I'm researching the following and struggling to find anything so hope you can
help.
Looking for picture(s) Mid to Late 1950s of double decker bus on route
(don't know route number). Presume it was City of Oxford (could be wrong) from
High Wycombe bus station to Watlington, I believe it went via Stokeonchurch.
They only ran one or two a day. Probably the bus was an old Guy or similar.
Maybe someone can point me in the right direction
Brian Jeffreys
15/03/15 - 07:07
One operator serving Watlington was the business of Arthur House who traded
as House's Watlington Buses.
The Oxford and Chiltern Bus Page mentions the company: www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/
I don't have any further details of the business or its services
myself so am unable to elaborate further.
Since Watlington is located in the area between the operating
areas of two of the big companies, namely the B.E.T. owned City of
Oxford Motor Services and the nationalised former Tilling Group owned
Thames Valley Traction Company, it might be that these two may also have
served Watlington but I am unable to check my old bus and coach guides
until I return home tomorrow.
To jog the memory of the colour of the 1950s era City of Oxford
double deckers take a look at this photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:City_of_Oxford_Motor_Services
Thames Valley buses were red with cream relief.
David Slater
16/03/15 - 06:39
The 1969 edition of the ABC Bus and Coach Guide includes summaries of the bus
services operated by the major territorial companies, together with
route maps. Watlington was served by both Thames Valley (from the High
Wycombe direction) and City of Oxford (from the Oxford and Princes
Risborough directions). Unfortunately there is no detail of the
services, so that they were presumably considered not important enough
to be included in the respective summaries, so they were probably not
very frequent, and might not have reached those points mentioned.
However, it is probably reasonably safe to assume that the service
during the 1950s would have been similar to, or better than, that in
1969.
I don't know enough about the history of those operators to be
certain, but I guess it is possible that they would still have been
using wartime utilities in the 1950s, which could conceivably have been
Guys. By 1969, I guess they would have been using either Bristols (TV)
or AECs (COMS).
Nigel Frampton
16/03/15 - 06:39
I have scanned the pages from the ABC Coach and Bus Guide (Winter 1956/7) for
the Thames Valley Traction Co Ltd and The City of Oxford Motor Services.
The pages both feature a small route map.
The Thames Valley map appears to show a service into Watlington
from High Wycombe via Stokenchurch, a service which terminated at
Watlington.
The map may be seen at: www.ipernity.com/doc/davidslater-spoddendale/37381418
The City of Oxford Motor Services map shows ran a service through
Watlington.
The map may be seen at:
www.ipernity.com/doc/davidslater-spoddendale/37381376
Regarding vehicles, the 'Little Red Book' for 1956/7 summarises
the bus fleets as follows:
City of Oxford: 245 buses (194 double deck and 54 single deck).
Chassis: AEC, Guy. Bodies: M.C.W., Park Royal, Willowbrook, Northern
Coachbuilders, Duple.
Thames Valley: 336 buses and coaches (169 double deck and 167
single deck). Chassis: Bristol, Bedford. Bodies: Eastern Coachworks,
Duple, Windover, Beadle.
House's Watlington Buses: 7 single deck bus/coaches; 2 coaches.
Chassis: 7 Bedford, 2 Commer. Bodies: 7 Duple, 1 Dutfield, 1 Harrington.
So, to narrow the field of investigation somewhat, City of Oxford
did operate some Guys.
David Slater
21/03/15 - 06:54
Winter 1964 Thames Valley timetable shows TV service 39 High Wycombe -
Stokenchurch - Watlington - 5 - 6 journeys a day.
Seems to have been run from High Wycombe and the Stokenchurch
'dormy shed' (TV's term for outstations) along with services 40
(Radnage) and 41 (Ibstone) to High Wycombe. This shed also housed some
City of Oxford buses, for COMS service 75 (Oxford - High Wycombe)
Some discussion about it, and the buses allocated, here - www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/211203.htm
I can find a building about the right size and shape (although
clearly heavily rebuilt - there's a pre-1939 picture of it in the
'British Bus Systems' book on Thames Valley) on the north side of
Wycombe Road, Stokenchurch, close to the junction with Ferndale Close.
I don't have a COMS timetable to hand, so can't say if there was
an Oxford - Watlington service.
Jon B
Comments regarding the above are more than welcome please get in touch via the 'Contact Page' or by email at
All rights to the design and layout of this website are reserved Old Bus Photos does not set or use Cookies but Google Analytics will set four see this
Old Bus Photos from Saturday 25th April 2009 to Friday 8th July 2016