Cinderford Red & White Bus Station. (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, February 25, 2013, 00:12 (4292 days ago) @ peteressex

Hi Peter,
sorry for slow reply, been quizzing my mother re your question, yet sadly no sure facts to solve your query.
I suspect you're remembering a time pre 1970 ?, I only recall the Station from perhaps 1973 onwards after it had closed operationally. Mum recalls it a little before then. Thankfully my dad didn't start his short career as a Red & White driver until then, which was definitely after this Cinderford garage had closed and he worked out of Ross Garage, so he was NOT driving the buses to which you refer ;-)

Please take a look at the Old Maps site for a reminder of the Station layout and it's location within the town. Enter postcode GL14 2LY to bringup "Lidls", click that and it will produce a map centred on the station plot. Now select the 1960 1:2500 map from the R/H menu to display the labelled Bus Station centrescreen which can be enlarged.
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html

In reality the ground slopes downwards right->left across the map as you view it, so the Station plot is "below" the High Street and we lived below that in Parragate. Steam Mills hence Ross is down the High Street so off the top of the Map. At far left of the Station plot at bottom of the slope is the big wide garage I recall playing in; a glassroofed openfront shell with a row of deep inspection pits with access steps, the shed was probably wide enough for 8 or more buses to back into sidebyside. So you can see it's a plot with just enough room in the centre to turn buses around in. According to mum the narrow building at "top" of the plot, near the High Street entrance included a small cafe or staff canteen, a waiting room & presumably the counter you recall ?. As there was a waiting room I presume buses came out of the garage or centre yard, stopped there for passengers at the yard entrance, then immediately exited onto the High Street, turning left for Ross and probably? right for Lydney. Your bus from Ross would have come up the High Street from Steam Mills, I guess you'd have disembarked on the far L/H side of the High Street next to the YMCA before the bus turned right across the road into the Station, you'd then cross the road to the Station waiting room or another bus stop on the roadside.
Ever since the Station shut there has always been a bus stop on the High Street at this point, near Arthur Edwards' hardware shop next to the yard entrance, opposite the YMCA. So it seems reasonable buses stopped there (on the High St) even when the garage was operating - perhaps the plot was a little busy/cramped to have people strolling around where the buses were turning ??. Whether they stopped in both directions I'm not sure, I suspect that not all buses would bother to turn into the Station especially if they wern't Red & Whites, such as Edwards' etc etc.

Sorry so vague re your question, but maybe this helps a little..??

If you view the next 1:2500 scale Map dated 1974, the old station buildings are still there but not labelled, confirming it was shut by then. This map shows the new Station at the top of the High Street where it meets Dockham Road, alongside Roy Grindle's coach yard & the rugby club. Why they moved such a short distance I don't know, perhaps for more space and certainly easier access off the narrow High Street ?. In it's turn this New Station was closed in the late 1980s and is now the Co-op shop & carpark, albeit with a bus layby.... These dates appear to match various changes of Red & White ownership as per the attached histories.

Sadly I've been unable to unearth any photos of the old Bus Station, yet...

However, here's a nice photo of the NEW Station(with Grindles behind) apparently taken in 1973, with a bus from my dad's old firm Edwards' abt the time he'd left their management stresses for an easy life driving Red & Whites. Not sure about that destination board unless it was reversing into the station !
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9003948@N05/6780477150/

This similar photo of a Soudley Valley bus is after 1978 when Red & White became part of National Welsh, see the maintenance garage behind.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24467251@N02/6268793516/

This site has many Red & White bus photos plus a detailed history and forum.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/red__white_services/
ALSO SEE
https://www.redandwhitebus.uk/RedandWhite

Not forgetting this site's prior thread re Watts Of Lydney, founders of Red & White.
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=36995

FINALLY, this recommended site gives a detailed study of a recent total restoration of a Red & White double decker in Cinderford, talk about dedication.
http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Old-Bus-Photos/galleries/red_and_whit...

POSTSCRIPT:
In his excellent "The Changing Forest" published 1962, Dennis Potter opens by describing a journey home from Oxford New College (so abt 1957) by Red & White doubledecker out of Gloster. He describes what was clearly an unpleasant halfhour in a miserable wintry Cinderford waiting for another bus onwards to Coleford. To pass time he takes a stroll thro' the town centre. I'm unsure as to whether he got off the first bus at or away from the Station, but he writes
"Lower down, opposite the garage where I could get the second bus, I find a place for a hot coffee and to warm myself, The Telebar"... The star of this cafe was no longer the television, but a gleaming jukebox, he describes the antics of the local youths discussing Elvis Presley & Tommy Steele amongst others. He ends
"I left to catch my bus in the freezing & blustery main street outside the window"...

Maybe his writings mean something to you Peter ?. Even if they don't, I know you're a fan of old buses having seen your writings on other Dean websites, so hopefully this was of interest anyhow.

As a huge fan of 50s music & culture and Dennis Potter's works, I think it's great that the only thing he could find appealing about my admittedly lessthanattractive home town was a loud coffeebar & some friendly locals, I was definitely born too late !.
If you've not read this book then please do especially if you're from the Berry Hill area, 1996 paperback reprints are very cheaply available.
http://intranet.yorksj.ac.uk/potter/biog.htm