GLORY DAYS: Wilts & Dorset

The latest addition to our long-running and successful ‘Glory Days’ series examines the history of Wilts & Dorset Motor Services Ltd. The company was set up as long ago as 1915. Some of the people active in its formation had earlier been involved in the establishment of the Southdown company further along the south coast. It came under the control of a precursor of the Tilling Group and the Southern Railway in 1931. In terms of the buses it operated, as elsewhere within the Tilling empire, the combination of Bristol chassis and ECW bodywork was common. By the late 1940s however, Wilts & Dorset had a more varied fleet than most, with examples of Leyland, Daimler and AEC vehicles in its ranks. As with other Tilling Group companies, Wilts & Dorset became part of National Bus Company in the late 1960s. Unusually, it retained its separate identity post deregulation and privatisation and has only recently sold out to one of the larger groups. The fact that the name, Wilts & Dorset, remained in use for so long will increase the interest in this title.
Based in Salisbury, the company served primarily the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire. It operated regular services throughout the region, including routes from Salisbury to Marlborough, Devizes, Trowbridge, Weymouth and Andover. It also strayed into parts of Hampshire and Berkshire with its routes linking Andover with Newbury and Basingstoke. 

Title: GLORY DAYS: Wilts & Dorset
Author: John Hypher 
Format: HB 96 pages
Publisher: Ian Allan Ltd
Pub date: Feb 2007
ISBN 10: 0711031592
ISBN 13: 9780711031593

List Price: £16.99