Harty, Ferry Road Corner
This has to be the barmiest bus route I have ever ridden on. Sometime, long ago, in a fit of over-optimism, Maidstone and District started a Saturday only bus route to a deserted and desolate part of the Isle of Sheppey. Leaving habitation behind at Eastchurch service 64 went for miles down a minor road passing occasional farmsteads before terminating at an obscure T junction within sight of an ancient chapel and a remote pub. Until about the time of the First World War there had been a ferry from near the pub across the Swale to the mainland north of Oare, out on the marshes near Faversham.
I would imagine that if everyone from every building the bus passed after Eastchurch caught the bus into Sheerness to do their shopping there still wouldn't be a full load! Perhaps there were more agricultural labourers once - but there certainly weren't in December 1972 when I took this picture. Unfortunately this Leyland Leopard was one of the first buses I had ever seen in NBC green. The service consisted of a journey from Harty at about 13:45. The return trip didn't leave Sheerness until 19:20. Amazingly the service survived (renumbered 334) until about 1980, with the odd timetable unaltered to the end.
Shortly before it came off for good I tried to ride on it again. This time, rather than making an out-and-back trip, I walked to Harty from Leysdown. At about the time the bus was due a taxi came to a halt beside me and a man got out - he said that I had better go back in the cab as the bus had been cut! I was astonished that there had been another potential passenger, but was grateful to take the cab. Later when I tried to claim the taxi fare off M&D I was told that there hadn't been a suitable bus available and therefore the cancellation was a "circumstance beyond their control". I wrote back pointing out that with all due respect, not having a bus was not a circumstance beyond their control! They ignored this letter....
Harty, Ferry Road Corner
This has to be the barmiest bus route I have ever ridden on. Sometime, long ago, in a fit of over-optimism, Maidstone and District started a Saturday only bus route to a deserted and desolate part of the Isle of Sheppey. Leaving habitation behind at Eastchurch service 64 went for miles down a minor road passing occasional farmsteads before terminating at an obscure T junction within sight of an ancient chapel and a remote pub. Until about the time of the First World War there had been a ferry from near the pub across the Swale to the mainland north of Oare, out on the marshes near Faversham.
I would imagine that if everyone from every building the bus passed after Eastchurch caught the bus into Sheerness to do their shopping there still wouldn't be a full load! Perhaps there were more agricultural labourers once - but there certainly weren't in December 1972 when I took this picture. Unfortunately this Leyland Leopard was one of the first buses I had ever seen in NBC green. The service consisted of a journey from Harty at about 13:45. The return trip didn't leave Sheerness until 19:20. Amazingly the service survived (renumbered 334) until about 1980, with the odd timetable unaltered to the end.
Shortly before it came off for good I tried to ride on it again. This time, rather than making an out-and-back trip, I walked to Harty from Leysdown. At about the time the bus was due a taxi came to a halt beside me and a man got out - he said that I had better go back in the cab as the bus had been cut! I was astonished that there had been another potential passenger, but was grateful to take the cab. Later when I tried to claim the taxi fare off M&D I was told that there hadn't been a suitable bus available and therefore the cancellation was a "circumstance beyond their control". I wrote back pointing out that with all due respect, not having a bus was not a circumstance beyond their control! They ignored this letter....