But Country Bus Rallies did not have a scheduled departure until 1100. A crowd had gathered, and were not liking having to wait that long. Alan Charman offered a short tour in RF429 - "back by 11 o'clock"- and promptly left with a full bus. Although wearing blinds for Nup End on the bus he promised not to try to get there and back in half an hour!
But now we at least had an arrival: RF4, one of the original short RFs rushed into traffic for the Festival of Britain tourst traffic, with glass roof panels, arrived on the 384, all the way from Letchworth Station, most northerly point of the London Transport system.
Illustrating thirty years of small bus development were Golden Boy's Dart SLF EU06JVW (used on the 333 or 324 on weekdays, and the 395 on Sundays), and London Transport Museum's Bristol BN61, now checking in before a day's activity.
RT1206 arrived to check in too, shortly followed by AEC Reliance RP21.
Leyland National SNB312 then arrived on the lond-distance Greenline service 734 from Addlestone.
More buses clocked in: RF 489, ready for the 384B to Benington Green, RM1397 for the 341 to Hatfield. RF429 came back from its short tour. They were quickly sent away to clear the bus station both for the normal Sunday buses (the Golden Boy Dart on the 395 and DMS11 back on the 311 promptly passed through), and for the expected flurry of departures at 11 o'clock.
Then came RT1499. Eddie Knorn arrived with the green and cream liveried Cravens RT (part of the Ensignbus collection).
Now it was 11 o'clock: time to get down to the main business of the day...
Part Four: Late morning: the main services start.
Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
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Part Two
Part Four: Late morning: the main services start.