LONDON TRANSPORT 

 

 

Often mis-named 'Pre-war' RT's 2-151 were actually on stock in 1940-41. Here, No.33 departs Chiswick on a training run in April 1962. These venerable oldies lasted  only until the following year on such duties before being replaced by RTWs and earlier examples of their post-war brethren.

 

ICONIC No.1 THE PROTOTYPE OF 1939 HAS BEEEN SUPERBLY RESTORED AND IS CURRENTLY THE SUBJECT OF A MAJOR APPEAL FOR FUNDS TO ENABLE ITS INCLUSION AS PART OF THE COBHAM EXPERIENCE, OTHERWISE IT WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY GO ABROAD

This must not be allowed to happen! - PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN 

 

LATEST NEWS - £145,000 NOW PLEDGED. ONLY £5,000 TO GO. DON'T LOSE IT NOW!!!!

 

every little helps (with apologies to Tesco!)

 

www.lbpt.org/rt1appeal

            

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As you might expect I had to start here, once the largest and most famous operator in the world whose vehicles were instantly recognised all over the globe. Although, as a child, I can just remember a few STL's about, and particularly the day I was allowed to help the conductor change the upstairs front blind on a country area one approaching Beaconsfield, and have vaguer memories of other pre-war types such as country area ST's in Watford, and what I now know to have been Q's on the 226, I grew up with the replacement fleet RT's RTL's RTW' RF's etc. so this page will feature these extensively along with later survivors of the trolleybus fleet, their replacement Routemasters and a few lesser and newer types in time. With the benefit of free and concessionary travel for twenty-five years I must have ridden tens of thousands of miles over and over again to and from all corners of the system on LT services operated by these types. So, although my countless photographic sorties were very often without specific objectives they have certainly left me with an extensive collection of views to offer you.         

There's a separate page for UK municipal trolleybuses, but those I managed to snap of the last four stages of the London conversion programme will be included here. There's a starting selection in the paragraph that follows this one.

When the last of them had gone their silent, pollution-free way I, and I'm sure most enthusiasts at the time, were more than a little shell-shocked and could hardly then have forecast that it would take a further seventeen years for their successors (Routemasters) and the ragbag of types that followed to finally see off the last of the post-war standard icons in 1979 - indeed how grateful we were! By then the Routemaster was already a twenty-five year old concept and if someone had predicted at that time that I'd still be able to ride on one in normal service more than another quarter of a century hence then I'm sure I'd have directed him to the nearest asylum! I grew up in the Willesden/Cricklewood area and well remember occasional excited teenage spottings of the prototypes on routes 2 8 260 and 716 but never to my certain knowledge rode on them at the time.

 

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It's April 1962 outside Chiswick LT Works at Gunnersbury. Despite its outwardly good condition K1 class trolleybus 1101, delivered late 1938 is well into its 23rd year ( including six years of WWII) and had probably clocked up something near to a million service miles. It has just a couple of weeks to go before it is confined to a fiery fate and Routemasters take over on replacement route 117. It is quite amazing that the Leyland Motors concern built and delivered complete to LPTB between 1935 and 1941 something over 480 vehicles more or less identical to this, plus another 275 chassis only for bodying by another manufacturer. Four of them have, however, thankfully survived into preservation. two in working order including, amazingly, No.1253 the previously 45 years dormant LT Museum owned example, which gave a good account of itself performing a limited number of runs for passengers at Carlton Colville in 2006.

 

 

 

                                                     

 .................................. end of story

 

It's 7th November 1965 and its the first day of service on Route 24 for these 'modern upstarts' A batch of 50 of these Leyland Atlanteans was bought for performance comparison with RML Routemasters and fared none too well. Their less than satisfactory service performance may have had more than a little to do with LT Engineers then unfamiliarity with something with its engine not where they might have preferred it to be, but overall it was a costly experiment and after very few years the buses were pensioned off to Hong Kong. At Pimlico terminus XA12 is already in trouble as the Chalk Farm Garage engineers head for the rear to sort out what I suspect was an overheating engine. In the second shot XA 19 arrives behind and its crew, and two young male passengers watch with interest. Were they, like me, enthusiasts out for a first day ride? If you recognise yourself and are still interested in London buses contact me. 

Eight outwardly identical (except for livery) Daimler Fleetlines with Gardner engines and, by all accounts, a better drive-train arrangement acquired at the same time proved to be somewhat better, and this factor did much to set the seal on the Executive's double-deck vehicle buying policy in the following decade

 

 

 

AEC Merlin/Strachan XMB15 is caught departing Tring (TG) garage on 15th February 1969 on its first public service journey to Aldbury. Long delays in getting this bus onto the road meant that it acquired and then lost two registrations  JLA58D  & NHX15E before finally settling for SMM15F

 

 

The date is   ***June 1967, and captured on film at Brimsdown, at the end of its very first revenue service journey on, route 34B, with its crew proudly posing is the unique rear-engined Routemaster FRM1. It later worked onto its to be regular first route, the 76 but got only as far as Waterloo on its first central London bound journey due to late running and traffic congestion, disappointing many a waiting enthusiast  between there and Victoria. In its modified form with a number of mechanical changes and opening windows in place of the troublesome forced-air ventilation system ( which history records, might almost have destroyed it within a few weeks) it is retained now by London Transport Museum and ventures out occasionally.

 

 

Unpainted RM664 near Putney Bridge in the sort of weather that suited its decor (or lack of it!) admirably.

 

 

 

When full Aldenham overhauls were cut back in the mid-1960s and garage re-paints started there were a number of daft errors on the part of  the workmen involved which resulted in a few RM's being outshopped with wrong registration numbers, and this not being detected before they were put back on the road. Here, passing the old Army & Navy Stores building in Victoria Street in 1967 RM1807 has its front number the wrong way round. It should of course be 807 DYE. and yes, you guessed it - the rear number was correct and nobody noticed it for days! The bus doesn't look particularly shiny so in this case this may actually have been the result of  front end accident damage repair

 

 

 

In the last years of the lowbridge double-decker in London it sometimes became necessary for country area liveried examples to operate on the 230 route when  red examples were not available. Harrow Weald (HD) garage had two for a while, RLH's 17 and, seen here on a rather murky day at Rayners Lane alongside red RLH57, RLH28.  The last of the type ran in 1971.

 

 

Time of transition - A DMS Daimler Fleetline is determined to get in on the act with these two ageing RT's serving one of the last routes to be operated by the type, which finally bowed out in 1979 almost forty years since the first one was built but, strangely, only about twenty since the last one was put into service.  Due to contracting passenger numbers in the mid 1950s quite a number were not then needed and stored new from 1954-1959.

 

 

To combat serious operating staff shortages from the mid-1960's LT all but abandoned working its tour and private hire business with its own resources and contracted much of it out.  In 1964 Valliant Coaches of Ealing provided, and presumably crewed  this Duple bodied AEC for the Round London Sightseeing Tour.

 

 

A period of great fascination perhaps for many enthusiasts but I prefer to forget LTE's 1970s as they remind me of the bitter lessons none too quickly learned over sometimes ill thought out aspects of the Re-Shaping Plan, especially the failure to get the travelling public 'on side'. Then there was the shambles with hundreds of unreliable and unserviceable buses, and the need to go cap in hand to provincial operators to hire anything they had to spare to  keep services running. I was still working for the organisation but my home was then in the east midlands and I really could not raise much enthusiasm for chasing them with my camera, so this is the result of one of only a couple of special efforts I made. One of the 1965 Massey bodied Southend Corporation Leyland PD3s (still with exposed radiator) working the 190 to Old Coulsdon. Provincial operators obviously also had their troubles as I subsequently saw some of these buses at work on loan to London country and Cardiff City Transport.

