Ralph's    Colliers    Jones    Henley's    Glyn Williams     

How far do I go back in years? Well, in the absence of any old photos I was leaving the horse and cart out of this, but this photo on the left turned up. It was taken outside the Rising Sun Pub, not sure of the year or what the delivery was? Anyway I'm sure you will enjoy and perhaps remember some of these photos. I know the valley came to life 6am each morning with buses up and down the valley full of miners off to start their shift, then straight back to the garage to prepare for the schools and college runs. In between all this came the service routes, buses which ran from early morning until 11pm, seven days a week The four main companies were Jones, Colliers Henley's and from 1901 until the 1950s Ralph's buses. In the seventies Henley's bought out the service route of Colliers and those red and cream buses faded out of existence, only to be followed with the closing of Jones (blue and cream) buses a few years later.

Ralph's Coaches

Formed in 1901 the company used horse-drawn carriages to provide its transport service. In 1914 with the arrival of the motor vehicles, a 20 seater Napier charabanc was purchased and by 1924 a total of twenty-eight vehicles carrying the Ralphs livery of black and yellow and covering a massive 1,000,000 miles per year appeared in the valleys. The company continued to supply its transport service until the 1950s when it was absorbed by the giant Red and White Company.

It all started with the Bakery industry, baking and a Cwmtillery delivering service, hence the transport link I would think? but in 1948 the bakery would become history and the first Public Service Vehicle carrying the Henley's name would be seen in the valley.
With its first garage located top end of Tillery Rd and housing only one vehicle, it was not long before the move to Victor Road garage and a increase in fleet size would be seen.
By the seventies the fleet size had grown and consisted of Mini, Service and Luxury Coaches all in the tradition Green and Cream colours. Work covered included, two service routes, Factories, Schools and Excursion travel all around the county, also the odd continental trip chucked in for good measure. Names behind the wheels included Martin, Malcolm and Maureen Henley, Ray, Alf, George, Len and Jack, taking the cash Daphne, Brender, Pat, Mary and Cath to mention a few.

Long gone has the old workshop which served the company so well, now replaced by a higher and more modern building where the maintain/service is carried out to the highest of standards.
The Vehicle repair/fuel station located at the other end of Victor Rd had been originally owned by Fairclough Funeral Directors and later by Roy & Gordon Hunt who added a 24 hour breakdown recovery to the services.
In the mid seventies it was sold to Henley's and operated not, just as a repair/fuel station, but also their main reception and booking office for the coach hire. As the year have moved on, the mini bus trend has been replaced by new luxury coaches covering thousands of miles per year. The services buses still run day in, day out, with the Cwmtillery/Brynithel area alone, clocking over 70,000 miles per year.

Jones Bus Company 1921 to late 1960s Founded By Mr W Jones & Sons
Named "Jones Bus Company" until the late 20s following the Death of Mr W Jones when it became "Jones Omnibus service".
Started with a bus route between Abertillery and Cwm, later extended to Ebbw Vale. In 1950 Mr Ron Jones (son of Mr W Jones) became Manager director and with growth of the Public Service, expansion of the bus routes would now included, Newport, Pontypool, Trinant, Brynithel and Cwmtillery.

Excursion and School/College contracts would also cause the ever growth in the fleet. The main garage was located in Aberbeeg where all maintenance work was carried out and the Booking office in Tillery Street. Buses would reguarly be seen outside the Cottonwood cafe at the corner of Castle and High Street as staff would take their break before setting off on another service circle.
In the late 60s the blue/cream buses started to disappear and Cwmtillery and District saw first, the National Bus Company take over, followed by the Red and White Services.
Today, Glyn Williams completes the Cwmtillery and many of the other routes
If you wish to read some more history related to the Leyland Bus in the photo above. Once owned by Jones but the pride and joy of Sue & Roger from Eastbourne.

Henry James Collier started up in business making pushbikes in 1907. By 1925 the business had changed to car sales and Colliers was the local Ford dealer. Later they were to change to Austin / Morris, the showrooms being at the far end of Somerset street (towards the War Memorial).
The workshops were at Hill Street and from there the bus company started. Cyril Collier, the son of Henry James, managed the company and with two cousins, Len Collier and Ron Cobner along with Trevor (Stony) Blackmoore, and Jack Gould as the drivers. They ran the local service from Abertillery town to Cwmtillery via Alma street returning back to town via Tillery street and then via Sixbells up along Cemetery road to Brynithel. Turning around they then returned to town and did it all over again.
One of the strange things about the route taken around Cwmtillery is that when Colliers acquired its first luxury coach, a thirty six seat Bedford Duple with a Plaxton coachworks body, this vehicle was only able to travel in the normal service direction as the corner at the top of Danny's Hill and Terrace was too tight to take in the opposite direction. The normal service buses being twenty-nine seat Bedford OB types could take the corner in either direction. Of course this corner is much wider today.
Some people may remember the bicycle shop in Somerset street (where the pet shop is now) that was also owned by Colliers. This was run by George Herbert a son-in -law of Henry James and it was his son Martin who was managing the bus company when it was taken over by Henley's buses in the early seventies.


(Many thanks to Terry Cobner for his time and effort in complying this section of Colliers)