Bus, Trolleybus and Tram Routes of Kingston upon Hull Corporation
Predecessors and Successors. 1899 to 1986

Chapter Five

Hessle Road

Trams: D, DP
Trolleybuses: 70
Road Service Licence No’s: BH101/17, /56, /87, /92, /108, /150, /151, /159, /160.

It was Hessle Road long with Anlaby Road which, as already stated earlier, lay claim to the first municipal public transport in Hull, when the service from St John Street to Dairycoates commenced operation by electric trams. This ran via Waterhouse Lane, Osborne Street and Porter Street. The terminus was just east of the North Eastern Railway level crossing at Dairycoates. When route letters were introduced the route was lettered ‘D’. The inner terminus started from Queen Victoria Square on completion of it in May 1903, prior to that in February there was an extension from Dairycoates, mostly along reserved track to the entrance of Pickering Park along Hessle High Road, this service was lettered ‘DP’.

At this time bus services along Hessle Road were operated by private operators, most of who were later purchased by East Yorkshire, who was then largely responsible for buses along Hessle Road. In 1923 the Corporation purchased the business of McMaster, who ran a service from Hull to Hessle Square, but as the route ran outside the city boundary the Watch Committee would not give the Corporation permission to operate it, so the route and six buses was sold to Hull City Motor Works and Garage Company, which was in turn sold to East Yorkshire in 1932. However, permission was granted to the Corporation in October 1923 to operate a night service covering the DP tram route by motorbus. Under the 1930 Road Traffic Act this service was granted on Road Service Licence BH101/17 and took the route number 3. The DP tram terminus was extended to the Pickering Road junction in October 1925. Services remained thus from 1923 until the coordination agreement of July 1934 when, like the AP, the DP tram service was discontinued to be replaced by a bus service also numbered 3, this was granted on licence BH101/56. Sunday morning services before the trams started operations for the day were provided by East Yorkshire. All services remained as above until the Second World War was declared services being:

The night service ceased operating shortly afterwards. The Dairycoates trams continued operating throughout the War, although in common with other services, the trams and track were deteriorating markedly and the last tram in the city ran in July 1945 along Hessle Road being replaced by trolleybus service 70 which commenced from Waterworks Street and ran to the Dairycoates tram terminus. This was not far from Liverpool Street works of the Corporation which then became a trolleybus deport also.

An inter-district football service commenced in November 1946 from York Road in north Hull via Greenwood Avenue, Hall Road, Fairfax Avenue, Bricknell Avenue, Chanterlands Avenue, Spring Bank West and Calvert Lane to Boothferry Road to the Boothferry Park ground of Hull City AFC. It may seem strange to include a service which did not travel along Hessle Road in this chapter, but subsequent developments on the licence, BH101/87, were operated along the road. It was given route number 18. Another service to Boothferry Park from the city centre via Porter Street, Hessle Road and North Road was granted on licence BH101/92. Given route number 5, it commenced in October 1949. In 1959 both of these services were renumbered into the special series, the 5 became 90 and the 18 became 99.

Although the Corporation’s trolleybus system returned a healthy profit year after year it was realised that the system lay entirely in the ‘A’ zone and that due to development of housing estates further from the city centre the trolleybuses carried a decreasing proportion of passengers and in the closing years of the 1950’s a decision was reached to institute a programme of the replacement of trolleybuses by motorbuses. Ironically, the first route to be replaced was also the last to be converted from trams to trolleybuses and it was a Hessle Road route. Instrumental in this decision was the replacement of the railway level crossing by a road bridge over the railways lines as the crossing on Hessle Road caused chaos at peak times. In January 1961 the trolleybuses were replaced by new front entrance, rear-engined Leyland Atlantean, a type that was to figure predominantly in both trolleybus and motorbus replacement schemes. Licence BH101/108 was granted for the replacement of motorbus service along Hessle Road and it had three services 70, 170 and 270. The first ran to Dairycoates and replaced the trolleybus service 70, whilst the other two were ‘extra journeys’ to St Georges Road the Boulevard respectively. In April of the same year the service 3 was extended from Pickering Road to the junction of Anlaby Park Road south and Hessle High Road. It was renumbered 73 at this time also. Further extension of the service into the new Boothferry estate occurred in April 1963, when it was extended to run along Tilbury Road and Bethune Avenue terminating at Yarmouth Avenue.

