Whither Wanders Winkfield's White Bus (1)

But First; The Conundrum Of Cranbourne

Alert readers of this blog will remember that fbb has struggled to identify the community of Cranbourne, called Winkfield by the bus industry; and variously Cranbourne Winkfield or Cranbourne Park Winkfield by the Post Office.

What is definite is that Cranbourne Hall was "the big house" of the community ...

... situated in the little square of Ordnance survey non-public parkland to the left of Barton Lodge. At some stage in its history, the community along North Street became known as Cranbourne.

The Hall was demolished in 2012, being replaced by posh (very posh?) flats in an opulent "country house" style.

This contrasts dramatically with the "chalet residences" that now fill the former parkland.

White Bus depot is lower left.

The settlement along the parallel red road in the map above was known as Fernhill, again taking its name from "the big house". 

Another splatter of houses above "Inn" lover left is known as Plaistow Green. But it would appear that the whole rectangle shown above and below can be referred to as generic Cranbourne.

Thus it is that Cranbourne School is at Plaistow Green ...

... Cranbourne Church is at Fernhill ...

... and White Bus' Winkfield depot is at Cranbourne.

Technically the Cranbourne Stores ...

... and the closed Squirrel/Squirrels pub and the celebrated bus time point are at Cranbourne Park.

Now we have cleared that up to everyone's satisfaction (probably not!) we can move on to Cranbourne's (Winkfield's!!!) historic independent bus company.

The company web site gives a broad overview.

Up until November 2016, when the Company was acquired by Rowgate Group Ltd, White Bus was owned by the Jeatt family. The Jeatt family (William Rule Jeatt) set up the Winkfield Garage in 1921 to service and repair bikes and cars, and in 1930 William purchased the bus operation called “Republic Bus Service" for the sum of £100 from Mr Francis Ackroyd. 

There is an excellent book on the history of the company ...

... which fbb has not bought (yet!).

Not surprisingly the fleet was subsequently painted white ...

... and still was, until recent times, white with an added fleetname.

Then came white with some dark green swoops at the rear as in this Windsor Park and Ride vehicle ...

... and a typical service 01 bus.

Under its new ownership, the company has taken on a number of services in the Guildford and Stained areas for which a batch of new buses has been acquired. There are still broadly white, of course, but with a splattering of squares in various green hues spreading over the rear.

Very attractive with a modern touch!

Southern Vectis did something similar but with triangles on some of its Darts ...

... seen best on a 1:76 model.

But one of White Bus' key historic services is the aforementioned route 01 between Ascot and Windsor.

The new route in 1932 through Windsor Great Park set out to serve the numerous small settlements which ringed the southern boundary. To this day White Bus Services is the only operator to be allowed to run through the Great Park.

The company web site is clear and tidy but does suffer from poor "overlay" maps, of which that for route 01 is typical - typically bad.

And it, like the 703 map investigated recently,  has mysterious places where buses disappear and reappear for no good reason.

Always up for an omnibological challenge, fbb decided to see if he could (a) understand the route of the 01 and (b) create a map with might just be helpful to any potential passengers.

It would make a pleasant break from the seemingly unending battle to keep GoTimetable Sheffield up to date and, as fbb mansions faces north, the weather has changed to being a tad on the chilly side for work on the railway.

So here goes ...

 Next White Bus blog : Thursday 16th April 

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Short Thought

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (called the Twin), was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later the disciples were together again indoors, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe!”

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Understanding and debate will never create belief and faith - it needs a very personal decision. We can all nod sagely at the sadness of things, and, like Maureen (yesterday's blog) we might even suspect that not keeping the Covenant is part of the reason.

But it is all too easy to stand back and say "not my problem, guv, it's the rest of 'em."

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