- 5 months ago
Walking tours guide Ian Mole remembers the beautiful public transportation of years gone by on Wearside.
With thanks to Beamish - The Living Museum of the North, and the North East Bus Preservation Trust.
With thanks to Beamish - The Living Museum of the North, and the North East Bus Preservation Trust.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, my name's Ian Moore and I conduct walking tours of Sunderland.
00:03In another video I've talked about the railways in Sunderland in the past
00:07and today I want to talk about trams and buses.
00:10Now, if you still live in Sunderland, you'll recognise the view behind me here.
00:15So if you can't and you've been away from Sunderland for a long time,
00:18it does look different than it did 50 years ago, certainly.
00:21So this is the Weycheef pub, still going strong.
00:25And just down Roker Avenue, the Minus Hall is still there.
00:29But a lot of the view has changed completely.
00:32But this area has always been an important junction.
00:361879 was an important year for transport in Sunderland.
00:39For one thing, the railway bridge across the Weycheef was completed
00:43and that meant the central station could open.
00:46And so for the first time you'd get a train south from Newcastle
00:49through the centre of Sunderland and then all points south from there.
00:53Prior to that, we had three stations in Sunderland.
00:56Mugweermouth, which was built in the 1840s, that was the most important station.
01:01It could only go north from there and the station is still there.
01:05We also had two smaller stations in the south part of Sunderland,
01:08Hendon and Fawcett Street.
01:11Fawcett Street was where the old Civic Centre used to be.
01:15So when the central station opened, those two smaller stations closed
01:19and Mugweermouth station remained.
01:22So also in 1879, the first trams started to operate.
01:26So there was a company called Sunderland Tramways Company
01:28and these trams, they weren't electrified, they were pulled by two horses.
01:33They were quite small.
01:34Some of them were single-deckers and some of them,
01:37they weren't quite double-deckers, they were more like shadow banks
01:39because they had an open top.
01:41Another of the smaller bus companies was economic buses.
01:44They used to run from Park Lane down along the coast
01:47through Whitburn to South Shales.
01:50They were maroon and cream-coloured single-deckers.
01:55And here at the Waychief, the bus depot, if you can call it that,
01:59more like a little garage, used to be just here.
02:01I think they could only get about two or three of the buses in.
02:05I know this area very well because the Corra cinema was just here
02:08and just to the left was me grandparents' fish and chip shop
02:12where my mother and my brother were also born.
02:15The economic buses, I think they were absorbed into a larger company in 1975,
02:21but there's still a vestige of them now because the A1, A2, A6,
02:26so buses beginning with an A, they continue to run the routes
02:30that the economic buses used to operate.
02:32So you can see behind me the Waychief bus depot.
02:35There's been a tram and a bus depot there for over 100 years.
02:39Now, when the trams were operating during First World War,
02:44obviously a lot of the men were abroad fighting
02:46and a lot of women took over their jobs.
02:49Something tragic happened here.
02:51It was on the night of April 1st, April 2nd, 1916.
02:55I believe it was the only Zeppelin raid we ever suffered.
02:59And a Zeppelin came across the North Sea
03:00and killed 22 people in the Sunderland area.
03:06One of them was a bus inspector at the depot here.
03:09And one of the clippies was badly injured.
03:14Her leg was very badly injured and she was off work for a long time.
03:19So her name was Miss Holmes.
03:21And she recovered well.
03:23She lived until she was 91, actually.
03:25She didn't die until she was 91 in 1986.
03:29So behind me you can see what's, in my opinion,
03:31one of the most beautiful buildings in Sunderland,
03:34Munkerway Mouth Railway Station.
03:36So this was the most important station
03:38until they built Central Station.
03:40And just to the left of it, it was demolished in 1974,
03:45was another impressive building designed by the same architect as the station.
03:49It was the Royal Hotel.
03:51So obviously people got off at the station and stayed at the hotel.
03:55But by the time I knew it in the 60s, it was a pub.
03:59This is where the very first horse-drawn tram started in 1879.
04:05So you got the tram just outside the Royal Hotel.
04:08And it was quite a simple route.
