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 With the recent publication of Capital Transport's book on the GS class reviewed in the previous Newsletter, I thought we could open with Martyn Hunt's photograph of GS 27 laying over at the rear of Harlow Garage in 1963, his only photograph of a GS in service. This one in later life spent a period as a mobile shop in Hemel Hempstead and we illustrated it in that role in an earlier Newsletter. It was not one of the survivors of this popular class, alas. Newsletter 163 March 2020 Opening Lines As referred to briefly last time, we now welcome many more readers in the shape of London Bus Museum members who have told the Museum their e-mail addresses. For the benefit of those members I thought perhaps I should outline who we are and what we aim to do. The “Friends” is successor to the former RT and RF Register, started by Peter Gomm back in 1982 as an owners' club for those vehicles and their contemporaries. In those days much less was known about the vehicles, and preservation, although not new, was still in its relative infancy so there was a need for us all to help each other out with advice, information, sources of parts, ways to overcome problems and so on. We also provided histories of vehicles for those who did not know the life story of their buses. Peter wished to retire some years ago after producing 252 Newsletters for the Register, and David Thrower and I decided it was too good to lose, so we continued under a new name as the old one was felt to be so closely allied to Peter that everyone would expect him still to be at the helm. In the ensuing years the world has changed and with the advent of modern technology and the internet, not to mention ongoing research by individuals, changes in legal requirements and the like, our emphasis has had to change too; in any case, there is a limit to the number of times you can publish details of tyre pressures and types of oil suitable for use in rear axles. The “Friends” is a member of the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs and we publish information extracted from their 1 newsletters if it is relevant to us – details of petrol additives, for example, are not. In addition, in recent years we have benefited enormously from Tony Beard's researches into London Transport's archives, from which he has extracted no end of useful and interesting information, largely of an engineering bent as of course that is still our primary focus. We have also expanded our remit to include vehicles pre- dating the 1950s and, sometimes, more recent types, some of them having the engine at the wrong end and therefore being something the purists may not like. We do not actually exclude non-LT vehicles on occasions either although we do look for some connection with LT or its “special area” as a rule. Our title is a bit cumbersome but was selected so as not to poach members from the Routemaster Association with whom we enjoy good relations and an exchange of Newsletters. If we had omitted the “of the Fifties” bit we might have been seen as trying to attract RM-family owners, who of course are better served by the Routemaster Association. That is not to say that we ignore the RMs – we don't at all. We produce this Newsletter monthly and it can run to 30 pages, after which the paper copies become too heavy to go at the 100 gram rate and postage costs become too high to be economical. We aim to be factual but we make no claims to omniscience and are always open to corrections which are published as soon as received. We also like to include light-hearted and quirky items from time to time. These have included cartoons, references to London buses in songs, films, TV shows and books, a spasmodic series of photographs of famous people, mostly young women, photographed in the company of London buses, and even at times pictures of shop windows and chairs – don't ask! We do not routinely cover models as we feel that model bus fans are very well catered for elsewhere, but there is no rigid rule and some models which come to our attention are well worth publicising. We hope LBM members will enjoy the Newsletter and look forward to hearing from you from time to time. Anyone at all is welcome to contribute so do not ever feel that your efforts are not wanted. “Let Him Have It!” Brian Clarke Please may I ask your assistance in finding the right source for some information about old bus routes. I have developed an interest in the famous historic and sad case of Derek Bentley. A film was made in 1991 about the crime, and our bus RTL 1348 MXX 71 was used together with RTs 44 and 54 as well as RTL 1163 (I think!) LYF 104. The film was entitled (not unsurprisingly) 'Let Him Have It' and starred Christopher Eccleston (Bentley) and Paul Reynolds (Christopher Craig). They are seen in the film riding on our bus (RTL 1348 MXX 71) working route 109 travelling a short hop from Norbury to Croydon (actually filmed in Liverpool); the location of the event, and indeed this is accurate in reality. The fare was threepence apparently! What I was wondering was, would the vehicles used on this route and in this area in 1952 have actually been AECs or would they have been Leylands? Also what garage the 109 would operate from? [Editor's notes: Derek Bentley was a very young man hanged for taking part in a robbery during which a police constable was shot dead. Bentley himself was unarmed but in those days there was “guilt by association” which led to his execution – you can read more on the internet. Bentley was eventually granted a posthumous pardon. As a non-Central area specialist I hesitate to offer a suggestion about route 109, (Thornton Heath, possibly...?) but I am sure our resident experts will tell us all. It is a fact that many films made in modern days but set in London in the past are actually filmed in Liverpool which has suitable architecture and a local authority which encourages filming there and actually has a small section devoted to it. In recent times, as reported in the Newsletter, David Thrower and I, together with his RT 2794, took part in shooting “Foyle's War” there.] Service vehicle 770F Jim Andress It was interesting to see the pic of the ex LT van, JXN 489 because for my last 6-9 months with LT were spent driving around most of the bus and some trolleybus garages in a similar van servicing the canteen refrigerators. As you can imagine it was a job I was sorry to leave behind but that’s life. The van had an 1100 cc side-valve engine coupled to a three-speed gear box which resulted in a top speed of about 35 MPH accompanied by horrendous noise and a tendency to wander about all over the road so leisurely driving was a must! All in all an odd experience. 2 Below: We asked if any “Friends” had been members of the Ian Allan Bus-Spotters Club. Bob Martin was a member and sends these scans of one of their Newsletters. 3 4 5 6 Above: Also sent in by Bob Martin was this photograph of the former 895B, JXC 340, a 1948 Bedford KD 30-cwt lorry seen on local deliveries in Paddington in 1961. We perhaps overlook that LT was the operator of a substantial fleet of goods vehicles, many of them constructed on former bus chassis in bygone times until they decided to purchase conventional vehicles (or fairly so, given their interest in doing things their own way no matter what others might think). Few service vehicles have survived. Does anyone know why the Bedford depicted had a grab-rail fitted alongside the lower edge of the cab side window? It wasn't a standard feature of the type. Bus Garage Visits – St Albans Martyn Hunt My first visit to SA garage was on 25 September 1983. As usual I was the driver, this time in my employer's not too reliable Alfasud car EJM 139V. Two passengers were on board including Ken Hammond. Journeying down the A12, we saw RML 2383 on an excursion probably to Clacton. We cut across country on the A414 from Chelmsford to North Weald airfield where RT 786 and SMD 443 were employed as Drive-A-Bus vehicles. Continuing, we ventured via Epping, Upshire and Waltham Cross to Ponders End (Enfield) garage (58), Edmonton (Tramway Avenue) (46), Palmers Green (part only) (32), Wood Green (57), Muswell Hill (39), Finchley (48), Hendon (29), en-route to Edgware RF 197 was seen, Edgware (45) including RF 183. We had finally arrived at Aldenham for the Works open day at which were seen the following vehicles noted: RF 10, 202, 458, 479, 667, 672 and 673 RFW 14 RLH 23 and 29 RT 113, 1062, 1700, 2629, 3232, 4508 and4777 RTL 453 RTW 185 and 497 Many other types were noted on this historic open day. Not content with the days earlier bus garage and Aldenham visits, we continued our journey as follows: Harrow Weald (52), Garston (54) and finally St.