Sunday 12 May 2024 – Mid Norfolk Railway Bus and Coach Day, East Dereham

I had a trip on board Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol RELH LDV 467F which was new in March 1968 to the Southern National Omnibus Company with fleet number 2375.

The trip was to the former County School railway station about 6.5 miles north of East Dereham near North Elmham.

County School station opened in the 1880s to serve a school established about ten years earlier that provided education for the sons of farmers, tradesmen and such in the rural area.

It was a great ride offering the sights and sounds of travel on a 56 year old coach.

Note the features such as what were dubbed ‘jet vents’ back then. In the early 1960s sliding opening windows were considered old hat and ‘forced air ventilation’ became en vogue with air blowers mounted in the (open aspect) luggage racks. Often these suffered damage or were broken by ham-fisted passengers. The cramming of a tissue in the vent would close it off when cold air became an annoyance!

The reading lights above the windows were the forerunners of individual passenger reading lights also mounted in the luggage racks.

One feature which has thankfully become redundant on coaches nowadays are the ash trays mounted in the rear of each seat. Part of an example is just about visible on the bottom edge of the photograph. Obnoxious things they were! Not only did copious amounts of dust and ash float around during the emptying process but they were also used by passengers to dispose of the remains of the soft fruit conveyed by them on their journeys. A ‘tee key’ or ‘budget key’ was a useful device to rake out the fag ends and debris from the ash trays when cleaning a coach.