PhilJ W

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Not getting bored, in fact I'm trying to catch up with my Farcebook. The traffic on there and on other social media has doubled and no doubt many of you will have noticed the increase here on RMweb. I will have to venture out every few days for supplies but I have enough until Monday or Tuesday.

Practicing social distancing.>> https://www.facebook.com/tony.walls.731/videos/1521247424716673/

We can only hope.

Could that be the problem? Some distortion in the frame.

The cover photo was taken outside of Eastern Nationals Wood Green depot in east London. This was taken over from City coaches who ran what became the 251 service. Eastern National were not allowed to pick up on inward journeys within the London central (red buses) area or to set down on outward journeys. Wood Greens other claim to fame was it was also used as the 'Luxton and District' garage in the TV sitcom 'On the buses'. An entire batch of about 10-12 KSW's were converted to open top. Eastern National made a proper job of it as well, removing the sunken gangway and rebuilding the lower deck ceiling, unlike Southend corporation who simply boarded over the sunken gangway and left it in place downstairs to catch the unwary. The 309's were the first 100mph EMU's on BR and often achieved that speed on the 'race track' between Witham and Colchester.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Sad news about a doctor who has died apparently from CV-19, and fairly local as well, Southend hospital. A demonstration if ever one was needed of what the medics are doing for us. Where I worked there was quite a large Moslem community and 99.99% of them were the nicest and most friendly people you would ever want to meet. One of them was a local councillor who had a daughter of about 20. No hibab for her, she used to wear mini-skirts and was very western in her habits and attitude and was free to marry anyone of her choice. And the same attitude applied in most of the rest of the community Be VERY careful what you say even here on ER's. I can imagine that eventually someone will realise that they are litterally a waste of space and act accordingly.

Mention of the open top buses reminded me that during the period in question the most common Eastern National open toppers were all Leyland PD1's or PD2's. These came from City Coaches of Brentwood who in the early 50's were taken over by Westcliffe-on-Sea, another Tilling company that was merged into Eastern National soon afterwards.

They might be like the sparrows near me. In their wisdom the local council hacked down some shrubbery alongside my house. The shrubbery was usually used as a nesting site but that has been removed. The birds have now decamped to some shrubs in a front garden that is on a normally very busy street corner but in the present circumstances is very quiet.

The RCL's used the standard London Transport seat frames but they were spaced further apart and with deeper cushions. The RMA's had the same deep cushions and used the same very attractive grey/maroon moquette.

Goodnight all.

I'm thinking of converting to American 'O' scale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r96UQFiKyuE&fbclid=IwAR0FuTeJllds7vwcp_8WCzHnJnOicF2dmRghjRJr6TN2eNWVDvu82U9ghJE

We'll see what happens after the churches across the US are full on Easter Sunday.

The number on AEC engines is the capacity in cubic inches 100 cubic inches = approx 1.65 litres so the AV690 would have been 11.3 litres. AEC were taken over by Leyland in 1963 who then proceeded to dismantle the company closing it completely in 1979. Afterwards Leyland developed their own engines resulting in the L11 and TL11 neither engine was popular so they were replaced by th L12 and TL12 which were developed from the AEC engines.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I ventured down to Tess Coes this afternoon for bread and milk and a few other things such as fresh salad. There was a queue as yesterday but nowhere near as long and I was inside the store within ten minutes. There was plenty of bread but the only semi-skimmed milk was the organic one so I opted for that especially as the use by date was three days later than the ordinary milk. I got a few other things and I found that they had paracetamol in stock so I stocked up with them. When I left the store just after three the queueing had ceased as there weren't many people shopping.

I certainly remember the RCL's, I lived within yards of the Green Line garage in London Road Romford, in fact my house was in the shadow of the signal box at Romford. In the early 70's I was courting a young lady who lived in Pilgrim's Hatch just beyond the Brentwood terminus of the 721. I did on occasion use the service but I had my Ford 100E Popular 760 BUC. Often going home I followed the last 721 running out of service back to the garage, going down Brook Street Hill it left me standing. The RCL's were the only Routemasters in LT service fitted with the larger AV690 engine. The only other Routemasters with that engine from new were the BEA ones.

FYI Lodge coaches are still around and celebrating their 100th anniversary.

Peregrin falcon on Norwich cathedral. https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/peregrine-falcon-lays-four-eggs-at-norwich-cathedral-amid-coronavirus-norfolk-1-6577878?fbclid=IwAR3XP1aHidCvfT9yGFdd6V5jn0z3Bd2hqEgex81W1PKcVWITSlcEiE36e9A

Is there a member with the family name of Crewe Junction then?

I had an ad for a Moslem dating agency!

Most of the Bristol/ECW types are available 'off the peg' The KSW and the L from OOC and the FLF from EFE, the was also a plastic kit for the earlier rear entrance Lodekka. IIRC there was a white metal kit for the Massey body but now long out of production.

Most buses in Essex during the period in question were operated by Eastern National. Being a Tilling group company their buses were almost entirely of Bristol/ECW manufacture. The exceptions were the two municipal operators, Southend and Colchester and in the south east of the county where London Transport penetrated. Southend and Colchester both operated buses with very similar open backed Massey bodies from the mid 50's. Southend on Daimler and Leyland chassis and Colchester on AEC's. London Transport operated country buses as far as Harlow where they operated all of the local services and as well central red buses operated as far as Brentwood and Ongar, usually RT type. There were a few independants but most were absorbed by Eastern National before 1960 but Moores of Kelvedon not until the early 60's. Liveries were for Eastern National the standard Tilling green/cream. Southend were pale blue/cream and Colchester Maroon/cream.

Morning yet again from Estuary-Land. Our collections this morning were as usual including the lesser spotted glass and bottle wagon. I opened my e-mails this morning to find dozens of requests for membership to a couple of the Farcebook groups I run, and I mean dozens, 48 in all, 4 dozen. There seems to be an upsurge on membership of FB groups since CV-19 has begun to bite. Does intake of cake affect the quality of the manure? What the blue pills?

When I looked out this morning I noticed that small birds such as tits and sparrows are building nests in a group of bushes where I have never seen them nesting before. The bushes are on the edge of a normally busy footpath intersection. Taking advantage of the empty streets?

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Very frosty this morning, the car and the black bin bag were well and truly rimed this morning. Papers yet to arrive but not at all surprised as many people had the same idea as me and are having them delivered. Now time to run a bath, be back later.

Goodnight all.