 

 

 

The new order - West Croydon 2003. You might be confused - These routes are probably already operated, if at all, under different numbers by a different operator and different colour buses, such is the process by which these things are done nowadays. My limited record of the post de-regulation London scene will eventually appear on this page although there is a separate one for the post 1986 scene elsewhere.

 

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THIS PARAGRAPH IS CURRENTLY BEING REFURBISHED AND RE-INSTATED

 

LONDON'S LAST TROLLEYBUSES

 

 

Beginners luck! - This is it - the very first photo of a trolleybus I took. It's Isleworth depot in early May of 1960 after my friend and I had been to London Airport. Why o why didn't I take some more of them passing on the road and stopping a while to change crews etc? - we rode one back to the Seven Stars and changed to a 660. I was more impressed by the shiny new silver tube stock on the Piccadilly Line on that day, but the negatives I took of those have beeen long lost I'm sorry to admit.

 

....and these two rather less satisfactory efforts, both in more or less the same place, were the only other Q! shots I got........................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

I'll kick off here with most of the rest of my earliest efforts. Not very commendable I admit. The first few are my only record of this group of services. They must have been taken before 26th April 1961 as route 659 is included, near Tramway Avenue and Edmonton Depot. Sadly this indicates that I missed the 679 and 627 completely even though they were passing this spot. The 649 soldiered on till July. These early shots show that, notwithstanding the above, I had to learn to use my camera by trial and error. Not to take moving trolleys with the single slow speed shutter, not to take pictures against the sun and to remember that even with a square format I didn't have to settle for upright fronts, etc etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite showing the full extent of the northbound route on its blinds 1187 is heading down Tramway Avenue to the depot. Just another staff cut I suppose.

 

 

The only shot on the road I got of a K3. Seems I didn't get one of a P1 at all

 

 

The foolishness of youth! - One summer evening in 1960 I went to Camden Town taking my usual ride to North Finchley, thence on to Wood Green where I jumped on a 629. I actually took the camera this time. I had only about four exposures left on my roll of film and thought I'd try and capture a couple of views of that route. Unfortunately a certain bright and shining modern vehicle in the shape of CRL4 came into view and, so excited was I, that I snapped three shots of it - one of the results will appear elsewhere on this page soon. Thus I was left with just one shot and I snapped this approaching 629 which was actually my conveyance back to Wood Green. But look! - see which trolleybus it just happened to be. Little was I to know then that  a dozen years later, and right through to 1987 I would be seeing it virtually every day in the course of my work and could not have dreamed that I would be able to take a ride on it again at Carlton Colville in 2006. Now, just about fifty years after the above, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I took a lengthy ride in service on No.1253, which fate was to save as the Museum of British Transport's and later London Transport Museum's preserved example. As for Route 629, well, apart from a failed last night attempt I never rode on pointed my camera at one again and, guess what - I can still photograph CRL4 (RMC4) today! - oh! the foolishness of youth.

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

.......the rest were of  my local area services

 

 

 

 

1602 sported a Charlton made route number blind till the end

 

 

1378 was, I think, the best of the four L2's that came to Stonebridge early in 1961. It lasted in service until the November

 

 

 

Too fast! - 1644 speeds along Willesden High Road. In 1960. Like all others this largely Victorian construction High Road consisted of many traditional shops, not wall to wall pound shops and clones of chain stores as today.  I can remember the Scottish Dyers and Cleaners which I used a few times, a Dolcis footwear shop with an early 'magic eye' type automatic door opener, and another I recall was Metro Radio by the Willesden Library stop that 1644 is approaching - an independent pre-Currys/Comet era store for TV Radio and Music. Almost washed out behind the left hand side of the trolley in the photo is the Spotted Dog public house which I passed by recently for the first time in over three decades, and saw that it is now abandoned and derelict. On the right in the far distance was Thomas Charkham, bespoke mens tailor ( whose suits I could never afford so went to Burtons!) He had TC1 on his car number plate and got good publicity by complaining one day when Tommy Cooper used it without permission on one of his TV shows. 

 

 

1621 approaching Willesden Green Station stop. The lack of traffic and absence of any parking restriction is notable

 

 

 

 

Less usual view of 1617 entering the depot at Stonebridge. I should have ensured that the whole of its poles was included

 

 

 

In the opposite direction to 1644 this Finchley L3 heads north. The flashy parked  car is a Vauxhall Cresta whose owner then would have been quite well-heeled

 

 

 

Other, later, scrapyard views are included further down the page, however this one from late in 1960. Second from left here is Hanwell's 773, a late H1 withdrawal 

 

I happily spotted them whenever I could and managed to get to few not too far flung places on the system using the then new fangled Red Rovers c1957-58, however I was less interested for a while after that and was a bit slow to realise what was going on on the trolleybus scene. I think the disasterous 1958 bus strike may have had something to do with that because I took to my bike a lot and pursued different interests. Six and a half weeks without any buses or trolleybuses to spot was a long time for an active teen. The lasting damage that this did would have repercussions for a generation.

 

Friends got me back in touch again early in 1960 but money was not available for Red Rovers then as I was saving for a school continental trip which was late in April. One of them with me on that just happened to mention that a lot of trolleybuses were being taken off and scrapped at Colindale and soon after our return to home soil we started to visit there to see for ourselves. I had a new camera but it did not enter my head at first to use it to capture any of this sad scenery. This included my only spotting of a 'South African' as No.1762 lasted well into the May, some nine months after withdrawal, in use as a seat store latterly near the main gateway.   In the July, on a glorious summer evening we cycled all the way to Hammersmith. It was the last night of trolleys from that depot but again I didn't take the camera. I think perhaps that I still had no money to buy a film . It would have done me proud though as we stopped a couple of times at Scubs Lane and White City to witness small convoys of redundant electrics  (F1's and K1/K2's) wending their way to Colindale for a date with the scrapman. To cap all that I repeated the folly sometime later, cycling all the way to Hanwell and then got a (still sans camera) Red Rover again, starting by taking a 660 to North Finchley where I picked up a ride to Wood Green on the 521. My conveyance on that was the strangely surviving and unusual No. 954 which I had sometime before also sampled on the 660. Not only that, I then got a ride on the 641 on No.829, about the last surviving H1. Another day we got into Highgate Depot and were soon unceremoniously thrown out, but not before I solved the mystery of the missing (from my 1959 ABC underlines) of N1 No. 1606. As my local routes were by now run with the bulk of the survivors of this class of east end exiles the gap had been annoying me for some months. It didn't occur to me that it might have been scrapped early or allocated elsewhere I just knew that I should keep looking out for it. The first N1, 1555 and N2 1662 I never saw so perhaps they never came from east to north-west.

 

Continuing our visits to Colindale scrapyard during 1960 and early 1961 I specially recall early on sightings there of 829 and 954 again after their days were over and some other late disposal H1s including 773 and 774. I particularly remember seeing 1001B and 1007B and what I think was 1543B or 1545B. Later in 1961 more and more Leyland K's arrived. The cab door of No.1111 was temptingly left detached one evening but (perish the thought!) it was far too heavy to cycle home with. It was sad to view the K3's and P1's - 17xx numbers!! I later wished they had been allowed to run on the 657 to provide a bit of variety!  Not sure why but I somehow managed to miss out on the  Q1 withdrawals and knew nothing of their sale until the last had gone, and the silly thing was that 123 of them, over about three or four months, must have gone past Willesden Green Station (my nearest trolleybus serving point) in order to get over to Shoreditch, the nearest they would have got to the docks under power then - A crystal ball would have been useful for the person who arranged the overhead dismantling - a lot of effort could have been saved perhaps if the 647 wires had been left a while. I did wake up, photographically speaking, in early 1961 and took the camera (with newly acquired flashgun and bulbs, a recent 17th birthday present) to Wood Green on the night of 26th April when route 629 (among others) was due for the chop. However a combination of lack of knowledge of film types ( I tried to use a gifted roll of slow Pan F)  and the absolutely foul weather that those present will recall denied me any usable record of the route as it ran its last. 

