W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 CONTENTS W. Gash & Sons Ltd. - Fleet History 1921-1989………………………………………… Page 3 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. - Bus Fleet List 1921-1989.…….……….……….…………….. Page 9 Cover Illustration: DO7 (LNN353) a 1950 Daimler CVD6 with Duple 53-seat bodywork - demoted to School Services towards the end of its life. (John Kaye). First Published 2016 by The Local Transport History Library. With thanks to John Kaye and Roy Marshall for illustrations. © The Local Transport History Library 2016. (www.lthlibrary.org.uk) For personal use only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise for commercial gain without the express written permission of the publisher. In all cases this notice must remain intact. All rights reserved. PDF-080-1 2 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 William Gash purchased his first vehicle (AL1174 - a secondhand Humber lorry) in 1921, initially to transport the products of his milling business in Elston to the market in Newark. As was the case in the early part of the century the local carrier transported other goods as well, including passengers to the market. Wednesdays was the market day for Newark and the Gash family converted their new acquisition by placing wooden benches under a canvas cover to accomodate around 10 passengers. Extra fittings were made by the village joiner, George Wilkinson, and the fare for the journey was 1 shilling and 6 pence (7½p). In 1922 the lorry was replaced by a model T Ford with a demountable body, again manufactured by George Wilkinson, with seats for 14. With the vehicle lying idle at weekends William Gash considered running a service to Nottingham on Saturday only, which was duly approved in May 1922 and so the 'Elston Bus Service' was born. Following the General Strike of 1926, many small operators went out of business leaving holes in the route network. The Gash family decided to exploit this by purchasing their first purpose-built vehicle a 1926 Reo 'Sprinter' and it was soon put to work on the Nottingham route. On 1st October 1928 a daily run between Elston and Newark commenced necessitating the purchase of an additional vehicle in the form of Chevrolet VO133. By 1929 the 'Elston Bus Service' was operating a daily service from Elston to Newark; a Wednesdays and Saturdays only service from Newark to Hawksworth and a Saturday 3 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 service from Newark to Nottingham. By 1931 the two part-week services were operated on a daily basis. This put an excessive demand on the fleet - especially with the rise of private hire work. Throughout the 1930's small capacity vehicles were added to the fleet as loadings on the services through the local villages meant that they were quite adequate most of the time and also doubled up nicely for private hire work. On 21st March 1932 the business of 'New Fairway Services' of Scarrington was acquired, bringing with it two vehicles and a service between Nottingham and Newark passing through Radcliffe on Trent, Bingham, Scarrington, Hawksworth, Orston and Staunton in the Vale. Up until this time vehicles were un-numbered but late in the 1930's - the exact date is uncertain - a numbering system was introduced. An additional service between Newark and Nottingham via Flintham and Bingham was running by 1938 and, by the time of the Second World War in 1939, W. Gash & Sons were operating 9 vehicles. Around this time the Gash family decided to concentrate solely on the passenger carrying business and the milling business at Elston ceased. With the onset of the Second World War in 1939 and fuel rationing, private car owners were forced to lay up 4 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 their vehicles for the duration and more people looked to the bus as a means of transport. This caused problems for the company. They were expected to transport workers but did not have sufficient vehicles to cope with the demand. As a result two ageing vehicles were drafted in - a 1930 Gilford and a 1930 GMC, both of which required considerable work before they could be placed into service. The Newark area with its flat landscape was utilised by the RAF for aerodromes during the war years and several were built in the area. The company was required to transport workers to these sites and it became necessary to hire vehicles from other operators to cope with the increased loadings. Several Bedford OWB's were allocated to Gash by the Ministry of War Transport - the company were unable to use double- deck vehicles at this time because of two low railway bridges at Saxondale crossroads. The first to arrive was GAL183 in 1943 followed by GAL966 and GAL967 the following year