Fort Halstead Works JourneysSunday July 20th 2014Prepared by Ian Smith, 29th July 2014.402: Bromley North to Fort Halstead: RT3148Catching the 402 at Bromley North was the start of so many Green Rover excursions - from Bromley one only had the choice of 402 or 410. Back in those days the RT departed from North Street - not the station, but that is now impossible. I reached Bromley Nort with nearly an hour to spare, and wandered down East Street - the old route of departure to the Market Square. I had a coffee while waiting, again something you couldn't do in the sixties, at least on a Sunday Morning.I set off back to the station, and was rewarded as I went to cross Widmore Road when I saw RT3148 approaching. I climbed aboard, and we went round to the stop in West Street, to await the announced departure time from the Station.
It turned out that John Huxford, our driver, was not familiar with the Dunton Green double-decker routes, so I offered to navigate, a decision that was profoundly to reshape my day. So I took my seat behind the driver. The absence of an interior bulkhead window made the job of being a Sat-Nav much easier! The front destination blind was rolled round to indicate Fort Halstead. This was not easy, as the blind mechanism had jammed. As time approached, we all boarded and drove round via College Road and Tweedy Road to Bromley North Station. Loaded up, we headed south, not via East Street and the Market Square, but past the Civic Centre onto Kentish Way. We passed Stagecoach EnviroTrident 10143 on the 208, which paused to pick up at the Civic Centre, and went through the bus gate past The Glades to reach the High Street behind a Metrobus Scania on the 119.
We called at Bromley South Station, descended over the railway to the foot of Mason's Hill and climbed up steeply again to join with Kentish Way for the journey South over Bromley Common. I commented how there used to be a plentiful service along here, with all the Bromley Garage routes running in service, including the 227 - and a 227 came the other way! The Mercedes Benz Citaro (Stagecoach 23109) was "Not in Service" though, as it headed to join the route at Bromley North. We roared along across the Common to reach Bromley Garage, where we paused for pictures. A look through the garage doorway revealed a couple more Citaros inside (including 23112), plus some EnviroTridents and EnviroDarts.
We rejoined RT3148 and headed up the hill towards Locks Bottom, trailing Metrobus 527 - a Scania OmniCity - on the 358 to Orpington. It had the power advantage up the hills, but had to stop by Farnborough Hospital, so we were ahead by the time that we turned right for Farnborough Village.
We met another Scania as we turned into Farnborough Village. 529 was headed by the tortuous 358 route to Crystal Palace. We stopped by the old 47 terminus. The pub there has gone, replaced by housing. 527 took the opportunity of our photo stop to squeeze past.
We moved on, down Farnborough Hill to meet the by-pass, then down to the big roundabout at Green Street Green. No GS on the pub forecourt today. We roared out along the A21, up past Pratts Bottom, and turned right to take the old road past Knockholt Station. The RT handled the long climb up to Badgers Mount very well. We rolled along over the top of the North Downs to the Polhill Arms, and turned right into the Fort Halstead Approach Road. RF429, and Alan Charman, were already there. Alan boarded and went inside to give the "no photography, no cameras" spiel, while I went upstairs to do the same. WE motored up the drive towards the gatehouse, and swung round past the two Go-Coach single-deckers (used for today's works services I presume). We returned to the end of the approach road to make connections.
Red RF429 was standing there, with the latterday 454A blinds up for the journey to Fort Halstead. London Country had borrowed several red RFs in its early days, and used some from Dunton Green garage.
RF146, in Modernised but demoted bus format, with London Transport green and canary yellow livery, arrived from Tonbridge with a 402. Modernised Green Line RF28 arrived as well, also with 402 blinds up for its next journey.
Completing the line-up was Country Area bus RF679. After visiting the gatehouse it returned to the end of the Approach Road, set up for a 431B journey to Knockholt Pound. RF146 was set up for a works journey to Knockholt Station as a 431C.
Now it was time for the first round of Works Specials.. Part Two: Fort Halstead Works Journeys
Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.  Ian's Bus-stop
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