A new ‘extra journey’ commenced also at this time numbered 72 which ran to Pickering Road. The first service from the city centre to service the Kingston High School in Pickering Road commenced in October 1965 with the route number 872. A peak hour ‘extra journey’ commenced in April 1966. Numbered 373 it worked from Boothferry estate to Alfred Gelder Street. A year later in April 1967 the 72 was discontinued and the 872 and 373 were renumbered 73S and 73D respectively. The 73D was altered to run from Wilberforce Drive to Yarmouth Avenue in the outward direction, there was now no inward journey at all. A new ‘extra journey’ was 73A, which ran from the City to Council Avenue, serving the Birds Eye factory there. All of the foregoing services were on the BH101/56 licence which had been granted under the 1930 Road Traffic Act for service 3.

The two services to Boothferry Park were renumbered in April 1967. The service from the city, 90, was renumbered 71A and transferred to licence BH101/87 whereas the service from North Hull was renumbered 71F, and the terminus moved to the northern end of Ellerburn Avenue. Three new services were also commenced on the licence, these being 71 City to Ellerburn Avenue, this was in effect the two previous services linked together, 71S covered a service to the Sir Henry Cooper School in Orchard Park from the City and 72 was a service from the 71F terminus to the Airlie Street ground of Hull Rugby League Club. This was extended from Boothferry Park via North Road, Hessle Road and the Boulevard.

In June 1967 two short workings of the 70 route, 170 and 270 ceased operating. Returning to BH101/87, in October the 71S was altered to commence from Yarmouth Avenue rather than the city centre, and the whole 71 group was amended so that the route between Hall Road and Anlaby Road was via National Avenue, County Road and Calvert Road, rather than Chanterlands Avenue and Spring Bank West.

The circular service mentioned in the Anlaby Road chapter was first noted in the timetable for June 1968, when the 66 from BH101/51 and the 73 from BH101/56 were extended to meet up at Rokeby Avenue, both services then returned to the city via the other route, changing numbers at the Rokeby Avenue timing point. To facilitate this, five services were transferred from BH101/51 to BH101/56 and the former licence was surrendered. Routes transferred were 65, 65D, 66, 66D and 66S, the three 66’s were renumbered to 63 in the process. The 73A to Council Avenue was renumbered 73B and the 73D became timed, thus losing its ‘extra journey’ status. New services introduced were 73A also ‘extra journey’ to the 69 terminus at Meadowbank Road via Boothferry estate and Rokeby Park estate, 73D Rokeby Park to Wilberforce Drive via Hessle Road and the circulars 63C and 73C. Also at this time an ‘extra journey’ service was shown on BH101/87, this being numbered 71W. It was identical to the 71 except it was diverted along Hessle High Road to Council Avenue to service the Birds Eye factory, where it turned to rejoin the normal route at North Road.

The timetable for March 69, saw a few changes on BH101/66 73A inward was unchanged, but outwards, it now ran only to Rokeby Park, it was still on ‘extra journey’. There was also a cross-city service introduced with the route number 78 and it was quite divergent from other services in that it commenced at Council Avenue and ran via the 73 route to the city centre, then via Holderness Road, Southcoates Lane, Preston Road, Annandale Road, Grange Road and Hopewell Road to terminate at Diadem Grove on Bilton Grange.

In the timetable for March 1970 was the first change to BH101/87 for two years, when another ‘extra journey’ was listed under route number 71E, this ran between Ellerburn Avenue and Dairycoates Road. The next edition, dated September 1970, showed changes to licence BH101/108 which had been unchanged since two short workings had been discontinued in 1967. The Dairycoates service was renumbered from 70 to 70A and an extension of the route to Council Avenue took the number 70, whilst 70B commenced working to the Boulevard from the City for the home matches of Hull rugby league.

