Bluebell Buses of March, Cambs

Does anyone have any general information regarding the Bluebell Bus Co,of Cambridgeshire? In the 1950's and early 1960's our family travelled from March to Wisbech Horsefair on these buses, and I cannot find anything about them anywhere. I assume they were taken over at some point. Are there any pictures out there of their lovely old d/deckers? Another firm I am curious about was Grey's Coaches of Ely who were used for our school trips (1950's).

Norman Long

07/02/12 - 15:45

In response to the above query, Bluebell was once a separate firm, but it was taken over by Canhams of Whittlesey, another independent, probably in the 1960s. Canhams, whose own livery in latter days was orange and cream, continued to paint several vehicles in the blue livery of Bluebell. Sadly, Canhams itself disappeared rather suddenly from the scene in October 1983.

I took these two pictures in 1973. The ex Eastern National lowbridge Bristol KSW reg. no. VNO 866 (I do not know its powerplant - no doubt one of our experts can supply this information) and the MW, reg. no. unreadable (I don't think it is an LS, though I am open to correction) were taken at March Fountain. The other photo was taken on a market day in Wisbech, and shows LD6B with ECW H33/27RD which was delivered to West Yorkshire as DX31 in March 1956, parked among an assortment of Bedfords. More pictures of Canhams may be found on the following website:- http://www.flickr.com/

Roger Cox

08/02/12 - 11:37

We're all familiar with Tilling's corporate red or green livery options, and the KSW's always looked very smart in either. However, Am I alone in finding the cream (off-white?) and mid-blue livery on Roger's photo of the Bluebell KSW absolutely beautiful? Totally impractical, of course, but very distinctive. Perhaps it's down to colour film reproduction, but the lighter blue of the Lodekka doesn't quite work as well, but is still very attractive.

Paul Haywood

08/02/12 - 11:38

The index to March Museum photo albums makes reference to both Blue Bell and Canhams (and loads more. It would seem they have quite a lot of photographs of their buses in the Museum collection. http://www.marchmuseum.co.uk/

David Slater

11/02/12 - 11:39

Although I don't have any info about the early days, I can say that by 1953 C.J.Smith & Sons Limited trading as Blue Bell were at Station Road, March and were running a daily service to Wisbech, a March town service and assorted Saturday services to places I've never heard of, let alone been to. By the mid 1960s E.C. & L.G. Smith were in charge. In late 1968 the fleet comprised 7 Bedfords (2 bought new), 2 ex Southdown Guy Arab IV, one Ford 676E and two ex Eastern Counties coach bodied Bristol SC4LK. One of the SCs and a Bedford passed with the services T.Canham & Sons (Services) Limited in May 1971. Canham passed the services on to J.W.Embling & Sons of Guyhirn on June 22nd 1977. A liquidator was appointed to C.J.Smith & Sons Ltd on June 23 1972.
The March - Wisbech service is currently licensed to Emblings Coaches Limited of Guyhirn.

In response to Normans other query, Greys of Ely are still going strong, www.greysofely.co.uk but are now based at Witchford. Their website has a potted history together with photos of past and present members of the fleet including DVE745D which had the last Thurgood body built. Something I've not come across before is that they have live vehicle tracking on their website so you can check out the whereabouts of your favourite coach if you want to take a photo.

Nigel Turner

28/03/12 - 11:21

I found Roger's photo of the ex West Yorkshire Lodekka DX 31 very nostalgic - and one of those fascinating "nearlies." When I was a conductor at the West Yorkshire Ilkley Depot in 1960/1 we had seven Lodekkas including DX 29/30, OWX 173/4.

Chris Youhill

17/12/12 - 13:09

Thank you to all who replied to my request for information. I am delighted with the responses...lots of facts and some very good photos of the Bluebell Buses.

Norman Long

31/01/18 - 06:15

I recently discovered thet Grey's of ELY operate their coaches from Common Road, Witchford which is where I lived when I was 4 years old. Our home was a nissan hut, which was all they could find after the war, and we eventually got a proper house when I was 7 in 1952 at Ely.

