CONTACT:
Stephen Wallace or
Charlotte Wright

email
info@offtheshelf.uk.net


www.bartonsplc.co.uk

It has been announced that a fleet of historic commercial vehicles, once the property of renowned Barton Transport, is to make an extraordinary return to the roads of the East Midlands in October.

Once as common in the street scene as the telephone boxes of Giles Gilbert Scott, much loved buses, coaches and commercial vehicles from every decade of the first 80 years of the motor bus era are to run once again in the striking red, maroon and cream livery.

To add to the authenticity of the occasion the vehicles will even be based in Barton’s original headquarters buildings, which were developed and occupied by the company from 1913, and which still exist at Chilwell, Nottingham.

This unique one-off event is being arranged by the founding company, now Bartons plc, to celebrate the centenary of the running of the first Barton bus in the area, which ran from Long Eaton Green to Nottingham Market Square commencing at 8.00 a.m. on the first of October 1908. The company intends that the event will raise funds for charitable purposes.

From such small beginnings, the company eventually grew to become for many years the largest independent bus operator in Europe. trent barton, who have owned the bus business since 1989, are fully supportive of the plans.

The event will coincide with Nottingham’s Goose Fair, as did the inaugural service one hundred years previously.


The celebrations are expected to include:

A centenary show to be held in the Company’s historic Chilwell garage buildings, on the evenings of 30th September and 1st October 2008.

A re-enactment of the first journey from Long Eaton to Nottingham in Fleet No. 1, Bartons’ veteran Daimler Char-a-banc on the 1st of October 2008.

Historic Barton vehicles to carry the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and his civic guests to the Goose Fair Thursday 2nd October.

A Heritage Open Day on Saturday the 4th of October at the former Chilwell headquarters to allow the return of past employees, vehicles, enthusiasts, passengers and local people to this historic site.