| ROSSMORE BUS |
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| The bus service originally started by England's first lady race horse trainer | ||
Affectionately known for many years as either the "Rossmore Flyer" or the "Monkeys Hump and Heavenly Bottom Express", this route linked the Upper Parkstone shops with the district known as Rossmore, passing on the way through the locations mentioned in its nicknames. All these places being in the town of Poole in the county of Dorset.
This is a route I have known as man and boy, as passenger and driver. Over the years, it was my good fortune to be involved in the management of this service on two different occasions. I worked with three of the four independent companies that took over the operation of the service after the original founder, Miss Foott the racehorse trainer, retired from the business with advancing years.
The story of the Rossmore Bus Service starts back in the 1920's when one of Poole's great characters came to live at nearby Sandbanks after serving as a driver-mechanic in the First World War. Louie Foott (later to become Mrs Louie Dingwall) arrived in town with a Ford Model T presented to her by the Canadian army. She became one of the first women in the country to obtain a PSV drivers licence. The Model T and other similar vehicles were used initially on services from Sandbanks - where she both lived and trained race horses - to Poole and County Gates. These early vehicles were named Henry I, Henry II, through to Henry VIII, and then the names continued with the wives of that merry monarch! Another operator on these routes for a while at this time was Herbert Rendell of Parkstone, who withdrew in 1929 to concentrate on his Cosy Coaches business (which firm figures in this story again in later years).
But the principal strong competition on the Sandbanks routes was from Hants & Dorset (now Wilts & Dorset), and eventually an agreement was reached with them in 1929 whereby Louie withdrew and concentrated on the Rossmore route she had started a few years previously. This hilly but busy route of but one and three quarter miles length started at the shops in Upper Parkstone ("up on hill"), and ran down along Albert Road through "Heavenly Bottom" and then up another very steep hill to "Monkeys Hump", before turning left to run along Rossmore Road, to terminate at the Gospel Hall. After some years it was extended to the corner of Brixey Road and eventually in 1949 it went a short distance further along Rossmore Road into the then new council housing development at Trinidad Estate. The route length of one and three quarter miles was thus attained! For a few years from 1949 on until the mid 1950s three buses were scheduled all day on this busy route to maintain a ten minute frequency. A far cry from the early years when the route had ended in gorse heathlands near a gypsy camp along Rossmore Road, before many of the houses were built - but Louie saw the future potential and was proved right.
Largely forgotten is the original 1930 plan to extend Miss Foott's route south across Ashley Road along Madeira Road, Alexandra Road and Vale Road to the latter's junction with Bournemouth Road, and then Archway Road to Penn Hill Corner and further on to the seafront at Branksome Chine. If this had happened the route would have been more than twice as long, but nothing was to come of this, probably because of objections from Hants & Dorset who had just made the agreement about the Rossmore service. Even a more modest and apparently innocuous route extension just to Vale Road - that would have linked a few more residential roads to the shops - was seemingly refused. Perhaps because the terminus there would have been only 200 yards walk from Sharp Jones Pottery at Branksome, then a major employer in the area .......
The Rossmore route became the only independently operated town service in the Borough of Poole, with all the other routes being run by Hants & Dorset. A great selection of characters were involved over the years. There was Louie herself, still training race horses (a predominantly male occupation by long tradition!) at Sandbanks well into her 80s. She would often pop up to Parkstone unexpectedly in her horse-box to check on the buses and drivers. A long standing driver for many post-war years was Eric, a Polish ex-serviceman. Peter Holmes remembers working as a trainee fitter for a while in the fifties, servicing the "Rossmore Flyers" from an often flooded pit in Kitchers Coal Yard off Rossmore Road. And as a schoolboy I had many pleasant rides on Saturday mornings in the mid-fifties, unofficially helping the driver of utility-bodied Bedford OWB BFX32 to issue tickets from the then new Ultimate machines whilst working busy 'shorts' to and from the Rossmore Hotel! BFX32 was new to Sheasby of Corfe Castle in 1943, and soon passed to Bere Regis & District in 1944. Acquired by Rossmore in November 1954, and after three years use was sold locally to Rogers Transport (haulage contractors) in September 1957 and broken for spares. One of my all-time favourite buses!
