THREE SMALL TOWNS

From Bishop Auckland we head towards Spennymoor (look at the map here) and pass through Middlestone Moor, where we see a bus of Trimdon Motor Services on route T69.

Another TMS vehicle, this time in Spennymoor itself.

Here's an old postcard of the High Street.

Gardiner's was the local operator.

The vehicles of United and The Eden could also be seen in Spennymoor.

The next town is Ferryhill, once home to Dean & Chapter Colliery.

A postcard of Ferryhill Town Hall.

Ferryhill town centre in 2019 (Creative Commons License).

Here the local operator was Martindale's, with a depot in the town.

At least one stage carriage service was operated.

Ferryhill Station, being over a mile from the town, was on the East Coast Main Line. Trains still pass through.

The loco shed in 1936.

Ferryhill Station village is the location of the Surtees Arms, home to the Yard of Ale Brewery.

In the shadow of an evil looking coking plant at Fishburn was Grierson's Coaches, with a fleet of seond-hand vehicles for transporting miners, etc.

The final town of this post is Sedgefield, home to several pubs and a race course, none of which we are visiting. A local independent here, Wilkinson's, was taken over by United.

We now head for the coast and finish this post at the long vanished Blackhall Rocks Hotel.

Next time, Hartlepool, here we come.

BISHOP AUCKLAND (NOT A REAL ALE HAVEN)

As we head into Bishop Auckland, we pass the depot of Lockey's at St Helen Auckland. 

We approach the town from the south, finding the depot of United.

Nearby, an ex United Bristol LS with a contractor.

Bishop Auckland railway station was to the south of the town centre. Here, a DMU arrives in about 1977.

What remained in 1986.

A class 37 waits to come off the Weardale line in 1986.

By 2006, the old Weardale platform had been brought back into use.

Sadly, the Station Hotel is no longer a pub.

Around the corner is the Grand Hotel, but it no longer serves real ale.

As we head towards the Market Place, we pass the side street that once formed Lockey's terminus.

In the heart of Bishop Auckland town centre, Newgate Street.

At one end of the Market Place, the Castle Gate (Creative Commons License).

Most buses used to terminate/start at the Market Place. A United Bristol RE is seen there, still in pre NBC colours.

Weardale MS arrived from the west.

OK Motor Services ran several routes.

Trimdon Motor Services were frequent visitors.

Another independent, Bond Bros. of Willington.

Today, Arriva buses pass through the Market Place.

OKMS had their main depot in a side street.

A Ford demonstrator on hire to OKMS, outside the depot.

The Newton Cap pub wasn't far away.It's now a nursery. It was named after Newton Cap Bank, crossed by a long closed railway viaduct.

A new bus station has now been built and was served by United.

By 1996, United had taken over The Eden.

Weardale and Bond Bros. ran into the bus station.

The Go Ahead Group run plenty of buses into Bishop Auckland bus station.

The Silver Bugle became the Tut 'n' Shive, but no longer seems to exist.

By the Market Place, the Sportsman. No real ale these days.

The Derby has also lost its cask beer.

About the only place to find real ale is the Wetherspoons, named the Stanley Jefferson.

That's Bishop Auckland done, we'll move on through Spennymoor in the next post.