OK, Blue Belle and Lockeys buses from Bishop Auckland

Indeed, several people remembered how OK helped make the roads of south Durham look like the crowded streets of the capital city…

SEE FIRST: WHEN OK WAS MORE THAN JUST PRETTY GOOD

LLU579 was the favourite bus of OK founder Wade Emmerson and he knew it as “Lulu”. “This picture was taken in East Parade in Bishop Auckland, at the bottom of Durham Street,” says Alan Orchard. “The Eden Theatre can be seen in the top right of the picture, and the railway line runs behind the wall next to the bus stop.”

“There were four operators sharing the Bishop Auckland to Evenwood route with a bus running every 15 minutes,” says Peter Singlehurst, of Darlington. “These were OK, Lockeys, Anderson Brothers of Evenwood running as ‘Blue Belle’, and Stephenson Brothers of High Etherley.

“Amazingly, in 1958, all four operators purchased ex-London Transport RTL double deckers. Your picture showed JXN314, whch was one of them.

JXN314 with an E Howe of Spennymoor bus behind and the Snack Bar in Bishop Auckland Market Place to the right

“OK purchased eight, Lockeys two, Blue Belle one (and another in 1959), and Stephensons two.

“However, instead of the distinctive red livery of London Transport they were all repainted: OK in two tone red and cream, black and cream for Lockeys, light blue and white for Blue Belle, and Stephensons in blue and cream.

“For the next 10 to 12 years, it was like ‘Little London’ along this route.”

OK was formed in Evenwood in 1912 by Wade Emmerson (see Memories 787 for more). He adopted the trendy name “OK” in 1929, and his company began acquiring many smaller operators until it had more than 200 vehicles.

“In December 1959, OK bought out ‘Blue Belle’ including their two London deckers, on which I regularly travelled to school,” says Peter. “I can still remember my astonishment in January 1960 at seeing these two repainted in OK colours.

“Then in 1970, OK bought out Stephensons and finally Lockeys in 1983 so that they had the route to themselves until 1995, when they themselves were swallowed up by Go Ahead. Years later the Evenwood service was passed to Arriva.”

John Askwith, who also used the phrase “Little London” to recall those days, takes the story in a different direction: “The bus behind the JXN314, which is next to one of the snack bars in Bishop Auckland Market Place, is from the E Howe fleet from Spennymoor, BUP863B. It was new to them in May 1964 and later acquired by OK in 1970.

“In the early 1960s, a single fare from Tindale Crescent to Cabin Gate was one-and-a-half old pence and to Peel Street Terminus in the town was two old pence.” How far could you travel on a couple of pennies today?

Bishop Auckland Market Place was the hub of a bus network and not only was it lined with bus shelters but there was also refreshment huts, or snack bars, like this one pictured on April 7, 1971, lining the pavement

“APT666 was OK’s first new single deck bus acquired in June 1935 and scrapped around 1952,” says John Askwith, sending in this picture of the bus and OK staff

Where was this picture of an OK bus taken, we asked a couple of weeks ago?

“This is on Station Bridge, over the Gaunless, between St Helen Auckland and West Auckland,” says Chris Johnson. “It is just opposite Lockeys bus garage. I started an apprenticeship as a mechanic at Eden bus services, West Auckland, in 1965 and remember those days well.”

Alan Orchard adds: “The Station public house can be seen with a Camerons sign outside on the left hand side of the picture.”

The Station pub was beside the station on the Stockton & Darlington Railway which opened as St Helens in 1833, but from 1878 until its closure in 1962, was known as “West Auckland”.

The pub fell derelict after it closed in 2015 and attracted numerous complaints about its condition, although in late 2023 a quite remarkable mural of a steam train bursting through a Highland landscape appeared on its side.

The Station Freehouse, in Station Road, St Helen Auckland, closed in 2015 and has fallen into disrepair Image: SARAH CALDECOTT

An Eden bus outside Bishop Auckland Grammar School, from Colin Hurworth

“THIS bus is from The Eden, and looks like it is loaded up with schoolchildren,” says Colin Hurworth, sending in another vintage bus picture. “It is parked up outside the old buildings of Bishop Auckland Grammar School, or King James 1st, depending upon your age.

“This old building would have been known to Arthur Stanley Jefferson (Stan Laurel) from his time at the school, and in my days was physics and chemistry labs upstairs, with the art room and two first form classrooms downstairs.”

An early Eden bus: where was this picture taken?

The Eden is yet another legendary south Durham bus company name. It was started in 1927 when George Summerson, of West Auckland, bought a 14-seat Chevrolet for £500. When his brother, William, came on-board, they adopted the name “Eden” because the Cumbrian valley was a popular destination for their excursions.

The Eden’s buses had an ivory livery, were stabled in Westgate Road in Bishop Auckland, until 1995 when the company was taken over by Arriva.

However, in 2003, the name was reborn by Graeme Scarlett and so Eden buses, in classic red and ivory, can still be seen on the roads.

Geoff Gregg’s whistle and conductor’s badge (below)

WHEN Geoff Gregg started as a conductor with Durham District Services in 1968, he was issued with a uniform, hat, cash bag with 10 shillings float, badge and a whistle.

The whistle was in case the bell on the bus broke – one blow for stop, two for start – and for the conductor to assist the driver in manoeuvring.

Geoff’s whistle, though, is still practically in the condition it was issued and largely unblown.

“When the buses reversed out of the stand at Leadyard, off Darlington Market Place, our job was to help the driver back and we were supposed to use our whistle,” says Geoff.

“But on the hour and half hour you had about a dozen buses all leaving at the same time and if all the conductors had started blowing their whistles at the same time, there would have been a cacophony of noise that no driver would have understood.

“So we hammered on the bus or just waved.”

Durham District Services (DDS) was created by the British Transport Commission on August 1, 1950, as an amalgamation of smaller firms: Darlington Triumph Services, ABC Motor Services (Aaron, Binks & Coulson of Ferryhill) and The Express Omnibus Company of Durham. It was placed under the auspices of United but allowed to run separately, although United was always keen to take it over.Geoff, who spent many years as a bus scheduler looking after 500 vehicles, remembers the rallying cry: “DDS we stand and United we fall.”

However, in the late 1960s DDS was completely taken over by United and its distinctive liveries – green with cream band on service buses, and cream and maroon on excursion coaches – disappeared.

Geoff Gregg’s conductor’s badge

• If you can have any old bus pictures or stories, or can tell us any more about any of today’s pictures, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk