Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 09:35 04 Dec 2024
 
* Three rail firms to be renationalised next year
- 'Deeply disturbed': South Koreans react to President Yoon's martial law order
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 07/12/24 - Christmas Lights MTUG
15/12/24 - New Timetable Starts
19/12/24 - MTUG Committee Plus meeting
25/12/24 - Westbury Station Closure

On this day
4th Dec (1898)
Theft of Chocolate at Melksham Station (link)

Train RunningCancelled
20:56 Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads
21:46 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach
22:40 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
Short Run
08:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
13:28 Weymouth to Gloucester
13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern
16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington
18:10 Taunton to Cardiff Central
20:24 Exmouth to Cardiff Central
20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern
21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
December 04, 2024, 09:53:01 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[90] Northumberland Line to open on Sun 15 December
[87] Louise Haigh, Transport Secretary until 28 Nov 2024
[77] AQ03 - what do these groups have in common
[75] The Magic Roundabout
[70] Tiger has indigestion - use lion, puma or cheetah instead!
[56] Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) - heritage l...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Plymouth to Salisbury Plain by London bus 1914  (Read 1024 times)
Marlburian
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 750


View Profile
« on: October 23, 2024, 10:39:53 »

In mid-October 1914 some 31,000 Canadian soldiers arrived in Plymouth (most of their convoy having been diverted from Southampton because of a U-boat scare) and were taken by special trains to several stations on the edge of Salisbury Plain.
This photograph has been reproduced a dozen or more times, with varying captions. A copy in Libraries and Archives Canada describes it as "Troops of 3rd Brigade proceeding by bus from Plymouth to Salisbury Plain". The play "My Lady's Dress"  opened at the Royalty Theatre on April 23, 1914 and ran for 176 performances, an advert in The Times of Friday, October 23rd announcing  "Last 2 Nights", so it finished on Saturday the 24th, thus greatly limiting the time span of the photo.  The hut or tent in the background, together with the unsurfaced track, suggests that the bus had arrived on the Plain. There appears to be no information about bus journeys in appropriate war diaries.

The bus bears the name,"The National xxxx Car Company Limited", presumably the National Steam Car Company which was established by Thomas Clarkson to run steam buses in competition with the London General Omnibus Co. In 1912 the company was estimated by a competitor to have 27 buses in operation.

The New York Times of October 17 refers to "a long [Canadian] transport train of wagons ... motor trucks and lastly the commandeered London motor 'buses' arriving on the Plain”. Certainly Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No 1 and the Divisional Supply Column did drive to the Plain, via Exeter, Taunton and Heytesbury, an easier route compared with the hilly Exeter-to-Amesbury road.

It is a little difficult to believe that one or more London buses would travel the 200 miles to Plymouth and then 140 miles or more heavily laden to the Plain, and there would have been little need for them to collect soldiers de-training at Wiltshire stations, given the short marchable distances to camps. Unless the bus was already in Plymouth after delivering soldiers from the London area to troop ships there.
Logged
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7342


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2024, 13:06:03 »

The obvious answer is that the photo was staged after the event - press photos usually were.
Logged
broadgage
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5617



View Profile
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2024, 13:47:58 »

That photo certainly looks staged ! no way would passengers be perched or stood in the positions shown on a bus actually moving on rough roads.
Logged

A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page