Much
of the Trust’s original archive related to the activities of the
National Bus Company and its various subsidiary companies. In
addition, at privatization, the statutory
books of the various non-trading subsidiaries of NBC were lodged with the Trust by the liquidators.
Substantial
deposits have subsequently been received from a number of ex-NBC
sources including the Alder Valley, City of Oxford, Eastern National,
East Kent, Midland Red, Northern General, Potteries, Southdown, Trent
and Wilts & Dorset companies relating both to themselves and their
predecessor companies.
The
files of the erstwhile Association of Public Passenger Transport
Operators (previously the Municipal Passenger Transport Association) are
housed and the Birmingham Transport Historical Group has donated its
own considerable archive relating to the five Corporations which formed
the West Midlands P.T.E. and of the P.T.E. itself.
Other
material has been donated (or bequeathed) by individuals from their own
private collections and many of our older runs of periodicals
originated from this source. There is also a reasonable collection of
road and rail timetables.
In
1994, the Department of Transport decided that to maintain their
historical reference library was a luxury which their budgetary
constraints would not permit but they were concerned that it should not
be split up. The Trustees were pleased to accept this substantial
volume of published material relating to all forms of transport and
associated subjects and extending from about 1800 up to the present
day. Material
continues to be added to this extensive library of books and
periodicals, which forms a valued source of reference and background
material for researchers.
By
arrangement, the Trust also houses the extensive archive of the
Signalling Record Society (devoted to the study of railway signalling)
and this is available for research by members of that society. Their
website is: www.s-r-s.org.uk