There were no changes to Hessle Road services for a couple of years, until September 1972 timetables showed the following changes: on BH101/56 the 73B ceased to be shown, and it had been, in point of fact, identical to the 70 on BH101/108, also a new ‘extra journey’ shown was the 63A which ran the circular route via Anlaby Road, terminating at Hessle High Road at Pickering Road. Another works service commenced from Council Avenue with route number 78A and it followed the 78 route to the City but then ran to Bodmin Road in Bransholme. There was also a school service to Sydney Smith High School in First Lane, the service commenced from Priory Road at the 60 terminus, like the 78 and 78A this service had only tenuous links with other services on the licence! Meanwhile on BH101/87 the 71E was discontinued and the 71W achieved times status. In May, 1973 the 71S was amended to commence from Council Avenue rather than the City. In September BH101/56 was shown with a new ‘extra journey’ 63E which covered services between Paragon Street and Rokeby Avenue via Anlaby Road, whilst BH101/108 had 70F Council Avenue to the Coach Station, normal services operated to or from Paragon Street. At this time journeys to the Coach Station were given the ‘F’ suffix where the normal terminus was situated elsewhere. May 1974’s edition showed 63B, a further ‘extra journey’ from the Coach Station to Belgrave Drive, also the school service 60S was now renumbered 90. September’s timetable show the 70B football service renumbered 70F as it also now worked back to the Coach Station. On the outward journey it was distinguished from the Council Avenue service by showing “football” on the destination blind.

It was around 1974 that the 78/78A services on BH101/56 were re-routed and now ran from Council Avenue via Hessle Road, Scarborough Street, Witty Street, West Dock Street, Goulton Street, Jackson Street, English Street, Kingston Street and Commercial Road, but only a short distance was now travelled along Hessle Road, but this was soon remedied in 1975. Prior to this, however in May 1975 the timetable showed major revisions on licence BH101/87. The 71 route was now extended from Ellerburn Avenue westwards via Greenwood Avenue, Sutton Road, Sutton Park estate, Bransholme estate, Sutton, Bilton Grange estate, Greatfield estate to terminate in Preston Road at the Marfleet Lane junction; services were hourly in each direction. There was also a new service via the route between Hall Road and the Sutton Annexe of the Hull Royal Infirmary on Saltshouse Road, this service was numbered 71E, whilst the extended service was71X. The 72 was also extended via the 71X route to the Leads Road, Wawne Road junction in Bransholme. Licence BH101/108 lost all three of its routes, the 70A was withdrawn, and this had been the original trolleybus replacement service, whilst the 70 and 70F were transferred to licence BH101/56 retaining their original numbers. The route of the 70 and 70F were of course identical to the routes used on BH101/56 anyway so the change was logical. BH101/108 was not surrendered however as Hessle Road services to Norton Grove 77 and 77F were transferred to it from BH101/61 which primarily was an Anlaby Road licence.

The timetable for September 1975, showed two new licences had been granted for Hessle Road routes namely BH101/150 and /151. The first received services 78 and 78A from BH101/56, in company with a new service 78F from Longhill estate to Boothferry Park. The second licence BH101/151 received the school service 90 from Setting Dyke to Sydney Smith High School, also from BH101/56. These transfers removed both the enigmas from the Hessle Road licence. Changes were still occurring on BH101/87, as the original service 71A (90 ex 5) was discontinued, and the following edition of July 1976 showed three new services on the licence, these being 75, 75D and 75W. The 75 and 75D worked from Willerby Road via the 71 route and terminated at the Coach Station (75) or the Guildhall (75D). 75W covered journeys which were extended to Council Avenue before returning to the City. BH101/108 was reduced to one service the 77F being discontinued. An alternative 78A also commenced, strangely enough on BH101/56 - the service ran from Bodmin Road on Bransholme to Boothferry Park, it is believed that the reason was that it travelled directly along Hessle Road and not via the Riverbank route as did the BH101/150 services.

September 1972 saw further alterations to BH101/87 as the 71E hospital service was discontinued and the 72 was further extended to north Bransholme now terminating at Ladyside Close (this occurred in May). Four new services commenced on the 71 group, 71B Ferensway to Orchard Park (anti-clockwise) 71D Marfleet to Cottingham Road (anti-clockwise) 71E City to Diadem Grove (clockwise) the fourth was 71C which was marketed as the outer circle, it was extended to the Coach Station at both ends and had the distinction of being the longest bus route entirely within the city of Hull as its length was over 22 miles! The route was similar to but not identical with the 10 on BH101/105.