and were numbered B6, B8 and B7 respectively. All had 32-seat wartime utility bodywork, B6 was bodied by Roe, whilst B7 and B8 were Duple-bodied. After the cessation of hostilities the company began a period of recovery and at the end of 1945 the business of Goodwin of Flintham was acquired bringing with it a single vehicle - Bedford WTB HRE883, which became Gash's No. B9, and a route from Flintham to Newark. With increased loadings out of RAF Syerston it became obvious that double-deckers would be an advantage. Although the low bridges at Saxondale would not allow normal 5 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 height double-deckers to pass under them 'lowbridge' vehicles with a sunken side gangway could squeeze under - so in 1947 two elderly Leyland TD1's were acquired from Wigan Corporation. In 1948 the roadway under the bridges was lowered enabling normal height 'highbridge' vehicles with centre gangway to pass under them and this eliminated the problem. Four new Daimler CVD6 double-deckers had already been ordered and they began to be delivered in 1948. These had 'lowbridge' bodywork, which by the time of their delivery was no longer necessary and another two Daimler CVD6 double-deckers delivered in 1949 had 'highbridge' bodywork. Three subsequent CVD6's that had been intended for other operators but were acquired new by Gash also had 'lowbridge' bodywork, but all future double-deckers were of the 'highbridge' layout. By 1953 the fleet numbered 26 vehicles and the garage at Elston was unable to cope so new premises were necessary. A new garage and offices were built at Bowbridge Road, Newark and Gash & Sons moved there in May 1953. The company became a limited company in the same year. In 1956 the maximum length of double-deckers was increased to 30ft, although the company decided to modify existing stock rather than invest in new and longer vehicles. As a result, in 1957, two of the open platform Daimlers underwent a rear-end modification, which provided an enclosed platform with doors. In 1958 three of the ageing Daimler were completely re-bodied by Massey with enclosed platform and 6 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 doors, leaving just DD1 (KAL578) in original form. It was to be another four years (in 1962) before this vehicle was re-bodied in the same manner, although it saw little service in the intervening years due to a decline in business. In order to increase trade the company embarked on a series of coaching trips to the continent commencing in the 1957-58 season, using the newer Bedford and Daimler coaches purchased five years earlier. Over the next few years Bedford coaches became the mainstay of the private hire fleet until, in 1964, a Plaxton-bodied Leyland Leopard coach (BNN104C), which had been exhibited at the Commercial Motor Show, was acquired, although it did not enter service until the following year. In 1966 the length limit for single-deckers was increased to 12 metres, providing for higher capacity service vehicles. Gash & Sons took delivery of two Leyland Leopard chassis in 1969 with 51-seat Willowbrook bodywork which were soon put to work on the direct service to Newark operated by a single driver/conductor. This proved to be the way forward for the company and double-deck vehicles were not considered until the ageing Daimlers were finally retired in 1979, and more single-deck Leyland Leopard service buses arrived during the 1970's as well as a number of smaller capacity vehicles. The first rear-engined double-decker made its appearance in 1979 - DD11 (ETO911V) was a Leyland Atlantean AN68 with 77-seat bodywork by Roe. Several more were added to the fleet in the run up to de-regulation in 1986 including a number of 7 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 secondhand vehicles. Following de-regulation Gash & Sons were awarded 17 tenders for the provision of services that were not commercially viable but that Nottingham County Council felt were socially necessary and in addition the company was also awarded 8 school contracts. This required even more vehicles and several ageing secondhand buses were drafted into the Gash fleet to cope with the demand. All seemed to be going well until suddenly in 1989 the Gash family decided that the company should be sold. Gash & Sons was acquired by the Yorkshire Traction Group and was absorbed by the Lincolnshire Road Car Company in May 1989, bringing to an end nearly 70 years of service by W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 8 W. Gash & Sons Ltd. 1921-1989 Bus Fleet List 1921-1989 This listing is in the format - Fleet No; Reg. No; Chassis; Chassis No; Body; Seating. 1921 - ; AL1174; Humber; C5963; Wilkinson; B10? AL1174 new 1909 to Ford & Sons, Newark.