Bus, Trolleybus and Tram Routes of Kingston upon Hull Corporation
Predecessors and Successors. 1899 to 1986

Chapter Six

Holderness Road

Trams: H, TH, IRH, IRTH
Trolleybuses: 64, 64A
Road Service Licence No’s: BH101/6, /7, /41, /42, /52, /53, /64 /66, /67, /68, /69, /78, /85, /90,
/101, /102, /103, /112, /134.

Public transport along Holderness Road commenced under Corporation auspice on April, 1099. This was in the form of an electric tramway service from Savile Street, via North Bridge, and terminated at the junction of Holderness Road on Lee Street. In March 1903 it was extended from Lee Street to Aberdeen Street, where a depot had been opened. This route was given the route letter ‘H’. A second service commenced in July 1907. The majority of the route was identical to the first, but the city terminus was situated at the Town Hall and it ran via the Railway Station and Jameson Street before joining the main route, this service was distinguished by the route letters ‘TH’.

After the First World War the cost of building tramways was rising and many operators looked rather to the motorbus to open up new areas, and then if the patronage was high enough a tramway would be built but in many cases the latter never took place at all. A similar case arose when the Corporation wished to provide a service to the newly developing East Hull Estate at Southcoates Lane. A night service, which charged higher fares also commenced at the same time. Both of these services were subsequently to be granted on Road Service Licences BH101/6 and/7 with route number 45 under the 1930 Road Traffic Act, but that was, as yet, a long way in the future.

Meanwhile, in September 1925, the tram tracks were extended further along Holderness Road to terminate at the Ings Road junction. Initially trams serving the extension carried route letters ‘IRH’ or ‘IRTH’, this distinction was later dropped and cars carried the destination on them instead, most services now worked to Ings Road anyway. In June, 1932 the ‘TH’ variant was discontinued and all cars ran the ‘H’ route only.

Back on the motorbus service to East Hull Estate, the service was extended along Preston Road and Newbridge Road to Marfleet Lane; this took place in November, 1926. The service was proving so popular that the Corporation proposed to commence operations by trolleybuses along the route, and a bill containing this was presented to parliament in 1927. Due to other matters contained in the bill it was thrown out and powers were not obtained. In anticipation of the success of the bill the Corporation had ordered a fleet of Guy trolleybuses which had to be changed to motorbuses. It is interesting to note that the route was never electrified, when trolleybus powers were granted in 1937.

Coordination of the bus services operated by the Corporation and East Yorkshire Motor Services Ltd took effect in July 1934, and although the trams were not affected as they were in other parts of the city, additional bus services were introduced at this time along Holderness Road. The most obvious were a night service and Sunday morning service which covered periods when the trams were not operating. On Sunday mornings until 1pm a bus service on licence BH101/52 operated the tram route up to Ings Road, and was numbered 41, whilst the night service, 42, was extended along Holderness Road to the Bellfield Avenue junction, the latter being on Road Service Licence number BH101/53. On the Preston Road route, the night service was joined by a Sunday morning service also and all three services carried the route number 45. Road Service Licence numbers were BH101/6 for the normal service, BH101/7 for the night service and BH101/64(?) for the Sunday morning service. An extension of the 45 route also commenced and it ran the full 45 route to Marfleet Lane, where it turned left along that road and terminated at Suttonway on the Sutton Trust estate. This was on licence BH101/66 and the route number 46 was used to differentiate it from the East Hull estate service. All the bus services along Holderness Road travelled from the centre via George Street, North Bridge and Witham, but as with the Dansom Lane services 39 and 40, peak hour services were introduced which ran via Alfred Gelder Street, Drypool Bridge and Clarence Street. Route numbers 45A (BH101/41(?)) and 46A (BH101/42(?)). Night and Sunday morning services were also introduced on the Sutton Trust service on licences BH101/67(?)) and BH101/68(?)). Therefore Corporation bus services along Holderness Road had increased from two to eight.

