London Country Revisisted : Hitchin (2)

Of Fond Memory

It was, fbb thinks, Neddie Seagoon (Harry Secombe, right) who began the dialogue with Eccles (Spike Milligan, left):-

Seagoon : This is my plan of attack.

Eccles  : It looks like a nail to me.

Seagoon : No it's a plan of a tack.

Ah, they don't write sruff like that any more!

fbb's plan of attack is to survey very briefly (sighs of relief from readers!) London Country bus services in Hitchin in the 1950s and 1960s based on Julian's maps; then to continue with a look at the actual timetables from 1973.

Tomorrow, your delightful delver into dynamic data will then attempt to find equivalent routes (if any) from today's Intalink timetable c/o Herfordshire County Council. 

Does the old man know no fear?

A reminder  that Country Buses was the division of London Transport that, broadly, operated routes outside the greater London conurbation. These RTs, for example, are seen at the old Stevenage bus station, right next to the shopping centre.

What a good idea, buses close to where people want to go!

With the creation of the National Bus Company, London's green buses were handed over to (Sir) Fred Wood's monster bus behemoth and thus gained NBC leaf green livery, white lettering and patriotic "double N" symbol.

When buses were privatised nationally, London Country was sold off as four geographical areas, each developing its own livery. Nowadays, you would not know that this extensive green bus network, this much loved network, had ever existed.

Sigh!!

Hitchin 1954

Although fbb does not have timetables, London Transport provided its passengers with a broad brush guide to days of operation using a chunk of code ...

...  displayed at each main terminal point, in this case Hitchin.

303/303A DAILY : Hitchin, Stevenage, Knebworth, Welwyn Garden City, Potters Bar and New Barnet. The 303A diverted via Welham Green.

304 SAT & SUN : Hitchin, Kimpton, Wheathampstead, St Albans.

329A TUES & SAT : Hitchin, Knebworth, Datchworth

364 THURS SAT & SUN : Hitchin, Tye Green, Luton

383 DAILY : Hitchin, Purwell Lane Estate, Weston

386 TUES SAT & SUN : Hitchin, Stevenage, Buntingford, Bishops Stortford.

Hitchin 1964

Sadly, we have now lost the "days of operation" codes, so fbb is operating with a frequency blindfold. But he might be able to make a guess based on the 1973 times below.

Not much change, eh? This was well before bus managers earned their money by tinkering with timetables, confusing their passengers and losing a percentage of customers all with the feeble and dubious excuse of "improving the service".

We have gained a 364A, a 392A and an 801.

364/364A : Extended beyond Luton to Markyate and Flamstead incoporating a previous service to those extra 364 destinations.

392A : A variant of 392, runs Hitchin Stevenage and locally in Stevenage

801 : Again Hitchin Stevenage and local. London Country were running out of numbers, so started using the 800 series for the ever expanding cadre of town routes in various locations in the north east area. Note also the 808 to Lister Hospital, also part of the Stevenage local network.

Hitchin 1973

fbb does not have a network map for 1973, but the timetable book includes the above, a good town map for Hitchin. Click on the maps for an enlargement.

As previously observed, the majority of services north of the page fold are operated by United Counties and shown as such by a little "UC" on the map. There is also the outline green triangle on the 1954 network map.

It makes a change from today's nonsense where operators do not mention other company's routes even if they do not impinge on their "home" network.

The timetables for 1973 reveal no great change from 1954 or 1964, except one which fbb will cover anon.

303/303A

It would be reasonable to assume that these are running much the same as in 1954, but probably with some change in running time.

304

Now operates Monday to Saturday with an occasional extension to Radlett.

386

This has become Monday, Thursday and Saturday but there is only one journey "all the way", namely the 1215 from Hitchin. Still very much a market day and shoppers service.

383

This looks very much like the 383 of 1954!

So we have lost the 329A and the 392A but we have gained ...

800

... again part of the Stevenage local network.

Missing from the 1954 and 1964 network maps but included in the 1973 timetable is route 716.

Of course it was Green Line.

fbb does not know why Green Line services were disowned, cartographically, by London's Country Buses.

Broadly speaking the 716 ran every 30 minutes (on the core Welwyn Garden City to Addlestone section) seven days a week. Cross London destinations varied over the years and included Windsor, Chertsey and Addlestone in various combinations.

Although it is badly faded in fbb's purchased timetable book, Green Line times were printed on green tinted paper.

There are always collectors for "E" plates of which the sample below is a varied selection.

These enamelled plates slid into frames on bus sop flags and were impervious to weather and thus always bright and clear.

Of course they were easy to replace when routes changed.

Another good idea worth exploring today!

But fbb has no idea why they are called "E" plates. Whatever happened to "A" "B" "C" and "D" plates?

Ten sets of inverted commas must be the largest accumulation fbb has ever used in a single sentence!

Puzzle Picture

It is the much bodged repair of the plunger from the fbb's downstairs WC. It had broken for a third time. "Why not buy a replacement on-line?" opined Nos 1 and 3 sons?

That is a longer story!

Better Pictures

fbb is not the best at understanding the minutiae of modern technology. But on Tuesday he lost his camera phone. Yesterday he found it in a plastic bag full of railway modelling materials.

Where else would you put it?

During its absence, the old bloke tried using the camera on his "Tablet".

And it is several oodles better. The results manifest themselves in many improved piccies in today's  blog!

 Next Hitchin blog : Friday 30th August