It was on 10 July 1920 that the Thames Valley Traction Co. Ltd was established with its initial Headquarter Offices in a house in Maidenhead, alongside a depot for the motorbuses.

TV&GWOT planned a celebration in 2020 but a COVID lockdown thwarted that, then in 2021 the Centenary+1 event was a lonely occasion as legal restrictions on passenger numbers and gatherings precluded passenger rides. Insufficient visiting vehicles given competing events and Covid impeding the organising team, mean a public running day has proved not to be feasible in 2022. 

However, on Sunday 10 July, Trust Supporters made a tour by vintage TV buses around former Thames Valley Traction Co. depots and destinations as illustrated below.

A companion Souvenir Booklet has been published by TV&GWOT celebrating the TVTCo. Centenary. With input from renowned TVTCo. historian Paul Lacey, the 36-page A5 booklet documents the origins of the company in 1920 and shows the growth in the fleet and patronage over subsequent decades. A detailed record of the routes as they developed from July 1920 through to December 1971 is documented, accompanied by photographs from the Paul Lacey Collection. In addition the Trust’s work preserving its unique collection of TV vehicles is presented, complemented by photographs from the Trust’s archive showing the locations visited on the Supporters Tour, the basis for some ‘then’ and ‘now’ photographic comparisons

There is a short print run and copies of the TVTCo. Centenary booklet can be purchased for £6 including p&p by either:

 -  Sending a cheque payable to ‘TV&GWOT’ to Ledger Farm, Forest Green Road, Fifield, Maidenhead SL6 2NR; or

 -  Paying by Paypal (including any postal / delivery instructions in the notes)

TV&GWOT’s vintage Thames Valley bus 446 on the site where Thames Valley Traction Co. Ltd established its first registered office on 10 July 1920

Passing Windsor Central Station	On the stand in Reading	Alongside High Wycombe depot
Assembled on the Wharf, Newbury.  Above photos © Helen Billington
Crossing Cookham Bridge © Colin Billington	Alongside at Boulters Lock © Helen Billington	Approaching Maidenhead Bridge © Chris Drew

PREVIOUS EVENTS

Information about previous Thames Valley events and programme articles can be found here. 

An account of TV&GWOT’s lonesome Maidenhead-Windsor outing on 11 July 2021 to acknowledge the Centenary+1 can be found here.

(C) Copyright The Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust

Company Registered in England No. 5035702.  Registered Charity No. 1125980