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Bridgnorth steam bus service

101 bytes added, 13:47, 15 January 2016
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Describe Hermitage Hill
The GWR began a bus service between [[Bridgnorth]] and [[Wolverhampton]] on November 7th 1904 using three Clarkson steam omnibuses<ref>[http://www.nrm.org.uk/ourcollection/photo?group=Sellick%20collection&objid=1997-7219_RJS_OWW_27 NRM archive]</ref>.
The journey took 1&frac12; hours, with the buses travelling at around 8mph. The steam buses gave considerable trouble from the beginning of operation, in particular on Hermitage Hill out of Bridgnorth, which involved climbing 260 feet (80m) in little over half a mile in order to leave the river valley. At the end of March 1905, after less than 5 months service, they were transferred to Somerset for use between Cheddar and Burnham. On 1 April 1905 they were replaced by Milnes-Daimler petrol buses. These saw service until January 1920, at which time they were in turn replaced by AEC buses<ref Name = "Marshall">[[Bibliography#Books|Marshall (1989)]] p118-119</ref>.
When the bus service was introduced in 1904, the GWR were in the process of making plans for a [[Wolverhampton#Proposed Railways between Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth | railway between Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth]], which was later made possible by an Act of Parliament, the GWR Additional Powers Act (July 1905). However having already introduced the bus service, the GWR then took no steps to build this railway. They continued to operate the bus service until 2 June 1923, when it was taken over by Wolverhampton Corporation<ref name = "Marshall" />.
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