Delaine Buses

The Delaine company's depot in Spalding Road

The local bus company known as Delaine Buses Limited has become a household name in Bourne and the smart blue and cream livery on its vehicles is a familiar sight in the town and district.

The history of the firm can be traced back to 1890 when William Smith, son of Bennett Smith, a general contractor, started carrying passengers by horse and cart to local markets. He died in 1913 but the company continued under the direction of his son Thomas Arthur Smith although he was only 17 when he took over. He introduced taxis and in 1919, the first motor bus was purchased, a Model Ford T, for under £300. It seated fourteen passengers and the return fare to Spalding was 1s. 9d. at a time when the average wage was thirty shillings or £1.50 a week. Daily services from Bourne to Peterborough, Stamford, Spalding, Sleaford and Grantham were all established by 1923 and two years later, the company was running regular excursions to the popular seaside resorts of Hunstanton and Skegness.

A depot fire in 1928 destroyed many of the early vehicles and ended the company's horse and cart operations. Replacement vehicles were loaned by other operators but a severe shortage of buses resulted in the Grantham service being dropped. By 1930, the company was again thriving and the introduction of the Transport Act led to Delaine becoming the sole operator on many local services including the trunk route between Bourne and Peterborough.

The premises in Spalding Road have been the company's headquarters since 1902. They were extended in 1934 and again in 1939 with the acquisition of the English Racing Automobiles workshops on an adjoining site although this building was requisitioned by the army during the Second World War as a billet for troops during which time a cookhouse and latrines were added, both of which survived until building alterations in 1989-90. A total of 240 soldiers were stationed here during the build up to the Battle of Arnhem in 1944.

The depot was also extensively remodelled in 1999 to incorporate a fully automatic bus wash, separate re-fuelling bay and independent body shop. During the war years, sealed orders in the form of a copy of the local Emergency Plan were kept at the depot giving instructions for the mass evacuation of all local people to the West Country in case of invasion. In 1944, in a concerted effort to save fuel, all mail and newspapers conveyed between Peterborough and Bourne were entrusted to the Delaine buses although the frequency of services had been drastically reduced.

Today, the company's core business is still based around the original daily services, operating on ten routes, including Rippingale in the north, the Deepings and Peterborough in the south, Spalding in the east and Stamford in the west, although in 1999, the trunk Bourne-Peterborough service was extended hourly to Morton, 2½ miles to the north of Bourne, following numerous housing developments. The company services these routes with a fleet of 30 vehicles including 12 double-deckers, eight of them being 88/80-seater Volvo Olympians and the new low floor B7TLs costing around £140,000 each. Delaine is one of the few private bus companies in the country operating these distinctive vehicles.

The first double decker bus was introduced in 1948 to cope with an increasing demand for local services and the garage roof at the depot was raised to accommodate the new vehicle. One of the most familiar locally was a Leyland KTL 780 (45) that joined the fleet in 1956 and became the first in the area to be fitted with an electric door and saloon heating. It was withdrawn from service in 1978 but has been preserved with the distinction of being the only company vehicle to have been driven by every generation of the family active in the motor bus business. Another double decker specially made for Delaine by Yeates of Loughborough in 1959 remained with the fleet for 18 years until it was sold for preservation in 1977 and is now owned by a private collector in Belgium. A second vehicle RLT 3 (50) made by Yeates which entered service in 1960 was retired from full time use in 1979 but then became a regular visitor at rallies throughout Britain, scooping overall winner at Showbus 1982, one of the many awards it has collected over the years.

In 1985, a landmark year for Delaine, the Bourne-Market-Deeping-Peterborough route was complemented by the introduction of an additional hourly service between Deeping St James and Peterborough which was nick-named The Deepings Flyer by local people. This proved to be ahead of its time with buses making use of limited stop parkway routes within the City of Peterborough for quick journey times, a system that was to become the role model for which all other Delaine services in the city would eventually follow. The main service now operates every 30 minutes throughout the day between Bourne and Peterborough with additional peak time journeys.

The company has grown consistently during the past decade and in 1995, the then chairman and managing director, Hugh Delaine-Smith, who had joined the business straight from school, was awarded the M B E in the New Year Honours List for his services to public transport. Tragically, he died on 15th March having received his summons to Buckingham Palace in May only a few days before. The award was presented posthumously during a ceremony at the company's premises by the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire. The business is currently run by the fifth generation of the family with his sons Ian as chairman and Anthony as managing director - the name Delaine comes from their grandmother's side. Their aim is a firm commitment to provide public transport for people in the Bourne area using a careful blend of tradition and acting on current market demands.