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The Midland General Story The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramways Company was formed in 1903 by Act of Parliament. It was not until 1913 that the tramway from Ripley to Nottingham, via Langley Mill, Eastwood and Kimberley, was finally opened, the capital being funded by Balfour, Beatty & Co., of Ilkeston. The laying of the tramlines was a major project - many of the bridges which can been seen along the route date from this time (for example, the bridge over the canal at Langley Mill, which had previously been a wooden construction), and many old buildings were demolished for road-widening (e.g. the Crown and White Hart pubs at Heanor). Initially, the trams only ran as far as Cinderhill/Basford, where people had to switch to trams of the Nottingham Corporation, but later the city allowed Notts and Derbys trams to pass over its rails. The long route from Ripley was a single track, with 316 passing places along the route to allow trams to pass in the opposite direction. As other forms of transport developed, this limitation to the trams caused their demise. In 1916, the company also took over the Ilkeston Corporation Tramways, but the routes of the two companies never joined.
During the 1920's, the improved performance of motor transport gave significant competition to the trams from the many early omnibus companies. Not to be left out, in 1920 Balfour Beatty established the Midland General Omnibus Company (it was initially called the General, but changed its name after buying the Midland Bus Company from Kimberley). The M.G.O. shared the Notts & Derbys base at Langley Mill, still used today as a bus depot. The three Balfour Beatty companies, the Midland General Omnibus Company, the Notts and Derbys Tramways Company and the older Mansfield District Traction Company, formed a single group of companies called the Midland General Group. The Midland General snapped up many of the smaller companies in the area in the 20's and 30's, taking over Brewin and Hudson of Heanor, Williamson & Son of Heanor, J.T.Boam of Ilkeston, and the Heanor & District Omnibus Company.
In 1948, ownership of the Midland General Group had been passed to the the British Transport Commission. In 1962 the Transport Holding Company took over, and, on 1 January 1969, the Midland General became part of the National Bus Company. The other large local bus company, Trent, also became part of the National Bus Company, and the decision was made to combine the two companies, using the Trent colours. The companies merged in 1972, and by 1978 the last MGO blue bus had been repainted.
This Midland General bus in full company colours came a cropper at the old Eastwood and Langley Mill Station, near to the Great Northern. If anyone can remember the accident happening (late 1960's?), we would like to hear from them! The next page gives you a full list of the changes to the trolleybus and bus routes during the life of the MGO. Bottom two images are reproduced
by kind permission of
www.picturethepast.org.uk, with acknowledgment to Derbyshire Library
Service. Last modified on 13 May 2008 23:16 |