 

By stages 11 & 12 I got more active but still missed out on much of what I had the opportunity to record. I did better when the sad date for the end of my local services (660/666/645/662) came in earliest days of 1962, and for the final stage in May. I was denied the chance to see the daytime closing ceremonies in the Fulwell area and that famous run of the Diddler No.1 due to having to sit an exam, but I was determined to see the last one home that night. I achieved that ambition because Dad got me there, and back again afterwards, having to borrow a friends car for the purpose.

 

                                                                    ---ooo000ooo---

 

 

 

TROLLEYBUS SERVICES WITHDRAWN 7th NOVEMBER 1961

 

 

 

This was actually the first photo of a trolleybus I took with my new 35mm camera, an Ilford Sportsman. The next trolleybus to come along here, (next view) at Wood Green, was a 643 which had only days to go, so this is dated to July 1961.

 

 

 

Oops! well, this was the first reel in my new camera. Seems I put in it incorrectly for the sprockets intrude onto the edge of the frame and I did not get all the trolleybus in. If there were any of those ominous yellow notices about regarding this route I did not notice them, but I recall going back again only a couple of weeks later and it had become a 243 bus so no further record of the 643 regrettably.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No.1311 has put on the notches to climb Jolly Butchers Hill at Wood Green but its driver will have come off the power pedal a little at this point as he is about to pass under the frog taking a set of wires into the depot. Many dewirements resulted from passing this type of overhead junction too quickly. 

 

 

There was, strangely, not a similar facility for those coming the other way. No.1252 is having its poles lowered by the conductor in order that it can enter the depot from the north, either on gravity, for there was a good gradient here, or battery power. This negative is 49 years old and until now has never before been shown in the positive 

 

 

Early inexperience with the new camera meant that I sometimes took shots like this, however, although I should have ensured that the poles and wires were completely within the frame the shot does display an angle of view not often recorded. This is a Leyland K on route 641 in Wood Green.

 

 

 

No.1246 is at Turnpike Lane Station. This bus apparently, due to wartime damage, had a roof profile flatter than that of the rest of its class. The shallower front dome is noticeable here

 

 

Nos 1252 and 1251 share the front line at Wood Green depot with a Routemaster dressed for the service that had not long before replaced trolleybus service 629

 

 

No.1353 treads unfamiliar territory for its type working an enthusiasts tour. It is under the 645/660 wires at Cricklewood Lane near the Broadway (forever AEC territory!) and the date is a murky afternoon of 5th. November 1961. The frog here was set for the right turning 645s to Canons Park so the conductor is pulling the lever to set it for a run accross the Broadway into Chichele Road to follow the 660 routeing. Perhaps it has already visited the two inner London terminii due to lose their trolleybuses in a couple of days time, namely Moorgate and Holborn. Where did it go from here? I think the tour was under the auspices of the PSV Circle so its itinerary will be a matter of record

 

 

L3 1460 is at North Finchley. Its driver is approaching to take it on a run to Holborn Circus 

 

 

 

A less common view of the nearside of a standard London trolleybus is afforded by No.1488 resting, poles down, between runs to and from Moorgate

 

TROLLEYBUS SERVICES WITHDRAWN ON 2ND JANUARY 1962

 

 

 

No.1461 passes Colindale Depot in December 1961. Not sure whether this one was considered good enough to be transferred to Fulwell a couple of weeks later - if not, on or about 3rd January it will travel from Finchley for the last time to the scrapyard on land very near here.

 

 

No. 1462 is at more or less the same spot as the above photo but is viewed from across the road

 

 

N1 1582 sweeps into Colindale depot yard having come from the North Finchley direction. The road right through the depot to turn round and come back  ready to depart was a long one requiring more than one frog pull, so often the poles would be lowered and a battery turn would be effected.This was a Sunday and there were some scheduled short turns here on this day.

 

 

N2 1658 has negotiated the roundabout at Sudbury (Swan) terminus of the 662 and is approaching the stand for a few minutes rest before its next long slog to Paddington

 

 

 

N2 1661 at speed in the Harrow Road Paddington near to the general hospital

 

 

No.1373 was one of four L2 class that initially finished their working lives at Highgate depot in January 1961 but were retained as spares. A number ofStonebridge's N1/N2/L3 vehicles were falling by the wayside at this time and these four (the others were 1370 1377 and 1378) were drafted into there whence they saw about another 8-10 months of service, finally keeping their delayed date with the scrapman between August and November. They almost always seemed to be rostered to the 662 although I personally rode all four at different times on the 660 or 666.

 

STAGE 13 - THE MEMORABLE FINAL DAYS

 

As I start the re-writing for this page in the first week of 2010 we are in the midst of one of the coldest spells for many a year - snow is a foot or more deep in our garden and I cannot help but be reminded of the conditions that prevailed for the last three days of operation of trolleybuses in the north-west London area. Sunday 31st December 1961 saw heavy arrivals of the white stuff driven by bitter strong winds. I personally did not venture out on this day knowing that I intended to make special efforts on the Monday and Tuesday. I now wish that I had. The conditions continued on new years day 1962 and, to a lesser extent, on the following day which was the last day before Routemasters were set to take over. Not for nothing did the LT staff magazine later refer to this stage as 'snowy thirteen'. Valliant efforts were made by all concerned to maintain services in the face of appalling weather conditions which caused some serious technical problems, not only for the aged rolling stock and equipment, but also for the replacement buses  which were getting frozen while being prepared in the garages! These were conditions that the London trolleybus would not live to witness again and they presented a great opportunity for photographers. Here's just a few of my efforts - I'll add some others in due course. Numerous other photographers made more of this occasion that I was able to and other views can be seen in the numerous books published in recent years. There's also some excellent cine film included on the LTPS/Online Video DVD London's Trolleybuses Part II

 

 

 

 

Monday 1st January 1961 and the weather has closed in with a vengeance. N1 1627 has seemingly reached Craven Park on the 662 but its blind is set for Stonebridge Depot. Any 662s working short from Sudbury direction into the depot would normally go an extra mile to here as there was no wired routeing to access the depot from that direction. Given the appalling conditions here 1627 faces a hazardous sharp hairpin left turn just ahead where it will then proceed about three hundred yards along Craven Park Road to a turning circle atop Church Road to get back into the Harrow Road to reach the depot

 

 

 

At Harlesden Jubilee Clock stops on 1st January 1962 N2 1661 is on the 660 and has already taken the outer set of wires here to enable its right turn at the clock to make for Hammersmith. Another N2 follows on the 662 as the frog  (seen above it) will reset for it to keep to the inner wires and turn left for the Paddington direction. Not long afterwards the planners took advantage of the trolley-less situation and made this stretch of road one-way in the opposite direction. If you wanted to shop at Woolworths or British Home Stores here and you came on a replacement  (for 662) 18 bus this none too clever bit of highway engineering gave you a long walk back as buses in the Paddington direction had to go via Manor Park Road. A 660 replacement 260 bus could get you a little nearer. Such was the way of early traffic management schemes such as this which seemed only to consider what would be best for vehicles and ignored other factors.  

