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The Sheffield Connection


madannie77

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In the autumn of 1977 National Express introduced a coach interchange in Sheffield. Based on the long established Cheltenham Interchange, the idea was for express coaches from various parts of the country to converge on Sheffield at the same time (between 1400 and 1415) and all depart at the same time (1430), enabling easy connections to be made for passengers.

The Interchange was based at National Express' Charlotte Road garage which had few facilities for passengers but was at least under cover, unlike the Central Bus Station.

Initially services ran to Sheffield from Blackpool, Keswick, Consett, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Ashington, Felling, Hull, Lowestoft, London (via two routes), Reading, Oxford and Wolverhampton, with many other towns being served en route. Although the route pattern and destinations served varied as the route and road networks developed the pattern remained much the same.

A leaflet for the Summer 1978 services using the Interchange:

Front Cover

Diagrammatic Map of the services: apologies for the join: I had to scan this in two parts and join it together.

List of destinations, times and fares: again apologies for the join, and for the size of the scan. Any smaller and it would become very difficult to read

For a young (ish) bus and coach enthusiast like me it was great to go and watch the coaches arriving and departing, especially as South Yorkshire PTE's East Bank Road garage was the other side of the road and at that time of day lots of buses were emerging for afternoon school duties and the start of the afternoon peak.

What I haven't yet found out is when the Sheffield Interchange ended. I know it was still around in 1983 because I used it every few weeks, but after this I used to catch later journeys from the Bus Station or even, when feeling a bit wealthier, the train.

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For a young (ish) bus and coach enthusiast like me it was great to go and watch the coaches arriving and departing, especially as South Yorkshire PTE's East Bank Road garage was the other side of the road and at that time of day lots of buses were emerging for afternoon school duties and the start of the afternoon peak.

Around that time a very unusual foreign, though British registered L H D coach would occasionally be seen on hire to National Express Sheffield. It was yellow and grey and was a owner/driver vehicle, when not in use it would be parked up near the bottom of Jenkin Road. It was quite amusing seeing the look on intending passengers faces trying to find the entrance for them to board. Did you or anyone ever see this coach ? W/E.

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Guest bus man

Not got time to go through the records, however, during the late 1970s there was a art project in sheffield based in the wincobank area which used a left hand drive coach the project was I think called aim.

The Coach was a van hool and was painted yellow with a black stripe. I dont think it was used on national express work as to my knowledge it didnt have a class 6 and wouldnt get a class 6 as it would not comply with uk construction and use regs.

I will try my sourses to see if we can get more details

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