between 1965 and 1968 and delivered from 1968 until 1972 with bodywork by Park Royal, East Lancs, Metro Cammell and Charles H Roe. The first 96 buses ordered used a 30-foot (9.1 m) chassis, but the majority were 33 feet (10 m) long. A further 20 were built for Salford City Transport (SCT) but were delivered new to SELNEC PTE.
The East Lancs OmniDekka is a double-decker bus built for sale in the UK market, introduced by East Lancashire Coachbuilders in 2003. Originally built on Scania N94UD chassis at Euro 3, and later Scania N230UD and N270UD at Euro 4 and Euro 5, the bodywork consists of a modified East Lancs Myllennium double decker, but with the standard front end cowl and windscreen replaced with that of Scania's own integral OmniCity. Through takeovers of East Lancs, production of the OmniDekka was latterly carried out by the Darwen Group and finally Optare before ceasing in 2011.
The Nottingham trolleybus system once served the city of Nottingham, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It opened on 10 April 1927, and gradually replaced the Nottingham tramway network.
The Grimsby trolleybus system once served the seaport of Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, England. Opened on 3 October 1926, it gradually replaced part of the Great Grimsby Street Tramways, a tramway that had served both Grimsby and the neighbouring holiday resort of Cleethorpes. It was closed on 4 June 1960.
Southampton Corporation Transport motor bus services started in 1919 as a successor to Southampton Corporation Tramways. After Southampton achieved city status in 1964 it was renamed Southampton City Transport. In 1986, as a result of deregulation it became Southampton Citybus, an arms-length company that was sold to the staff in 1993. It continued trading as Southampton Citybus until it was bought by First Bus in 1997.
The AEC Renown was the name given to three distinct forward control bus chassis manufactured by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) at different periods between 1925 and 1967. All were of the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. The first and third types had two axles, the second had three. Each was intended to be fitted with bodywork by an outside coachbuilder – single deck for the first type, double deck for the third, whilst the second could be bodied in either form.