Here we have an Insert Setright, and a Gibson, both from Douglas Corporation Transport in the Isle of Man. I think the Insert Setright system was only used on the Onchan circular services (out via Promenades, return via St Ninians or vice versa). This extended outside the borough boundaries, and was operated jointly with Isle of Man Road Services, who used both Ultimate and Insert Setright tickets. (There wasn’t time on an urban route to faff about with the tedious Automacheckit system used elsewhere on IMRS).
The Gibson was issued in 1967, and was for a fairly short journey on one of the five 1957 Guy Otters, colloquially referred to as Wolsey’s camels. Mr Wolsey was, I believe, the General Manager of the transport undertaking. It was the policy on DCT vehicles to have rather large route number and destination displays. (You could read the number of a bus from half-way along the promenade). This was all very well on double deckers, but a different matter on the little Otters with their 26-seat Mulliner bodies. They had a tall protrusion above the level of the roof, both front and rear, to carry the route indicator, which gave them a strangely top-heavy appearance. Hence the two-hump camel sobriquet. I can’t remember where route 3 went, though I have a feeling it might have been Governor’s Bridge via Summerhill Road.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Stephen Ford

———

28/12/11 – 16:10

IOMRS replaced their Ultimates and Automatickets with inserts Setrights, and Douglas Corporation also received inserts Setrights at about the same time, mostly replacing earlier systems.
The machines were ex-Aldershot & District and the single and return tickets (but not the weeklies) of both IOMRS and DCT were copies of A&D tickets. The weeklies were copies of Wilts & Dorset tickets if I recall correctly.
IOMRS had also obtained a batch of Dennis Falcons from Aldershot. The probable reason for all this was that the General Manager of IOMRS, William T Lambden had previously been employed at A&D.

DRH – Transport Ticket Society

———

30/12/11 – 09:13

That’s quite surprising. I can easily see that Insert Setright was a massive advance in issuing speed from Automacheckit for IOMRS, but I would have thought it was a serious slowing down for Douglas Corporation, compared with the Gibson. Any idea what year the changeover was made?

Stephen Ford

———

30/12/11 – 14:01

1966/7. A total of 144 insert Setrights were bought by IOMRS of which 24 were then passed to DCT. Douglas continued to use Gibsons on some routes and punch tickets on the horse-trams. Both operators converted to new Setright SMBs at or around decimalisation.

DRH – Transport Ticket Society

Attached are 3 London Transport Gibson tickets from machines specially adapted for overseas tours.
On such tours, one or more buses (RTs in the 1950s, RM / RMLs in the 60s and early 70s) would offer local rides, usually being driven by LT engineering staff, and with a local conductor (often supplied by the organisation sponsoring the tour.)

These three tickets are from visits to –
Tokyo, British Trade Fair, September – October 1969
Pittsburgh – "Great Britain Festival", Gimbels Stores, October – November 1967
San Francisco – British Week, October 1971

Photograph and Copy contributed by Jon

Five ‘Gibson’ tickets (front and back) issued in 1977 on the ‘SRM’ class of 25 silver liveried RM Routemasters that operated on a number of routes in 1977, each spending a few months at one garage allocated to a particular route.
The buses were newly overhauled, and in addition to the silver livery, were fitted with interior carpets (in part a research project on the part of the International Wool Secretariat.)
This was something of a contrast with the buses receiving a gold livery for the 2002 Jubilee, where in some cases the job was done by means of vinyl over the dents and scrapes…
The buses were allocated to a specific running schedule, with conductors on relevant duties being issued with yellow ticket rolls.
Each bus was sponsored, and the ticket rolls carried adverts for that sponsor on the back – probably the first time that advertising had appeared on LT tickets since the end of Bell Punch ticketing.
This collection also helps to answer the question of when LT’s Gibsons were converted to print a code letter rather than the fare value – it pins the date down to 1977 or earlier.
The route 38 ticket shows the ticket class ‘C/M’ – ‘Cheap Mid-day’ was not an official class in use by 1977 (and probably not one ever used officially on LT Gibsons).
The London Transport Museum website has an interior – shot here and an exterior shot here of the ‘SRM’ class.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Jon