Leyland National Destination Signs

[Buzz Killington]

Courtesy of Busnerd, a photo of the destination listing inside ex-Bus 261:



What caught my eye is that the destinations are listed under three Depot lists - Kingston, Woden and Belconnen. Were buses allocated to a certain depot only fitted with that depot's list?

Also interesting to see Crace on the list - bit hard to see but it's on the Kingston list.

The full list:

Kingston Depot
Airport
Barton
Belconnen
Causeway
Campbell Park
City
Crace
Dickson
Fyshwick
Hackett
Hall
Hospital
Kingston
Lyneham
Manuka
Narrabundah
Phillip
Race Course
Red Hill
Russell
School Special
Showground
Special
University
War Memorial
Watson
Yarralumla

Belconnen Depot
Belconnen
Bruce
Charnwood
City
Evatt
Flynn
Higgins
Holt
Latham
Macgregor
Melba
Phillip
Race Course
Russell
School Special
Showground
Special
Spence

Woden Depot
Phillip
Chapman
City
Duffy
Farrer
Fisher
Fyshwick
Hospital
Kambah
Pearce
Racecourse
Rivett
Russell
School Special
Showground
Special
Torrens
Wanniassa
Belconnen

[ajw373]

You will find all destinations were on the one roll, they were just grouped together to make it easier to wind, as back then a bus generally remained on routes within the depot region so logical to have together.

As you will notice some destinations are on there more than once  school special, special, Russell, City and showground for example, but again just because they may have been more commonly used so saves winding through the whole roll. The give away would be the routes between Woden and the City and Belconnen and the City, they would need destinations from two different depots. For example a Kingston bus running to Woden would need a destination in both the Woden and Kingston depot parts of the roll.

As for Crace, the name is not exactly new and has been used for a long time. Not sure if you have ever noticed but the Telstra exchange in Mitchell is called the Crace exchange and the AM radio transmitters on the Barton highway are also in Crace. I never saw the name used but what is odd is looking at the roll list I don't see any destination for the route that would have once served Mitchell and the cemetery.

PS any idea of the year of the pic? Maybe the reason is the age of the roll is before Mitchell came to be so Crace was the name for that general area, hence the exchange name and the entry on the roll.

[ajw373]

Hmmm tried to edit above and created new message.

[Barry Drive]

It's not a question of the age of the photo (it is recent), but rather the age of the sticker. Despite reference to Belconnen Depot, the roll to which the sticker refers would pre-date B Depot by at least 5 years: it pre-dates the permanent Woden Interchange and that opened in 1972!

[ajw373]

You knew what I meant with the date! So there you are then, it would then also probably predate Mitchell too, so Crace, or more correctly Crace Hill would have been the name of that general area.

[Barry Drive]

Agree about the use of Crace as a regional name. Hadn't realised this before, but the suburb name "Mitchell" was gazetted on 5 August 1975.

I never saw the name used but what is odd is looking at the roll list I don't see any destination for the route that would have once served Mitchell and the cemetery.

The first full time route service to Mitchell started in 1979 (route 384).

The Woden portion of the roll does a good job of listing all the terminusssesss in use in the early 1970s: Chapman, Duffy, Farrer, Fisher, Pearce, Rivett and Torrens plus the two new suburbs of Kambah and Wanniassa.

it pre-dates the permanent Woden Interchange and that opened in 1972!

Not so sure about this anymore. I was basing that assumption on the lack of a "Woden Interchange" sign, but on closer inspection there are missing signs between the depots (30-33 and 52-54): these could have been used for the Interchange signs (Woden, City, Higgins ?). The Leyland Nationals were first delivered in 1974, so if the Interchange signs existed, this roll would have been correct for that era.

[Busnerd]

Furthermore, I am beginning to suspect that a cloth desto roll that has someone has thrown into one of our buses (Apparently to hide it from someone?) may actually be the one out of that Lleyland, so I might have a look at it next time I am there and write down all the signs it has on it