Product Description

The East Kent Road Car Co Ltd, dating from 1916 and based in Canterbury, was to dominate the public transport scene in and around Dover and Folkestone. A subsidiary of British Electric Traction, East Kent, probably because of its proximity to the English Channel, became a pioneer of continental coach tours which commenced in 1919. It also was involved in contract work for the cross-channel steamer operators and later the airlines. Apart from its local services in and around the Channel ports, the company also operated express services to and from London and, from the late 1950s, was also involved with the Europabus consortium. Like other BET companies, East Kent operated a varied range of buses provided by makers such as AEC, Dennis, Guy and Leyland. After some 60 years of existence, however, the company was nationalised with the creation of the National Bus Company in 1969 and was gradually to lose its identity over the next few years.In their second volume devoted to East Kent, noted transport historians Glyn Kraemer-Johnson and John Bishop have gathered an interesting collection of colour illustrations, the majority previously unpublished, focused on the period from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s. Alongside the carefully selected images, the captions provide the reader with a fascinating account of the vehicles and routes of the period. This new contribution to the popular 'Heyday' series from two of Ian Allan Publishing's most successful and well known road transport authors, will be sought by all those interested in the history and operations of East Kent and by all those with an interest in or knowledge of the area covered during the period covered.This new contribution to our popular 'Heyday' series offers some 85 colour illustrations, the vast majority previously unpublished, which provide a record of many of the vehicles and the operations of East Kent from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s when the company's traditional identity gradually disappeared following its incorporation into the National Bus Company.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #334593 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 80 pages

Customer Reviews

Last one round the island.
Love East Kent? Love this book!

I worked as a conductor at Westwood (Thanet) when we only had the 49/50/52 group as crewed services. Even so they put out the occasional PFN Regent. Sometimes the driver let me pull the handle to close the sliding door - bliss!!. We didn't start the bus with the bell push, we used to tap the Setright ticket machine twice with coins - those were the days.

Now and again we used to work an OMO service - I did the 64, 70, 87 (and even the 88 from Dover) - if the driver didn't turn up. The pay was awful, the conditions not much better, but just to work for East Kent made it all right. It has all changed now - but those PFN Regents - WOW!!

Hope this wasn't too personal for you.

Regarding the book - the team that wrote this know what they're talking about - they've written much about the south coast companies so there is no problem there.

The period covered is 1945-1970 so all the clasic vehicles are covered. The Guys, the Regents, the AEC single deckers and coaches - and all in that glorious cream and crimson livery - SPLENDID!!