 

 

 

Meanwhile No.1641 sets out past the depot fan to try and get to Sudbury. There being no other trolleybus services along this road prospective passengers will know that it is a 662 but might just have to guess whether it was going all the way! There were some appalling gaps that day to all destinations

 

 

 

L3 1529 was the highest numbered of the 150 L3 class of AEC chassisless vehicles. On the last day 2nd January it is here at Craven Park seemingly defiant to the end. It looks quite smart, maybe because it was the last of the type to be overhauled (probably in 1959), however this would not save it as after any further operation that day its next trip was to be to the scrapyard. It was one of a handful that were fitted with sliding window vents in a rather unusual configuration instead of the normal drop type - the nearside upper deck had three openers. In fact it went on to operate until very near the end that night and was photographed entering the depot, working ( presumably) one of the last 662's from Paddington Green at the head of two unidentifiable followers. 1666, the last 660 may have been one of them as the photo below comes from the next negative on the strip. Sisters 1521 1522 1523 1525 1526 1527 and 1528 were among those that migrated westwards to serve at Fulwell for several more weeks.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, around the corner N1 1633 is in similar pose, however this time the crew can be seen sitting inside. again, As it is set for route 666 this must have been on a starting run from the depot as here it would gain access, either way to its proper line of route. Perhaps, too, this was a mechanical/electrical problem. I expect someone knows - please tell all.

 

 

 

 

 

 Also on the last day N1 1644 rests in a traffic jam between Craven Park and Jubilee Clock. It has been turned short here, probably for late running and will only go as far as Paddenswick Road a mile or so before the Hammersmith terminus. The spirit of British enterprise 1960s style is evident here as Mr J A Fowler, a lawnmower engineer(!) goes about his business.

 

............and then came the end (in north-west London anyway)

 

 

 

N2 No. 1666  does the honours at Stonebridge Depot  in the early hours of  3rd January 1962 to close the near-25-year reign of the 660. As my friend lived very near to here and I could stay with him afterwards this was the last one home choice we made though there were I suppose similar ceremonies at Finchley and Colindale Depots for their particular 'lasts'. We did consider earlier in the evening trying to get along to Colindale using a 112 bus and a 645/666 but given the (even then) notorious normal weather unreliability of the North Circular Road service were afraid we might not get back to witness this. Probably not though this was well after 1.00am I recall. A little afterwards I removed a front destination blind from N2 1657 in the depot and scribbled on its end at the time 1.57am 3rd January 1962. It's in the attic somewhere and you can still read this. No other photos of this occasion appear to have been published in the plethora of books on the subject down the years so maybe this, and two others I have as she entered the depot for the last time, are unique. It's a sobering thought for me that I was just seventeen when I snapped this - in less than two years now it'll be fifty years since - old age creepeth on!

 

MORE OF THE FOREGOING TO FOLLOW 

 

TROLLEYBUS SERVICES WITHDRAWN 8th MAY 1962 - THESE WERE LONDON'S LAST

 

 

 

Just  two depots remained after early January 1962 to service the routes that were to continue till May in the south-west suburbs. Isleworth was very small and operated only the 657 from Shepherds Bush to Hounslow. For its last fifteen months or so it lost its smart postwar BUT Q1's which were sold to Spain and made do with selected remainining examples of the old but still quite serviceable Leyland K types dating from 1938-39. I had my first colour slide film as an eighteenth birthday present with strict  parental instructions not to 'waste' it on buses or trains. I almost did as I was told and used only the last five frames of which this was by far the best. 1274, seen here at the Hounslow terminus, later went on to be the very last 657 to run into the depot on 8th May

 

 

 

1058 heading for Hounslow rounds Youngs Corner Chiswick - the point where it joined route 667.Was it at this late stage the lowest numbered trolleybus running. Numerically it was only the fourth member of the large 'K' class. I don't recall seeing 1055-57 so these were probably scrapped at earlier stages.

 

 

1117 is at Goldhawk Road almost in the shadow of the bridge that still today takes the Underground Hammersmith & City Line over the road. After a couple more stiops it will circumnavigate Shepherds Bush Green to stand on the south side before heading back to Hounslow. Then it terminated and stood under a row of dark run-down Victorian three-storey houses. The site today is that of a major shopping precinct

 

 

 

1445 is atTeddington in typical British weather. I remember that there was, at this time, a slogan adopted by the then publicly owned electricity boards which conveyed the messaage 'BETTER THINGS ARE ELECTRIC' Someone had got hold of a sticker stating this and placed on the rear window of 1445 and maybe others too.

 

 

That same wet day sees 1516 arriving in King Street Twickenham. Immediately to the right and out of view in this photo was the turning circle used by terminating 601's

 

 

1526 rests at Fulwell Depot

 

 

On a wet and windy day sometime just before the end 1514 leaves Fulwell Depot to take up a run to Malden on the 605. If anyone knows who the cine camera user seen here is please let me know. I photographed him filming 1514 and he probably filmed me photographing 1514 and him! I'd think that, like me, he'll be a pensioner now.

 

 

 

1401 stands at the gates of Richmond Park, the terminus of Route 603

 

 

On Good Friday 1962 (20th April) I was out in thankfully much better weather, and decided to take a trip to the Dittons when this 602 came along in Kingston. We hadn't got far, in fact only to the junction of Eden Street when 1521 lost it! Not sure why, unless it was going a little too fast over the frog here. I dashed out to photograph this animated scene, not having any clue that I was recording an interesting episode in the dwindling service life of what would turn out to be London's ceremonial last trolleybus.  Interestingly the elderly looking conductor seems not to have attempted a re-poling and it's up to a passing inspector to have a go. The driver is only just leaving his cab! With power restored I continued to the destination (actually The Dittons - this appears to be the 603 display) where photography was no good due to bright reflecting sun. Today, of course, 1521 can still be ridden on, at Carlton Colville Lowestoft, hopefully though without too many mishaps such as this. NB This has been rather over-cropped as I'm sure the whole of the inspector wielding the bamboo is included and also much of 1521's wayward pole. I'll have a go at improving it sometime

 

 

TUESDAY 8TH MAY 1962 - EVENING...............

 

 

wot! only twenty pages - how times have changed. Still it was only 3d (just over 1p) then and wasn't able to fill itself with pages of adverts for cheap cruises and grossly overdo the importance of sport,fashion and food. I asked the vendor to pose for this and he obliged.

 

.............AND YES. THE END WAS DEFINITELY NEAR

 

 

I think it was rag week for local colleges and this little procession signalled the imminent arrival of London's Last Trolleybus at Fulwell

 

Before all this though, scores became hundreds and hundreds became a few thousand well-wishers gathered at the gates of the depot to witness the end ( for, as it has turned out, about thirty-five years anyway) of electric street traction in London. A few shots which record the memorable scene are reproduced here................. They are placed more or less in the order that they were taken and show some of the last service buses on the routes being operated. before the arrival of 1521 as the ceremonial last. If you were there and have any recollections/memories to add to this paragraph please contact me or use the Guest Book

 

 

 

I made two separate trips to Hampton Court during the evening. On the earlier one I caught 1395 laying over at the stand still with a trip to Wimbledon and back to complete

 

 

 

.......and 1431 followed

 

 

Back near to FW this 667 driver thinks as he belts along, if I go fast I'll finish sooner. Just one more Hammersmith and back

 

 

Can't recall the exact timing here but, of course, the 604 ceremonial last run was, in fact, just that and 1521 is leaving to go to Wimbledon (?) to start it. Its driver, not in regulation uniform here was one of the oldest then employed and, I think, retired that night.

 

 

This driver is in uniform, including his white topped cap. A late 667 journey to Hampton Court

 

 

I got some good exercise that night running along South Road to and fro between Wellington Road and Stanley Road to be at the two exits of the depot when necessary. Here 1411 heads along the latter for Tolworth. It was the last 601 to that destination. 

