Newcastle Emlyn History Society
Old Library
Market Hall
Market Square
Newcastle Emlyn
SA38 9AQ
Hanes Emlyn
Town Bridge 1790
Market Hall
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Early Public Transport
The Great Western Railway arrived in town in 1895. Further transport was then required to move passengers between the station and Newcastle Emlyn hotels and to Cardigan, to supersede the horse transport that had sufficed up to that time.
The Hotels were the first ones to obtain any sort of mechanical conveyance. Rees of the Emlyn Arms Hotel was the first with a Thorneycroft Steam Bus around 1897. This was a temperamental beast, that, in the words of one of the drivers, stated “If you were lucky you could have breakfast at the Emlyn Arms Hotel in Newcastle Emlyn, lunch in Cardigan and if you were very lucky have supper back in Newcastle Emlyn” This didn’t last very long.
Tom Lloyd of the Cawdor Temperance Hotel was the next with a 16 seater bus that took an hour between Newcastle Emlyn Station and Cardigan Station. Not to be outdone Rees of the Emlyn Arms bought another bus in 1907 and ran a service between Newcastle Emlyn Station and Cardigan Station with the same travelling times as the Tom Lloyd Bus. Rees had the edge here as he was an agent for the GWR.
The Tom Lloyd buses lasted the longest, well into the 1920‘s. Several other firms were now getting in on the act and running bus services from Carmarthen to Cardigan. Brynteg Buses and Cox’s were two.
Eventually the Western Welsh Omnibus Company arrived, swallowing up many of the old firms. It itself was later taken over by Crosville Buses.
Rees, Emlyn Arms buses around 1908, sporting the “Agent for GWR” Logo.