A further variant of the 45 service was introduced in May 1935, when licence BH101/69 was granted for service 45B. Again the 45 route was followed, but this time a right turn was made into Marfleet Lane and the service ran to Klondyke, the Marfleet Avenue/Hedon Road junction. Yet another variant appeared in December 1938, when licence BH101/78 was granted for a bus service between Newcomen Street and the Eastern Cemetery situated on Preston Road. This section of route was common to both the 45 and 46 services and the short working became 46B, but could just as easily have been 45C! The service operated only on Sunday mornings. Further new territory was opened up at this time as BH101/85 was granted for a service which ran along Holderness Road, and then by Portobello Street, Staveley Road, Wingfield Road and Grange Road (southern end) to a new housing estate, which became Bilton Grange, service number 48 was used.

Upon the declaration of the Second World War there were thirteen bus services and one tram service running along Holderness Road, these being:

The Sunday morning and night services 41,42,45 and 46 were all early casualties of the war and were the 45A and 46A peak variants, none of these ever recommenced after the end of the hostilities. The tram service itself came to and end in 1940 when it was replaced by trolleybus services 64 to Ings Road and 64A to East Park. The black-out regulations and poor visibility of the route blinds caused the 64A to be renumbered to 68, the next available number in the trolleybus series. This took place in 1940, while the 46B was renumbered 41; and the 45B became 42, both done for the same reason as the trolleybuses. At the end of the war in May 1945, the Corporation had five bus services and two trolleybus services running on the Holderness Road corridor, these being 41, 42, 45, 46, 48, 64 and 68.

Post-war services along Holderness Road remained as above until November 1948, when a joint service with East Yorkshire commenced. The service ran the full length of Holderness Road, terminating at the Ganstead Lane roundabout. Licence number BH101/90 was granted and route number 57 was used. The following year saw the commencement of the two works services mentioned in the Hedon Road chapter. Numbered 54 and 55 the termini were at the BCLO factory and they ran via Holderness Road, Southcoates Lane, Preston Road and Marfleet Lane. In 1954 they were renumbered 94 and 95 in the works series.

The northern part of Bilton Grange estate was still being developed in the early 50’s and a bus service was projected into the area in June 1952. This ran via Holderness Road, Marfleet Lane and Barham Road, terminating at Nestor Grove Licence number BH101/101 was granted for the service and the route number 58 was given.

Short workings to services 45, 48 and 58 were listed in the timetable for April 1954, and were on the same licence as their parent routes. The 45 short working was numbered 44 and terminated at Trinity Grove, whilst the 48 gained service 78, which terminated at Kyffin Avenue and the 88 was the short working of the 58 which terminated at Amethyst Road. They were all classed as ‘extra journeys’, so they were not given timed journeys in the public timetables.

A licence was granted to the Corporation in March 1955, which was jointly held with East Yorkshire for a new service along Holderness Road and ran along the south western end of Shannon Road in the new Longhill estate and terminated at the northern end of Douglas Road. The Corporation’s licence, BH101/102, was provisional, but was soon followed by BH101/103, the substantive licence. There was also a short working on the licence which terminated at the Saltshouse Road junction, numbered 76 it commenced in March 1956. Prior to this in October 1955 the Sunday morning service 41 on BH101/78 was discontinued and the licence surrendered, but a new 41 commenced on licence BH101/6 instead.

The inner terminus was now at the coach Station, whilst the eastern terminus was extended along Preston Road to the newly developing Greatfield estate. The new service joined the existing 44 and 45 services on BH101/6. Meanwhile on BH101/101, the 58 was further extended along Barham Road to a new terminus at Thanet Road, this extension taking place in April 1967. Services remained unchanged for a further two years until April 1959, when another service was introduced on licence BH101/6. This duplicated the 41 service, but was extended westwards along Annandale Road and Falkland Road to the junction with Saltford Avenue; the service number 43 was used. At the same time the 41 was extended from the Falkland Road junction to the Bradford Avenue junction.

Hull Kingston Rovers Rugby League home matches were served by a new service from Greatfield, the 43 terminus, to Craven Park: It was granted on licence BH101/6 and duplicated the 43 service from Greatfield to Holderness Road and from there to Craven Park. Route number 98 in the special series was used for the service. Apparently it operated only for the 1959/60 season as it did not re-appear in the timetable for October 1960. In this latter timetable the 45, also on BH101/6 was relegated to ‘extra journey’ status.

