Just before that time STL2377 arrived back from the long trip to Ealing on the 65, and a few minutes later RT3871 headed off along the same road on a 71 to Kingston.
I went aboard the leaning back STL, and took my bearings. The interior was so familar, yet so different, compared with an RT. Everything seemed slighter, less substantial - as indeed it had to be, given the weight limits in force when it was built. That said, the seats were comfotable, which cannot be said for today's heavyweight lard-butts.
GS2 pulled out from in front of us for a short-working on the 462 - that Leatherhead's GS was used on from time to time when it was not on the 481 or 422.
The STL was started up with the aid of a starter pack, and we pulled out - NOT stopping at the dolly stop! We turned left from Randall's Road onto the Kingston Road, and headed north. Kingston Road is nowadays bisected by the M25, so we had a diversion along Oxshott Road to cross the motorway, before jinking right and left to regain the Kingston Road.
North of the motorway we were into countryside, with the road in a long avenue of trees. The infrequent bus-stops had no laybys - apparently on this kind of road the buses have difficulty pulling back out into fast-moving heavy traffic, so it is considered better to hold up the whole traffic flow every time the bus stops. We passed Chessington World of Adventures, then found a stop just beyond at Barwell Business Park.
Suburbia took over again as we headed into Hook. Just beyond a big roundabout, at the start of the dual carriageway, we found a bus stop with a lay-by: the Hook, Mansfield Road, stop.
Going on, we passed Transdev Trident/Alexander TA339 heading south on the 71 to Chessington, then reached the big roundabout above the A3. Here we turned, and ran back south to the second stop, at the North Star, where we could take pictures with the light on the other sides of the bus.
While we were taking pictures the modern succesor to the 65 - the 465 - went past in the form of Dart E200 3977 from Arriva Southern Counties, a very different bus from the old petrol STLs, often from General days, that Turnham Green used to put out on the 65 just after the war. This route was just about to change operator: Metrobus should have taken it over along with the other Horsham operations by now.
We set off south again. Another Transdev Trident, TA340 I think, came north on the 71. We met TA339 again at Chessington, when we pulled up at the stop opposite the northbound pull-in: the Trident was just pulling out to head back to Kingston.
Someone had calculated that STL2377 was due up the road in a matter of minutes, although we had all forgotten that it would not actually pass STL441 but turn into the pull-in hidden behind the trees opposite. Meanwhile, XF3 came rumbling past on its circular 468 trip from Epsom.
STL2377 duly came along on the northbound 65 - and pulled in.
So we restarted STL441 and turned hard right to pull up between STL2377 and a line of big coaches.
After a lot of pictures had been taken the paassengers climbed back aboard their steeds. STL2377 pulled away northwards, and STL441 completed the turn and headed back south to Leatherhead.
All photos by Ian Smith. Click on most of them for a larger picture.
Ian's Bus-stop
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 7