29/06/2024
CUMBERLAND MOTOR SERVICES & THE MEAGEENS
Last Sunday, Workington Transport Heritage Trust was honoured to receive a very special guest, John H Bennett, and his grandson, Angus from the south of England. John’s great grandfather was Henry Meageen, founder of Whitehaven Motor Services, the predecessor to Cumberland Motor Services, in 1912. When Henry Meageen died at the age of 79 in 1941, he was still Company Chairman. Meanwhile, his son, Tom, was Managing Director and his grandson, Harry, was Chief Engineer. The association with the Meageens lasted into the Tilling era and was not broken until Harry resigned in June 1950.
During his visit John provided a fascinating insight into CMS operations in the 1940s and early 1950s whilst growing up in Whitehaven and subsequently working for the company at the offices and central workshops in Tangier Street. In return we took our guests on a tour of the core CMS operating area aboard Leyland National 210 (CHH210T) with Dave Wallace at the wheel and Keith Hewitt providing an excellent insight and comparison of Cumberland operations at Whitehaven during the 80s and into deregulation. Our tour took us to the former Whitehaven Bus Station, then followed the inaugural route to Cleator Moor before heading north to Workington to view the first purpose-built, covered bus station in the country, opened by the Meageens in 1926.
The Meageens were very much at the heart of Cumberland Motor Services from the foundation of the company right through to the Tilling era into the 1950s. The company expanded as services were developed to connect towns built around the industries of iron and steel, and coal - from Whitehaven to Cleator Moor, Egremont, Frizington, Workington and Maryport during the twenties then Carlisle in 1921. Whitehaven was the hub but the company came to serve much of West Cumberland with depots as far afield as Millom, Keswick and Carlisle by the thirties. The war years were especially busy due to the importance of local industry and the relative remoteness of the region which attracted evacuees, ordnance factories and airfields often used for servicing aircraft and training. Buses were brought in from fleets as varied as London, Southdown and Glasgow to handle the extra traffic. John clearly recalled the fleet being painted in grey ‘camouflage’ livery and a single decker fitted out as an ambulance to meet troop trains at Carlisle.
The name Cumberland Motor Services Ltd was adopted in 1921 after a half interest in Whitehaven Motor Services was purchased by British Automobile Traction Ltd (BAT). The BAT shareholding was matched by one taken by LMS Railway in 1930. Nevertheless, the Meageen holding had grown and the family continued to influence CMS with its non-conformist policies, especially with regard to vehicle buying policy. The BAT holding passed to Tilling in 1942 but the Meageens retained a third holding until Nationalisation in 1948. The Tilling companies were supposed to tow the line and standardise on vehicles built by the state companies, Bristol and ECW. However, the Meageens had long favoured Leyland products and secured a large advance order in 1947 which frustrated Tilling for years to come. According to John, his uncle, Tom Meageen had signed the order with Leyland for some 200 vehicles at the Commercial Motor Show. As a consequence CMS were still taking delivery of Leyland Titan PD2s and Royal Tigers well into the fifties. Although there had been demonstrators, Bristols didn’t enter the fleet until 1954 when three Bristol LS coaches were delivered followed by the first double decker Lodekkas. The last of the Leyland Titans were withdrawn at the beginning of the National Bus Company era, just surviving into the 1970s. A year later Leylands returned in the form of the Leyland National, specifically ERM35K, the first to enter public service … and that, as they say, is another story!