The Holderness Road trolleybuses came to an end in September 1963, both service 64 and 68 being replaced by corresponding motor bus services. Licence BH101/112 had been granted for the replacements and the licence contained three services, 54 to Ings Road, replacing 64, 154 to Holderness Road garage, an “extra journey” and 254 to East Park, replacing 68. In October 1963 the 57 to Ganstead Lane and the 76 Longhill short working, both ceased operations. Also during the year the 42 service to Marfleet on BH101/69 was renumbered 92.

A variant of the 54 group was added to BH101/112 in April 1964, this was service 55 which followed the 54 route to Ings Road and then turned into that road to Savoy Road, where a new housing estate was being developed by the Corporation. In October 1965 it was extended along Savoy Road and then westwards along Bellfield Avenue to terminate at ‘the Robin’ public house. This terminus was called Ings Estate west, while at the same time another service was introduced which turned eastwards along Bellfield Avenue and terminated at the Mitcham Road junction. This was termed Ings Estate east and route number 57 was used. Around this time on BH101/85 a peak hour ‘extra journey’ 348 was introduced which travelled via Drypool Bridge rather than North Bridge. Licence BH101/66 was surrendered at this time also and the service 46 to Suttonway was transferred to BH101/6 as an ‘extra journey’ to the 41/43 series.

Several ‘extra journeys’ commenced in April 1966, 358 was added to BH101/108, 354, 355 and 357 to BH101/112 on which licence the 54 was also relegated to that status, but on the other hand the garage journey 154 became a timed service, but it reverted back to extra journey status in October. Also in April the 94 terminus on BH101/94 was extended to the end of Somerden Road. The most remarkable change occurred on BH101/6, where the Suttonway 46 route cased and the first of the Corporation’s circular bus services commenced. Service 41 on the licence was utilised with a timing point at the present terminus on Annandale Road, but the buses now continued along that road turning left onto Wingfield Road where the buses returned to the city by the 48 route. To enable this, all three routes on BH101/85 were transferred to BH101/6, the routes were 48 to Grange Road, 148 to Kyffin Avenue and 348 from Grange Road via Drypool, and both of the latter were “extra journeys”. In addition to the existing and transferred routes on BH101/6 two new services commenced, these being the two halves of the circular, both route numbers 41 and 48 duplicated the existing ones.

The replacement of numerical prefixes by alphabetical suffixes took place in April 1967, and the following routes along the Holderness Road corridor were affected; on BH101/101 the 158 and 358 became 58A and 58D, on BH101/112 the 154, 254, 354, 355 and 357 became 54A, 54B, 54D, 55D and 57D respectively and finally on BH101/6 the 348 became 48D. On this latter licence, at this time four new services were introduced, 41A to Staveley Road via 41/48 route, 41B to the Greatfield timing point 48A to Preston Road via 48/41 route and 48C to Staveley Road.

The following timetable in October showed further changes to the licence, these being the discontinuing of the 44 Trinity Grove service, the renumbering of 45 to 43B and a new 43A service which terminated at the junction of Annandale Road and Falkland Road, the 43 terminated at the other end of Falkland Road. The 43A was an ‘extra journey’ as was the 43B (ex 45). BH101/69 was surrendered at this time its solitary 92 service was transferred to BH101/94 where it joined the 94 and 95. All three routes were renumbered, 46 (ex 92), 46A (ex 94) and 45 (ex 95).

A year later in October 1968 the 41B service on BH101/6 ceased and the circular 41 and 48 were renumbered 41C and 48C to enable this, the existing 48C became 48E and the 48B became 48. It was the turn of BH101/101 to gain a circular service, which was achieved by linking the 58 with the 55 from BH101/112. The circulars were numbered 55C and 58C and there were two short workings to the routes, namely 55A to the junction of Saltshouse Road and Holderness Road and 58A to the timing point at Diadem Grove. As a consequence, all the existing services on BH101/112 were transferred to BH101/101, namely 54, 54A, 54B, 54D, 55, 55D 57 and 57D, four months later the 57D became a timed journey.

