Friday, 25 April 2025

Back To 1989 In Sheffield

It Began With A Clear-Out

With the arrival of South Yorkshire PTE in 1973, two timetable books were regularly printed in the existing Sheffield style; but with the onslaught of deregulation and the city's crackpot competition, timetable books were hardly possible as so much changed so frequently.

But to their credit and in face of a complete shambles in Sheffield (and elsewhere) ...
... the PTE produced a timetable book. This was in fbb's omnibological dark ages when he was managing a very busy Christian holiday centre on the Isle of Wight. So the Sheffield situation was known to the then not old man, but it was beyond his ability to follow things in detail.

So an apology may be necessary for mistakes and mis-interpretations.

It was when fbb wrote about "the last PTE printed timetable", that Sheffield chum John upbraided your esteemed blogger for his disgraceful error.
Late Brother-not-in-Law John Simpson left a large collection of Sheffield "stuff" which included a copy of the above March 1989 book. The copy found its way to fbb mansions, thanks to a certain Mr Fearnley who had volunteered to sort of John's "archive" and pass the contents on to the Omnibus Society Library at Walsall.

The book is a simple clone of a Sheffield book, but a bit bigger. Because of this, its printing had to be outsourced rather than at the now-closed Sheffield Council Printing Department.

The index page will look very familiar to Sheffield folk.
But a closer look reveals 600 pages!
Does that make it the biggest UK bus timetable book ever?

The list of operators is equally gargantuan!
Blog readers can peruse this list in detail  by clicking on any graphic and enlarging it.

The list of services (in a relatively small print) runs from Page 5 to Page 12 inclusive with approx 60 services to a page - so that is 480 services in Sheffield and Rotherham.

Yikes!

So fbb's review of this book will NOT attempt to cover every route and its predecessors in happier times; but, over the next few days, he will summarise some of the more significant bits. And may well get some things appallingly wrong.

The X Files Part 1
We will begin at the beginning; it's a very good place to start. (Sounds like a good line for a song?). There were loads of "X" files, some inherited from pre-chaos time, some highly competitive and some just plain daft!

Here is Sheffield to Nottingham, the first of many that no longer exist. The services were extensions and modifications to Nottingham to Chesterfield journeys with a bit of Mansfield to Sheffield thrown in.
The timetable page brings X1, X2, X3 and X62 together in one confusing table. Its operators are the traditional East Midland and Trent but Mark Kempin joins the timetable heading. Unfortunately, the PTE, desirous of impartiality, does not tell us who operates what. Not that good if you have a return ticket or some sort of operator specific "Rover".

Mark Kempin was based in Langwitth, near Mansfield ...
... operating some local journeys with an eclectic mix of vehicles. Presumably he was "having a go" at the longer distance game. 
He didn't last!

Another service which didn't last was an hourly express route between Sheffield and Rotherham run by SYT - the ex PTE ex Sheffield Transport business. 
This followed the same traditional route as the "normal" 69, which offered a 20 minute frequency. It is hard, in retrospect, to see what the point of the X file was.

Another newcomer was Richardson Travel. This company eschewed the maelstrom of city services and developed a network on inter-urban routes. Some were competitive as here to Barsnley ..
...and Penistone.

But the Manchester service was something different. Instead of the two journeys a day service 48 from Sheffield Transport days ...
... Mr Richardson had a noble attempt at a proper service!
And to the airport as well!

More from the X Files tomorrow.
========================
 The Easter Jigsaw 

I Don't Believe It! 
The above illustration is the only one that fbb could find on line that shows where the nails did pierce Jesus' hands. It was standard practice to nail through the wrist where the bones and cartilage would hold the hand in place. The palm was far too weak.

But Thomas would only believe when he saw. He was not there when Jesus first appeared.

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!”

Now he knew!

There is a strong tradition, backed up by local history, that Thomas not only stopped doubting, but was the furthest to travel with the Good News of Jesus. He went to India, founded the Mar Thoma Church and died there. 

Unfortunately there are two Indan claimants to his tomb.

Spiritual Snippet
There are several Mar Thoma churches in the UK, for example in Bristol ...
... and Hounslow.

Not at all bad for a doubter, but a doubter who soon changed his mind when faced with the evidence.
Why do folk today doubt

Remember Sherlock Holmes!
========================
 Next  X Files blog : Sat 26th April  

2 comments:

  1. I lived in Mansfield in the 1980's. The various X routes between Nottingham and Sheffield were variations on the X53 via Mansfield and the M1, attempting to also serve Chesterfield. None were very successful. Other operators included Chesterfield Transport and Skill's.

    We knew a driver for Mark Kempin and when we bought a new sideboard we sold him our old one. He came to collect it in an AEC Reliance and loaded it into the boot. As we didn't live on a bus route, we got some very strange looks from the neighbours!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Richardson's airport service predated deregulation and was, at times, very successful; we travelled on an early morning (silly o'clock!) journey to catch a plane and it was a nearly full Leyland Leopard coach. His other operations were almost all innovative (e.g. late night services, and a service 44 from Sheffield to Greasborough) or tendered. SYT eventually bought him out; he moveed operations to Sussex and died sadly young. The X1/X2 etc were Notts CC tendered additions to fill gaps in commercial provision ; I remebmber a trip to Mansfield on an empty Skills coach- inevitably publicity was hard to find.

    ReplyDelete