West Riding Automobile Co Ltd. : map of routes : in the Wakefield Official Guide, 1959
"Reproduced by the kind permission" is this route map of the West Riding Automobile Co. Ltd. that appears in the 1959 ediiton of the City of Wakefield official handbook under the transport section. West Riding Automobile, formed in 1922, was a subsidiary of the Yorkshire (West Riding) Tramways Co that had started to run trams in the Wakefield and Castleford areas in 1904. In common with many first generation electric tramway operations by the 1920s and '30s they were replacing tram services with motor buses - in this case those operated by the "Automobile".
Unusually the West Riding concern remained in private hands, not forming part of any of the larger combines and having no municipal involvement, and by the 1950s they vied with Lancashire United Transport for the title of 'largest' such concern. At the time of this map their heartland was the string of towns to the south and east of Leeds serving many mining and manufacturing communities. The fleet of nearly 400 vehicles is recalled for the company's involvement with Guy Motors and the development of the doomed Wulfrunian bus chassis - West Riding taking nearly the whole of the production run of these unusual buses. In 1967, with the writing on the wall for nationalisation of bus companies not already in state hands, they sold out to the Transport Holding Company and so, in 1969, were part of the new National Bus Company. The bulk of the network is now run by a 'descendent' of sorts under the guise of Arriva.
West Riding Automobile Co Ltd. : map of routes : in the Wakefield Official Guide, 1959
"Reproduced by the kind permission" is this route map of the West Riding Automobile Co. Ltd. that appears in the 1959 ediiton of the City of Wakefield official handbook under the transport section. West Riding Automobile, formed in 1922, was a subsidiary of the Yorkshire (West Riding) Tramways Co that had started to run trams in the Wakefield and Castleford areas in 1904. In common with many first generation electric tramway operations by the 1920s and '30s they were replacing tram services with motor buses - in this case those operated by the "Automobile".
Unusually the West Riding concern remained in private hands, not forming part of any of the larger combines and having no municipal involvement, and by the 1950s they vied with Lancashire United Transport for the title of 'largest' such concern. At the time of this map their heartland was the string of towns to the south and east of Leeds serving many mining and manufacturing communities. The fleet of nearly 400 vehicles is recalled for the company's involvement with Guy Motors and the development of the doomed Wulfrunian bus chassis - West Riding taking nearly the whole of the production run of these unusual buses. In 1967, with the writing on the wall for nationalisation of bus companies not already in state hands, they sold out to the Transport Holding Company and so, in 1969, were part of the new National Bus Company. The bulk of the network is now run by a 'descendent' of sorts under the guise of Arriva.