Royal Blue Coach Service

Company History: Royal Blue Express Services was a coach operator in the south and west of England from 1880 until 1986.

The Royal Blue business was founded in 1880 by Thomas Elliott in Bournemouth. The business, at first known as Royal Blue & Branksome Mews, included the hire of every kind of horse-drawn vehicle, as well as coach building, saddlery and blacksmithing. Elliott soon started a four-in-hand stagecoach service to connect Bournemouth to the railway at Holmsley. That service became redundant when the railway was extended to Bournemouth in 1888, but by then Elliott had started running Royal Blue excursions by charabanc and coach around Bournemouth and the New Forest. When Thomas died in 1911, the business was taken over by his sons John and William.

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