PUBLIC road transport in Barrow started with horse buses in the 1870s but our selection of pictures from The Mail’s archive are from times when diesel vehicles were a regular sight in every village, or town housing estate.

Barrow Corporation started its own bus services on August 17 in 1923 when councillors splashed out £280 on a bus and painted it dark green and cream.

Bus transport in Barrow had a huge boost in the spring of 1932 when the tram system was abandoned.

A total of 18 buses were bought from Crossley Motors for £31,700.

The effective monopoly for the Barrow Corporation Transport fleet run by the town hall was broken by government bus deregulation in the 1980s but rivals such as Ribble and Cumberland soon vanished, leaving Stagecoach dominant.

The Barrow Transport Group was formed in 1995 to preserve vehicles and artifacts and encourage interest in the history of public service vehicles in South Cumbria and in Barrow Corporation Transport in particular.

The group held its annual meeting last weekend at the Crooklands Hotel, near Kendal, with many members making the trip from Furness is a restored Barrow bus.

A group of volunteers maintain and restore the group’s fleet of vehicles and there are outings for members most weekends during the spring and summer to transport events up and down the country.

Membership costs £10 a year and you can find out more about the work of the group on its website at https://barrowtransportgroup.co.uk/ or at www.facebook.com/groups/Barrowbus/

The Mail on August 1 in 1989 noted: "Half a dozen conductors are now taking fares on the bigger single-deck buses run by Cumberland Motor Services in Barrow.

"They are really trainee drivers who cannot exchange ticket machine for driving wheel until they take a class three public service vehicle test."

While the Barrow service was under Ribble the company had its own test examiner but under the Cumberland banner the tests had to be booked through the Ministry of Transport at Carlisle   with an average eight-week wait.

In 1990 the latest addition to the Cumberland Motor Services fleet in Barrow was a 96-seater double-decker costing £1350,000.

It was a Leyland Olympian Megadekka which was almost 14ft high and 37ft long — with a turbo-charged 11,500cc engine and a top speed of 70mph.

The Mail, on July 26, noted: "The Megadekka will be used mostly to carry schoolchildren at peak times but it will also run on routes to Ulverston, Askam and Ireleth and for private hire."

In February 1993 former bus driver and Barrow MP John Hutton was at Cumberland's Hindpool Road base to help unveil a new £2.2m fleet of buses

On June 4 in 1996 the Mail noted the arrival in Barrow of a fleet of eight new Stagecoach buses worth £300,000 to improve services between Furness General Hospital and South Walney.

The new Mercedes Benz 23-seat Sprinter minibuses were designed to be easier to use for the elderly and less able passengers. They had wider doorways and lower steps.

March in 1997 saw the launch of the X35 express bus from Barrow Town Hall to Kendal.

Behind the wheel to help introduce the £2.50 return service was Barrow mayoress Cllr Marie Derbyshire.

The Mail on March 24 noted: "It's the first daily service to Kendal since 1984."

Help with the costs came from Barrow's Portland Walk developers Teesland.

In July the same year a new summer bus service was introduced from Lakeside to entice visitors to the historic market town of Ulverston.

The Ulverston Explorer was launched by Ulverston mayor Richard Scott and town crier Alf Jarvis.

Cllr Scott said: "The new bus service will help bring new tourists to the town.

"And when visitors arrive we are going to make sure they are given a warm welcome."