IAN'S BUS STOP: The LONDON BRISTOL LHs

The LONDON AREA BRISTOL LHs
London Country BL, BN

This page created 2nd June 1999

London Country also had to find an RF replacement for those tight places that a National would not fit. As a National Bus Company subsidiary, the Bristol LH was a natural first choice, even though its specification did not match that of the bus it was replacing. But at that stage there was little on offer in terms of traditionally-sized single-decker buses. (This was before the Dart revolution). London Country's choice fell on the short, 26ft 5in long LH6S model, available in two widths: 7ft 6in and 8ft. They chose some of each.

BL 1-23

The twenty-three BLs started to arrive first, from October 1973. They were painted in standard NBC green, with fleet names and NBC logos in white. They had three track number indicators at the rear, and a single blind aperture at the front, for traditional blinds. There was no side route indicator, as traditional in the Country Area. The window seals were cream-coloured.
These wider buses were allocated mainly to garages around the northern half of the doughnut. They had short service careers. Most were disposed of before 1982, by which time only seven of them remained in service: five at Amersham and two at St Albans.

BN 24-53, 54-67

The first thirty BN buses made their first appearance in August 1974, and went to work on routes with narrow lanes, particularly in Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire. They were allocated to Northfleet (NF), Chelsham (CM), Dunton Green (DG), Dorking (DS), Leatherhead (LH) and Hertford (HG): traditional GS country - although by now it was RFs that they were replacing. This first batch had a rear number-track blind like the BLs, and grey window seals.
They were followed by another batch of 14 in 1978, but a further order for thirty was cancelled in favour of Leyland Nationals. This second batch had black window seals and no rear number blind.

Again their working lives with London Country were short: in the late seventies buses of this size could not make money, even if fully loaded, and the era of widespread tendered services was still to come. Most were welcomed into the bosoms of other operators, who made them pay by working them to death. A few survive.

BN61 at Cobham Open day 1999.

Survivors

BN33 has been restored to London Country livery, with four-piece windscreen, in N.Ireland
BN50 has been restored to London Country livery, and is preserved in Cornwall.
BN61 has been restored to London Country livery, and is with London's Transport Museum