Buses
Buses
Venture Bus Company
After the 1914-18 war, a Mr. Harper and a Mr Lockey commenced a daily bus service between Shotley Bridge and Newcastle. The service was started with converted army lorries and was the beginning of the present route no.11. After a few years the business was acquired by two brothers-in-law, G.R Harrison and W. T. Richardson. They operated under the fleet name Venture. They chose this name, because of the four-in-hand "Venture" coach belonging to a local colliery proprietor Major Priestman who was pleased to have the name carried on by the new Venture Buses.
At the same time as Harper and Lockey were commencing operations after the 1914-18 war, the Reed Brothers of Sunniside were preparing to recommence carrying passengers by road, a business which had lapsed as a result of that war. There were five Reed brothers who before the war had carried on a motor repair garage business at Sunniside with private cars for hire and an agency for Overtime Farm Tractors. They started operating a service between Bensham Tramcar terminus and the villages of Whickham, Sunniside, Marley Hill and Burnopfield.
In April 1914 they took delivery of a new 28 seat Halley charabanc which had only a short spell in service before being commandeered by the government for war service in September of that year . The chassis only was taken and the Reeds had to dispose of the body at a greatly reduced price after the war.
With the advent of war, four of the brothers joined His Majesty's Forces.
New bus
The fifth brother took a job on munitions and so the business lapsed until early 1918. In 1919 the business was formed into a limited company Reed Brothers Limited. Early in 1930, Reed Brothers Limited and Venture Bus Service Limited agreed to operate their services jointly and to pool their receipts. They operated under the fleet name Venture and Reed Brothers.
Reed's 'new' bus
In the 30s the business grew with the acquisition of other smaller companies and new bus routes. These included, in 1930, J E Walker of Edmundbyers (The Pioneer Bus Service), JR and RB Parker and J Clydesdale, both of Chopwell, also in 1930, and Robson Brothers whose Consett-based operation was acquired in 1933, with their High Spen services (the Yellow Bus Service) being taken over in 1934, these two services being run under the name of Robson Brothers Ltd. Finally, the business of Mrs Annie Bessford of High Spen was bought out in 1934 and became part of Robson Brothers Ltd.. All these services - Reed Brothers, Venture, and Robsons were eventually put into a new limited company, The Venture Transport Company (Newcastle ) Limited in 1938. The common livery for all its buses was yellow and maroon.
The situation at the outbreak of the Second World War was a newly formed company with a varied fleet of vehicles. Fortunately 34 vehicles had been delivered between 1937 and 1939. Throughout the war years only two vehicles were taken into stock.
During this time vehicles were often required at short notice to operate on troop transport under direction from the government. Due to fuel rationing several routes were withdrawn or curtailed, including the moor land route between Shotley Bridge and Stanhope.
After the war the company again began to expand and benefit from the lucrative traffic, which was available to most bus operators in the early post war years. In common with most other bus operators, the company, by 1959, had felt the decline in passenger traffic, which had been steadily taking place since the middle 1950s. In order to make economies, particularly on the money losing rural services, one-man operation was introduced in 1959.
Northern bus ticket
The original Reed Brother Limited liveries were green and cream, and the fleet of Venture services were red, maroon and white. When the pooling arrangement was in force the vehicles were painted yellow and maroon. In 1959 cream was introduced in the livery. In 1967 the company's head office was in Consett and the main depot and workshops were in Blackhill. In 1969 the Venture fleet, which comprised 85 vehicles with a yellow, maroon and cream livery, was sold the Northern Bus Company.
Fare Table
Michael Reed (nicknamed Mr. Venture)
Michael Reed, the son of Jack the only surviving Reed brother, was always interested in the business and as he got older was allowed to go to the shareholders meetings as his father's representative. He was not allowed to say anything but just to write everything down. Michael well remembers the day in 1969 when his father told him that he'd supported an approach from the Northern Bus Company to sell Venture Reed. He was very, very upset but it was a very good offer at a time when the future of Consett Iron Company, a major source of revenue, was in doubt.
Northern promised to retain the Venture name and livery, but this was discontinued a couple of years later and it seemed that the Venture had gone forever. In 1980, Michael was running a garage and car dealership when, he was visited by a member of the North East Bus Preservation Society. The subject turned to buses and of course Venture Buses and resulted in Michael becoming an N.E.B.P.S. member.
Shortly afterwards came the news that JPT 544, the sole complete survivor of 60 Daimler CVD 6 vehicles delivered to Venture from 1946 to 1948, had been found behind a London pub in a rather sorry state. Venture had converted this particular bus into a motor caravan for use by employees who took it on their holidays.
After wondering whether he really wanted a sick Daimler the vehicle was collected (on a low loader) by enthusiast Ted Heslop. The bus when it arrived was not a happy sight. Water had penetrated the roof and the interior was in a very poor state.
Time being at a premium he advertised for a coach-builder to come and do the work. The job centre sent over a Jack Farrel, a pattern maker by trade, which was not what he wanted but he said, " give me two weeks and I'll show you what I can do".
The result was that Jack was there for seven months and achieved fantastic results. The engine overhaul was done in house. Six years later l had realised half way through the project that the coach would have to pay for its self. He eventually acquired three more vehicles. The Daimler is very popular for weddings and other private hires. Michael or "Mr Venture", as he is nicknamed, has no plans to start bus services but his one ambition is to have a running day with all four surviving Venture vehicles operating from Consett to Newcastle.
Mr and Mrs Edward Reed
Mr and Mrs Edward Reed, parents of Reed Brothers, Motor Bus Proprietors lived at Haydon House which was built for them. Edward, an engineman at Marley Hill pit, died at Streetgate in 1915.