Bedlington Bus Company

[Jedo_03]

In 1927 the first Newcastle to London Bus Service was started by a Bedlington family firm (Orange Bros.) using ordinary buses.

It was called the Tyne - Tees - Thames Service.

Pic here of an 'Orange Bros.' bus used on the Newcastle to London (Thames) service with many stops along the way including Sunderland. 'Orange Bros.' may have become a subsidiary of 'United Automobile Services Ltd.'. Were their buses orange, or red??

Edited January 17, 2014 by Jedo_03

[Malcolm Robinson]

1923.... In October the three Orange brothers Joseph, Robert & William, wanted to provide a service between Bedlington & Sleekburn Station & purchased 14 seat Model T bus reg number NL6214.

[Malcolm Robinson]

1933....  Orange Brothers sold out their transport business to United Automobile Services

[Jedo_03]

1923.... In October the three Orange brothers Joseph, Robert & William, wanted to provide a service between Bedlington & Sleekburn Station & purchased 14 seat Model T bus reg number NL6214.

 

... and then what happened..??

Presumably this 1923 venture was a success..?? - and they went on to impliment the Tyne-Tees-Thames service...??

Are there any recorded details..??

Who were the Orange Family..??

Were the buses Orange - or Red...??

Was this the first Tyne-Thames Bus Service..??

[Malcolm Robinson]

I researched a Bedlington timeline last year Jedo_03 and these are part of it.   

 

Full SP on the Orange Bros I have:

 

 

1923 In October the three Orange brothers Joseph, Robert & William, wanted to provide a service between Bedlington & Sleekburn Station & purchased 14 seat Model T bus reg number NL6214.

 1924 In May they applied for a licence to do this

 1924 They took delivery of another bus, a 20 seater Lancia reg number NL6845

 1926 They began to pick up passengers from the Haymarket, Newcastle for Bedlington in July

 1927 They bought another bus a Gilford Model reg number CN2956

 1927 September saw the brothers taking passengers to London for £1 per head

 1928 Saw the brothers running night services to London and they opened an office at Kings Cross

 1930 The brothers began a service from Newcastle to Edinburgh and Glasgow in July

 1930 Later that year the brothers moved their office from Bedlington to the Haymarket at Newcastle

 1933 Orange Brothers employed over 100 staff and had 35 coaches

 1933 Later in the year they decided to fly the very first air service between Newcastle and London. The "North Mail" had the headline "London to Newcastle in 3 hours" The paper went on to say that Joseph Orange arrived at Cramlington Aerodrome with his sister in a six seater Havilland Dragon similar to the two he intends to use to link London with Teesside and Tyneside. This service was run from Whitemare Pool, a flying field near Sunderland to Stag Lane aerodrome London and the fare would have been £5. They failed to find the capital and the route was begun by a competitor, Railway Air Services instead.

 1934 United Automobile Services bought them out. Finally Orange Brothers faded into transport history.

[John Fox (foxy)]

Couldn't resist this one Malc!

 

Think the shop in the background is what is now Lynns the butchers on Bedders front street.

Edited January 17, 2014 by foxy

[Malcolm Robinson]

Brilliant pic foxy!  

[Reedy]

Orange's Bus Company and staff in the Market Place.

The depot was on Vulcan Place where Tyred and Exhausted is now.

[Orloff]

I remember that company  in Vulcan Place as the Orange Garage, car repairs and servicing. My friend John Stewart got a job there when he left Westridge at the end of fourth year, I had to stay on to do a fifth year no matter how much I protested! 

[Malcolm Robinson]

Again, excellent picture Reedy.  

[Reedy]

Thanks for the positive comment about the picture and thanks to others for their comments elsewhere.

I'm scanning Dads old Bedlington photographs into my computer (675 so far and more albums keep appearing) and try to keep an eye out for any forums that I can add a picture to.

 

He has pictures of Bedlington and the surrounding district covering places, individuals, groups, teams, schools etc with some dating back to early 1900s.

I've sent a couple of pictures to individuals requesting info about their families via the members email contacts so will keep adding any I think might help on forums.

 

He's got a few group/team pictures which he can't name so I'll be posting them with a request for help in naming them soon.