THE DELAINE OF BOURNE

Over a hundred and twenty years of service to south Lincolnshire

The business has origins that lie in the 19th century, back to 1890 when the horse and cart owned by William Smith was used to take Bourne folk to and from the market in Spalding.  William died in 1913 and his son Thomas acquired the first motor bus in 1919, PW1558, a 14-seat Ford model T.  Within four years by 1923 routes had been established to Peterborough, Spalding, Grantham and Stamford. Over the years the business developed substantially and has passed down through several generations of the Delaine-Smith family.  The first double-decked bus came in 1948; others were acquired through the 1950s. In 2006 the fleet size was recorded as twenty four, of which no less than eighteen were double-deckers.  Today under the fifth generation of the family, the fleet in summer 2011 numbers twenty one vehicles - of which sixteen are double-deckers, some of which are named - plus another three double-deckers in the heritage fleet. 

Principally a bus business (coaching activities ceased in 1996) the routes still radiate from Bourne to Stamford, Spalding and Peterborough, with the latter route the most important and still operated at a half hour daytime frequency.  Double deck vehicles were introduced to the route in 1948 and are still operating the busy 101 / 102 services today, albeit now one person operated (the last conductor retiring in 1987).  An hourly frequency six days a week to Peterborough started in 1976, growing to half-hourly in 1996. Route numbers were introduced in 1992. The Peterborough route was extended northwards on an hourly basis from Bourne to Morton in 1999. An earlier route northwards from Bourne to Sleaford is now but a truncated market day type operation running as far as Rippingale, and similarly atrophied is the previous route westwards to Grantham.  Another route (201) links Peterborough with Stamford and was introduced in 1988 when Barton Transport withdrew from the Stamford area.  Route 202 links Bourne to Stamford via Essendine whilst the 203 runs from Bourne to Stamford via The Deepings.

The busy Delaine route from Peterborough to Bourne continues to this day and was recently enhanced to three times an hour between The Deepings and Peterborough when Stagecoach withdrew their long standing hourly service on that route in April 2011.

The timetable illustration below is for the Peterborough route and is believed to date from the 1960s.

with many thanks to John Brogden for the loan of timetables,

and incorporating information from articles and publications

by A L Baker and A Delaine-Smith found in the libraries of Lincolnshire