The business was incorporated as the Rossmore Bus Company Ltd in 1947. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, thoughts of expansion were in the air. In August 1947 an application was made for a circular service, to be worked in both directions alternately by one vehicle, down Albert Road, along Sunnyside Road and back up Churchill Road to the Upper Parkstone shops. Nothing much came of this, but Churchill Road eventually got its bus, but only for a few years from 1952 to 1954, and then only five or six times a day. It started from Jubilee Road by the Regal Cinema and the Ashley Road shops, and went down hilly Churchill Road and Victoria Crescent to the bottom of Southill Road - a point in Heavenly Bottom about a quarter mile west of the main route running along Albert Road. I remember a hand painted sign in Jubilee Road with a list of the departure times and recall being told by one of the drivers that the extra route was resourced by pinching a bus off the main route for ten minutes or so to provide a quick run down and back up again on the Churchill Road service. In 1953 buses left Jubilee Road at 8.15, 9.10, 10.25 and 11.55am, 2.05 and 5.00pm weekdays only; returning from Southill Road five minutes later. No service after 12 noon on Wednesdays (half day closing in Parkstone; the main Rossmore route was also reduced in frequency on Wednesday afternoons).
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Daimler
/ Metro Cammell CVP187 was the first of four ex-Birmingham double
deckers acquired in 1951 and 1953. The other three were
CVP197, CVP200 and CVP208. All were new to Birmingham
Corporation Transport in 1937. The double deckers were to be
the mainstay of the Rossmore route until about 1956/57, until a
subsequent reversion to one man operated single deckers. The picture
shows two of the ex-Birmingham double deckers CVP187 and
CVP200 waiting at Trinidad Estate in the early 1950's. Sister vehicle CVP207 is preserved at the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Trust's transport museum at Wythall in the north of Worcestershire. (picture courtesy of Mike Watts) |
But more importantly in 1954, plans were made for a route to serve the new council housing development at Bourne Estate, about a half mile north of the existing route along Rossmore Road. Whilst the Churchill Road route was often served by pinching a bus off the main Rossmore route for twenty minutes, the proposed service to Bourne Estate would have its own bus allocated to run a basic half hour frequency. Hants & Dorset also saw good reason to link the Upper Parkstone shops to the new Bourne Estate, and proposed a new route 23A. This would start in Bournemouth Square, run almost the full length of Ashley Road through Parkstone, and then proceed along Cranbrook Road and Brixey Road towards Bourne Estate. So both operators would link the Parkstone shops to the new housing, but by substantially different routes. Coincidentally the plan for a new route to Bourne Estate came at the same time as the withdrawal of the Churchill Road runs - with hindsight one wonders why the Bourne Estate route might not have served Churchill Road instead of, as proposed in the application, duplicating two thirds of the length of the main route along Albert and Rossmore Roads.
The competing applications went to traffic court to be heard by the Traffic Commissioners in the autumn of 1954. And in the end, neither service started - reportedly because of the poor condition of one of the roads which both services needed to use to reach Bourne Estate (Good Road - only about a quarter of a mile long but with two right angled corners in its short length) . Although Bourne Estate had Hants & Dorset services to both Bournemouth and Poole town centres by this time, it was to be over thirty years later with deregulation in the 1980s that a regular bus service eventually ran from there directly to the Upper Parkstone shops. One cannot help but wonder if the simplest expedient might not have been for the borough council to have improved the short stretch of road in question ..... or was that reason put forward simply as a face saver so that both the competing companies could withdraw their respective applications?