 

 

I heard someone say this was the last 603 but I'm not sure. Anyway someone had been fiddling with  the destination blinds

 

 

1472 was another of those with sliding windows. On this last night however it was out of use and had clearly already had its day

 

 

......and so, it seems had this row

 

 

.........and this trio

 

 

I think this was the last 601 from the Twickenham direction

 

 

One of the last service 604s from Wimbledon

 

 

1493 performed the last journey by a 667 from Hampton Court to Fulwell. 'Enthusiasts' are seen in the lower deck removing bulbs and one was trying to get a seat cushion!

I rode this back to Fulwell

 

 

 

.....and here it is. I quickly jumped off to take this shot. The conductor looks as if he does not intend to hang around either! It was fully ten minutes after this that it dawned on me that this was my last ever London trolleybus ride., in service anyway, for even an enthusiasts wildest dreams then could not have envisaged what we now enjoy at the operational museums.

 

 

 

 

 

and here is 1411 again arriving at the depot. It is a pity that my flash was so direct for it has obliterated much of the scrawling on the front which reads

"THE LAST 601 FROM TOLWORTH"

Souvenir hunters had already left their mark

 

 

.......and yes, the end was now very near

Don't know who the bow-tied gent was buit he was clearly enjoying the occasion. A new Routemaster heralds the imminent arrival of 1521

 

 

..........here she comes

 

 

...nearer

 

 

 

..............and nearer

 

 

 

last minute scramble. The inspector is almost overwhelmed  - I didn't try to get on

 

 

 

farewell

 

 

THE END - and it started to rain!

 

 

 

Somehow everyone quickly disappeared and somehow got home (there were hardly any cars around). About ten minutes later I found my dad, patiently waiting in the borrowed car for me, and it was home to bed. I treasure my memories of the occasion to this day

 

NB: I have a new Epson film scanner and these last night shots are my first results from it. I'm a little disappointed at the definition standard. The problem for me at the time was that small electronic flash units were not yet on the market and I used old fashioned bulbs. The falsh duration (by which the exposure is made) of these is barely a thirtieth of a second, not it seems fast enough to arrest the movement of the vehicles  fully, however I know that in the past I've had prints that look better than these scans. Another problem is that the negative strips have become slightly curved widthways with age and have not laid competely flat in the scanner. I will probably try again soon so these images may disappear for while  

   ---ooo000ooo---

 

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons once sang 'Big Girls Don't Cry'. I don't know about that, but I'll bet that a few big boys did on being confronted by scenes like this. 

 

 

If you ever saw this you may now shed a tear.......again

 

 This was the sad fate of all but the nine London trolleybuses that escaped the cutters torch to be (to this day) safely preserved for us all to enjoy. We can today see and in some cases still ride on Nos. 1 260 796(in Paris)  1201 1253 1343 1521 1768 and 1812. I believe that one or two of the Q!'s are still extant in Spanish museums too.

 

Early, (mid-1950s) withdrawals  were seen off by a variety of breakers notably Birds of Stratford-on-Avon and about fifty were even taken all the way to South Wales I think. When the conversion scheme was underway a yard at Charlton in SE London was used. Under the name Penhall Road this had also seen the breaking of many London trams a decade earlier. However the bulk of the job was carried out by George Cohen's 600 Group contractors at the rear of Colindale Depot from mid-1959 to mid-1962 where over a thousand met their unceremonious ends.

 

 

 

 

These  AEC/Park Royal N2's, easily recognised by their wide upper deck front window pillars, ended their days at Stonebridge in January 1962. No doubt 1666, the last 660 (see above) is in their midst somewhere

 

 

 

You could rarely see much or get a good photo unless you were prepared to get your feet, and usually the turn-ups (remember them?) of your trousers very muddy!

 

 

 

These are AEC chassisless construction M1's that stayed at Finchley after stage 12 but met their end after traffic on 2nd January 1962. I knew nothing about this form of construction then but had I taken the time to gaze into that void at the front of No.1554 I might just have learnt something

 

 

 

Hemmed in! - L3 1476 awaits its fate

 

 

The barbed wire was typical of measures designed to keep people like me out, however access to the area was a mastered art at this time and we always seemed to find a hole in the fence somewhere. At times there was a nightwatchman to contend with who had a rather fierce and noisy dog, though he thankfully always kept it tethered

 

 

 

After the end of April 1961 Edmonton's P1's and K3's started to arrive

 

 

Four in a row - ex-Edmonton buses

 

 

No more will I see Waltham Cross sighs Edmonton's 1336 as she waits on the access road to the yard. Some of the higher numbered Leyland K's were allocated to this depot and were scrapped out of turn. Those that remained to see out route 657 at Isleworth in May 1962 were generally lower numbers - I may be wrong but I don't think it used many 13XX's. I suppose though that late survival was all down to overhaul dates and the most recent ones to get the treatment were those that lasted to the end.

 

 

 

 

A comparison here between two shots of the same vehicles stored near the back of the yard and used for a while for storage of seat cushions. Cohens sold complete seat frames & cushions by advertisment in Exchange & Mart for about 7/6 (371/2p).* Interestingly the vandals work has revealed that triplex type glass was used in the windows. I don't think that this applied to many of the thousands of panes presented to Cohens breakers at this time (NB please see the guestbook for informative comments about trolleybus glass by Brian Watkinson). In the second shot, taken sometime after they had been maliciously set ablaze it can be seen in the background that there are no poles or wires in the depot yard so this must have been after January 1962 when the premises was closed. Cohens took until September of 1962 to complete the scrapping task here and the last vehicle to be sdisposed of in this way was one of the above mentioned N2's that ceased use in January. Why this happened after all those that had finished at Fulwell in May I do not know. If anyone knows the numbers of these trolleys (I'm sure someone does) please let me know. 

 

* You could actually still sit on an ex-trolleybus seat well into the later 1960s. Mostly just the cushions, but a couple of the frames were also employed complete with the standard green pattern moquette at the small cafe that was situated off the booking hall of Sudbury Town Piccadilly Line station.

 

 

 

 

 

The land was cleared not very long afterwards and a huge modern design office block was erected on the depot site. Called Merit House today it still stands. The rear land viewed here apparently became an electricity sub-station, and I think continues in the role today

 

 

 

A regimental line-up of Leyland K's after their time was up at Wood Green

 

 

 

This is where I earlier saw 1001/1007B and eventually 829 and 954 however this is a mid-1961 shot so is likely more Leyland K's

 

 

Any old iron? I don't seem to have any photos at all of the stage 14 final withdrawals in here - can't recall but I suppose I lost heart after the end of service running and could not bear to go again.  For quite a while after 8th May 1962 they were dumped in rows in the Fulwell depot yard. I think they may even have been there after the wires were removed entailing and even longer than necessary tow to north-west London

 

 

WHAT IF? I recently got to thinking what might have happened if the superb Q1's, sometime described as 'The Rolls Royce of Trolleybuses' had not after all gone to those sunnier climes. Once upon a time we had all hoped that LT would stick to its original intention and keep the Fulwell/Isleworth operated services going for a few more years to see these fine post-war fleet additions to the end of their economic lives, however as we all know, this was not to be due to their virtual give-away sale to several Spanish operators early in 1961. I personally believe that LT had got a momentum going and would not have resisted finishing the job during 1962, albeit perhaps a little later than May though.