04:09It went along, turned right down Roker Avenue and down to the coast.
04:14So that was the very first route.
04:15And very soon they had another route,
04:17which went south from here, across the bridge,
04:21straight up Fawcett Street, along into Burton Road,
04:24right up to Christchurch.
04:27Then it turned left down Greer Road,
04:30turned left again down Tatum Street and back to the town centre.
04:34Another route also went down to the south docks.
04:37So gradually over the ensuing years,
04:41they branched out even more.
04:43They went up to Southwick
04:45and they also went along through the town centre up Durham Road.
04:50Must have been quite a job for two horses getting up Burden Road,
04:53come to think of it.
04:54They also experimented with a steam tram.
04:58This was quite a fearsome open beast.
05:01But they tried it for about six or seven months
05:03on the route down the coast.
05:06But it had a lot of problems.
05:07I mean, the inclines aren't dramatic there,
05:09but it did a real job getting up and down those inclines.
05:13And you couldn't exactly get out and push it.
05:15So they abandoned that idea.
05:18So until 1900, we only had horse-drawn trams.
05:22And then in 1900,
05:24Sunderland Corporation took over the trams
05:26and then we got our first electric trams.
05:28So here we are in Fawcett Street,
05:30just opposite behind me was the much lamented town hall.
05:35Now in 1900,
05:37Sunderland Tramways Company was taken over
05:39by Sunderland Corporation Tramways
05:41and the lines became electrified.
05:45So the first line came up from Roca,
05:48came right up here,
05:49and it went up the bank, Burden Road,
05:51and stopped at Christchurch.
05:54And the system developed considerably over the years.
05:57Even after buses were introduced in 1928-29,
06:00there were still open and new lines.
06:02They got as far as up Durham Road,
06:05right up Humbledon Hill,
06:07and right up as far as Grinden Lane.
06:10So this was in the late 40s.
06:12The trams there were beautiful.
06:14They were coloured sort of red and cream.
06:16The very last tram ran in October 1954.
06:20And there was a ceremony just outside the town hall,
06:23and it was a cavalcade of two or three trams
06:25travelled all the way down to Seabourm
06:27with lots of cars following them
06:29and tooting away.
06:30So the first buses in Sunderland were introduced in 1928
06:33by the Northern General Transport Company
06:36on behalf of Sunderland Corporation.
06:38And the next year,
06:39Sunderland Corporation started to operate buses.
06:42Even though the buses were introduced,
06:44the trams continued expanding.
06:46And there was a bus station here.
06:49So this is Union Street.
06:51And when this was a road,
06:53it was a bus station for about five years
06:55and corporation buses.
06:58Now, there's some dispute
06:59about the actual dates of this,
07:01but there's a guy called Stephen Dyko
07:04I trust very much
07:05when it comes to transport matters,
07:06and he said it was 1951 to 1956.
07:10So a lot of this area was destroyed during the war,
07:12so there was a big open space.
07:14And they put the bus station there for a while.
07:17You'd also see northern buses
07:19parked along here by the side of the station.
07:22Obviously, you had access that you don't have now.
07:24So when the trams were operating,
07:26if you were getting a tram into town
07:27from Durham Road or the Circle Route,
07:30the trams used to come down that way.
07:32And if you were coming out of the town,
07:33they went here and they turned right up Derwin Street.
07:36Now, this building,
07:37the interchange has been here since 1999.
07:40Prior to that,
07:40there was Park Lane Bus Station,
07:42which was built in the 1930s.
07:44And there was actually a big bus garage here.
07:46You get many, many buses in there.
07:48So the station was smaller than it is now.
07:52The Park Lane Bus Station used to have services by northern buses.
07:56So these were services that went from centre of Sunderland, obviously,
08:00to outlying places, I think, as far as concert,
08:02certainly to Silsworth and places like that.
08:05Apart from northern,
08:06there were other smaller services.
08:08I remember from the 60s,
08:10there was the economic.
08:12The buses used to come and park just along here in Park Lane
08:15and go down the coast.
08:17There was also Jolly Buses
08:18that ran from South Hilton
08:20into the centre of Sunderland.
