Yorkshire Traction Buses

Public transport began in Barnsley in 1902 with the opening of the Barnsley & District Electric Traction Co. Ltd, with a small Y-shaped network from Smithies to Worsborough Bridge and Worsborough Dale. Motorbus operations commenced in 1913, which soon expanded outwards, bringing about the first name change, with the word electric being dropped from the company’s title. 1928 saw the name changed again, with Yorkshire Traction being adopted, reflecting the growing business beyond the boundaries of Barnsley.

Two small Yorkshire Traction subsidiaries were absorbed into the main fleet in the late 1960s. Fellow British Electric Traction company Mexborough & Swinton, once a tram and trolleybus operator, became fully integrated into Yorkshire Traction. County Motors, jointly owned by large independent West Riding Automobile Company and Yorkshire Traction, operated in the area between Huddersfield and Barnsley. With West Riding becoming part of the National Bus Company, the County Motors fleet received Yorkshire Traction red livery. In December 2005, the Yorkshire Traction Company sold out to the Stagecoach Group, who continue to run bus services in the area today.

John Law was brought up in ‘Tracky’ territory. He has been studying the company’s buses for many years and has amassed a vast collection of photographs of all the above operations, the best of which are to be found within these pages.