But what else might have happened ?? If the Spanish deal had not existed or fallen through who, if anyone might otherwise have been tempted. Few British trolleybus operators (there were over twenty towns and one company operator with systems operational early in 1961) by this time though felt that they were likely to be using them in the longer term. I seem to remember a rumour that Reading Corporation had expressed interest, perhaps when they were needing to buy those late Burlingham bodied Sunbeams (but they would not have needed many) but this may have been just that - a rumour. Wouldn't they have looked nice in Huddersfield's fine colours though. Given the waste of ratepayer money arising from the very short lives given to some of the new bodies they bought they might have been better off having some Q1's to run from 1962-68, albeit not for the Newsome route. Three-axle designs were otherwise not generally favoured by any remaining users that might have needed short term replacements so I think there would have been precious little in the way of other takers, at any rate here in the UK. They would, I'm sure,  have been a little too big for Tees-Side which could have otherwise avoided another expensive re-bodying exercise only to scrap them when only five or six years old.

 

 

 

RT  FAMILY SELECTION

 

 

Staff buses at Tring(TG) Garage - nearest camera was one of the last RT3 bodied examples on LT's books in 1967

 

 

Summer 1962 at Edgware Station stand. In the 1960's, although I don't think it was all at the same time, the 18 allocation fielded RM's from Stonebridge and Middle Row, RT's from Alperton and RTL/ RTW types from Willesden.

 

 

For a while in 1967 the group of routes serving Dartford sported red RT's prior to the arrival of new green RML's

 

 

For a few weeks in 1967 Routes 260/266 were diverted at Willesden Green station while the railway bridge over the adjacent running British Rail line there was strengthened. The diversion added over half a mile  to the journey length and needed extra buses to maintain the schedule. Finchley (FY) sometimes provided an RT as seen here turning into Chatsworth Road. The offending bridge is off camera to the centre right. Buses returned to route in Walm Lane over a bridge further down the line and Dartmouth Road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saunders bodied RT -  Nicely posed in the Sunshine at the rear of Uxbridge Station in 1966. This large yard also had access to some shops and stores, a large layover and turning area for buses and a staff canteen. Although I've not been there, probably since the early 1970s I believe that there is a bus garage on the site now presumably replacing the old UX garage that was a mile or so beyond the town.

 

 

Clarendon Road, Watford on a Saturday morning in January 1965 - note the queues opposite - wouldn't today's operators love 'em like that!

 

 

 RT4498 is a good example of the buses, always seemingly kept very smart, adapted specially for these eastern area Greenline services before the arrival of RCLs in 1965 - Aldgate in 1964

 

 

RT3479 arrives in Woolwich on a long disappeared service from central London - 1964

 

 

RT1648 at Islington  - pre-Victoria Line

 

 

RT10 bodied RT929 - Romford 1965

 

 

Uxbridge Station in late 1962

 

 

RT998 - Bromley North Station

 

 

Saunders bodied RT1564 - Romford 1965

 

 

There were, I think, no fewer than nineteen different registration series used on the post-war RT class. This line-up at Dorking garage shows five of them JXC, MXX, OLD, JXN and LYF

 

 

 

RT998 is at rest at Bromley North

 

LEYLAND BRETHREN

 

 

One of a number of RTLs fitted at overhaul with RT10 bodies 1964/5 - At Stratford Broadway 1965

 

 

The 226 was one of my local routes in London. A Willesden RTL is seen at Golders Green Station  in September 1966. (another shot from my old Agfa Billy) I can just recall Q type single deckers at Cricklewood Broadway on this service, and also the day the route was extended (1953?) using RTs from Cricklewood (W) from there to Harlesden going past my primary school in Anson Road. I could shorten my walk home with a  four-stop 1d ride to Gladstone Park.

 

 

Laying over at Waterloo - 1966

 

 

Victoria Station forecourt in 1967. Before the roof was fitted and then taken down again

 

 

Hampstead Heath stand 1964. I wish I'd had a camera when I spotted trolleybuses here in 1958, although I probably would not have used it properly

 

 

'The show is not over till the fat lady sings' so it is said. Those who remember these particular 'fat ladies' will know that they had a distinctive song from their transmission and flywheel particularly when decelerating. The show is almost over for RTW's on route 8 - it's January 1965 at Old Ford and the all-conquering Routemaster is making an appearance to begin its takeover. 

 

 

RTW11 on Route 176. this service was the last  to be operated by Leylands of the family in 1968 though RTW's succumbed in 1966 so it was  with RTL's -  Marylebone Road 1964.

 

 

Follow my leader - a pair of RTW's near Liverpool Street. Threre is a processing fault on this negative

 

 

 

Just to confuse historians -  two garage views (Brixton and Clapton*) showing services not normally allocated RTW's

* Thanks to Brian Watkinson (see Guestbook entry) or poinyting out my error - I originally recorded this location as Putney Chelverton Road Garage

 

 

Islington 1965 - RTL68 was the lowest numbered of the 23 members of the class to receive an RT10 roofbox body at overhaul in 1964. Previously all RTL buses (apart from the prototype RTL501 and two others that were all sold quite quickly) had only carried standard bodies. A few more shots of them follow below:-

 

 

RTL384 was another

 

 

Near Stockwell Garage 1965 - The difference between the 'roofbox' style RT10 body and the standard (front) can be seen

 

 

RTL409 AT Victoria

 

 

Hackney - 1965

 

 

Acton Green -  1964

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

.

 

Aldgate c 1965

 

 

Laying over at Cricklewood Garage c 1966

 

 

When I and a few friends had learnt that the last RTW would run in LT service on route 95 on a Friday night early in 1966 we went along to see RTW476 home to Brixton Garage, but were more that a little bemused that some were on the road again the next day. The final rites duly occurred that evening, the honour falling to stablemate RTW467 and this is why it, rather than 476 has survived for posterity. When the turn of the last RTL's came I thought that the washing of RTL543 at Willesden (AC) garage after the scheduled last run might mean that history would be repeated and that it would be going out again tomorrow, however on this occasion the type did not and route 176 saw the Leylands out on 29th November 1968. In company with a full load of enthusiasts amid sadness tinged with merriment and the singing of sometimes bawdy songs I rode this all the way from Lewisham that night. As this was to my local garage I could walk home afterwards.

 

 

.............AND MORE AEC's

 

 

Whitehall c1972 - Where's all the traffic? This is not a Sunday

!

 

Cricklewood Broadway 1969. This one is, unusually from the Edgware direction, terminating here, so did it go on to turn at the Crown Hotel stand for route 16 over the traffic lights a couple of hundred yards further down the Road, or perhaps work its way via Cricklewood Lane around the block using the old 226 terminal roads??

 

Roneo Corner Romford 1965

 

 

Reigate 1965

 

 

Marylebone Road 1964 - Griffith House LT offices in background. Traffic jams were there, even 44 years ago! The Edgware Road flyover was under construction at this time.

 

Crossing from Whitehall to go round Trafalgar Square c1968

 

 

Waterloo Bridge south side c.1968

 

 

Becontree Heath 1969

 

 

West Croydon 1965

 

 

Emerging from Rotherhithe Tunnel 1965. Both this and the Blackwall Tunnel now each take traffic only one way under the Thames*

Many thanks to Paul (see guestbook) for pointing out my error regarding the traffic using the Rotherhithe Tunnel. The road through it is actually the busy A101 and is in fact a two-way thoroughfare here. I feel sure that at some point in the past the situation I describe did occur however. Perhaps it all changed when they opened the second bore to the Blackwall Tunnel. Being an exile I perhaps have not caught up with events.

 

 

 

Opposite Sidcup SP Garage November 1968. Fellow route 21A went over to MBS OMO on this day

 

 

 

Arnos Grove Station - 1967

ROUTEMASTERS IN THE 1960s

 

 

RM1595 at West Hampstead stand c1964. Its Route 59 Sunday journey will take it all the way to Chipstead Valley.The cars opposite would be considered sought after classics today

 

 

There was only one situation that caused the operation of Routemasters on a trolleybus service. After Highgate lost its last trolleys in April of 1961 it still had a small Sundays only allocation for the 609 which was set to continue to November.  I knew about this but somehow didn't get around to photographing it until the last moment. This shot at North Finchley was late in the afternoon of Sunday 5th November, the last such day on which this would happen, for the 609 itself bit the dust a couple of days later being replaced by the first RML's as route 104.

