Friends of Classic London Buses of the Fifties for Those Actively Involved in Or Supporting the Preservation of London Buses, Coaches and Trolleybuses of the Past
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Friends of Classic London Buses of the Fifties For those actively involved in or supporting the preservation of London buses, coaches and trolleybuses of the past Here is a nice wintry shot of RT 1426, one of the Country area's Cravens-bodied examples, waiting to go to home to Windsor from Uxbridge, long ago, via the picturesque-sounding Iver Heath, George Green, Upton Lea and more mundane Wexham Road, Slough and Eton. I cannot speak for those places at the time the photograph was taken, but in more recent times it has been hard to see anything remotely rural, bucolic or delightful about any of them, and Upton Lea is nothing but a large and uninspiring housing estate on the edge of Slough. Life can be so disappointing at times! Photo by Michael Dryhurst. Newsletter 162 February 2020 Opening Lines First of all, many thanks to all those “Friends” who kindly sent us seasonal greetings at what is nowadays regarded as the “festive” season. These are of course warmly reciprocated. Thanks also to those many individuals who contribute to this monthly mayhem. All contributions are gratefully received and as many as possible are used. It matters not if you send a couple of lines or several pages, it all helps to keep us all in touch. I would also now ask vehicle owners to think about keeping us posted, especially in the case of those buses and coaches which rarely, if ever, appear in public. Many members like to know that these “ghost” buses still exist and are being cared for, or stored, or even under extensive restoration. We don't need to know where you keep them (we wouldn't publish it if we did) and we don't need to know every time you replace a screw or rivet but it would gladden the hearts of many readers to have some updates on the half-forgotten members of the various classes still nominally preserved but rarely seen. 1 Bus route 266 John A Gray With reference to the cover photo on Newsletter 160, the London Omnibus Traction Society informs us currently that bus route 266 replaced trolley route 666 from 3rd January 1962, but was cut back from 31st January 1976 when Brent Cross (shopping centre) opened. It was further cut back at the other end from Hammersmith to Acton from 7th December 2019. So we're now bang up-to-date! Corrections Hugh Taylor Trolleybus 1588. The front cover of issue 160 is of trolleybus 1588 which is quoted as a 1940 delivery. That is not so, it was delivered in July 1939 and available for service when the Bow Road trolleybus routes started on 5th November that year. On page 24 of issue 161 it states that the 666 was a Monday to Friday service. That is incorrect. Until 1956 it did indeed just run in Monday to Friday peak hours but with the big changes on 2nd May 1956 the 666 became an all-day Monday to Friday route. On 7th January 1959 it became a daily service. 1588 moved from Bow to Colindale on 19th August 1959 so when this photograph was taken the 666 was an all-day performer. [The date for 1588's construction came from the 1958 Ian Allan abc, so the late E. J. Smith was responsible for that error; he dated the whole batch to 10/40. - Ed.] Whatever Happened to Carson's Paints? Chris Powis You ask about Carson’s Paints; my recollection is that they were based in Battersea before the war merged after the war with the makers of Copal Varnish and traded under the name Carson’s Paripan until they were bought by Hadfields in Mitcham (SW London). The company traded under the name Carson-Hadfields still producing the Paripan range in the 1970’s. My recollection is a bit hazy but I think they were bought out by Bestobell Paints which morphed into the Kalon Group based in Yorkshire. Kalon became the group holding name for the Silver Paint (and knacker) Lacquer Co Ltd that was started after the war by the late Lesley Silver with his £250 service demob gratuity. You might also remember Leyland Paints which also ended up under the Kalon banner. It is still going as Sigma-Kalon, one of the world’s major paint manufacturers with their own emulsion polymerisation facilities in Yorkshire. The Mitcham site was “rationalised” in the early 1980s. All was not lost though as it was acquired by a manufacturer of alkyd resins for paints and varnishes which was sold to my former employer in the 1990s but I now cannot remember the name of the Mitcham company. It was closed down because it was going to cost too much to