It transpired that John Clarke in GS32 was almost due out on a 471 via Cudham, and as this is unfamiliar territory to him, and almost home ground to me, I volunteered to go with him. He had arrived with the bus wearing "Knockholt Pound" destination blinds, and we looked for a suitable blind for the journey. "Knockholt Crown" (see top of page) was not it, and John did not want the "Orpington Kelvin Parade" setting either. But we found an "Orpington Station" destination with Cudham via point blind, and set that up.
We loaded up, and set off along the road along the top of the North Downs. But there were no views down the escarpment, a quarter-mile to the south of the road. Instead we enjoyed the wonderful scenery of great trees lining the road. We soon passed the Crown, with its primary school, another 471 terminal point, and continued along to Scotts Lodge.
There was very little traffic, so we had a very quick photographic stop, before we turned sharp north into narrow Cudham Lane.
Cudham Lane had been heavily pruned back by the Council trimmers, but was still rather narrow. John commented that in many places the white line was definitely not in the middle, favouring the uphill traffic mainly. We descended carefully, passing the pub and church in Cudham, and squeezing in to the hedge fairly frequently to pass the ubiquitous monster 4x4s. (Presumably the reasoning is that the narrower the roads the bigger the vehicle one needs to protect ones-self!)
We came down to Orpington's fringe at Green Street Green. There was not a GS parked on the forecourt of the Rose & Crown, as there was so often in the old days, but GS34 was waiting to enter the roundabout from the High Street.
RP21 was picking up a passenger at the Queens Head as we passed. We rolled on into Orpington, turning left at the War Memorial, where we passed another of the ex-Crystals Solos, a massive 9.2metre long No.199, now with Metrobus on the B14. Although longer than an RF, with its big doors and large luggage pens and standing areas, it only seats 30 compared with an RF's 41. We continued up to the Station.
Next to the RTs was one of today's equivalents: a low-floor Volvo B7TL with dual-doorway 64-seater Plaxton President bodywork, PVL260 working on an old RT route, the 51 between Orpington and Woolwich.
We set off again in GS32, back towards Knockholt Pound. On the way to Green Street Green we passed several more of the GS's modern equivalent, the 8.9m Dart SLF with Marshall bodywork, working on Orpington Roundabout routes: DMS41485 was working on the R11 (Green Street Green to Sidcup), and DMS41485 was off the R1 (Bromley Common - Green Street Green).
But back to the fifties! GS32 paused at The Queens Head, and RT3871 took the opportunity to pull round and overtake. We turned left at the roundabout and headed for Pratts Bottom, where we met London's Transport Museum's GS64 coming the other way in the sunshine.
Climbing Rushmore Hill we passed RT2043 heading for Bromley again. We pulled up at The Three Horseshoes, and found another bus jam forming: red RF486 was waiting to depart for Sevenoaks on a 431 (Yes, there was a red RF allocated to Dunton Green for a while). NBC green RT604 pulled up behind ready to work down to Orpington as a 471, with RT1702 on the 47 behind that.
It was time for a break: I jumped on GS1 which was heading for the garage.
All photos by Ian Smith. Click on most of them for a larger picture.
Ian's Bus-stop
Part 2: Orpington and back
Part 4: Knockholt Bus Garage