Does anyone have any general information regarding the Bluebell Bus Co,of Cambridgeshire? In the 1950's and early 1960's our family travelled from March to Wisbech Horsefair on these buses, and I cannot find anything about them anywhere. I assume they were taken over at some point. Are there any pictures out there of their lovely old d/deckers? Another firm I am curious about was Grey's Coaches of Ely who were used for our school trips (1950's).
Norman Long
07/02/12 - 15:45
In response to the above query, Bluebell was once a separate firm, but it was taken over by Canhams of Whittlesey, another independent, probably in the 1960s. Canhams, whose own livery in latter days was orange and cream, continued to paint several vehicles in the blue livery of Bluebell. Sadly, Canhams itself disappeared rather suddenly from the scene in October 1983.
I took these two pictures in 1973. The ex Eastern National lowbridge Bristol KSW reg. no. VNO 866 (I do not know its powerplant - no doubt one of our experts can supply this information) and the MW, reg. no. unreadable (I don't think it is an LS, though I am open to correction) were taken at March Fountain. The other photo was taken on a market day in Wisbech, and shows LD6B with ECW H33/27RD which was delivered to West Yorkshire as DX31 in March 1956, parked among an assortment of Bedfords. More pictures of Canhams may be found on the following website:- http://www.flickr.com/
Roger Cox
08/02/12 - 11:37
We're all familiar with Tilling's corporate red or green livery options, and the KSW's always looked very smart in either. However, Am I alone in finding the cream (off-white?) and mid-blue livery on Roger's photo of the Bluebell KSW absolutely beautiful? Totally impractical, of course, but very distinctive. Perhaps it's down to colour film reproduction, but the lighter blue of the Lodekka doesn't quite work as well, but is still very attractive.
Paul Haywood
08/02/12 - 11:38
The index to March Museum photo albums makes reference to both Blue Bell and Canhams (and loads more. It would seem they have quite a lot of photographs of their buses in the Museum collection. http://www.marchmuseum.co.uk/
David Slater
11/02/12 - 11:39
Although I don't have any info about the early days, I can say that by 1953
C.J.Smith & Sons Limited trading as Blue Bell were at Station Road, March and
were running a daily service to Wisbech, a March town service and assorted
Saturday services to places I've never heard of, let alone been to. By the mid
1960s E.C. & L.G. Smith were in charge. In late 1968 the fleet comprised 7
Bedfords (2 bought new), 2 ex Southdown Guy Arab IV, one Ford 676E and two ex
Eastern Counties coach bodied Bristol SC4LK. One of the SCs and a Bedford
passed with the services T.Canham & Sons (Services) Limited in May 1971.
Canham passed the services on to J.W.Embling & Sons of Guyhirn on June 22nd
1977. A liquidator was appointed to C.J.Smith & Sons Ltd on June 23 1972.
The March - Wisbech service is currently licensed to Emblings Coaches
Limited of Guyhirn.
In response to Normans other query, Greys of Ely are still going strong, www.greysofely.co.uk but are now based at Witchford. Their website has a potted history together with photos of past and present members of the fleet including DVE745D which had the last Thurgood body built. Something I've not come across before is that they have live vehicle tracking on their website so you can check out the whereabouts of your favourite coach if you want to take a photo.
Nigel Turner
28/03/12 - 11:21
I found Roger's photo of the ex West Yorkshire Lodekka DX 31 very nostalgic - and one of those fascinating "nearlies." When I was a conductor at the West Yorkshire Ilkley Depot in 1960/1 we had seven Lodekkas including DX 29/30, OWX 173/4.
Chris Youhill
17/12/12 - 13:09
Thanky ou to all who replied to my request for information. I am delighted with the responses...lots of facts and some very good photos of the Bluebell Buses.
Norman Long
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