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Saddleworth is a group of villages nestling in the foothills of the Pennines between Oldham and Huddersfield. Although to the West of the Pennines the area was traditionally part of Yorkshire and is still very loyal to the White Rose County. It is a beautiful, if in some places rugged, area characterised by millstone grit weaver's cottages and dry stone walls.
Saddleworth Urban District Council never aspired to run their own buses and the 'local' operator was North Western Road Car Company from their garage in Oldham. However, a feature of Saddleworth's bus services was joint operation, as in Greater Manchester as a whole, and the buses of many operators could be seen. The formation of SELNEC in 1969 led to much standardisation and a monopoly of local bus services, but that changed with deregulation in 1986 and there have been a host of operators since. A look at the history of the 355 service will show just how many different operators could work one route. |
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First of all, it should be noted that this site is still under development, there is a lot more yet to be added, including collections on the Express services through the district. There will be frequent updates, so keep looking in!
The objective of this gallery is to be reference source on the buses of Saddleworth. I have a large collection of photographs of buses taken all around the district covering almost forty years and wanted to be able to show them to those who were interested. The nature of them means that the interest will not be confined to bus enthusiasts as they illustrate the tremendous changes there have been in this beautiful district in more recent times.
Consequently I have tried to develop it as a local history resource as well. In adding captions to the photographs I have, where possible, drawn attention to features in the background. A further part of the historical aspect is to record the history of each service.
I would not pretend to know everything about the buses or the locations and there will undoubtedly be errors. I therefore welcome contibutions to this resource which can be photographs, historical information, corrections or anything else. Any photograph, old or new, can add to the total picture and all that I use will be acknowledged.
This gallery is grouped by bus service and the photographs follow the route in order, so select the first image, click the"Slide Show" option, sit back and take a journey without doing anything more. The one difference is with the 10 and 180, where I have so many pictures it made sense to do separate galleries for each direction. Where buses are diverted off their normal route I have generally put such photos at the end of the collection as it can be difficult to place them in a correct sequence.
I should like to thank the other photographers who have contributed to the gallery. Mark Amis deserves a special mention due to not just his willingness to make such a superb range of pictures available but the active encouragement given, especially in the period when the concept was still under development. Thanks are also due to the following for permission to use their photos, not all of which have yet appeared in the gallery:
Paul Anderson
Martin Arthur
Michael Bennett
Jon Brierley
Peter Crichton
Alan Cross
Adrian Dodsley
Ray Dunning (via Peter Thompson)
Stan Fitton
Peter Fox
Dennis Gill
Peter Greaves
Mark Harrington
Chris Heaps
Peter Horrex
Ted Jones
Chris Lowe
Geoff Lumb
Roy Marshall
Tony Moyes
Eric Ogden
Noel Ogden
Photobus
Peter Relf
Remember When (Michael Rooum)
Colin Routh
Ian Roberts
John Turnbull
Paul Wreghitt |
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72 comments in this gallery
Click here to read them |
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 | 1st Jan 1900 | Maps and other information (3 images) |
 | 31st Aug 1914
to 25th Oct 1986 | H, 4, 6, 404, 406, 408, 422 Oldham to Denshaw (16 images) |
 | 1st Mar 1924
