Hereford Happenings
In 1968, brewer H. P. Bulmer announced their intention to open a railway centre at the company's Hereford factory. The cider producer had been based at the same site since it was founded in 1887 and the premises also had a direct connection with British Rail. Ex-GWR 4-6-0 "King" Class locomotive No. 6000 "King George V" was chosen as the star attraction ..
... and was going to be in the company of five Pullman cars purchased by H. P. Bulmer from BR. Together, the locomotive and coaches would form an exhibition train to tour the country promoting the company's history and product range, and the first year of operation was envisaged to be 1969.
In 1968, Swindon Council agreed to lease the "King" to H. P. Bulmer. The locomotive was subsequently moved to an engineering firm in Newport, South Wales, which the cider firm had contracted to undertake a full overhaul at a cost of £250,000 (£4,259,000 at 2018 prices). The fully restored engine re-emerged at Bulmer's Railway Centre in November 1968 and was looked after on behalf of the company by the "6000 Locomotive Association".
Five Pullman carriages were purchased by Bulmer from British Railways for a collective total of £3,600 (£61,330 at 2018 prices).
This became the much loved Bulmers Steam Centre ...
... a small but fascinating display. It closed in 1992.
There are THREE public transport "centres" in Hereford,
The railway station is a fine building (map above upper right).
Lower centre on the map we see a cluster of bus stop icons which is the so-called Country Bus Station.
The two parallel lines of shelters lie behind a former cinema ...
The bus station was always was somewhat basic ...
... with rustic shelters and destination boards added to help the potential passengers.
... now a thriving church.
The modern replacement may keep the rain off, but the customers deserve better.
But 'better' is under construction, as we shall see.
Whether is it really is as 'better' as it ought to be is debatable.
But before we look at what is promised, we need to go to the "Hopper" Bus Station - but that name is no longer used.
So let's do a bit of imaginary shopping at Tesco. The first Hereford "supermarket" was little more than a conventional shop in size ...
... still with shop assistants in white coats! The shop was enlarged and the familiar typeface appeared.
Hereford soon gained a bigger Tesco ...
... at the junction of Newmarket Street and Victoria Street. You can see (above) that the supermarket almost swallowed the historic Bewell House ...
... which seems a very poor planing decision. At least the road outside the house looks a bit better than it once did!
What came with the Tesco development was this ...
... known as the "Hopper" bus station.
Hopper?
Hereford City bus services were historically in the capable hands of Midland Red with route numbers prefixed "H" for Hereford - clever stuff, eh?
Some City services even warranted double deck buses!
The giant Midland Red empire was split and Hereford was then served by Midland Red West.
The minibus craze descended onto the City in the form of Hereford Hopper routes. (Tada!)
The Hopper routes were ideal bed-fellows for the new Hopper bus station. QED!
A Hopper in its trendy livery:-
And many lined up, pre hopping with passengers.
Then, later, they hopped unenthusiastically in standard Midland Red West colours.
And Hoppers, now totally unbranded, operated for a brief while courtesy of First Bus, purchasers of Midland Red West.
First later applied "Hereford" lettering to its 'Barbie 2' livery ...
... but not only was the writing on the buses, but, following a biblical precedent (Book of Daniel Chapter 5, Belshazzar's Feast) ...
... the writing was on the wall - and First ran away from Hereford.
Then we have a picture of the City Bus Station in more recent times.
The trees have grown and the minibuses have flown!!
More tomorrow.
Next Hereford blog : Friday 7 August
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