PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY ROAD MOTORS Down in deepest Cornwall, the Great Western Railway had started a motor omnibus service from Helston to the Lizard. Keen to make even bigger money from this innovation in transport, they followed it up by opening a route from Brixton Road Station, on the railway from Millbay to Yealmpton, to Modbury. That was on May 2nd 1904. However, that presumably lost them income from the railway so on June 1st they cut the service back to just Yealmpton Station to Modbury. But there must have been some call for a road service between Yealmpton and Plymouth because in September 1904 the GWR introduced a road car from Modbury through Yealmpton to Millbay Station. On Monday September 12th that year they also started a service from Millbay to Roborough, in direct competition with one of Mr Baskerville's horse buses. On Wednesdays and Saturdays the route was extended to the Rock at Yelverton. The service between Roborough and Yelverton was the first to be cut back, the last day of operation being Wednesday September 27th 1905. This was followed by the closure of the Modbury service on Sunday June 30th 1907. This left only the Millbay to Roborough route. After putting Mr Baskerville out of business sometime around 1912, the GWR pulled out of the service on Sunday August 6th 1916. On March 25th 1921, after a break of nearly five years, the Great Western Railway started a bus service from Millbay Station to Kingsbridge and Dartmouth. It survived until December 31st 1928. In 1925 the timings over the road to Modbury were co-ordinated with those of the services run by the Devon Motor Transport Company. From July 14th until September 21st 1924 it operated a service from Plymouth to Bigbury-on-Sea. They ran it again the following year, from July 13th, extending it to operate right through the winter as well and was still isted in January 1929. During 1928 they also ran a service from Plymouth to Noss Mayo. It started on January 2nd 1928 and ceased like the others on December 31st 1928 when, as a result of the Great Western Railway (Road Transport) Act 1928, the motor bus services of the Great Western Railway were transferred to the Western National Omnibus Company Ltd.
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