| Whilst in pre-war years some vehicles had been purchased new, the double deckers of the early 1950's were replaced by a series of second-hand single deckers from various parts of the country. Two ex-Yorkshire Traction TS7Cs registered HL7519 and HL9070 (B35F) were followed in turn by ex-Lancashire United 166 TS8 DTF267 (B32F) and FEH815 (B35F, ex-PMT). By late 1961 these were replaced by WS4516 (AEC Regal/Alexander B35F ex-SMT) and CAG806, another Regal but with Burlingham B35F half canopy, ex-WSMT 578. This pair operated until 1965. There were two Leyland TS8/Roe - CTF429 (B34F) and CTF433 (B32F) as the 50s turned into the 60s. Also there was DRN347 Sentinel STC6 (ex-Ribble 290) which was used for under a year, and DRN351 (ex-Ribble 294), both having Sentinel B44F bodies. Others followed but a stalwart of the 1970s through and beyond the Cosy Coaches takeover was Bristol LL6/ECW JRU66 (FB39F), which I remember driving - with some difficulty - on several occasions on busy summer days (a far cry from BFX32, a utility Bedford OWB/Duple UB28F on which I used to "help" the driver issue tickets on Saturday mornings in the mid-1950s). The Sunday service was withdrawn in 1971. Louie ran the Rossmore Flyer for 40 years and more until she was over eighty years of age, and then in the early months of 1973 sold the still thriving business (which had become a limited company in 1947) to Cosy Coaches of Parkstone, then owned by Simon Rendell, the son of the founder Herbert. That the route was still good business is evidenced by the sale price of £20,000. |
 Louie Dingwall-Foott in later years |
Although Cosy's twenty plus fleet of coaches was primarily involved in private hire and foreign language student work, the bus route was not neglected and there were again plans made to extend the route, this time to the Alderney East and Alderney West housing estates. But nothing came of these proposals, which would have needed a three bus operation on a 15 minute headway (and a two hourly frequency on Sundays). At this time the main route was on a 15 minute frequency with two vehicles covered by three shifts. In a shrewd piece of marketing Cosy Coaches displayed the name "Monkeys Hump and Heavenly Bottom Express" on the headsign of UFX520L, one of the two grant assisted 53-seater Bedfords working the service. After a year or two of Cosy operation in 1976 the frequency was reduced to a one bus shuttle on a 20 minute frequency. This was usually RPR747K, a Bedford YRQ/Plaxton 45 seater coach, driven by Brian Baverstock, relieved by John Dennis. Cosy Coaches continued on the Rossmore route for ten years and the service then passed to the Stanbridge and Crichel company in December 1983 (following financial difficulties at Cosy and the subsequent demise of the business).
Stanbridge initially used Brian and RPR747K, but then in recognition that a coach with entrance steps was not best suited to a town service, introduced KUF239F, a 1968 Bristol RE with 45 seater Marshall bus body. The regular lady driver was Sandy. After six years of operating the route as a one bus shuttle on a 25 minute headway - which stopped for a half hour mid-morning and for an hour at lunchtime to allow the driver to have meal breaks - the service passed to its fourth incumbent when the Stanbridge and Crichel business was acquired by Oakfield Travel of Blandford in 1989. Drivers then included Steve, Yorkie and Gordon Osborne. Oakfield did extend the Rossmore route to serve the new Tower Park shopping and leisure centre development, half a mile past the traditional Trinidad Estate terminus. Also by deploying one extra vehicle for a short while they introduced new morning shoppers routes linking Upper Parkstone to Talbot Heath, Bloxworth Road and Alderney East housing developments, but these did not last long. Oakfield then sold their business to Guildford and West Surrey who after a short time sold the ex-Oakfield and ex-Stanbridge businesses (including the Rossmore route) to Wilts & Dorset in 1993, who also acquired Damory Coaches of Blandford at the same time. Although the country routes around Wimborne and Blandford continue to be operated by Damory under their own name, the operation of the Rossmore route was passed over to the old enemy Wilts & Dorset on 1st November 1993 after 67 years of independent operation. Running one midibus as their routes 168 and 169, the extensions which had been contemplated at various times over the years to Alderney East and Bourne Estate were now covered on alternate journeys from Upper Parkstone, albeit with slightly slower running times as an extensive traffic calming project with various sleeping policemen and speed humps now covers the entire length of Albert Road and half of Rossmore Road. I think perhaps Louie would turn in her grave if she knew about Wilts & Dorset - but she had passed on in 1982, nearly ninety years of age, a grand old lady who had achieved much in her lifetime.
