A to me, fascinating and hitherto unknown matter, lately come upon in a book of "railway trivia"; concerning a minor branch line in my childhood home area. This is the former Great Northern branch from Holme to Ramsey (North). I'd been aware that this branch lost its passenger service in 1947. The book tells, however, of the LNER as from 1931, making-over the branch's passenger service into part-rail, part-bus. Quoting: "The normal rail timetable was continued up to and including the 1015 from Holme to Ramsey (North), but after that the remaining four services of the day in each direction were replaced 'experimentally' by 'omnibuses of the Peterborough Electric Traction Company'. It seems likely that this hybrid arrangement saved at least one train crew and may have avoided having to deploy a second locomotive to maintain the freight trips. Whatever the underlying motive, it seems to have worked well enough and continued for many years."
As above -- a bit of information totally new to me. I found it a little surprising, especially coming from the time in history from which it does -- to me, an unexpected move on the part of Britain's then and long after, rather conservatively-inclined rail industry: a kind of ploy perhaps more to expect from rail administrations in other countries (France comes to mind). (One wonders what happened re the Ramsey (North) branch's passenger service, in World War II with its special circumstances of various kinds.)
Would be interested to learn of any similar doings elsewhere in Britain, in decades long past (nothing known to me, of any such local-line "hybrid" passenger arrangements set up post-nationalisation in 1948; but I don't claim to be an expert in such matters). Of particular interest, re the big national railway companies / nationalised network: such arrangements more likely, one feels, to have been implemented by small independent local lines.
As above -- a bit of information totally new to me. I found it a little surprising, especially coming from the time in history from which it does -- to me, an unexpected move on the part of Britain's then and long after, rather conservatively-inclined rail industry: a kind of ploy perhaps more to expect from rail administrations in other countries (France comes to mind). (One wonders what happened re the Ramsey (North) branch's passenger service, in World War II with its special circumstances of various kinds.)
Would be interested to learn of any similar doings elsewhere in Britain, in decades long past (nothing known to me, of any such local-line "hybrid" passenger arrangements set up post-nationalisation in 1948; but I don't claim to be an expert in such matters). Of particular interest, re the big national railway companies / nationalised network: such arrangements more likely, one feels, to have been implemented by small independent local lines.