7:15pm Monday 27th August 2007
By Robin Thompkins
A HORSE-drawn tram that first plied the city streets of Southampton a century earlier is back on the road travelling the leafy lanes of the New Forest.
The New Forest Horsedrawn Omnibus Company formed earlier this year by Ringwood heavy-horse breeder Stephen Jones and business partner Mo Hall, who sold her home in Poole to finance the project, has taken delivery of the restored open top double-decker bus as its flagship vehicle to offer car-free trips around the area.
Built in 1906 as a horse-drawn tram for Southampton Corporation, the vehicle was later converted to run on road wheels following the electrification of the tramlines and remained in service until 1934 before becoming an exhibit at the Black Country Museum in the Midlands.
Almost as rare as the 100-year-old bus are the horses which will pull it - a team of Stephen's Suffolk Punch draught horses which are also used to pull the company's other vehicle, a modern 22-seat Dutch planwagen.' The impressive wagon is already operating regular trips from Ringwood town centre to outlying areas.
Set up with funding from the New Forest National Park Authority's sustainable development fund, the New Forest Horsedrawn Omnibus Company launched in July and subject to weather, horses and vehicles operates Mondays to Thursdays with up to five daily trips through the forest around Ringwood.
Stops according to time and route include the Town and Country Experience Museum at Blashford, Alice Lisle pub at Rockford, Ringwood Brewery and the Liberty Raptor and Reptile Centre near the omnibus company depot at Crow.
Mo quit a career in computing and IT teaching to embark on the omnibus venture to fulfil a lifelong dream of working with heavy horses and hopes to extend the project to provide a future for the breeds and attract a new generation of enthusiasts, drivers and grooms.
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