 

 

 

This is on 3rd January,1962, the day after the last day of my local trolleybuses. Newly arrived RM1059 stands at Stonebridge Depot alongside one of its victims, N2 AEC/Park Royal trolleybus No.1667 which is perhaps awaiting a driver to take it to Colindale scrapyard. Maybe it is hoping that those rather dodgy looking sliding doors will fall on it and delay its worse fate.

 

 

 

Also on the last snowswept day of trolleybuses at Stonebridge, RM2 put in an appearance. It carries no 'L' plate so it was not, I think, on training duties

 

 

It's 3rd January 1962 again. It's perhaps his first day on public service behind the wheel of a motorbus, so RM1030's driver  carefully negotiates the roundabout at Sudbury (Swan) terminus of  an extended Route 18, replacement for trolleybus 662. The snow is nearly gone but the roads were still to be treated with some respect. It won't be too long before those now redundant overhead wires are removed for their not insubstantial scrap value.

 

 

Later in January 1962 - RM1048 lays over at North Finchley on the 245 replacement for trolleybus 645. Neatly set blinds, rear wheel discs, a gold underlined transfer, ventilated front wings, registration number set into the radiator grill and, not visible, probably a rear offside number blind all represent how the Routemaster should always have looked.

 

 

The first central area RML's went onto the 104 service in November 1961 replacing trolleybus service 609

 

 

Interesting study at King Street Hammersmith of the rear ends of these classic buses at the time when RM1612 was very new. RM1080 (left) had probably worked up and down the trolleybus 667 replacement service for more than three years at this time

 

 

 

In late April 1962 veteran 1931 Diddler trolleybus No.1 was towed from display at the Museum of British Transport, Clapham to Fulwell to be readied for its planned ceremonial run on the last day of trolleybuses a couple of weeks later. I happened to be there when it was brought out and posed alongside RM1078. I recall I was in the middle of exams then and unfortunately missed the ceremonial run on 8th May, although I stayed up to see the last one in that night.

 

 

Liverpool Street - the whole film of which this was part seemingly had a processing fault as can be seen

 

 

RM1001 allocated to Finchley (FY) waits at Edgware terminus of route 221 an extended replacement for trolleybuses 521/621. This was the only Routemaster to carry a No.1 registration  (unless you count RM2001 which was blessed with ALM1B) and sometime later I heard a rumour that some bright spark at LT HQ thought it might be a good idea to transfer the registration of this bus to the Executive's Chairmans car 1 Chairman London Transport. Thankfully this didn't happen and the bus survives in preservation

 

 

Speeding past the site of the former Colindale trolleybus depot (behind camera) RM438 is on Route 266, replacement for the 666 trolleybus. The Fridgidaire factory opposite has long since disappeared

 

 

RM82 at Stratford Broadway. It carries an early body, befitting its low stock number, which has non-opening upper deck front windows but has already, in the early 1967 view, had its front wing ventilation grilles plated over. The 272 service was the April 1960 replacement for trolleybus services 689/690. Offside stands like this were not usually approved as boarding points and buses here pulled across the roadway to a stop opposite to pick up passengers

 

Early RM40, probably an original November 1959 intake for trolleybus replacement at West Ham Garage works the former 669 and stands at North Woolwich a few years later. The street furniture, the cobbles and a complete absence of other traffic lend an olde world aura to the view but of course the overhead wires are gone forever.

 

Hornchurch Garage operated RM1823

 

 

RM1797 at Camden Town on Route 269 which replaced trolleybus 629 in April 1961

 

 

RM1776 at West Hampstead on route 28. This time the Routemaster allocation is a replacement for RT's

 

 

 

RM1719 at an open air Victoria Station stand in pre-Victoria Line days. Route 16 was still then terminating at the Crown, Cricklewood which had provided a large stand outside since horse-bus days

 

 

Also on Route 16 at this about time was the so named 'Silver Lady' - unpainted RM664, seen here at the Neasden (Dog Lane) stand was an experiment to see if painting costs could be reduced. Suffice it to say that it failed. Photos, they say don't always do their subject justice, but in this case I think they often did it too much. It looks quite smart here but was, for most of its time like this, a scruffy abomination and I for one was glad when it was finally painted red. I just hated the thought that there might eventually be hundreds more like it - heaven knows, the Underground trains were bad enough!

 

 

RML2501 when still quite new rests at Golders Green between spells on the 104A - 1966

 

 

RMC coach on Greenline Service 719 at Watford Junction c 1965. The smart Edwardian hotel in the Background remains today (only as a pub I think)  but the general area has otherwise changed almost beyond recognition.

 

 

Too big, too late! Coach version of the RML at Romford in 1965 when very new. Introduced at a time when Green Line usage was rapidly declining and the service pattern was rather outdated. Double-deck operationn on the GreenLine network finally ended in 1972

 

.

 

RM1743 departs Tottenham (AR) garage on route 171

 

 

The first RML's on the road in the country area went to Godstone (GD) and Reigate (RG) Garages in 1965 for the 409/410/411 group of services. There were initially not enough green ones available so a few red ones were drafted in to start the new operations off. RML 2305 was one of these

 

 

BEA front-entrance Routemasters in their first (of three) and best livery. Cromwell Road West London Air Terminal

 

 

I'd rather catch a 659! - Holborn Circus 1967

 

 

RM19 would probably have been one of the first used on trolleybus replacement duties from Poplar garage in November 1959 but is seen her a few years later post first overhaul. This is at Camden Town I think.

 

 

The 1000th Routemaster seen at Putney Bridge Station. It's now preserved although I doubt whether any of its component parts are the same ones it had when new

 

THE UBIQUITOUS RF

 

Surely one of the best loved of London bus designs of all time - a true classic. The RF came along early in the 1950s to provide a lasting and eminently suitable vehicle to replace all those worn out pre-war single-deck buses and coaches that still lingered on into the new decade after the end of hostilities

 

 

Availability of rolling stock to meet individual service needs often led to red central area RF's doing turns in all parts of the country area, and, to a lesser extent green ones plodding on central area streets. In January 1965 RF369 was working route 336 and is seen on a busy Saturday in Clarendon Road Watford

--oo000ooo---

CENTRAL ROAD SERVICES

 

 

 

 

RF504 is just leaving Moor Lane by the now closed Staines West Station to return to Kingston

 

 

In about 1969 there was a spell of at least one green RF working central area service 210. RF 570 is about to depart from Golders Green

 

 

RF357 at Golders Green

 

 

"Well Bert - What Do We Do Now?" - "I guess we need a 'Swinger' Charlie."

Patient queue awaits transport to the bank holiday c.1966 fair at Hampstead Heath. The necessary use of single-deckers on route 210 meant that this lot would have required at least three departures, and there's none in sight! The Heath was only a mile or so from here but it's uphill all the way!

 

 

It all looks fairly quiet but this must have been a bank holiday for this 210 is working a short to Hampstead Heath (Jack Straws Castle) for Fair traffic. Crews ( who, understandably were not fans of them) and Inspectors referred to these operations as 'swingers'

 

 

Early days of the Harrow on the Hill service - Leaving South Harrow Station 

 

 

Outside Norbiton Garage

 

 

 

This is really a photo of  RLH45 with an RF standing alongside but is included here. A wet day at Downside

 

 

I think the 80A at this time was double-deck RT operated Monday to Friday and one-man RF on Saturdays

 

 

RF 325 is at Crystal Palace awaiting a departure to Chiselhurst on the 227.  Many changes have occured in the getting close to fifty years since this shot of mid-1961. I've not been here, probably siince the 1970s and I think there is now a purpose built off-road bus terminal point here replacing the roadside stands in Crystal Palace Park Parade and the then derelict High Level SR railway station opposite is, I believe, to be brought back into use in due course.

