Friday, 5 January 2024

A Busman's Day In 1947

Some 12 years ago now, regular contributor Syd Eade drew my attention to a film appearing on the University of East Anglia's Film Archive website showing Eastern Counties Omnibus Company activities during 1947. On looking at the posts viewed over last seven days I thought I would take another look at it - only to find the link was broken! However, I have now updated the link (https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=1968) so that you can now click on the photo below to view the film.



Entitled 'A Busman's Day', it begins by showing the Social Club Committee sitting around a table having a discussion and includes some close up shots of some of its members.

Passengers catch a bus at a suburban stop (by a public house) and there are shots taken through the window as they drive towards the bus station at Surrey Street. We see the bus arrive here with other buses in view. One bus is started using a starter handle. Another is a self-starter. Mechanics work in the garage and a selection of destination boards are shown.

The next sequence shows the buses and busmen at Thorpe Station, which was a major terminal at the time. There are scenes from Orford Place, showing the busmen outside their social club and buses passing through.

The film ends by showing the large crowds of people waiting to catch a bus at the Surrey Street Bus Station on August Bank Holiday Monday.

A fascinating film to say the least

Roy

3 comments:

  1. Link please. Would love to watch this.

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  2. In addition to clicking on the photo I have also added the link in the test

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  3. The chap turning the starting handle is Harry London.
    It was my pleasure to work with Harry in 1974-5 just as he was retiring and I was starting out working for eastern counties.
    I always remember him telling me this tale that he was being filmed and the bus was in gear,so it jumped when he turned!

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