08:22And after the closed Hilton Station in 64,
08:24I think it was,
08:25they also came right into the very centre.
08:27It's an unusual name, Jolly.
08:28I think they started in 1923.
08:30When I was a small kid,
08:31we got on the Jolly Bus.
08:33They were cream and brown coloured,
08:34single-deckers.
08:36And unusually,
08:36they had rather hard wooden seats at the back.
08:39When I first got on one,
08:40my big brother, Graham, said,
08:41you've got to laugh when you get on this bus.
08:43And I said, why?
08:43He said, well, it's a Jolly Bus.
08:45And I thought, maybe I'd better laugh.
08:47So they were absorbed
08:49and ceased to exist a long, long time ago,
08:51but many people will remember them.
08:56This is probably the newest bus stop in Sunderland.
08:59I may be wrong.
09:00So just for the last few years,
09:02buses come into the town,
09:03they stopped going down Vine Place
09:05and they cut off
09:06and they come up here
09:07and they go up Stockton Road
09:08and around
09:08and back down Burden Road
09:11by where the Civic Centre used to be.
09:13Back in the 60s and 70s,
09:15there used to be a row of houses here.
09:17I never remember the name of the street,
09:18Browning Street or something.
09:20But they used to park
09:21a lot of the northern buses along here.
09:24And I have heard
09:25that some lads mainly,
09:27after a bit of an enjoyable evening
09:29out in the town,
09:30at the rink, whatever,
09:31they didn't fancy making it all the way home.
09:33They just used to press the emergency button,
09:35get on the bus
09:36and have a kip on the back seat.
09:38I don't know if anybody ever woke up in concert,
09:40but maybe that would have happened.
09:42So 1953 was quite an important year
09:44for Sunderland buses.
09:46For one thing,
09:47they started having numbers on the buses,
09:49which seems quite funny to me.
09:52They never had them before then.
09:53So we all have our favourite routes,
09:5523, number 2,
09:56up to Farringdon,
09:57wherever that might be.
09:58And also they introduced some new buses,
10:00which looked like this.
10:02So this is a Daimler,
10:05Sunderland Corporation Transport.
10:07I bought this model about 10 years ago.
10:09I think it cost 30 quid then.
10:11So it's an exact scale model.
10:13These are the buses
10:14from the Corporation Transport
10:15that I remember very well
10:16from when I was a kid.
10:17So they always had shopped bins
10:19on the front
10:20and on the side and back.
10:25So Double Maxim,
10:26Vaux's Brewery,
10:27in case you don't know it,
10:27nice model beer.
10:30And Parmers,
10:31a lot of you remember Parmers Arcade
10:33and Parmers Department Store,
10:35which is in St. Thomas Street.
10:37So this one's number 24,
10:40coming down all the way
10:41to Seatburn Camp.
10:43Now, lovely buses,
10:44they used to always have
10:45a driver, of course,
10:47and a conductor in those days.
10:49And the conductor rang the bell.
10:51They had like a little string
10:52running along the top
10:53and ding, ding.
10:53So it will be tied you
10:55if you try to pull that
10:57and not before the conductor
10:58had to go at it.
11:00So you had to get on the backs,
11:03no central door.
11:05So buses were central doors
11:06where he introduced about 1962,
11:09near the engine at the back.
11:11So he got on the front
11:12and he got off in the center.
11:14So they weren't exactly designed
11:17for people who were in wheelchairs
11:19or people who had large prams.
11:23So if you could fold anything up,
11:24then you could stick it
11:25in the back there.
11:26There wasn't much room
11:26for luggage.
11:27Otherwise,
11:28you had to find
11:29some other way
11:29of getting about.
11:31I remember reading
11:31about the early days
11:32of the Beatles in Liverpool.
11:33They had to travel by bus
11:34and Ringo somehow
11:36got his drum kit
11:37on the bus
11:38and they got all the gear
11:38on the bus.
11:40It's amazing
11:40whether you can squeeze on
11:41if you have to.
11:42Now one very good thing
11:43about these buses,
11:44of course,
11:45if you had the inclination
11:46you could jump on
11:47and jump off
11:47whenever you wanted.