A special Sunday morning only service commenced March 1969 which commenced from Longhill and travelled via Shannon Road, Diadem Grove, Staveley Road, Barham Road, Amethyst Road and Grange Road from where it travelled the normal 48 route to the city centre. Route number 48W was used. In October of that year the 44 ‘extra journey’ on licence BH101/6 was discontinued. A couple of minor changes occurred on licence BH101/101 the following March. The 55 became an “extra journey” and was renumbered 55B and the peak hour 57D was discontinued. A rerouting of service 57 occurred in October 1971 when it became effectively a short working of the 55, as it also turned left from Savoy Road and terminated at the Robin public house. Also on this licence the Thanet Road service 58 was discontinued and the Diadem Grove service 58A became 58. Meanwhile, on the joint licence BH101/103 a limited stop service to Longhill was introduced as service 56X.

Two ‘extra journey’ services were discontinued in September 1972, these were the 48D on BH101/6 and the 55D on BH101/101 and on this latter licence the 54D also was discontinued. The timetable for September 1973 showed the 48D service being discontinued but it recommenced again in May 1975. At this latter point the 57 group was separated from the 55/58 groups as the route was transferred from BH101/101 to a new licence BH101/134. Together with the 57 was a new service 57A which continued along Bellfield Avenue to serve the Spring Cottage estate being developed north of Saltshouse Road, the terminus was situated at Gleneagles Park.

East Yorkshire extended their service from Longhill to serve the Fleet Estate at Bilton, service number 56A was used and the Corporation also added this service to their licence BH101/103. The new service commenced in July 1975.

Services now settled down for two and a half years, as the next changes did not occur until September 1978. Licence BH101/101 lost the 58B, which had originally been the original short working 88 of 1954. Exactly a year later on the two original trolleybus replacement services 54 and 54B, along with the 55B were also discontinued, as did the 48E variant on licence BH101/6. Meanwhile the joint licence BH101/103 gained yet another service, this being the 56D peak hour service via Drypool.

The revision of services in June 1980, only affected one licence which served the Holderness Road corridor, this being BH101/94, which contained works services to Marfleet, Somerden Road and Saltend. Services 45, 46 and 46A became 45A, 45B and 45 respectively. Incidentally, the 46 returned to the number it had been given when it commenced in 1934, having been numbered 42, 92 and 46 in between!

Licence BH101/6 was the subject of revisions in March 1981. The 41 and 43A services were discontinued, while the 41A and 41C were renumbered 43A and 43, thus removing the 41 from the licence and indeed the difference between the 41 and 43C, groups had, for many years, been academic anyway! In May the limited stop service 56X was discontinued, this was, of course, on the joint BH101/103 licence.

What in the course of events turned out to be the final traditional Hull circular, commenced operation in September 1981, when the 57A route was extended from Spring Cottage to the Bransholme Centre. It was renumbered 34B and transferred to licence BH101/55. This was now one of a group of services which were joined with the 33 group to form the circular route. The short working 57 to the Robin or Ings estate was discontinued and the licence BH101/134 was duly surrendered.

Holderness Road services now remained unchanged from 1981 to the introduction of the pre-deregulation network in July 1986, but prior to this during the previous year Hull City Council decided that it would no longer operate services on the joint licences. Licence BH101/103 was duly surrendered and the three services, 56, 56A and 56D were passed to East Yorkshire Motor Services for their sole operation. This left Hull City Council only three licences which served the Holderness Road corridor, namely BH101/6 services 43, 43A, 43B, 43C, 48, 48A, 48C, 48D, and 48W, BH101/94 services 45, 45A and 45B and BH101/101, series 55, 55A, 55B 55C, 55D 58, 58C and 58D. The 45B service was discontinued in May 1986, but the rest continued until July, when the deregulation network was introduced. BH101/6 carried the eastern end of the 1/2 routes along with associated short workings. The western end of these was, of course on the Hessle Road licence BH101/56. BH101/94 carried an irregular service to King George Dock only whilst BH101/101 carried the 13/14 circulars and their short workings. Upon de-regulation these three licences were finally surrendered.

Keith Easton
01/2012

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