308 Route History

[WYBS]

Hi all.

My favourite route in West Yorkshire is the 308 Huddersfield to Holmfirth, via Honley and Nethethong.

I have tried, but struggled to find any accurate history of this route before about 10 years ago.

Does anybody know anything about this connection between the two towns?

How long has it run in its current form (excluding the changes around cross lane in recent years)?

Did it have a previous number, and if so was the route identical?

Did it ever extend past Holmfirth, as the other Holme Valley Routes do now?

What was the typical allocation, for example in the days of Yorkshire Rider?

Many thanks.

[joseph]

I think back in the 80s, it did run under a different number (311?) and extended up to Parkwood although that might have been evenings and Sundays only.

[driver6540]

Oct 5, 2021 18:03:53 GMT 1 joseph said:

I think back in the 80s, it did run under a different number (311?) and extended up to Parkwood although that might have been evenings and Sundays only.

joseph, you'll offend a few Holme Valley resident's calling it that. it's Parkhead, still in use today and just up the road from the excellent Compo's chippy.

[driver6540]

Oct 5, 2021 16:38:44 GMT 1 WYBS said:

Hi all.

My favourite route in West Yorkshire is the 308 Huddersfield to Holmfirth, via Honley and Nethethong.

I have tried, but struggled to find any accurate history of this route before about 10 years ago.

Does anybody know anything about this connection between the two towns?

How long has it run in its current form (excluding the changes around cross lane in recent years)?

Did it have a previous number, and if so was the route identical?

Did it ever extend past Holmfirth, as the other Holme Valley Routes do now?

What was the typical allocation, for example in the days of Yorkshire Rider?

Many thanks.

IIRC, before de-reg the Huddersfield to Holmfirth routes including services to Holme, Jackson Bridge and Honley Bridge were numbered 310-316 and all ran directly via Woodhead Road and not serving Newsome as the 308 does now. YR's allocation on this group of routes were mainly Fleetlines, Atlanteans and latterly Olympians. It was always predominantly a decker rota and didn't normally use single deckers. I do recall Yorkshire Traction operating the 310 Hudds-Holme service after de-reg though, initially using Bristol VR's and later on using Olympians and Metrobuses. I could be wrong, but i think the 308 in it's current incarnation started during the Kingfisher era.

[joseph]

Sorry, meant Parkhead, I did a bit of digging on timetable world and in the late 70s the Huddersfield to Holmfirth service via Oldfield
etc did indeed run as service 11, although via the main road to Honley rather than Newsome, so it's possible this was re-numbered 311 in the 80s.

[WYBS]

Thanks all

[Bradford Traveller]

Oct 5, 2021 16:38:44 GMT 1 WYBS said:

Hi all.

My favourite route in West Yorkshire is the 308 Huddersfield to Holmfirth, via Honley and Nethethong.

I have tried, but struggled to find any accurate history of this route before about 10 years ago.

Does anybody know anything about this connection between the two towns?

How long has it run in its current form (excluding the changes around cross lane in recent years)?

Did it have a previous number, and if so was the route identical?

Did it ever extend past Holmfirth, as the other Holme Valley Routes do now?

What was the typical allocation, for example in the days of Yorkshire Rider?

Many thanks.

I'm not sure what you are asking.

Are you asking about a history of Huddersfield–Holmfirth services, or the particular routing of the 308?

[Bradford Traveller]

The 308 is a fairly recent addition to the Holme Valley routes, traditionally numbered 10–14 or in the 1980s 310–314.

In 1979, buses 10/11/12 continued beyond Holmfirth (not calling at the bus station), with the 14 running via Oldfield to the bus station. There was no extension to Hepworth. There was no direct service to Netherthong.

Newsome South (not a real place, just an invention of the bus company) was a separate route 20/21 from Huddersfield.

Hepworth was on a different route that ran Huddersfield– New Mill– Hepworth 29.

Netherthong was on a different route that ran Huddersfield– New Mill– Holmfirth– Netherthong– Meltham 35/36.

There have been several changes to the above pattern through the years.

I think the 308 was introduced as some sort of reply to a competing service 309?

I don't think the 308 ever ran beyond Holmfirth.

[Deleted]

Oct 7, 2021 20:43:20 GMT 1 Bradford Traveller said:

The 308 is a fairly recent addition to the Holme Valley routes, traditionally numbered 10–14 or in the 1980s 310–314.

