East Grinstead Running DaySunday April 28th 2019Prepared by Ian Smith, 8th May 2019.Part 6: HomewardsEast GrinsteadBuses were gathering on the High Street for crew meetings and news. RT3148 squeezed in past DH478 on a 409 from Felbridge. RT1798 arrived from Godstone Green. They reminded me that I actually had not been on an RT today. Could I catch one homewards?
But here came something rather different. Dart/Carlyle DT29 had been busy on the 135 today, and now came in to the War Memorial stop.
Greenline RF271 had been operating bus routes today, having arrived as a 473 from Horsham, and spending the day busy on the 434 and 473. It would be going back to Crawley, so was a possibility for a homeward trip via Three Bridges. Just now it was standing by the War Memorial. In the centre of things, as he has been all day today, and on Running Days for the last TWENTY-FIVE YEARS, stood Alan Charman. Many thanks, Alan, for all your work!
Then the Sealink/East Kent Regent V stood next to RM1397. Both really good-looking buses. They were heading east. Going the other way was RLH48, doing the reverse feeder on the 424 to Reigate Station. I was tempted. But I had been on RLH48 already today, and really wanted an RT.
Here came John Huxford's two RTs: 3148 and newly-acquired 2083. They would probably be going via Westerham. But I didn't have the 246 connection times, and my phone had too little battery to look it up.
409: East Grinstead to Croydon: RT604Then RT604 came along, heading for Croydon (Katherine Street). I climbed aboard for the journey north.
We made the circuit via the station, then headed for Godstone. We dropped folk off at Godstone Station and Godstone Green, then headed over the North Downs to Caterham. Then it was into red bus territory through Coulsdon and Purley. EnviroDarts were passed on the 434 (Metrobus, 192), and the 166, Arriva, ENL21)
There were plenty more red buses. Unlike most of the country, even Kent and Surrey, in TfL land there are buses on almost every route every day, including Sundays. Elsewhere, if there any buses left on weekdays they are rarely seen on Sundays. This corridor into Croydon used to be mixed red and green buses, with the 405, 409, 411 and 414 all using this road. Now it is all red, with just the odd 400-series route number to remind one of the past. The (red) 405 maintains a service into deeper Surrey, to Redhill, but that goes by a different road. We passed Arriva's DW274 on the 412 heading for West Croydon - going out through Purley, as it loops back via Selsdon. There was also Abellio's EnviroDart 8838 heading out to Caterham on the 407. Nowadays red-routes finger their way out into outer suburbia, where once Country routes trespassed into town. That of course was because Country crews were paid less than those on red buses, and General knew when it was onto a good thing by hiring routes and buses to East Surrey way back in the 1920s.
There were lots more red buses. We passed South Croydon garage, with buses parked in the doorway.
Then we were into the hurley-burley of Croydon. We passed under the Croydon Flyover, and turned up to reach the terminus opposite the Fairfield Halls. Someone had wound up the route for the next outing on the back! I said thanks, and alighted to await a 119 from the same stop.
Many thanks to Country Bus Rallies for holding the event, and especially to Alan Charman, for organising this and the other preceding 24 events. Many thanks too to all the bus owners, drivers, and conductors who led us around the countryside so carefully and memorably. Thanks also to those who prepared timetables, organised buses to attend and run as feeders, negotiated all the necessary permissions from the local authorities and police forces, and to the public for their patience and their obvious appreciation. It was GOOD!
Buses that I saw (I may have missed some):
 Ian's Bus-stop
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 Two
Three
Four
Five
 Six
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