I know very little of the Trent Motor Traction Company but there was a comment to the Barton Insert Setright ticket stating that Trent used them even into the sixties. So I knew I had a few in the Old Bus Tickets collection so here is scan of one. When I first saw the advert on the back for ‘Elasto’ with the words ‘Leg Weary’ I immediately thought ‘Elasto’ were elastic stockings or something down that line. Apparently not, the small wording under the name states that ‘Elasto’ are actually Biochenic Tablets or maybe the c is a g making them Bioghenic Tablets, not that easy to see on the ticket I have. Either way both words get a wiggly red underline from the spell checker, anyone have any clues just what ‘Elasto’ actually were, and more to the point did they work.

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19/09/11 – 08:38

"Elasto" tablets were on the market for a long long time, and as far as I can gather did what they claimed to do as they were certainly well respected. Perhaps they were a muscle relaxant or possibly improved the circulation in the legs somehow.

Chris Youhill

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21/09/11 – 06:58

This is an interesting one because I hadn’t realised that values on insert setrights were written (as eight (pence) in this case) rather than a number, this was also in evidence on the recent posting of Barkus tickets although I don’t imagine it was universal. I think the comment about Trent using inserts into the sixties was mine but I may have been a little out with that. In David Bean’s history of Trent, he states that a start on conversion to Setright Speed was made in 1956 followed by more machines in 1957 and 1958 so the last use on stage services was probably 1959. They certainly survived for excursion tickets bought in advance at booking offices well into the 1960′s. The example shown is marked Return and has been cancelled by punch so it must have been a stage service issue, I don’t think there would have been any excursions for eight (old) pence and neither would an excursion ticket have been punched on the return journey!

Chris Barker

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One quick question, is it Insert Setright or Setright Insert

Peter

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21/09/11 – 18:36

Chris, I think all the insert setright tickets I have seen had prices in words rather than figures, and this is born out by those featured on this site (including Barton, Lincolnshire and South Notts). I note from the South Notts ticket that the shillings price was printed in upper case, and pence in lower case – perhaps as a precaution against ticket stock printed "out of register". I seem to remember that separate banks of tickets were carried overprinted "1/2d", to be used for three-ha’penny,twopence ha’penny, etc issues.

Peter, Insert Setright is the terminology I have heard in the past, but whether it is official I don’t know. It may have simply been coined to distinguish the old "Setright" from the new "Setright Speed" machines.

Stephen Ford

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22/09/11 – 06:33

"Insert Setright" is certainly the term I have heard used – as Stephen has said, the term may only have become common when the "roll ticket model" became common.
The terminology used by Setright Registers Ltd was "The Setright Fare Register, Model LRD, Inserted Ticket Model" (This from a copy of a maintenance manual in my collection)
While the ‘roll ticket’ version is generally considered to have followed the ‘insert’ version, Mr Henry Setright’s first patent (1922 ?) was for a roll ticket machine – the ‘Trambus’ which evolved into the familiar Setright Speed.
Mr Setright was involved in the development of ‘totalisor’ equipment in his native Australia, and some suggestions are that the ticketing machinery was a spin-off from this.
From what I can gather, the Trambus was far too radical for most operators to consider at the time, so he went away and came up with the Insert register in the late 20′s, being more a half-way step from punch tickets to mechanised issue.
Then after the war, the company managed to sell Setright Speed machines to previous customers – good business if you can manage it.
Incidentally, some Scottish bus-workers tended to refer to all ticket machines as "punches", this intrigued me when I first heard of "Setright punches" – thinking this was a rare variety of bell punch, but sadly not…

Jon

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24/11/11 – 09:11

I remember an Insert Setright LR.D on a stand in the booking office at Derby Bus Station in the 1960s. I’ve a feeling the booking office machines were modified to give either 3d or 6d fare increments but cannot be sure. Problem was that the Tour tickets were collected in when passengers boarded the bus.
The main user of 3d and 6d incremental conversions was Wilts and Dorset and I have examples of both types of machine.

Allan T Condie

These were in fact for train, not bus journeys. Their relevance on a bus ticket site is that they were issued at the stations concerned (Carlton & Netherfield and Netherfield & Colwick) in exchange for return tickets issued on Trent buses between Nottingham Huntingdon Street bus station and Netherfield. They are, of course, standard Edmondson pattern railway tickets, date-stamped on issue using the ubiquitous date presses used on the railway from about 1840 to the 1960s. The two stations are less than a quarter of a mile apart, Carlton being on the Lincoln – Nottingham Midland line, Netherfield on the line from Grantham which at the time ran into Nottingham Victoria, long since closed. Interestingly, the Netherfield & Colwick ticket is a "blank card" – in theory able to be filled in for use on a variety of exchange journeys, but part from Nottingham, the only possible railway destinations with parallel bus routes were on the line to Gedling and Daybrook, which had been closed for many years when the ticket was issued.

Photograph and Copy contributed by Stephen Ford