 

 

Watch out - motorway coming! This 1966 shot shows some of the mayhem created by the extension of the M1 to its logical end on the northern outskirts of London. Those lovely old bridges near Mill Hill Broadway, beloved of those of us photographers who remember the TD's on this last service operated by the class were soon to be no more. Here the road was excavated so that double-deckers could negotiate it and afterwards buses actually terminated under the new motorway.

 

 

RF413 turning to the stand at Finsbury Park station. This shot was taken on 7th September 1968 whilst I was waiting to photograph one of the new Merlins on a Wood Green Scheme flat-fare service that had started that morning. Clearly shown here is that these then crew-operated central buses had no doors. I wonder when EFE will be persuaded to modify their well-milked mould - I'm sure  a doorless version would go down very well! 

 

 

I always fancied having MXX1 as personal number, however it was not until about eight years after this photo that I bought my first car. RF359's chassis was at Cobham for a while I think

 

COUNTRY BUSES & GREENLINE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later members of the class had registration numbers to match their stock numbers. RF620 is seen in 1965 at Crawley Bus Station

 

 

This one does look rather as if its garage bus washer had taken the day off!

 

 

 

The RF is perhaps most fondly remembered for its role as a GreenLine coach. Vehicles for this had more comfortable seats, luggage racks and different gear ratios. This early sixties shot of RF 197 is at Eccleston Bridge Victoria, the main London terminus.

 

 

At the same time, also at Eccleston Bridge is RF 73 working on a Limited Stop Express journey of the 705 to Windsor. This type of service sported white destination blind lettering on a blue background

 

 

Modernised and upgraded for GreenLine service RF56 is seen c.1978 seemingly demoted to bus work on a St Albans local. 

 

 

Resting in the sunshine at St Albans Garage is RF664 aset ready for a journey on the 365

 

 

I was never one to study routes and services in any depth. I do recall however that the 333 served a place called Bengeo and was at times GS operated. The 333B was obviously a variation, maybe on Sundays, for this was the day that this shot was taken

 

 

 

In Dartford I would think

 

 

 

RF349 - I think this must be Hertford - 1963

 

 

Redhill - 1968 or 69 prior to the era of the Merlin

 

 

 

 

Crawley Bus Station c.1965

 

 

..and another. Note the different styles of destination blind for route 426

 

 

 

See below also - I must have enjoyed getting wet in the pusuit of my photography. RF125 picks up some custom at Hammersmith Butterwick

 

 

St Albans Garage forecourt

 

 

 

At Biggin Hill Air Show c 1970

 

 

 

..and back to the central area

 

 

I think this was about 1963. RF's 350, 357 and 355 looking a bit unloved, de-licenced at Edgware Garage yard.

GUY SPECIALS EVERYWHERE

 

When they were in regular service I never specifically sought out these little gems on my travels, although they were to be found in all corners of the pre-1970 LT country area system so occasionally came into my viewfinder. They dated from 1953 and were replacements for pre-war Leyland Cubs etc. At the beginning of the 1960s the class of 84 units was, I think, intact although later in the decade some were sold off and many became staff buses - one even became the LT St. Johns Ambulance! It is good that several have survived into preservation and can often be seen performing at various running days at 55 years old.

 

 

Hertford - 1963

 

 

Harlow Garage - 1963

 

 

Orpington - 1965

 

 

Datchett - c 1966

 

 

Dorking I think - An early shot (1961) Sensitive browsers should not look too closely at the rear nearside passenger who is making a rather rude gesture!

 

 

Knebworth - 1963

 

 

Not sure where - Harefield perhaps?

 

My thanks indeed to 'George' who has confirmed via the Guestbooki the location as The Green, Harefiled. GS57 is setting down passengers just prior to turning ahead to go on to the Hospital

 

 

Stevenage 1963 - We rode this one for quite a while at some speed through pretty sparsley populated lanes. It was notable as I recall that the driver, though needing to change gear quite often, did not use the clutch once!

 

NOT SO MAGIC MERLINS & NOT SO SWIFT SWIFTS

 

This type of vehicle actually first put into service in April of 1966 when they introduced Londoners to the 'Red Arrow' concept of  a 6d (2 1/2p) flat fare limited stop central London service with the 500 route which, I particularly remember, worried Londons cabbies so much that they even petitioned the Queen!   

Like, I suspect, many enthusiasts at the time I can well remember being quite enthusiastic about the 'satellite' schemes proposed. The much vaunted 'Reshaping Plan' for central buses was seen as a saviour at a time when there were seemingly unending serious problems of  ever increasing costs, staffing shortages, traffic congestion and falling passenger numbers. That all this was not properly thought out and went very wrong in quite short order is a matter of record for historians to spout about and apportion blame, but one thing the operating management could not have forseen was that the new generation rolling stock was simply not up to the job. Its legendary poor quality and unrealiability just twisted the knife further into an already gaping wound. Compared to the then current generation of vehicles I could find little enthusiasm for the new range of single-deck standee configuration buses, and took comparatively very few photographs of them. Here's just a few................

 

 

The big day dawns - I had volunteered to help the PR effort at Wood Green on 7th September 1968, the first day of the new scheme for services in that area, however, also making its debut on that day was the new Cross-Hampstead service 268 from Golders Green to Finchley Road covering roads in Hampstead previously unserved by buses. I wanted to go on the first one but a longer than anticipated wait for a 260 to get me to the start point meant that I had to settle for a photograph and ride on the second departure. MBS 147 is seen at Golders Green Station readying to set off.  As I was working I took virtually no photos in the Wood Green area that day but went back the following week. I used a roll-film camera mainly and these negatives are more difficult to get printed nowadays so the views will be added as and when I can get them sorted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The introductory page to this website has a view of XMB15 just starting off on its premier journey from Tring Garage to Aldbury Pond in February 1969. Here we see it after arrival at that point

LOW HEIGHT STANDARDS

 

After about 1953 London Transport was able to standardise its fairly small requirement for low-height double deckers on 76 more or less identical examples based on the provincial type AEC Regent III chassis to which they had fitted an adaption of a standard Weymann 53-seater body. These were used in both the central and country areas of operation and lasted until about 1972. This is just a starter offering as I will upload other views in due course

 

 

Onslow Street Guildford Bus Station in about 1962 - I'm fairly sure this was a Sunday - just look at the loadings!

 

 

 

 

Empty this time - Onslow Street Guildford again

 

 

RLH64 approaches Northwick Park Station in 1967. The road traversed from the main road to reach this point was called Rushout Avenue. I doubt that RLH's ever took this corner in any kind of a hurry! It was the 230 that I travelled on most as my grandmother lived near Kenton Library in the 1960s.  If I sat on the offside downstairs I almost always managed to bang my head on the sunken gangway protrusion above -  you might wonder why a bus enthusiast did not learn to avoid this! The route was replaced in 1969 by flat fare service H1 using AEC Merlin MBS type 36ft long single-deckers

 

 

Stratford Broadway c 1969. This was originally a 6x6cm colour transparency and was one of a number which I allowed LT Publicity to make prints of for sale in its shops. It has not scanned too well here and I'm sure it can be enlarged and improved so will try again with it sometime. On the original image the Drivers recruitment side advert is badly torn and the image was re-touched (what would the person who did this make of today's Photoshop?