The six-wheeler Renown chassis was available in a long form,
suitable for 30ft long London single - deckers.
Chiswick built rather nice 29ft 5in bodies for them,
in the same idiom as the
T-class.
T27 had been rebuilt during 1930 to front entrance form,
and the new buses followed its example.
They seated thirty five,
with bench seats for six (offside) and five (nearside) over the rear wheels.
LT1001 was completed in December 1930, and licensed in the new year. It started out on the 104 at Edgware (EW), and moved to Muswell Hill in March. The remaining 49 of the first batch, together with a spare body, started to appear in April and were built up to June 1931. This first batch went mainly to Muswell Hill (MH), for the 111 and to Holloway for the 110, routes that would see the type until their demise.
| 1930 route no. | 1934 route no. | Route | Garages |
|---|---|---|---|
| 104 | 240 | Golders Green Stn - Burnt Oak | EW Edgware |
| 111 | 212 | Finsbury Park Stn - Crouch End - Muswell Hill Bdy | MH Muswell Hill |
| 110 | 210 | Finsbury Park Stn - Highgate - Golders Grn Stn | J Holloway |
This lot were immediately followed by an order for another 150, of which 149 were completed as single deckers. The other one was appropriated for an experiment (see below). There were also six spare bodies for the works float, completed at the end of the run before the first batch became due for their annual overhaul.
The last 76 bodies (including the spares) had rear indicator boxes, in place of the board across the emergency door that was all that the originals had by way of destination equipment at the rear. They also had new seats, and were coded LTL1/1.
The Scooters, as they became known, were distributed more widely around the system, displacing more Ks, Ss and some ex-Independent Dennises. Some more went to Holloway for the 41A and 297B. Others went to Dalston (D), starting a long affair with the 108; to Nunhead (AH) for the Peckham circular 621; to Sutton (A)for the 87, 113 and 155B - routes that would keep the type for many years. Elmers End (ED) got some for the 609, to work alongside the Tilling Ts between Penge and Bromley on the route that was to become the 227. Some went to Hounslow (AV) for the short-lived 95; to Edgware (EW) and Cricklewood (W) for the 104 (later 240); to Leyton (T) and Tottenham for the 263A (the later 236, another long-association route) Enfield (E) received quite a number for its collection of single-decker routes, the 201, 538, 551 and 602. Sidcup (SP) gained some for the 209, and Edgware more for the 141. Barking very briefly had some for the 224, passing on the route and buses to Upton Park after leass than three weeks.
| 1930 route no. | 1934 route no. | Route | Garages |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41A | 232 | Crouch End Bdy - Highgate Und. Stn | J Holloway |
| 297B | 239 | Tuffnell Park - Kings Cross | J Holloway |
| 108D | 208 | Clapton - Hackney Wick - Bromley-by-Bow | D Daqlston |
| 621A/B | 243 | Peckham - Nunhead - Peckham | AH Nunhead |
| 87 | 234 | Streatham Common - Wallington - Purley | A Sutton |
| 113 | 213 | Kingston - Sutton - Belmont | A |
| 155B | 245 | Morden Stn - S.Wimbledon | A |
| 609 | 227 | Penge - Bromley - Chislehurst - Eltham | ED Elmers End |
| 95 | Hounslow - Hayes (Middx) | AV Hounslow | |
| 104 | 240 | Golders Green Stn - Burnt Oak | EW, W |
| 263A | 236 | Finsbury Park -Hackney Wick - Leyton | T, AR |
| 201 | Stroud Green - Edmonton | E Enfield | |
| 538 | 238 | Stroud Green - Wood Green - Forty Hill | E, WN |
| 551 | 251 | Edmonton - Totteridge | E |
| 602 | 102 | Muswell Hill Bdy - Edmonton - Chingford | E |
| 209 | SP, Sidcup | ||
| 141B | 241 | Edgware Station - Elstree - Borehamwood | EW |
| 224 | BK, then U |
They all passed to the LPTB in 1933.
The 1934 route renumbering saw some changes,
but mostly the big single-deckers were heavily used on busy core routes.
The advent of the 5Q5s in 1936 released some LTLs from Dalston (208)
and Merton (200) to go to the aid of busy route 227.
They displaced the Tilling Ts from Bromley (TB)
to quieter routes at Kingston.
Amongst new routes developed with the type was the 254
from Beckenham through Bromley and Grove Park to Eltham.
In other places smaller buses were replaced as suburbia grew: the 237 from Hounslow through Sunbury to Chertsey saw LTLs displace Leyland Cubs.
The war saw some of the Scooters stored
- and ten destroyed in store at Bull Yard by bombing.
There were other casualties - a bombed house fell on one working the 236,
but the Elmers End contingent largely escaped the doodle-bug destruction of the garage
that destroyed so many other buses.
