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

 

Chapter Nineteen

 

Destination Indicators

From the outset public services in Hull has shown the route taken in one form or another. The electric trams, from the start of the system carried boards on the sided of the upper deck sides giving the route, for example, ‘ANLABY ROAD & St JOHN’S STREET’ or ‘HESSLE ROAD & St JOHN’S STREET’. These persisted until the early years of the 20th century, when St John’s Street was lost in the creation of Queen Victoria Square. From this point the boards were shortened to carry only the route, for example ‘BEVERLEY ROAD’ or ‘SPRING BANK’. In addition a route letter was carried on a board at each end of the car, as detailed in chapter 18. As the cars were rebuilt or built with balconies or fully enclosed, a single headlight was placed in that position, the route letter board now being displayed higher up, or in the centre of the upper deck windows, in the case of fully enclosed cars. At night the boards were illuminated by a lamp placed above the board. The side boards were gradually replaced by a smaller roller blind placed at the top of the saloon windows. Due to the piecemeal conversion of the cars several different styles could be seen running side by side.

Early motorbuses followed the pattern set by the trams, although there were no route letters or numbers at that time. The Saurer buses which operated the pioneer Stoneferry route, between 1909 and 1913 carried boards with ‘STONEFERRY’ above the upper deck sides, in addition to a destination blind fitted in a box at the front.

Later vehicles had destination boxes fitted on the roof at the front of the vehicle, in the case of saloons, or in the front of the front panel between the upper and lower deck windows, in the case of double-deck vehicles.

When route numbers were introduced, a number box was fitted above the destination box.

From 1932, double-deckers were delivered with the destination indicators incorporated into the front of the upper deck panels, these being accompanied by a square aperture at each end of the indicator.It is believed that these were part of the coloured light system of route identifier used previously. Above the destination indicator was a square aperture which showed the route number. With these types of vehicles, a metal attachment was hung from the upper deck floor adjacent to the half cab, when a route letter prefix was used. All deliveries of double-deck vehicles up to 1934 had this arrangement, although the AEC ‘Q’ number 127 did not have the two smaller apertures. Similarly saloons carried the route number and destination blinds side by side, but the light apertures were circular instead of square. Both type of vehicle also carried a destination indicator above the rear entrance.

Subsequent deliveries, from 1935, featured a large display at both the front and above the rear entrance, and this became the standard format until the first post-war deliveries. The aperture was sized 3’ by 2’, and the format was as follows: across the top of the blind area was the ultimate destination, under this to the left was a large route number, to the right of which, were the route details prefixed by ‘via’. At the bottom was the inner terminal, which in most cases simply read ‘CITY’. The blind was wound up or down to alter the display of the appropriate terminal. A second series of blinds were introduced during the war, probably about 1941/2. On these there were more destinations than on the original sets, also the format was altered, with the word “CITY” being deleted and the ultimate destination was now at the bottom of the display. Due to the fact that the blinds about a third narrower than the previous ones, the sight had the bottom part covered by a board affixed to the display aperture, all displays were white on black canvas..

On a few vehicles the blind was not moved, but the inappropriate terminal was covered by a moveable board In front of the display, all displays were white on black canvas.

Trolley buses of the period were similarly equipped, with the exception that displays were reversed, i.e. black on white. During the second war, blackout regulations called for dimmer lighting to be used on destination indicators. In the case of the trolleybuses, the blinds became difficult to read in the dimmer lighting, consequently they were replaced by black blinds with large white numerals, with the route underneath, in the form of ‘VIA/ANLABY ROAD’. Also the routes with suffix letters were renumbered to whole numbers in order to increase legibility.

The prewar blinds were the most detailed to have been used by buses in Hull, either before or since, but they were limited in that any new route, or variation to an existing route necessitating a new section being added or replacing the old section. There may well have been variations in the layout of the blinds, as for instance, there is photographic evidence of at least one vehicle with the route number at the right hand side of the display.

At the end of the war, the first deliveries of new vehicles featured twin track number blinds which surmounted a ‘VIA’ blind. This latter was 2’ 6” wide, and became the standard width for both the ‘VIA’ and destination blinds. They were side by side on saloon vehicles. This type of display was in use for twenty years between 1946 and 1966. The ‘sixties saw the introduction of three track blinds, but this never featured on trolleybuses, as the withdrawal programme was almost complete at this time.

From 1966 the new destination blinds replaced the ‘VIA’ blinds on the Leyland Atlanteans and Panthers. Side blinds did not appear on saloons from 1957, but the Atlanteans continued to receive both number and ‘VIA’ side indicators. These were positioned above the first windows to the rear of the entrance.

New buses from 1967 featured wider (3’) destination blinds on the front and sides, but number blinds were now displaying two numerical plus one alphabetical blind, although three track numerical blinds were used earlier, as previously stated.

Reverting to 1967, the numerical blinds were numbered 1 to 9, and the alphabetical blinds carried A, B, C, D, E, F, S, W and X. Earlier vehicles had their blinds altered to comply with the new style. The five Ford A0609 midibuses featured a similar but smaller arrangement.

The side displays fell into disuse by the mid 1970’s, due to the need for the driver to leave the driving position to alter them. The Metrobuses delivered in 1975 did not have any side displays fitted at all, and earlier buses had their blinds removed and painted over. The Leyland Atlanteans delivered in 1982, showed a change, with the route number to the right of the destination display instead of the left as previously. The later arrangement was continued on the Dennis Dominators which followed.

Kingstonian coaches 19 – 34 had destination blinds under the front windscreens, but subsequent coaches were fitted with ’Bristol domes’ which carried three track number blinds and destination blind to the right. Hull’s only Leyland National was also of this arrangement.

Due to the fact this work only goes up to 1986, there were no electronic displays which now are commonplace, but there were two variations to the blinds which were evident in the period covered by this work. Firstly the number and letter displays were being replaced by a more circular style of lettering than previously used, secondly blind were becoming common with lettering in yellow on black, rather than the white on black traditionally used. This improved visibility and legibility of the blinds.

 

Keith Easton
01/2012

 

 

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