to 20th Jul 1974 | P, 153, 155, 433 & 434 - Uppermill Circular (16 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1925
to 22nd Nov 1936 | Manchester to Bradford - Ripponden and District (5 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1925
to 1st Jan 1969 | 156 Friezland to Newhey (8 images) |
 | 11th Mar 1925
to 19th Jul 1980 | 158, 436 & 438 - Mossley to Delph and Denshaw (14 images) |
 | 11th Mar 1925
to 27th Nov 1983 | 157, 356 & 437 - Mossley to Diggle (13 images) |
 | 11th Mar 1925 | 154, 154A, 353 & 354 - Ashton to Uppermill and Denshaw (85 images) |
 | 8th Apr 1925
to 30th Dec 1970 | 160 - Oldham to Huddersfield (5 images) |
 | 23rd Jan 1926 | E, 16, 343, 344 and 416 - Oldham to Mossley and Hyde (61 images) |
 | 8th Mar 1928
to 30th Oct 2004 | 13 and 183 - Manchester to Uppermill and Greenfield via Scouthead (66 images) |
 | 2nd May 1928
to 30th Oct 2004 | O, S, T, 27, 28, 29, 427 & 429 - Manchester, Hollinwood, Grotton and Diggle (177 images) |
 | 15th May 1929 | 14 and 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield (216 images) |
 | 15th May 1929 | 10 & 180 - Manchester to Greenfield (121 images) |
 | 15th May 1929 | 10 & 180 - Greenfield to Manchester (139 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1930 | Saddleworth Operators (6 images) |
 | 21st Mar 1930
to 16th Apr 2006 | 65 & 365 - Oldham to Huddersfield (124 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1950 | Greenfield Paper Mill workings (17 images) |
 | 1st Sep 1964 | School workings (40 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1970 | Other works services (20 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1970 | Buses visiting Saddleworth (79 images) |
 | 21st Jul 1974
to 25th Oct 1986 | 431 to 434 - Carrcote to Diggle via Oldham (24 images) |
 | 20th Jul 1980 | 353 Ashton to Denshaw (65 images) |
 | 20th Jul 1980
to 30th Oct 2004 | 355 Ashton to Oldham (74 images) |
 | 1st May 1985
to 30th Sep 1987 | 430 - Bury and Rochdale to Greenfield and Holmfirth (4 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1986
to 14th Apr 2006 | 556, 561 and 562 - Manchester and Oldham to Halifax (92 images) |
 | 22nd Jun 1986
to 19th Oct 1986 | 235 Manchester to Uppermill via Littlemoss (2 images) |
 | 27th Oct 1986
to 29th Oct 2004 | 352 - Ashton to Denshaw (21 images) |
 | 27th Oct 1986
to 8th May 1988 | 341 & 342 - Uppermill to Ashton Market and Asda (7 images) |
 | 4th Jun 1987 | 407 (and 82) - Manchester and Oldham to Denshaw (27 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1990 | 418 (and 397) - Lees and Springhead local service (3 images) |
 | 1st May 1994
to 25th Sep 1994 | 903 & 904 - Huddersfield to Oldham and Ashton (4 images) |
 | 1st Jan 1995 | Rail Replacement Services (5 images) |
 | 30th Apr 1995
to 29th Sep 1996 | 349 - Saddleworth Park and Ride services (8 images) |
 | 30th Sep 1996
to 30th Oct 2004 | 429 - Manchester to Greenfield and Huddersfield (32 images) |
 | 11th Jan 1999
to 12th Apr 2007 | 356 - Greenfield to Oldham (31 images) |
 | 13th Jan 1999
to 14th Apr 2007 | 351 - Friezland to Rochdale (29 images) |
 | 1st Sep 2000
to 31st Aug 2004 | Diverted Mossley services (23 images) |
 | 31st Oct 2004 | 350 - Ashton to Oldham (53 images) |
 | 1st Nov 2004 | 82 - Manchester to Waterhead and Uppermill (8 images) |
 | 1st Nov 2004 | X84 - Manchester to Carrcote (13 images) |
 | 30th Jan 2006 | 183 - Grotton to Limeside (13 images) |
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| Hits (today): | 4 |
| Hits (this week): | 669 |
| Hits (this month): | 669 |
| Hits (this year): | 37071 |
| Hits (all-time): | 269476 |
| Collections: | 42 |
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| I am always interested in seeing new photographs of buses in Saddleworth. If you have any you would be prepared to loan for copying, either for my own collection or for use on this site, please contact me using the "Leave a Message" facility. Any photographs actually taken in Saddleworth dating from before 1970 are of particular interest. |
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