East Midlands Motor Services / Booth & Fisher bus

[gregnig 10]

Can you remember when you could send a parcel on a East Midlands Motor Services / Booth & Fisher bus?

[raymondo1952 11]

The old days you can't send a bus on some of the routes today never mind a parcel

[fleetwood 10]

Can you remember when you could send a parcel on a East Midlands Motor Services / Booth & Fisher bus?

 

Sending parcels, packages etc by bus, has been a way of life over here in Canada and the U.S. for as long as I can remember.

[stevenorfolk 10]

Yes I can confirm I have put parcels on the Booth and Fisher bus, it was about 1965,I worked for Associated engineering on west street,delivering vehicle parts,I had a delivery bicycle with a box on the front,I also put parcels on the number 85 Gainborough bus, these were for a vehicle spare shop in worksop.I also delivered to lots of small engineering firms around the city centre,including, "Beckett and Garner" "Robert Beckett" .

[hillsbro 28]

Parcels were carried on buses in many parts of the country in the 1950s/60s - though a 1950s Sheffield bus guide doesn't mention this service, so the Sheffield Corporation Transport Department's buses evidently didn't carry parcels. I was on a bus in Hampshire in 1968 when I saw the conductor accept a parcel, collect a "fare" and issue a numbered receipt, a label with the same number being attached to the parcel. Here is a grainy scan of such a receipt/label that turned up on eBay, issued by the "Devon General Omnibus & Trading Company", and a 1970s Scottish label. I wonder if the conductors had scales to weigh the parcels?!

Edited December 13, 2016 by hillsbro

[Boginspro 10]

I worked on the buses in Sheffield 1960's and 70's.

In the 70's I worked out of town routes from East Bank garage and we definitely carried some parcels on some of these. I remember parcels on the Gainsborough route and there were regular parcels on the Castleton route so presumably we took them on all out of town routes.

I can't remember how the arrangement worked but seem to remember a lady from the information office on platform C bringing some down to the bus.

[Falls 10]

Hi,

 

Does anybody recall the time when you could post a letter on a tram or bus?

 

In the 1940's most of the buses and trams in Sheffield were still prewar relics. Many of the double decker's had a bracket on the back, close to the platform. Trams had a similar bracket but these were fixed to the curved part on the platform(s) themselves. I was a young kid at the time so I asked my father what they were used for. He told me these brackets were to attach mail boxes!!

 

Apparently late night buses and trams on certain routes before the war carried a small mail box. If you want to post a letter for local delivery the next morning, you just waved-down the tram and dropped you stamp- address mail in the box.

 

Regards

[hillsbro 28]

Hi Falls - yes, I remember being told that in pre-war days the last tram from Middlewood to the city centre was known as the "post tram" and it had a post box on the platform. Letters posted in the box would be delivered in the Sheffield area the next day.

[beechnut 10]

... I remember parcels on the Gainsborough route and there were regular parcels on the Castleton route so presumably we took them on all out of town routes...

Yes it was the out-of-town routes that carried parcels, certainly in the 1960s to my knowledge. These routes were operated by the "Sheffield Joint Omnibus Committee" made up of Sheffield Corporation Transport Department and British Railways. Routes operated purely by the Corporation within the city didn't carry parcels.

[Falls 10]

Hi Falls - yes, I remember being told that in pre-war days the last tram from Middlewood to the city centre was known as the "post tram" and it had a post box on the platform. Letters posted in the box would be delivered in the Sheffield area the next day.

 

Hi hillsbro,

 

You have just jogged my memory. Occasionally,when the tram or bus crews were changing the destination indicators at a terminus on the old buses/trams, they would sometimes have difficult finding the destination they were initially searching for and bring-up all kinds of old destinations first. Places where buses/trams didn't run anymore.

 

One of these might be "Post Tram" you mentioned. Seem to think the lettering for "Post Tram" (or "Post Bus") indications were "Red", while all the regular destinations, etc. were the regular white lettering on a black background.

 

All a very long time ago.

 

 

Regards