For many years a bus service ran, not from Leeds, but from Bradford to Keighley ...
... continuing thence to Skipton.
Keighley town routes were numbered in the 7xx series, whereas interurban services carried 6xx numbers. But something odd happened to the 666.
It (and its variations) became the 66 (departure board picture, top right thereof) ...
... whereas the other remained as three digit numbers.
Here a 661 and a 666 ply their trade on the way to Bradford ...
... and here a West Yorkshire Metro leaflet.
The 666 became a privatised part of Blazefield Holdings.
If fbb's memory serves him well (often it doesn't, these days!), the Keighley and District "K" livery was designed by boss Mr Giles Fearnley himself - Creating Desire, of course.
There were developments and further jiggling of routes and numbers under Blazefield ownership ...
Could it be a Biblical reason?
The Book of Revelation out-Hobbits the Hobbit and out-Thrones the Game Of. It is packed with weird and terrifying visions, vis-ed by a man called John when he was under house arrest for his Christian Faith on the Island of Patmos, just off the coast of Turkey but part of Greece.
The idea that there could come a time when only official members of the state could buy and sell, marked with the number 666, was far-fetched, almost farcical, at the time. But 2000 years later (approx) we live in a technological world where such a system would be easy to implement.
There are plenty of beasts in the Book, plus (of course) the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse; some dragons, a good collection of earth-based disasters, the last great Battle at the Hill of Megiddo (Armageddon) and a glorious picture of Heaven. Christians have struggled to understand it, but maybe the answer is to read it with an open mind, understanding that it is "visions" which are one man's idea of the future; inspired by his love of God and his desire to warn his readers of the stark choices that they face.
Hmmm?
Anyway, the superstitions about the number 666 might well have lain behind the change of Keighley and District's Skipton bus route number. Or it might have been for some promotional purpose.
Before we move on to look at Keighley's route 66 in recent times, four pictures of buses with 666 as their registration number.
Richards Brothers, Cardigan
The company owns an iconic Bedford OB ...
... MDE 666.
North Western Road Car enjoyed this motor ...
... KDB 666.
Just along the road from fbb mansions, Exeter Corporation used to run ...
But best known of all the "beastly" registered vehicles must be ...
... the very appropriately tagged OLD 666 from London Transport. This bus featured in the TV series "On The Buses" where it was renowned for unreliability.
Clearly bus 666 in the fleet of Luxton and District lived up to the superstitions associated with the number!
The conflagration, fbb is assured, was a "special effect" - no RTL was harmed in the process!
It was rumoured, back in the days of the "old" registration system, the Insurance Companies put the price up for anything registered 666 as, statistically, such vehicles had more accidents. Urban myth or fact?
Snippet
Chum Paul bought a pack of pencils for his daughter as she gleefully returned to school on Monday. They were just right for school ...
... because it said so on the box.
But when Paul turned to box over ...
... Aaaargh!
Next Keighley bus blog : Thursday 11th March
My car has the numbers 666 in the reg number. There was a dateless plate on a car that I bought from ebay and when I sold that one I transferred the number. I was working for the Church of England at the time and it was a talking point! Now safely retired and still have the car (and the number) which has run, with me, for 8 years and is now 14 years old.
ReplyDeleteWhilst you are right the Christians have struggled to interpret the book of Revelations (just look on YouTube for lots of opinions), I am not sure you can say it is "one man's idea" given that it is included in the Bible which is deemed to be the word of God.
ReplyDeleteEastern National M166VJN originally numbered 666 and later renumbered 2666, nicknamed Damien and here displaying its red devil... https://www.flickr.com/photos/northernsoutherner2012/7129923411
ReplyDeleteThe three Skipton-Keighley variations reverted to one routing as the 66. Originally the 66 67 and 68 were 666 667 and 668. 666 was chosen as the remaing route was most like the 666. This policy of making the route numbers two digits has contined with the 762 becoming 62 and 760 becoming 60 and the town routes becoming K1 etc.
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