Book review: Complete Local Road & Rail Timetables

Tuesday 10th January 2023

For the purposes of this blog please imagine you’ve woken up and it’s July 1960. You’re just catching a train on the Hertford North line from Grange Park station and in the booking office propped up against the ticket office window are a pile of little orange books.

You know immediately what they are; published twice or three times a year with a different coloured cover for each edition to denote a new publication, they’re a familiar sight, so you hand over a shilling (about £2 in today’s money) for your up to date copy.

As a north London based bus and train user it’s a ‘must buy’ publication as far as you’re concerned. It covers an area from Hertford and Ware south to Enfield and Cheshunt and the surrounding district and as its title implies contains timetables for all bus and rail services operating in the area no matter what the operator.

This edition, for example, has timetables for London Transport, United Counties, Smiths (Buntingford) Ltd, Premier Travel, Eastern Counties, Eastern National and many more as well as the Piccadilly Line and British Railways.

It has an index of routes, an index of places served, details of parcel agents and rates for carrying parcels by bus, early closing and market days for towns within the area covered as well as an overall map showing the scope of the timetables covered and street maps showing bus routes in all the major towns.

Being 1960 timetables are shown in am and pm times with the latter having the hours in bold type.

Full timetables are given for most routes including London Transport routes with only a few timetables showing just frequencies during the main part of the day with full times before and after.

The more frequent trolleybus routes have first and last buses shown rather than complete timetables …

…. and the same for the Piccadilly Line with first and last trains and a frequency guide.

British Rail trains are shown across six tables for the lines from Kings Cross, Moorgate and Broad Street to Hertford North, and Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Hertford East or Cambridge, as well as the now closed lines between Buntingford, St Margarets, Hatfield, Luton and Dunstable, and also trains between Hatfield and Cambridge or Peterborough via Hitchin.

All this was packed into a 160 page booklet measuring 14cm by 9cm and just 0.75cm thick making it easy to carry in a jacket pocket or a handbag.

Obviously in a pre-Internet age such a publication was essential, but why (oh why) can’t we have such a useful booklet back now, despite the Internet? I’d happily pay for one at much less than the cost of a cappuccino and you never know it might even encourage more people to travel by bus and train.

The series of 20 Complete Local Road & Rail Timetables covered the entire ring around outer London where Central buses met Country Buses and provincial operators and independents could also be found as well as the outer reaches of the Underground. At one time I had a vast collection of such timetables but sold them all on except for a prized few about a decade ago.

Aside from the continuing debate about the need for printed bus timetables in contemporary times, my nostalgic interest in these wonderful booklets has been rekindled by buying the illustrated copy in this blog at last summer’s 1938 Stock running weekend at Amersham where the Friends of London Transport Museum tempted me with their stall of memorabilia for sale but also by a document my friend Peter recently kindly sent me which is a “Report of Working Party on Bus Information” at the London Transport Executive in August 1973.

Here’s an extract from the Working Party’s report about Local Road & Rail Timetables which by then had ceased publication, and although written almost fifty years ago, the sentiments are no less relevant today.

“TIMETABLES AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC; Current Situation

“There is at present no public source of timetable information on London Transport bus services apart from the panel timetables posted at bus stops; although the public are able to obtain copies (where issued) free on request from the Public Relations Office this facility is not advertised or well known.

“Twenty local road and rail timetables were published by London Transport until 1970 and then until early 1972 by London Country Bus Services Ltd. These timetables covered the whole of the area now served by London Country, London Transport bus and Underground, British Rail, and all other bus and coach operators’ services were included in these timetables where appropriate. The extent of coverage of London Transport Central buses was comprehensive in the outer parts of London and detailed local town maps were included. Sales of these guides in the areas covered by London Transport buses were almost 100,000 copies in 1970. London Country discontinued production of these timetables because of their new annual loss (in spite of contributions by B.R. and L.T. based on the proportion of information in the books relating to their services) and because the five area booklets produced by London Country, primarily for their staff, contained full details of all their services. The final selling price of the local timetables was 7.5p per booklet.

“No comparable publication to these local road and rail timetables has been available covering the remainder of London Transport bus routes since the sale of the Central Bus Timetable to the public was discontinued in 1967. The Central Bus Timetable contained details of first and last buses and service frequencies of all routes and more detailed timetables of certain infrequent services. It was discontinued partly because of its high price (5/- per copy in 1967 which discouraged sales) , and because the Reshaping Programme led to frequent service changes which quickly outdated the publication, and it was difficult to issue supplements to the public (they were issued to the staff) and completely new editions were infrequent.

“Discussions and proposals relating to timetables

“The decision by London Country to abandon the local road/rail timetable booklets has been widely regretted for these timetables contained information covering all public transport available in the areas concerned, and indeed, the series was considered to be the best example of co-ordination between road and rail; the booklets were of great use for reference both at home and whilst travelling. It was recognised by London Transport that the demise of these books left a gap in Red Bus information in handy reference form for those outlying areas where buses are comparatively infrequent and consequently timetable information is of particular importance. There has, not surprisingly, been considerable pressure on London Transport from the L.T.P.C., G.L.C. and other bodies to reintroduce these timetables. There has also been pressure from the T.U.C.C. for London on L.C.B.S. for their reintroduction; the local authorities’ associations have supported the T.U.C.C. efforts to secure their reintroduction in principle, but considered that the cost should be met by the operators. The Department of the Environment has suggested that under Section 203 of the 1972 Local Government Act, County Councils should consider the subsidisation of comprehensive travel timetables. Bucks, Herts and Kent County Councils have consequently informed the T.U.C.C. that they are examining their participation in publishing new local road/rail timetables on a County basis, but it was unlikely that any firm undertaking would be given until the new County Councils took office in April 1974. In addition, Surrey and Berks are also considering the compilation and sale of County timetables. However, the publication of a series of such ‘County’ timetables would merely be of marginal benefit to London Transport since our service at best cover only the fringes of the counties concerned. Nor is it considered appropriate to reinstate the previous twenty booklets covering the same areas as the previous series since many would not contain London Transport services and most of the others would cover only the fringe of the outer suburbs of London.

The Working Party agreed there was a “pressing need for local timetable books to be reintroduced” and they recommended changing the areas covered so they were brought closer into central London but “there would be no local timetable for the very centre of London” but instead a “Central Area Information Map with a list of routes and frequencies”. A selling price of 10p was proposed with “free copies possibly given to purchasers of Red Bus Monthly Passes or prepaid tickets”. The Working Party noted the “L.T.P.C. considered the introduction of local timetables is of the highest priority, and suggested that the G.L.C. should be responsible for co-ordinating the financing of these timetables.”

Meanwhile over the border in neighbouring counties both Hertfordshire and Surrey have consistently produced helpful extensive information both online and in hard copy format about public transport networks with both producing area bus timetable books and a good selection of maps. Essex, Kent and West Sussex county councils as well as Buckinghamshire, Slough and Maidenhead and Windsor unitary councils have not been so forthcoming leaving a dearth of information in these cross border areas.

Residents of outer London Boroughs are also short changed. They may enjoy cheaper fares but they don’t get served well with information. I wonder if TfL, the London Assembly and London Travelwatch still think there’s a “pressing need for local timetable books” around the fringes of London as their forbears did 50 years ago in 1973?

Time for another Working Party?

Roger French

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