11:49I do remember as a kid,
11:50I think it was the Circle bus
11:52that came up
11:52Durham Road
11:54past the,
11:56it must have been
11:56the northern side
11:57of Byrne Park
11:57then it turned up
11:58Western Hill
11:59and before it got
12:00to the bus stop
12:01it slowed down
12:01so you could jump off there
12:02and save yourself
12:03a few yards.
12:04Now you had to be careful
12:05because I remember
12:06one of my friend's dad
12:07up at Ellinwood Street
12:09I don't know quite
12:10how it happened
12:11but he fell off
12:11when he broke his leg
12:12doing this.
12:14Even worse perhaps
12:15was trying to jump on
12:16when it was moving away.
12:17If it was fairly close
12:18you could leap on
12:18and get one foot on
12:20and grab all to the pole
12:21but if you were a bit late
12:22you ended up
12:23grabbing all to the pole
12:24and your feet
12:25dashed along the ground
12:26and that could have
12:26been very dangerous.
12:28So I do miss them
12:29in a way
12:29but there were
12:30a few accidents
12:31involved in this
12:32kind of activity.
12:33So I don't think
12:33there's anybody
12:34in Sunderland
12:34that'll shed a tear
12:35about the demise
12:36of the central bus station
12:38which was just here
12:39inside where the bridges
12:41is now.
12:42So it opened 1969
12:43and closed sometime
12:44in the 1980s
12:45but I mean
12:46obviously there were doors
12:47for the buses
12:48to get in and out
12:49but the ventilation
12:49was terrible.
12:51There was terrible
12:51carbon monoxide fumes
12:53everywhere.
12:55I had a job there
12:55somewhere around
12:56April 1978
12:59it lasted about three weeks
13:00the job was issuing
13:02annual bus passes
13:03to senior citizens.
13:05Now it's a lot easier
13:07now if you know
13:07how to use a computer
13:08you go online
13:09you fill a form in
13:10and the poster card
13:11to you
13:12but in those days
13:13you had to actually
13:14physically turn up
13:15to demonstrate
13:16that you were capable
13:17of getting out
13:17of the house
13:18this was the criteria.
13:20So I'd sit there
13:21and every day
13:23there'd be a different
13:23letter of the alphabet
13:24and some days obviously
13:26were a bit busier
13:27than others
13:28so all these elderly
13:29people of a sudden
13:30would be queuing up
13:30breathing in these
13:31horrible fumes all day
13:32and it did take a long
13:33time to get through
13:34the queues
13:34so I did feel sorry
13:36for them.
13:37So some of the people
13:38then had been born
13:39way back in the
13:40Victorian era
13:41they had beautiful names
13:42there was a Eugenia
13:44a Euphemia
13:45a couple of Queenie Victorias
13:47but my favourite
13:49was Caractacus
13:50that's a hell of a name
13:51that.
13:52So like I say
13:53nobody will lament
13:54it's passing
13:54so we don't really
13:57have a central station
13:58anymore for the
13:59corporation buses
14:00so they just stopped
14:01in different parts
14:02all over the city centre.
14:04In the days of the trams
14:05we had two depots
14:06the one at the
14:06Weed Chief
14:07there's also one
14:08at the top
14:09of Silkwood Throat Bank
14:10behind the Black Swan
14:12the Monkey Duck
14:13as some people called it
14:14so they both
14:15became bus depots
14:17later on
14:17and there was also
14:18a third bus depot
14:19in Fullwell Road
14:21roundabout
14:22it's on the east side
14:24where the level crossing
14:26used to be
14:26about half way down
14:27Fullwell Road
14:28where that's long
14:29since disappeared.
14:33So I'm standing in
14:34Dundas Street now
14:35near the Waite Chafe
14:36and you can see behind me
14:38it's the only bus depot
14:40in Sunderland now
14:40so buses were deregulated
14:42in 1985
14:43and after that
14:45many different companies
14:46began to operate
14:47services
14:47so now we have
14:48Stagecoach
14:49and many other ones.
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