It was time to get some proper lunch - and look around the King Street bus-parks before dashing off somwhere else. Sandwiches in hand (and mouth), I started to amble around. At the top of the carpark was a line-up of Routemasters: Arriva's gold-painted RM6, ex-London Country RMC1476, and RM2116, preserved in 1930s style showbus condition. A nice preview of what we can expect to see much more of in July at the Routemaster 50 celebrations in Finsbury Park.
Turning right from the row of bus fronts I was presented with a row of Chiswick-designed bus back-ends: two RFs and a GS: Colin Curtis' short RF19, GS34 and red RF388.
The row was completed by Cobham's STL2377, wearing a splendid set of route 19 blinds.
I crossed King Street and walked up towards the operational bus park. RF213, still in process of having a roof repaint, scooted down the bank and round onto the stand. The bus-park held several other RFs on lunch-break: red RF406 had already been to Crawley and back.
Red RF319 kept company with Country cousin RF672, while GS2 parked in a corner, trying to keep out of the way.
Down the other end of the carpark were some of the more modern visitors, including T1125. Now still with East Kent, it wore immaculate Stagecoach national livery, which suits these buses admirably (in my opinion). The dot-matrix display was set up to proclaim its historical importance as the last Titan built. Nearby was Alder Valley 251, restored to the green, green and honey-coloured livery.
I had thought that the bus-park was relatively empty. The arrival of another three buses quickly changed that. RLH48 eased in first, reversing gently backwards the length of the carpark and round to a halt in a corner. XF3 came next, gentling backwards to park in front of the Titan.
SNB257 came next, stopping alongside the RFs and putting a cork in the bottle. Meanwhile LS24 lurked quietly in a corner.
I walked back down to King Street, where RT604 on a 409 turn was pulled up behind RT3148. It was time for me to think what I wanted to do next. A return trip to Crawley seemed like a good idea.
All photos by Ian Smith. Click on most of them for a larger picture.
Back to Ian's Bus-stop
Part 2: RLH48 and RT3148
Part 4: RF406