An even more surprising development came on 30th August 2005 when Wilts & Dorset relinquished routes 168 and 169 and the operation was taken over by Bournemouth Yellow Buses. The wheel turned yet again and Yellow Buses withdrew the routes on 1st April 2006 - which left us wondering what next for the Rossmore Bus?
Another operator comes along, this time Roadliner of Poole, who started an hourly service (supported by the Borough of Poole) on the extended 168 / 169 Rossmore routes, now with each journey serving both Alderney East and Bourne Estate as well as the traditional points of Trinidad Estate and Rossmore Road. Reviving its popular name, this is known as the number 8 "Rossmore Flyer" as shown in the timetable leaflet. The service has also been extended from Upper Parkstone to Alton Road, Sandecotes Road, Kings Avenue and Penn Hill Avenue in Lower Parkstone as the number 8 "Parkstone Flyer". Reviving in part the original 1930's concept proposed seventy odd years ago by Miss Foott, albeit by a different route!
A picture of the new Rossmore Flyer on its first day of operation, with driver David at the wheel of the smartly liveried Optare Solo Y811 KRP (subsequently reregistered Y555 ELF) at Penn Hill Corner, with Roadliner director Mark Self looking on, is here.
From 1st March 2008 the route of the Rossmore Flyer is extended further northwards along Ringwood Road to include Alderney West as well as Alderney East.
| A timetable from the mid 1950's, when two double deckers were needed all day to cover the route on a basic 15 minute frequency | Daimler / Metro Cammell CVP187 - ex Birmingham Corporation - waiting at Albert Road, Upper Parkstone ("up on hill") | |
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With
the route now being operated by Cosy Coaches, 1975 finds
UFX520L - one of the two government grant assisted 53-seater Bedfords
working the service
(the other was UFX521L) - about to start the ascent of Monkeys Hump
away from
Heavenly Bottom. The permanently fixed rooftop destination
display faithfully
depicts the name of both these
localities. The three regular drivers covering the two buses
in service at
this time on a three shift pattern were Robby Martin, Dave Shear and
Reg Davis. School journeys
were operated by double deckers CHD606 (hailing from Essex) and KEL122
(ex Bournemouth Corporation).
Now it's 1985 and the route is being operated by
the
Stanbridge and Crichel company, with just one bus shuttling to and fro
all day, usually
with regular lady driver Sandy. Here she is with her usual
steed KUF239F, an
ex-Southdown 1968
Bristol RE 45 seater, The terminus at Upper Parkstone has
been relocated
around the corner from the end of Albert Road to the layby in the main
thoroughfare of Ashley
Road - much more convenient for passengers transferring from buses from
Poole or
Bournemouth! (Picture
by Henry Frier).
This
picture shows stable mate VMO233H passing St Johns
Church in Upper Parkstone after the route was further extended a few
hundred yards at
the `town end' to serve the then new Safeways supermarket (built on the
site of
former Parkstone depot of Hants and Dorset Motor services and the
Retreat Hotel;
diagonally across the road from the Co-op department store where my dad
spent
most of his working life - now a memory itself having closed a few
years ago and
subsequently redeveloped as the Hogshead pub). The Retreat
pub becomes the
Safeways store, and the Co-op store becomes the Hogshead pub.
Hmmm,
there's a moral there somewhere ......
On the 21st August 1989, with the route now
operated by
Oakfield Travel, here is a picture of the first run on the first day of
the extension of
service to Tower Park. SWY336L and driver 'Yorkie' wait in
the morning
sunshine.
This is an earlier timetable from 1933 when the route only ran along Rossmore Road as far as the corner with Brixey Road. This predates the extension of route to then as yet unbuilt Trinidad Estate. It seems only one bus is needed to run the route, but it's a very hectic schedule between 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock in the morning!
The October 1949 timetable, requiring three vehicles in service from 8am to 5.30pm to maintain the ten minute headway
What might have been - the timetable for the proposed Bourne Estate route in 1954
What might have been again - the 1947 proposal for a Sunnyside Road circular service.
and one last shot of one of the Rossmore double deckers (CVP208) that might have run the new route to Bourne Estate ...... if only!
======== with thanks to Dave Crowter and Angie Kitcher ========
Join us for a trip on the Rossmore Bus one hot Saturday ....
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