Turton's Buses 

Ackworth Bus company Turton's were based in Bell Lane prior to becoming Ford's Buses. First photo was taken in 1953 at the top of Hillside / Mill Lane. Notice the old wooden bus shelter that all the kids used to sit on the handrail, tipple over and hang upside down from them, hence they were all worn smooth. 

Second photo taken in 1959 in the old Pontefract bus station opposite the Kiosk where we all bought sweets for the journey home.

Photos by JS Cockshott with kind permission (Copyright)

 

Fords Buses

 

The bus used to run every hour, on the hour, from outside Moortop Working Men's Club (Now Electric Theatre), having turned around by reversing into the top of Dicky Sykes Lane and waiting outside the club (see photo above) until it was time to leave, exactly on the hour. Everyone knew the drivers and the ticket conductors by name. The route it followed was via Low Acworth  and Rigg Lane, out onto the A639, past East Hardwick and into Pontefract. During the 60s, it would drive up into town along the side of Woolworth's (Now B&M) and turn right into town (now precinct) to stop at a bus stop in front of the Butter Cross where most people disembarked before the bus carried on past the Town Hall and to the Bus Station. The bus then returned at half past every hour .

 

 

 

Those were the days of full buses, often some standing too.  Circa 1970 photo by kind permission, taken by P Sykes (Copyright)

Fords Buses Dish C1960s

This small plastic dish was found by Karen Ross in her garden in Hillside Rd. It advertises Ackworth’s local bus company FORD’S, and shows the location of the depot on Bell Lane. The house where it was found was previously occupied by a former driver and conductor who worked for the company.

Ackworth Station leather money bag

(available to view in Ackworth Heritage cabinet upstairs in Parish rooms, Bell Lane) 

1977 First job letter

With few job opportunities in Ackworth a position as an apprentice HGV mechanic with Ackworth Transport would have been a very sought after position. (See the item below for their first weeks wage.)

1977 Wage slip

The first wage slip of an apprentice mechanic at Ackworth Transport. The £17:49 take home pay doesn’t seem much but of course the cost of things then was very much less than they are today.

Here are some prices of some items in 1977

A pint of beer around 35p

A loaf of bread about 20p

20 cigarettes about 55p

 A can of coke 11p

A bag of crisps 13p

Daily Mirror newspaper 7p

Average house price £13,000

Onward Transport Diamond Jubilee Commemorative plate 1930-1990

(available to view in Ackworth Heritage cabinet upstairs in Parish rooms, Bell Lane) 

Ackworth Model Railway Station

Here are a few pictures of a model of Ackworth railway station, built by a local model maker. It shows how the station would have looked before it was closed to passengers in 1951 and then officially in 1959.

(More info and pictures can be found here: Ackworth Station and Main Line / Railways and station / Ackworth History and Heritage | Ackworth Community Hub )