RLH48 off 353 at Amersham

Amersham

Sunday October 5th 2008

Prepared by Ian Smith, 31st October 2008.


Finale

After a day of travelling I really needed to locate the public conveniences before setting off home. I enquired, and found that they were a couple of hundred yards away, near the village centre at Amersham Common. I paid a visit, and on my way back met RF636 returning from a trip round the 394. It passed behind me as I crossed the road, then pulled in at the stance as I got back to the car-park.

RF636 at Amersham. RF636 at Amersham.

Out on the stance stood two Routemasters, ready for long return trips on the 353: RM2116, the ex-Seven Kings show-bus, heading for Windsor, and RML2676 heading for Slough. Between them lurked GS17, prior to its departure for Hemel Hempstead over the 316 route.

RM2116 at Amersham. RML2676 at Amersham.

In the nearly-empty bus park was RF486, waiting to return to Dorking via Kingston, set up with Green Line Express 727 blinds. RF457 was departing, leaving RF673 standing almost alone.

RF486 at Amersham. RF673, RF457 at Amersham.

Two other RFs remained: RF644 off the 394C, and RF489, freshly arrived from a circuit round the 394.

RF644 at Amersham. RF489 at Amersham.

Then there were three: our organiser's own RML2440, Roger Wright's RT3871, and Purley's RT604.

RML2440 at Amersham. RT3871 at Amersham. RT604 at Amersham.

Amersham to West Croydon (RT604)

I joined RT604 for the long ride back to Croydon. We turned down under the railway to reach the main road down the valley past the Chalfonts, joining the A40 just north of Uxbridge. A wiggle took us south through Greenford, where NCP's Enviro200 Dart ADS03 was lurking on the E11 in the gloaming, and on to Ealing Broadway. Brentford and Kew Bridge led us on to Richmond, where a diversion saw us grinding up to the gates of Richmond Park before dropping down to Petersham and rolling on to Kingston. There we picked up the 725 route (to match our blinds), and headed east through Worcester Park and Sutton. By now it was well dark. I alighted in Croydon, and watched the bus purr away in the darkness towards Purley. Thanks for the ride, folks.

ADS03 at Greenford. RT604 at Croydon.

Many thanks to Peter Cartwright and the Amersham & District Motorbus Society for organising the event, and to all those whose buses I rode on or photographed during the day.

Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.

Back to Ian's Bus-stop Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four