Dorking Running Day

Sunday 31st August 2003

Prepared by Ian Smith, 14th September 2003

Part 2: Breakfast time at Dorking

I was not desperate for something to eat - I had a sandwich in my bag, but I was tired. I was NOT going to immediately dash off somewhere else. So I gently made my way up past the long line of parked buses waiting for their turn. Just ahead of GS76 was RM642, taking turns on the Central Bus route 93 that for many years reached out from Epsom to Dorking art weekends. Then there was RF421, one of the red RFs working today, as they did here on summer Sundays in the fifties, when the Country Area borrowed them for their busiest day of the week!

SNC168 had already done a long duty, having worked in from St Albans on the 712, via London. Attracting admiring comments during the day for its Greenline livery, it too was going to work on the busy 439 circular during the day, before the long journey back.

Green RF 626, looking good as always, was ready for an adventurous trip to Holmbury St. Mary, over the winding narrow hilly lanes of the Greensand Ridge beyond Westcott.

AEC Reliance RP21 was pulling away for the 1055 trip round the 439. I walked on to the other bus-park, looking for Peter Aves, the day's organiser. I found instead more buses: Colin Curtis's RF19 was visiting, and standing next to RF633. That was set up ready for the 1140 trip to Reigate on the spur-route 439 that leaves the circular route beyond Brockham for a foray through Leigh.

There were GSs too: GS42, GS32 and GS2 were grouped together, GS42 with Coldharbour blinds, GS32, with no trafficators, and GS2, both with blinds for one of the day's major routes, the 449, in both long and short versions.

Also visiting were splendid Southdown Tiger coach DUF 179, tucked into a corner, and ex-Alder Valley 251, long Leyland National that later went to London & Country. It is now repainted from white overall advertisement into Alder Valley greens.

Also visiting was short National SNB340, one of the ex-London & Country machines that was with Classic Coaches at High Wycombe for a time. RTL139 still wore the blinds that it had used in service two days before, when it reinforced the RMs on the last day of crew operation on route 15. A Titan of a different era, T361 was in Legg's Travel livery.

Ah! what was that sneaking past and into the undergrowth? Yes, it is BN61, out from London's Transport Museum for the day... and followed by GS64, both to be used in service! Odd to think that these two now reside in the Central Area, while BL95, once an Uxbridge machine with Hillingdon Council, now is a regular on Memory Lane's Dorking area Sunday services.

A quick glance at the stalls, a hot sandwich. What else is here? Oh yes, I had walked past London Country RMC1476 and Greenline RF226.

I found Peter, and he suggested that I might like to cover the 429 operation, with RT2083...

Part 3: RT2083: 429 to Holmwood and Brockham.

All photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.

Back to Ian's Bus-stop Part 1 Part 3: RT2083: 429 to Holmwood and Brockham.