Pictures from the golden age of Hartlepool transport

Or what about the fleet of Hartlepool Borough Transport Bristol RE vehicles.

Both feature in a book called On The Move which is part of a series from the Hartlepool History Then and Now Project.

And for anyone interested in the town’s past, copies are available.

We took a look at the book with the help of Sandra McKay, Library Officer at the Central Library in York Road, Hartlepool.

The library, as well as the Hartlepool Museums Service and public donations have all helped to bring the publications to fruition, looking at aspects of the town.

Each book has a theme, and they range from shops to taking it easy, schools to working life. They are a fasciating read and each is filled with photographs of the town’s past.

On The Move is a wonderful look at transport from times gone by.

“The Hartlepool Borough Transport fleet included no fewer than 58 Bristol RE vehicles,” said Sandra, “And in the 1940s about half of the West Hartlepool Corporation Transport fleet consisted of centre-entrance double-deckers, but the dual staircase occupied valuable space.”

The book is a 32-page depiction of all of Hartlepool’s vintage modes of transport from the hundreds of ships built in the ports, to the de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide pictured at Greatham Airport in 1949.

Trains are pictured at Union Dock, and steam locomotive 43071 is shown collecting holidaymakers at a packed Seaton Carew railway station.

There’s a chance to view the Flying Scotsman which was photographed on September 10, 1967. The locomotive was the last to be watered and bunkered in the West Hartlepool Sheds before they closed.

There’s load of information and photos of Hartlepool’s buses down the years, including the blue bus which last ran on the Headland in 1967.

Watch out for a brand new West Hartlepool Corporation trolley bus standing outside the Roe factory in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

There’s a chance to view an old photo of the trolley bus depot in Cleveland Road,

The ferry to Middleton is included, as is the horse and bakery cart which belonged to William Thomas Watson.

For a more basic form of transport, watch out for the image from 1940 of a young boy on his tricycle.

There’s a view of a horse and cart on farmland at Elwick, pictured being led by a Land Army girl.

And there’s a photograph of a very young lady named June Stoddart enjoying an ice cream as she enjoys a journey to the Headland on the ferry.

To buy a copy of the book, or others in the series, call in at the Central Library.

And those wanting more information on Hartlepool’s history, should visit www.hhtandn.org, email [email protected] or call (01429) 272905.