Early Bus Services in Ulster

Reference code: HOYFM.ACL2025.77
Level of description: Fonds
Title: Early Bus Services in Ulster
Scope and content: This archive comprises typescripts with handwritten amendments of “Early Bus Services in Ulster” by M.L. Kennedy and D.B. McNeill, published by the Institute of Irish Studies in collaboration with the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, 1997. It includes chapters on early motor buses and charabancs, Belfast and County Down Railway, Belfast Omnibus Company, HMS Catherwood, Great Northern Railway (Ireland), Northern Counties Committee, Northern Ireland Road Transport Board, private hire, touring, and other bus services.
The collection also features acknowledgement letters to contributors, handwritten notes with suggested amendments and additions, marked proofs, and research material such as offprints and newspaper clippings.
Source material encompasses a ledger labelled “H.M.S. Catherwood, Ltd Fare List” with “J.S. Davis’s” inscribed in pen. H.M.S. Catherwood was an independent bus operator from 1925 to 1935. Founded by Harold Matthew Stuart Catherwood, it operated a Belfast to Dublin service with stops at Lisburn, Hillsborough, Dromore, Banbridge, Newry, Dundalk, and Drogheda. This includes timetables with prices for services in 1929.
Also included is the “Catherwood’s Tours 1932” brochure, featuring descriptive guides and itineraries for tours across Ireland, Scotland, and the Lake District.
Belfast Omnibus Company timetables from 1928-1929 are part of the collection. Additionally, the archive contains publications by P.S.V. Circle on fleet history: “The Small Bus and Coach Operators of Ireland” (1964), “Coras Iompair Eireann” (1965), “Northern Ireland Road Transport Board. Ulster Transport Authority. Ulsterbus” (1972), and “The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway” (1974).
It also includes the P.S.V. Circle series covering current fleets of bus and coach operators in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The Hobson’s Motor Service timetable from April 1935 is also part of the collection.