May 1978 saw the 70F become 70 on licence BH101/56, whilst the Bransholme/Boothferry Park route 78A was transferred to BH101/150 along with the other 78 group members. Licence BH101/108 gained another service with the service from Ferensway south to Sydney Smith High School, which was numbered 77S. Two new licences were also granted, the first BH101/159 was for a service which linked the new Thornton estate, with Anlaby Road, Hessle Road and the city centre. This saw buses running along Porter Street again after an absence of many years. The route was City - Thornton estate- Anlaby Road- St Georges Road - Hessle Road - Thornton estate - City and route number 66 was used. The second licence BH101/161 was for a service, numbered 79, which ran from council Avenue to north Bransholme via the city centre; this had originated on licence BH101/131 with the route number 39.

The timetable for September showed the 72 extended to the junction of Cumbrian Way and Snowdon Way (west) on licence BH101/87 and two new services 63E and 73E appeared on licence BH101/56. Both ran from Rokeby Park to Wilberforce Drive via Anlaby Road and Hessle Road respectively and differed from the 63D/73D only in that Wilberforce Drive was approached from George Street rather than Alfred Gelder Street.

Another new service was introduced on licence BH101/87 in October 1978 which ran for only one week! This was the 12X which commenced from Gifford Close in north Bransholme via the 71 route to the junction of Chanterlands Avenue and Spring Bank West, where the northern end of Walton Street and the annual Hull Fair commenced. This service brought people from Bransholme and north Hull to the fair. It ran during Hull Fair week in succeeding years also.

In July 1979 the services on BH101/150 were rationalised as there were four services shown, namely 78, 78F and two 78A’s. Both the 78A’s were renumbered as they both served Bodmin Road they became 80 (Council Avenue) and 80F (Boothferry Park), to supplement these a service to Cumbrian Way on Bransholme north from Council Avenue commenced as 80A. The other two services remained unchanged but were joined by a new 78A which ran from Council Avenue to Longhill estate. The 80F now also commenced from Cumbrian Way to cater for Hull City fans that lived in that part of the city.

Changes occurred on BH101/87 also, but were less remarkable as the 75D and 71B services were both discontinued, and on BH101/108 the Norton Grove service 77 ceased and as a consequence the school service 77S became plain 77. The following September the 65D service on the circular licence ceased operations, whilst the 12X operated in 1979 from north Bransholme at the Cumbrian Way terminus, this was, of course, the annual Hull Fair service.

In January 1980 a variation on BH101/159 commenced serving the Thornton estate and continuing along Hessle Road to West Dock Avenue, it was numbered 10C. The reason behind the number was unclear as all the 10 series was on BH101/105, and it was not a circular either! Also, the West Dock Avenue services were numbered 26 and Thornton service had been 66! It did not remain unclear for long as the service was withdrawn two months later.

The major revisions to Bransholme services of June, 1980 had repercussions on three Hessle Road licences. Firstly BH101/161 was surrendered; the Council Avenue to North Bransholme service 79 was transferred back to BH101/131 but was now numbered 39W. On BH101/150 the 80A Council Avenue to north Bransholme service was discontinued and the 80 and 80F were renumbered 33W and 33F respectively and finally on BH101/87 the 72 service was transferred to BH101/144 as service number 89F but otherwise unchanged. Other services to alter at this time were that the 66 Thornton circular was discontinued and the licence BH101/159 surrendered, replacement of this route was by two smaller services 65 and 66 on licence BH101/15. The circular licence lost another of the early services as the 65 service to Anlaby Common which had originated at coordination in 1934 as route 9; and also the 70 was renumbered to 73B, but its “extra journey” status remained. The sole route on BH101/108 was renumbered from 77 to 92, in order to place it among the other school route numbers but two new school services commenced numbered 77 and 78S! The first, on licence BH101/151 ran between Setting Road and the Kingston High School whilst the second was on BH101/150 running between Portobello Street and Mountbatten Junior High School. Licence BH101/87 was affected most by these alterations as services 71C, 71D and 71E were discontinued. 71W was extended along Hessle Road to commence from the Coach Station, whilst at the other end it was extended to Beverley Road, two new services commenced which ran via Kingston Street, English Street, etc, and were otherwise identical to the 71 and 71W route numbers 72 and 72W were used. The outer circular service was renumbered from 71X to 11, and a new short working from the Coach Station via west Hull to Trinity Grove commenced with route number 11A. In January, 1981 the 71, 71W, 72 and 72W were all extended at the outer end to the junction of Beverley Road with Endike Lane.