Norman Long

07/03/19 - 07:08

Having only just viewed the 2012 various comments and pictures of the Bluebell Bus company of March, Cambridgeshire, memories of my youth came flooding back.
As a young 'Elm Boy' in the 1950s, I also Took a very keen interest in the Bluebell fleet and may well have unknowingly travelled on the same bus to Wisbech as Norman Long's family.
Two registrations I can still recall are: BJE 151 a four cylinder Albion and AJE 64 a six cylinder AEC, both half cab single deckers. Other registrations which I once knew off by heart, along with names of drivers and conductors .... Let's just say time and age takes its toll on ones memory over the years.
However, I clearly remember travelling from Elm to Wisbech with my mother for the weekly shop. The route took us along Elm Low Road (now divided by the Wisbech bypass) over the old tram and railway crossings and via West Street to St. Peter's church, where we'd fork right at St. Peter's school (long gone) then alongside the old canal (now Churchill Road) - past the Hope Inn and finally into the Horsefair, the terminus of the Bluebell service. (Bluebell only operated south of the river nene) Many a time we'd trudge through the town lugging our heavy shopping, down to the bus stop outside the old Eastern Counties bus garage at the end of West Street, in order to save a penny ( 1d ) on the return bus fare home -- happy days!
Re the photo taken by Roger Cox in 1973 of buses standing on the Old Market, Wisbech, I can confirm the following: The Lodekka belonged to Colemans of Leverington, who operated the Tydd St. Giles/Newton/Wisbech service. The Bedford parked behind the Lodekka belonged to Tibbs Coaches ( now W&M Travel of Parson Drove ) and was always driven by owner Reg Tibbs on the Murrow service. The Bedford to the left of the LD was an ex Carnell of Sutton Bridge belonging to S. R. Catchpole, owner/driver of Ivy Coaches, Wisbech. This was the actual bus in which I passed my PSV test back in 1973. Finally, the Bedford far left in the photo, was one of Rose's Fleet from Sutton St James, Lincs.
I hope my ramblings will be of use to somebody and may even help fit another piece of the jigsaw into place.

Piers Minall (FF 23918 retired)

02/04/20 - 08:16

I have only just seen the posting from Piers Minall after re- visiting the Blue Bell Bus Co page and it was good to read of his memories from the Wisbech area, where I was born, in the Lynn Rd Nursing home. Our family would travel from Ely (ECOC bus SER 353) to March, then change to Blue Bell buses to get to the Horsefair at Wisbech. It was often raining as I remember...Then a long walk to Savory Rd. I remember the canal before it was filled in...full of rubbish , and sets of wood from abroad stacked along the river Nene.
I hope Piers eventually sees my reply as he has brought back a few memories. I worked for ECOC at Cambridge for a few years (FF24012) then London Transport, followed by East Kent Buses and finally National Express...(Dover to Victoria)

Norman Long

07/04/20 - 05:33

I, too, have only just seen Piers Minall's very informative post which puts my own mind to rest over the true ownership of the blue ex West Yorkshire LD6B in Wisbech. Canhams painted its Blue Bell fleet in a variety of styles, but none accorded exactly with the livery of the Lodekka, so I wasn't entirely sure. Thanks Piers for your correction. Sadly the public transport provision these days in the rural Wisbech/March locality is a very poor reflection of those colourful times past.

Roger Cox

09/04/20 - 07:37

Wow, two replies within a few days of each other regarding my rambling post of March 2019. More importantly it brought back memories for Norman Long, and solved a problem for Roger Cox. I'm glad to have been of service gentleman!
The older one becomes, the more important memories are, and we should all keep those precious times alive, especially for the younger generation.
Somewhere amongst my treasure trove I have photos of local old busses, including another Lodekka owned by Colemans in the mid 70s. I'll make an effort to dig them out and attach a copy to this page in the not too distant future.

Piers Minall

23/01/21 - 06:00

The buses that I was most interested in were the ones used by Bluebell during the 1950's, as I feel sure the livery was not light blue and cream, but possibly darker colours. Maybe there are some photos in the local museum archives, but for me, it is too far to travel from Sussex. I was 10yrs old in 1955, and remember the old canal and the cinema at Wisbech, where Gran took us to see "Houdini" starring Tony Curtis. Also I recall the bus tickets were cards which were punched out by the conductor. A steam train travelled along the railway which skirted the park which had a bandstand.

Norman Long

24/01/21 - 06:14

With regard to the Bristol LS, the rear of which is seen in the top picture, it is almost certainly XNU 418, ex-Midland General which was sold to Eastern Counties in 1969, they ran it until 1971 after which it was sold, via a dealer, to Canhams of Whittlesey in 1972 and withdrawn by them in 1974.

Chris Barker

07/02/21 - 06:12

In answer to Norman Long's query, the livery of the iconic Bluebell Fleet was of a smart light and medium blue. Of 1943 vintage and with several brain cells still functioning, I don't recall cream being part of Bluebell's colour scheme. However, sometimes operators purchased second hand buses and still used them in their original livery, until they had chance to be repainted to match the rest of the fleet.
I also remember the last Bluebell of the day departed Wisbech Horsefair en route to March at 10pm, which gave enough time to vacate the Empire Theatre and climb aboard, after seeing Gene Autry shoot the remaining baddies in the nail biting Sunday night cowboy film. (We lived on the edge in those days!).
Regarding old bus photos in March/Wisbech museums, they're closed due to lockdown, but it.s one to follow up in the future.

Piers Minall

20/02/21 - 07:21

I have been in touch with March museum by email, and I hope that after lockdown I might be able to see some photos of the Blue Bell buses of the 1950's. They informed me that the firm had eleven buses, five drivers, one mechanic, and three conductors, but no doubt that varied from time to time as they probably did a bit of private hire work too.
I have found a photo of one of their buses on another site which I cannot reproduce of ex Oxford Motor Services OFC 390 (an AEC /DD) which was taken in the mid 60's.

Norman Long

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