Sandbed Special

Todmorden buses did not start running to Hebden Bridge until 1921. Within seven years services had been extended to Burnley via Portsmouth and Bacup, Oxenhope, Old Town, Lumbutts, Keighley and Rochdale. By 1928 there were 36 vehicles in the fleet. Reproduced by kind permission of Mrs Audrey Lumb. (CT074)

Todmorden's pioneering "motor buses" started running in January 1907 ( but it hadn't been all plain sailing getting the service under way as news snippets from the times show:

November 19 1905: Todmorden Town Council was considering a public transport service for their district, but were unable to make up their minds whether to have buses or trams.

November 2 1906: Many strongly in favour of electric trams as opposed to motor buses which Todmorden Corporation are considering for their new service. A London correspondent, writing, noticed no less than 43 stranded motor buses between Oxford Circus and Fleet Street.

December 9 1906: Heavy sarcasm regarding Todmorden's motor buses. It was stated that Todmordians "are dying to see and ride on the Corporation's new motor buses" but it was pointed out that the buses could not run until licensed at a cost of £10 per vehicle so the Bus Committee decided not to run them until the New Year.

The service finally got under way at 2pm precisely on New Year(s Day 1907, when the first bus left Todmorden bound for Walsden. (Full story in issue one of Milltown Memories).

Read the full story in Milltown Memories, issue 9. If this or other stories stirs a memory, we'd be happy to know - send us your memories and comments.