The Hereford Bus

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by JE Dunabin. 125pp, 93/4″ x 6″. (HJ Publications, 6 Ardentinny, Grorvenor Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 3BZ. ££)

Books about buses and the companies operating them may seem inappropriate to the review columns of Motor Sport, or would do if we were not aware of the wide-ranging transport interests of many of our readers. But those who crave more on the pre-war transport scene should enjoy this publication.

Although it is devoted in detail to one area of bus operation, from the first Hereford bus in about 1908 to the post-WW2 rise in the number and complexity of the services there, it also contains much about the regulations (and later restrictions) which were common to services all over the country. And it goes even further back, describing one of the first cars to run on a Herefordshire licence — a two-cylinder Wolseley, rather surprisingly with two carburettors.

Accounts of how bus companies rose and waned, and of the problems confronting them from those times onwards, make fascinating reading; and descriptions of the vehicles used are accompanied by many good pictures. There are maps of the local routes, many of which were much in demand by Services personnel during the war years, and a rather remarkable appendix which not only lists all the local operators and their vehicles and body types, but also gives chassis numbers of these converted commercial vehicles, buses and coaches, where known. WB