Horsington Bus Service 1940's - 1974.

Operating from Lincoln to Horncastle crossing the Witham at Bardney.

There were Hudson depots at both Bardney (Station Road) and Horncastle (Lincoln Road). Contract works services were operated to the sugar beet factory at Bardney, which closed in 2001. High capacity double deck vehicles were introduced from 1956/57. These catered in part for the increase in traffic after the withdrawal of Road Car's route 10E (Lincoln - Horncastle - Louth) and the cutting back of Lincolnshire Road Car's route 8A (formerly Boston - Coningsby - Horsington - Lincoln) to operate only between Boston and Horsington. The withdrawn routes mentioned were purchased by Hudsons from Road Car for £500 in September 1959. The connections mentioned in the Hudsons timetable at Horsington for Woodhall Spa and Boston with the 8A route three times a day constituted an important means of travel across the county of Lincolnshire at that period.

The limited company was formed in December 1962 with family directors. The fleet size at the time was about 20 buses and coaches in a light blue and cream livery. Subsequently the Hudson's business was taken over by Appleby's of Conisholme on 1st December 1974 and added to their existing routes in the Horncastle and Louth area. Thirteen vehicles (two buses, eleven coaches) passed from Hudson to Appleby. 

Applebys were operating the ex-Hudsons routes with the Horsington 8A connections still advertised. By 1978  the bus connections between Lincoln and Boston had changed again with Road Car 8A from Boston connecting instead with Road Car 2C to Lincoln at Martin. Applebys now advertised a connection at Horncastle four times a day to their own service to and from Woodhall Spa.  Applebys were to undergo their own changes in more recent years. Eventually over the years the Lincoln - Woodhall Spa - Boston route evolved into a direct hourly service, now route 5 and part of the Lincolnshire InterConnect network of bus services, and operated principally by Brylaine. The main ex-Hudsons Lincoln - Bardney - Horncastle route still operates 'independently' as service 10 with PC Coaches of Lincoln.

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Source: Country Bus [🔗]

incorporating information from articles and publications (including those by P R White, G Wise and A Tye) found in the libraries of Lincolnshire; an illustrated article on Hudsons appeared in Buses 245 of August 1975.