ANYONE remember the no 20 and the number 7 and their various variants?

I wonder if many readers will remember, like I do, that the no 20 service, now the S3, between Oxford Rail Station and Chipping Norton used to have several variations.

There was a 20A, 20B and 20C, all of which ceased around 2001-02.

I know that the 20C service, which only ran once a day, went from Station Square to Old Woodstock via Botley Road and the A34 to Pear Tree, where it picked up the normal 20 route.

On weekdays it left Station Square at 8.15am and was operated with a Witney-based bus, often a midibus. But on Saturdays it left at 8.05am and arrived at its destination in Old Woodstock at 8.37am, using a Chipping Norton-based bus, normally 1 of the Dennis Lances (901-903).

Additionally there was a return journey on weekdays which left Old Woodstock at 5.35pm and arrived in Oxford at 6.05pm, using a Chipping Norton-based bus.

However I don’t know very much about the 20A and 20B services, and how they differed from the standard 20 service.

I know that the 20A terminated in Oxford City Centre and the 20B went between there and Woodstock, but that’s about it.

Thames Transit, a company long since taken over by Stagecoach and rebranded as Stagecoach in Oxfordshire, ran a 7/7A/7B service. Before the company had its first delivery of midibuses in 1994, the services were run by minibuses.

I know when the midibuses came the no 7A service, by then branded as the City Cavalier, went between Kidlington and Cornmarket/St Aldate’s but before then it appears to have gone further than the city centre and terminated in Summertown.

Therefore I’d like to ask if any readers know where it went after the city centre.

1. Did the 7B ever go to Wood Farm and The Slade? I know at one stage it went to/from Headington Quarry?

2. Did the 7 always go as far as Cutteslowe?

I’d be grateful to anyone who can provide me with any answers to these questions.

ALEXANDER R P EDWARDS
2 Temple Village
Midlothian, Scotland