I got a 1936 West Yorkshire Road Car Ltd timetable the other day.
I was pleased to see that the 36 (Leeds - Harrogate - Ripon) and 24 (Harrogate - Pateley Bridge) were there, and they are still in use (OK the 24 only goes to pateley now. It used to go to Lofthouse, further up the Nidd valley)
I wondered if these were the oldest route number still in use.
But on the Ribble facebook group, i was told the 555 was in use in 1925, even though only kendal - keswick then.
So can we push the use of these route numbers further back in time, and are there other route numbers still in use that have a long continuous use.
One other contender may be the leeds City Transport 1 to Lawnswood, still running today. But leeds tram numbers were not routes, but destinations. So trams running into Leeds would have showed a different number indicating where it was going after the city centre (I am told 2 - Moortown). So does that count??
I was pleased to see that the 36 (Leeds - Harrogate - Ripon) and 24 (Harrogate - Pateley Bridge) were there, and they are still in use (OK the 24 only goes to pateley now. It used to go to Lofthouse, further up the Nidd valley)
I wondered if these were the oldest route number still in use.
But on the Ribble facebook group, i was told the 555 was in use in 1925, even though only kendal - keswick then.
So can we push the use of these route numbers further back in time, and are there other route numbers still in use that have a long continuous use.
One other contender may be the leeds City Transport 1 to Lawnswood, still running today. But leeds tram numbers were not routes, but destinations. So trams running into Leeds would have showed a different number indicating where it was going after the city centre (I am told 2 - Moortown). So does that count??