For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[Oldddudders]

RF627 on 218 to Staines is s bit odd. That was a Kingston route, so had red RFs. It did spend a short time at Addlestone in the early '60s, but even so. 

[J. S. Bach]

29 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

From a passengers point of view they were very good.  ...snip...

Since when has a passenger's point of view ever meant anything to a transit agency?

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

Since when has a passenger's point of view ever meant anything to a transit agency?

This was forty plus years ago and the buses themselves were at least twenty years old.

[Johann Marsbar]

A line up of preserved Lowestoft Corporation Transport double deckers at the East Anglia Transport Museum yesterday.....

 

[Rugd1022]

Another little dose of continental municipal chic...

 

[great central]

6 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

Another little dose of continental municipal chic...

 

 

 

Push me pull you or bidirectional? 

I'm struggling to work out which end is the front 🥴

[russ p]

34 minutes ago, great central said:

 

 

Push me pull you or bidirectional? 

I'm struggling to work out which end is the front 🥴

 

Might be the end with the steering wheel Neil 😃

[great central]

10 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

Might be the end with the steering wheel Neil 😃

 

Oh yes, I'm only looking on a phone so not the biggest or clearest picture.

My excuse and I'm sticking to it😀

[PhilJ W]

FYI the front is to the left.

[Enterprisingwestern]

16 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

FYI the front is to the left.

 

Something that size I'd tend to call it the bow!

 

Mike.

[J. S. Bach]

13 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

Something that size I'd tend to call it the bow!

Mike.

Like the 1972 Chrysler Newport I used to drive; looking out over that hood was like looking out the bridge window down the flight deck of the Kitty HAWK!

I kind of miss that old boat!

 

[ardbealach]

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Like the 1972 Chrysler Newport I used to drive; looking out over that hood was like looking out the bridge window down the flight deck of the Kitty HAWK!

I kind of miss that old boat!

 

Love your mobile / cell phone mast.  Not really a pocket model? (Alisdair)

[petethemole]

20 minutes ago, ardbealach said:

Love your mobile / cell phone mast.  Not really a pocket model? (Alisdair)

I thought it was a CB radio antenna.

[J. S. Bach]

8 minutes ago, petethemole said:

I thought it was a CB radio antenna.

That is the little white "lump" on trunk lid, the Wilson 1000 magnet mount base with the (barely visible) whip sticking out of it.

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by J. S. Bach
To do a minor edit.

[Johann Marsbar]

Just spotted this one whilst looking for something else amongst my photos...........

 

 

Rather an odd looking articulated tour bus, photographed in Washington, DC, back in 1987.

[PhilJ W]

London 1930 (remastered with sound and colour added.

 

[PhilJ W]

More early 30's London.

 

[A Murphy]

Great film.....

[Gwiwer]

On 16/09/2022 at 21:01, Oldddudders said:

RF627 on 218 to Staines is s bit odd. That was a Kingston route, so had red RFs. It did spend a short time at Addlestone in the early '60s, but even so. 

I never noted a green RF on the 218 but there were occasions when red RFs were loaned to the Country Bus Division to help out.  The reverse seemed not to have occurred anywhere unless someone knows better.  

 

In the current era "anything goes" for running days although a lot of effort usually goes into offering vehicles as authentic as possible for the event in question.  Right down to specially-made blinds in a lot of cases; some of those are now single-use paper displays but most are "proper" rolls even if they are plastic now and not the traditional linen.  

 

The 218 was a restricted route because, in common with the 219 which paralleled it between Kingston and Hersham, it passed beneath the long low and narrow arch of the (old) A3 Portsmouth Road railway bridge at Hinchley Wood.  Double-deckers would not fit and even a single-decker had to take the centre line.  The A3 now follows the Kingston By-Pass but the bridge is still there and still restricts anything wishing to use that road.  The present service is an hourly 715 Kingston - Guildford route which uses the old Green Line route number for the same ground but is currently* operated by Stagecoach as a local bus out of Guildford depot.

 

In LT days Green Line 715 didn't serve Kingston despite that being a major commercial centre and traffic objective.  The double-decker coaches used at one time would not have got under the bridge. When one-man conversion brought single-deckers back to the route a Saturdays-only 715A variant was introduced via Kingston which subsequently became the normal daily route losing the A-suffix with the original route via the by-pass withdrawn.  

 

Were you to wait hopefully for a 218 or 219 these days you would be disappointed.  The 218, which once ran every 10 minutes out to Esher and every 20 beyond through to Staines, is now an hourly 458 and no longer a part of the TfL route network.  The 219 (Kingston - Weybridge) which was also on a 20-minute headway with extra shorts to Esher has vanished.  LT one ran a substantial network of "red bus" routes in NW Surrey including the 215 all the way to Ripley.  None survives as such today.  Vestiges remain, including the 458 and 715 noted, with the 216 which plies between Kingston and Staines via Sunbury a remarkable and fortunate survivor.  Its future has been threatened more than once in recent years.  The present-day K3 covers some of former iterations of the 201, 206, 215, 218 and 219 and is the only "red bus" route now to venture out to Claygate and Esher.  

 

* I understand there may be a forthcoming change of operator as Stagecoach thinks long and hard about whether the route remains commercially viable.  

.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Gwiwer

[Oldddudders]

Red RFs certainly appeared in Reigate and Redhill from time to time. 440 and 447 routes come to mind. I don't recall seeing any in Dorking. 

 

The group of RF routes you mention from Kingston made the garage a jolly place to wander around. And standing in the gaping doorway just over 60 years ago I saw CRL4 on the 716A to Woking. That was a moment to remember!

[PhilJ W]

On 16/10/2022 at 01:22, PhilJ W said:

London 1930 (remastered with sound and colour added.

 

 

17 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

More early 30's London.

 

Sadly those who remastered the films didn't do their research properly. Before the LPTB was formed London buses and trams came in a variety of colours. The LCC tram above would have been painted largely in cream with only red dash and tumblehome, and a deeper shade to the LGOC buses. Also there is in the first film a bus of the City Bus company which would have had a brown/tan livery.   

[JDW]

I mentioned it in the Routemaster thread earlier, but in case it's of interest to anyone here, blogger and former Brighton & Hove Managing Director Roger French took a trip on the new London heritage service on its first weekday, and reported back on his blog at https://busandtrainuser.com/2022/10/18/londoner-buses-brings-back-rms/

It's operated by Londoner Buses, which is part of the Transpora group. 

 

Another Routemaster tour of note is this one-off Christmas trip: https://contamination.zone/product/london-christmas-lights-tour-supportukraine/

 

[Unicorn1]

At Brooklands today

Ex BOAC Leyland Atlantian / MCW  LYF307D

 

As they say in these days - "I'll just leave this here...."

 

 

[JDW]

Looks like it needs a bucket of soapy water...

[Unicorn1]

2 minutes ago, JDW said:

Looks like it needs a bucket of soapy water...

I agree, that would be a start.