modernise the plant and bring it into line with modern standards. Oh happy days Incident in Regent Street December 2015 Peter Goodfellow Your cartoon in Newsletter 161 January 2020 page 4 refers to an RTL in Regent Street having to brake sharply to avoid pedestrians. I was driving a fully laden RTL on the 159 route in December 2015 in Regent Street and was just starting to pull away from bus stop ‘T’ (southbound). It was early evening and dark. I looked in my mirror to pull away from the stop with indicator on and started moving but at the same time something caught my peripheral vision to the front left. A lady had just that second fallen into the road just in front of me. I immediately braked and managed to stop before running over her. In fact I stood up pulling upwards on the steering wheel so that I could apply maximum pressure on the brake pedal. I am sure some of my passengers were thrown forward as depicted in the cartoon. The police were called and they took statements. Regent Street, apart from the Christmas decorations, was also aglow with blue flashing lights; an ambulance, police van, motorbike and patrol car attended. Luckily the lady was OK and declined going to hospital. The general consensus was that she would have fallen off into the road whether the bus had been there or not. It just so happened that it was there and 2 I managed to stop it before a much worse outcome occurred. The police officer I spoke with said this happens a lot at Christmas with large crowds on the pavements and some folk on their mobiles, a bit of pushing and shoving goes on. Drivers beware. Hemel Hempstead Bus Garage Visits Martyn Hunt Number of vehicles seen in brackets () & "family" vehicles noted. The date was 12 August 1987 when Ken Hammond and I first visited this London Country bus garage; we travelled in my 1956 MG ZA Magnette via Luton (inspecting RFs 11 and 673) in the station yard. Stevenage garage was next, followed by St.Albans (25), Hemel Hempstead (23), Garston (38) and Potters Bar (24) where RT 1784 was seen in red whilst RT 4777 was being repainted green. Our return journey to Ipswich was via the M25, M11, A120 & A12. My second visit to HH garage was on 22 January 1988, this time in my VW Transporter bus taking people to Luton Airport for their holidays. RFs 11 and 673 were still languishing in the station yard. The return journey being via HH garage only (42), not quite sure why I didn't call in at Hatfield and Ware garages, the journey continued via Bishops Stortford, A120 and A12. Apart from the aforementioned RFs no other "family" vehicles were seen. 3 Editor's note: It is interesting to see that a number of the buses seen at HH were “originals” which we had new, including ANs 161-5 and 195, and SNBs 255, 256, 299, 396 and 404. Service vehicle M1 was of course our trusty 1967 AEC Mandator recovery vehicle, a former petrol company artic tractor unit converted by Wreckers International at Hertford and fitted with a very versatile Holmes 750 crane. This lorry earned me lots of money in overtime payments towing home broken-down buses to garages all over the Northern half of the LCBS area. It had a converted Routemaster engine (AV691, from an RCL I suppose) and a six-speed crash box and was really a great pleasure to use. Whatever happened to it? Angels in Regent Street Cyril Theobald The Christmas time cartoon in the previous edition reminded me that I went to see the angels. They looked good, but the trouble was that when it rained their tunics filled up with water and people called them “pregnant angels”, so a man from the Council went around with a long pole with a nail in the end to pop them and let the water run out. It was Seventy Years Ago... Michael Dryhurst With the likelihood of the various “Minutes” running out, I attach some pages from the 1950 Ian Allan abc of London Transport Buses and Coaches.” Just look at the service vehicles in 1950 – ex-LS 3, 6 and 10, Dennises and ST 922. Then there is the listing of all those garages, amny of which are just memories now and then look at the length of some of the bus routes, both Central and Country. The 134, Potters Bar to Pimlico; 27A Teddington to Archway; 301 Watford Junction to Aylesbury (paralleled also by two Green Line routes), and 403 Wallington to Tonbridge. Man, those were the days! And did you know that apparently I am now the longest-serving (living?) contributor to “Buses Illustrated/Buses”? 4 5 I hope readers find all this of interest, but I wouldn't bother joining the Ian Allan Bus-Spotters Club as I heard a rumour that it may have closed down a year or two ago.