In 1979, buses 10/11/12 continued beyond Holmfirth (not calling at the bus station), with the 14 running via Oldfield to the bus station. There was no extension to Hepworth. There was no direct service to Netherthong.

Newsome South (not a real place, just an invention of the bus company) was a separate route 20/21 from Huddersfield.

Hepworth was on a different route that ran Huddersfield– New Mill– Hepworth 29.

Netherthong was on a different route that ran Huddersfield– New Mill– Holmfirth– Netherthong– Meltham 35/36.

There have been several changes to the above pattern through the years.

I think the 308 was introduced as some sort of reply to a competing service 309?

I don't think the 308 ever ran beyond Holmfirth.

The 308 was introduced as a replacement for the 315 around 2010/11 time,only going as far as Honley with the 312 running to Holmfirth but not serving Thongsbridge what was covered by the 313 (The 309 was withdrawn in the 2008 shake up to the Holme Valley Routes) Then in 2013 it extended over to Holmfirth fully replacing the 312 & taking on the Thongsbridge section of the 313,with todays 310 taking the rest of the 313 route

[driver6540]

Thanks for the above BT and cp, despite being "semi"-local to the Holmfirth routes, I'd always thought the 308 was introduced a lot earlier than that. once again thanks for putting me right.

[westyorkshirebus]

Looking in some timetables, I've dug out

2003 to 2007 (7 buses per hour)
309 Holmfirth direct
310 Holmfirth and Holme
311 Holmfirth and Parkhead
312 via Newsome, Honley and Netherthong
313 via Hepworth
314 via New Mill
316 via Thongsbridge and New Mill
Plus 2 x 315 per hour to Honley Bradshaw Road

From December 2007 (5 buses per hour)
All direct buses withdrawn except at peak times
312 via Newsome, Honley and Netherthong, and then to Parkhead
313 via Thongsbridge, and then to Hepworth (2ph)
314 via New Mill, and then to Holme
316 via New Mill, and then to Holme
Plus 1 x 315 per hour to Honley Bradshaw Road

From July 2008 - Service 312 now runs evenings and sundays, 315 withdrawn. New 308 runs every 30 mins to Honley, Hourly to Parkhead. It's not clear how this differed from the 312 route?

From April 2009 - 308 no longer runs to Parkhead, now served by 316 instead

[michael1971]

308 use to run up and round Talyor Hill the other way round to the 306 service in the 1990s

[driver6540]

Oct 5, 2021 21:47:07 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Oct 5, 2021 18:03:53 GMT 1 joseph said:

I think back in the 80s, it did run under a different number (311?) and extended up to Parkwood although that might have been evenings and Sundays only.

joseph, you'll offend a few Holme Valley resident's calling it that. it's Parkhead, still in use today and just up the road from the excellent Compo's chippy.

Sorry, but must update. Compo's chippy now under new ownership. Prices rocketed and quality gone south. Thought you ought to know!

[WYBS]

Feb 26, 2022 21:54:26 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Oct 5, 2021 21:47:07 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

joseph, you'll offend a few Holme Valley resident's calling it that. it's Parkhead, still in use today and just up the road from the excellent Compo's chippy.

Sorry, but must update. Compo's chippy now under new ownership. Prices rocketed and quality gone south. Thought you ought to know!

I went there recently and it was the worst fish and chips I've ever had.

[ratty]

Oct 7, 2021 20:43:20 GMT 1 Bradford Traveller said:

The 308 is a fairly recent addition to the Holme Valley routes, traditionally numbered 10–14 or in the 1980s 310–314.

In 1979, buses 10/11/12 continued beyond Holmfirth (not calling at the bus station), with the 14 running via Oldfield to the bus station. There was no extension to Hepworth. There was no direct service to Netherthong. Memory could be failing, but wasn't the 20/21 hooked on to the Brighouse via Rastrick and Fixby route at one time?

Newsome South (not a real place, just an invention of the bus company) was a separate route 20/21 from Huddersfield.

Hepworth was on a different route that ran Huddersfield– New Mill– Hepworth 29.

Netherthong was on a different route that ran Huddersfield– New Mill– Holmfirth– Netherthong– Meltham 35/36.

There have been several changes to the above pattern through the years.

I think the 308 was introduced as some sort of reply to a competing service 309?

I don't think the 308 ever ran beyond Holmfirth.

[ratty]

I seem to have messed up my post, so here goes. Might be a memory fog, but wasn't the 20/21 hooked up to the Brighouse via Fixby and Rastrick, sure it used to feature in the Calderdale timetable for a good while.