With the ending of the coordination agreement between the City Council and East Yorkshire in May 1981, both the 90 and 92, which ran outside the city to Sydney Smith High School were discontinued and the licence BH101/108 which held the 92 was surrendered. The licence had originally been granted in 1961 for the Hessle Road trolleybus replacement. Licence BH101/151 losing the 90, now only held the 77. The new 11A of June 1980 was also discontinued from BH101/87 as were the 63S and 73F services from BH101/56, the football service 63F was also reduced to ‘extra journey’ status. BH101/150 also witnessed further renumberings when services 78, 78A, 78F and 78S became 42, 42A, 42F and 74 respectively. A new service on BH101/87 commenced in November 1981 named “stork special” by the local press. It ran from the Coach Station to the Hull Maternity Hospital on Hedon Road via the 11 route via west and north Hull, and was numbered 11X.

There were now only four licences held which covered the Hessle Road area services, these being BH101/56 (the 63C/73C circulars) BH101/87 (services 11, 71 and 72 groups) BH101/150 (services 42 group and 74) and BH101/151 (service 77). The timetable for May, 1982 showed a change in the terminus of the 63B (BH101/56) from Belgrave Drive to Pickering Road, but this may have been more a change of name rather than location as the two were adjacent. There was a further renumbering on BH101/150, when the 42F (ex 78F) was renumbered 42X. Meanwhile on BH101/151 the 77 was extended to commence from Woodlands road instead of Setting Road. Two new services commenced on BH101/87 also at this point. They were numbered 7 and 8 and both served the ASDA Superstore at Bilton, The 7 running to and from the Eastern Cemetery and the 8 to and from Orchard Park, both travelling via the service 11 route. These were the last new services to be introduced on this licence. By September the 7 was discontinued along with the 11X. BH101/150 saw the introduction of a service to the Boulevard from Diadem Grove, which took the number 42B, the following May, however, it became 42F! It was also at this time that the other ASDA service, 8, was discontinued after a year of operation. On the same licence, the outer terminus of the 71F was altered to commence from the Greenwood Avenue end of Ellerburn Avenue, rather than the northern end, this being literally around the corner from its original terminus of 1946. It was also renumbered 71X at this time.

Major road works along Anlaby Park Road commenced in May 1983, which made necessary the temporary abandonment of the 63C/73C circulars, and the 63A/73A services also ceased as both operated past the timing point in each direction. The ‘extra journey’ to Council Avenue 73B was renumbered 73W, the former number was used for a short working to Gower Road only via Hessle Road. The repairs continued until September, when the situation, which had existed prior to the works was re-instated. Licence BH101/56 was then unchanged until December 1984 when the 63A terminus was cut back from Pickering Road to Tilbury Road. BH101/87 also lost the Council Avenue to Sir Henry Cooper High School service, 71S.

The major service revisions on July 1985 saw both BH101/87 and BH101/151 surrendered with services 77 (BH101/151), 11, 12X, 71, 71W, 72 and 72W all withdrawn. The three remaining service on BH101/87 were all transferred to BH101/105, these being 71X, 75 and 75W. Of the remaining two licences BH101/56 lost the 63E/73E variants, and BH101/150 received a new service 42W, Council Avenue to Cumbrian Way.

The deregulation network was introduced in July 1986 and the following services were all discontinued, 63, 63A, 63B, 63F, 73A, 71B, 73S (BH101/56). 42 and 42A (BH101/151); the only services operating now were service 1 (ex 73C) and 2 (ex 63) both of which were joint with BH101/6 (ex 43C and 48C). These were of course on BH101/56, whilst services 42, 42X and 74 remained in operation on BH101/150. All five services continued until de-regulation occurred in October 1986 when the licences were finally surrendered.

Keith Easton
01/2012

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