|
GS: The Guy Special |
Prepared by Ian Smith |
433 DS Coldharbour - Dorking - Dorking North - Ranmore Common
Dorking started out with two GS routes, the 433 and the 449. Both had been Cub operated, and the GSs took over in December 1953.
The 433 route stuck out of both ends of Dorking: to the north it passed the important station of Dorking North,
for trains to and from London,
then it turned off the Leatherhead road to climb up through suburbia, then onto the North Downs to visit the scattered community at Ranmore,
terminating apparently at nowhere, at the road junction at Dog Kennel Green (where presumably it could turn and stand without inconveniencing anyone)..
To the south-west of Dorking it quickly was into the narrow lanes leading up around the wooded Greensand of Leith Hill,
to end at the tiny - but pretty- village of Coldharbour. In the GSs' early days it was a very popular place to be on Sundays,
for the village was just under the slopes of Leith Hill, the highest hill in south-east England.
Hence the blinds destination reading as Coldharbour: for Leith Hill.
But outside of school times and weekends the commuter and shopping needs died off with the motor car revolution,
and in its last days the route was sadly under-used.
It survived, perhaps surprisingly, until October 1968.
GS6: 11/62 - 2/63 GS16: 1/59 - 7/59 GS29:11/56 - 5/60 GS32: 8/57 - 11/57 GS36:12/53 - 12/56 GS37:12/53 - 10/57 GS39: 2/63 - 12/66 GS41:11/53 -c11/56 GS42:12/53 - 2/55, 12/66-10/68 GS44: 4/62 - 10/64 GS45: 3/55 - 5/55, 2/56- 8/57 o/h 11/57 - 10/62 GS82: 7/59 - 4/62 GS83: 5/55 - 7/56
Surrey County Council sponsored a number of leisure services on Summer Sundays during the late nineties, which included a route loosely rooted in the old 433. This new 433 operated between Dorking and Guildford, taking in Polesden Lacey - a noted tourist attraction not far from Ranmore Common. There it connected with a Routemaster on a 410 Summer Sunday service from Westerham. The 433 used a couple of GS buses: GS13 which had been reacquired by London & Country and repainted in Country Area green with gold London Country fleetnames, and GS67 from Nostalgiabus (their No.7), which wore their burgundy livery with white lining.
422
434
Bus Stop
GS