Routes 212 and 233 Revisited by RFSunday 17th February 2013Prepared by Ian Smith, 21st February 2013.212: Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill Broadway: RF486The crowd gathering at the corner of the bus station increased. Once it exceeded thirty it seemed unlikely that we would all get on the Rf when it arrived. A red single-decker came under the railway bridges - it was a Dial-a-Ride Tucana, D7157. Not as stylish as a GS of similar size.A few minutes later RF486 came the same way, under the low bridges, and went round the block to pull up at stop A in the bus station.
The scrum round the door reminded me strongly of the schoolboy crowd trying to board the 227 at the grammar school stop in Penge High Street. Not nice. I was towards the back, and wondered if I would make it. I did, just. There was a seat at the back, next to the daughter of the man who boarded behind me. I let him have it. Where was I going to sit? Nigel Henty shifted up on the offside longitudinal 4-seater, and I squeezed in beside him. A lady who just hadn't made the cut was giving our conductor Steve Whitelegg an earful at the doorway. Did she realise that it just through the efforts and expense of him and Peter Osborn that this trip happened at all? Eventually she wound down and let go, whereupon we could draw away, round onto Stroud Green Road. We headed north. The view from the long seat was not as good as from the front upstairs seat on the VW. No trains at Crouch Hill Station. We climbed the hill and crossed the disused railway, now the Highgate - Finsbury Park Walkway. Over the hump, we dropped down to the road junctions in Crouch End, passed the clocktower and forked left past the clock-tower onto Park Road. On the way we discussed various things: How much heavier is a full load now than in 1952? Was the replacement of two nearside seats with a luggage rack to compensate for the weight of the doors and their mechanism? Was the fare chart the smallest we had seen?
Our discussion about weight were emphasised on the climb up Muswell Hill in the red bus lane: the extra half-ton of human flesh, making the all-up weight in excess of eleven tons, really told as we went down the gears on the final climb to reach the terminus. Most people alighted to take photos. Peter parked RF486 in the central bus stance.
212: Muswell Hill Broadway to Finsbury Park: RF486
Most people reboarded at the top of the hill, except for a small number who went down to the old station stop for a photo before reboarding. We rolled down the hill and along Park Road to Crouch End, where a lay-by at the bus-stop provided a relatively safe spot for photographs.
We continued over Crouch Hill and down to Stroud Green Road. Again we passed the wonderful Old Dairy, and rolled down to Lennox Road, where we looped round to terminate in Clifton Terrace.
Peter and Steve asked us all to alight, to give a sporting chance to those who had missed out on the first trip, and set the bus up for its 233 trip, with appropriate blinds and garage plates (WG)... Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
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Part Three: RF486 on 233
Red-RF
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