GLORY DAYS LUT Author:A.E. Jones More than 30 years after Lancashire United Transport disappeared as an independent operator, it remains a source of fond memories for both those who relied upon it to get to school or work in the area as well as for transport enthusiasts who recall its absorption into GMPTE with regret. Taken over by Greater Manchester PTE in 1976, Lancashire Un... more »ited Transport was at that date the country's largest independent operator of buses and coaches, bringing to an end a history of independent operation that stretched back 75 years. It was in 1901 that the South Lancashire Tramways Co opened the bulk of its network, but financial problems resulted in a new company, Lancashire United Transport, taking over in 1905. The LUT network, still using the SLT name for operational purposes (as it did later for its trolleybus network), gradually expanded so that it operated a complex network of routes linking places such as Bolton, Salford and St Helens. The company, under the LUT name, started to operate buses for the first time in 1919. In 1930 the process of converting the tram routes to trolleybus operation started and the last trams were withdrawn on 31 December 1933. Trolleybus operation ceased on 31 August 1958 and with this the SLT name disappeared. Thereafter LUT was solely a bus operator for the final 18 years of its existence. In this new book Ted Jones, a well-respected historian of public transport in and around his native Manchester, examines in detail the history and operational record of this highly influential operator. Drawing upon his own detailed records as well as those of other transport historians, he describes how the operator developed into the most significant independent provider of bus and coach services in Britain and how, eventually, it was to be subsumed into GMPTE.« less