Valuables in the Loft [1]

Call in the Experts!

A week ago, No 1 and No 3 sons visited fbb to clear out the loft prior to a possible downsizing exercise (of property, sadly not for fbb persoanlly). This weekend was chosen because the chubby one had been invited to a recording of a pilot edition of a new BBC antiques show. So he was able to take some of the treasures found amongst the accumulation of domestic rubble to the expert valuers.

Here is a transcript of the valuation by Paul Atterbury.

 PA 

Obviously this is a Summer 1957 Southern Vectis bus timetable and I have never seen one of these before on the Roadshow. How did you acquire it?

 fbb 

I bought it in the early 1970s from a bus enthusiast living in Ryde. I had first been to the Island in the Summer of 1958 as a callow youth of 13. This was to be a souvenir of those halcyon days.

 PA 

Well, let's take a closer look. Here for example is the service 8 peak summer timetable via Nettlestone and Bembridge. Look, a bus every 12 minutes, seven days a week. You won't see anything like that nowadays.

 fbb 

Exactly; now only every hour with no improvement for the tourist season. How times have changed!

 PA 

And look at these sample fares. Mind you, they were expensive then because Vectis fares were always increased for the Summer and then reduced again for the Winter. That would not be commercially acceptable today, would it.

My interest is, as you know, more with railways. So I am fascinated by the Summer Saturday train timetable; all steam of course ...

... with five trains an hour from Ryde. One to Newport, two to Ventnor and "shorts", one each to Sandown and Shanklin. Not quite so frequent today, if I remember correctly.

 fbb 

Two trains an hour, spaced at 20 and 40 minute intervals and just two carriages each. 

 PA 

The ferry service is interesting as well. Here is the Red Funnel route, then only between Southampton and West Cowes and with just eight crossings a day mid week.

 fbb 

But on Saturdays there was an hourly service; nowadays it's hourly seven days a week in peak Summer.

 PA 

What a wonderful piece of social history. Far less cars crossed the Solent then, whereas most visitors came for a whole week or a fortnight and travelled on a Saturday, hence the significant increase in train and ferry frequency. The concept of a Saturday changeover day has long gone.

I particularly like the advertisements, simply typeset before the days of cheap colour processing.

 fbb 
The Brewery in Newport became nothing but a store and was finally destroyed in a mysterious fire in the 60s.

 PA 
And the fold-out map is real work of art with no "spider" simplification here!

And what is this I have just spotted?

Integrated transport in 1957? And we think such schemes are new and trendy. Imagine asking a Southern Vectis driver for a through ticket to Bournemouth today?

 fbb 

It certainly makes for an interesting comparison with today's rather uninspiring offering.

 PA 

I suppose we need to talk about value. Of course, condition is everything and your copy is, to put it mildly, a little bit tired. If the booklet were pristine, in a nice frame and offered in a specialist bus timetable sale it might well fetch £20 or £30; even more if a couple of enthusiasts really wanted it.

But, sadly, your copy is probably only worth a few pounds.

 fbb 

Well I am not going to sell it. It's far too precious.

 PA 

And quite right to. Just cherish it and enjoy it. I hope it gives you many more hours of joy and pleasure.

Tomorrow, fbb exhibits a piece of fascinating junk; and a chunky piece of junk it is, too!

 Next Bus Train Blog : Sunday 4th November