Some of the LTLs had their seating changed. They already had long bench seats over the rear wheels. Now the other seats were rotated and placed along the bus walls, providing inward-facing seating for 33, with standing room for twenty.
Wartime changes in traffic patterns caused some route changes too. The Morden Stn - South Wimbledon circular service received low-height double-deckers and became the 127. The relatively new 254 exchanged Scooters for double-decker LTs and became the 126. Elsewhere single deckers were shuffled around, LTLs replacing Ts, which replaced Cubs.
The arrival of the postwar Regal Ts and Tiger TDs allowed many of the class
to retire, displacing them from some of their long-standing routes:
Scooters were displaced from Uxbridge (where they worked the 223) by
new 14T13s in March 1946.
At the same time some went from the 201, 215 and 219 at Kingston.
In April 1946 the new Regals replaced them at Muswell Hill on the 212,
only to be displaced in turn by the first Tigers in December.
A surplus of TDs for the 212 also displaced some Scooters from the 210
and some of the displaced Regals ousted LTLs from the 206 at Kingston.
Spring 1949 saw the next assault on the class with TDs,
this time at Kingston,
where new TDs took over on the 216 to Staines and the 201 (again) to Feltham.
Muswell Hill also lost LTLs from the 251 at this time.
The late spring of 1949 saw them disappearing from Edgware (240),
again ousted by TDs, followed in the summer by those from Leyton (T) and Tottenham (AR) on the 236.
More of the Muswell Hill survivors transferred out when changes elsewhere
provided a further handful of TDs for the 210,
plus some otherwise redundant Greenline 6Q6s!
| Date | Route | Garage | Replacements |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/46 | 223: West Drayton - Ruislip Stn | UX Uxbridge | 14T13 |
| 3/46 | 201: Kingston - Dittons - Feltham | K Kingston | 14T13 |
| 3/46 | 215: Kingston - Esher - Ripley | K Kingston | 14T13 |
| 3/46 | 219: Kingston - Hersham - Weybridge | K Kingston | 14T13 |
| 4/46 | 212: Finsbury Park Stn - Crouch End - Muswell Hill Bdy | MH Muswell Hill | 14T13 |
| 12/46 | 210: Finsbury Park Stn - Highgate - Golders Grn Stn | MH Muswell Hill | 1TD1 |
| 12/46 | 206: Hampton Court Stn - Claygate | K Kingston | 14T13 |
| 4/49 | 201: Kingston - Dittons - Feltham | K Kingston | 1/1TD2 |
| 4/49 | 216: Kingston - Sunbury - Staines | K Kingston | 1/1TD2 |
| 4/49 | 251: Arnos Grove - Totteridge - Burnt Oak | MH Muswell Hill | 1/1TD2 |
| 5/49 | 240: Edgware - Mill Hill - Golders Green | EW Edgware | 1/1TD2 |
| 5/49 | 240A: Edgware - Mill Hill - Page Street | EW Edgware | 1/1TD2 |
| 6/49 | 236: Leyton - Dalston - Finsbury Park (- Stroud Green) | AR, T | 1/1TD2 |
| 6/51 | 210: Finsbury Park Stn - Highgate - Golders Grn Stn | MH Muswell Hill | 1/1TD2, 6Q6 |
But the TDs were too few to displace all of the old Ts and the scooters,
and the survivors would have to await the arrival of the RFs in the early fifties.
But the overhaul and maintenace "holiday" during the war, plus overloading,
meant that some of the bodies were in a bad way, displaying distinct middle-aged sag and bulge.
So a two-pronged effort was made at life-extension.
Ninety - eight received AEC diesel engines from redundant STLs at the end of the forties,
and sixty were sent to Marshalls at Cambridge for body rebuilds.
These returned looking relatively modern, having lost the broad Chiswick cummer- bund
and bodyside strakes in favour of smooth panelling.
Thirty six of the LTLs were sold to Morgan the dealer in Newport, South Wales,
who sold on three for use in Yugoslavia.
Others ended up as traveller's caravans, as circus vehicles or as hen houses.
Two survived the ravages of time and surfaced for preservation.
LT1059 is in process of being rebuilt to presentable condition by members of Cobham Museum,
at Leatherhead.
LT 1076 is now in the London Transport Museum collection and has been restored. It made its reappearance on the HCVS Rally from London to Brighton on May Day 2005, and won the Concours d'Elegance amongst other honours. I look forward to seeing it!
Some photos, and another view of LTL history is given by Dick Gilbert,
celebrating the class as the first of his Batches of Beautiful Buses
scooter histories
photo references
Part 6: Green LTLs.
Bus Stop
LT index.
Part 4: Bluebirds
LTLs.