ST 1 The LGOC prototype ST 1/1ST1

ST 2 - 517 Standard STs (with exceptions), (Total 517). 1ST1/1

Standard 1ST1/1: early and late conditions. Drawing by Ian Smith

These were similar to ST1, but with the round-cornered cab, and initially without wind-screens to comply with London regulations (!). Originally they had the same minimal front blind arrangement as ST1, with no rear display except for a number stencil on the rear bulkhead and a decent blind over the door. But the Public Carriage Office insisted that a more comprehensive display be provided at both front and back. A larger blind box was added to the front, and a one line number and destination blind added at the back. This displaced the number plate to the rear bulkhead. Another difference made after delivery, while the rear was being modified, was to provide a larger cut-out in the rear, for the doorway, to allow escape in the event of a turn-over. This in turn dictated a single platform window rather than the original pair. They did all get equipped with windscreens eventually, of course.
They seated 49: (H29/20R). The fuel-tank was on the nearside.

Into service:

1930 route no.	1934 route no.	Route	Garages
184	17	London Bridge Stn - Southall	HW and R
218	18C	London Bridge Stn - Hanwell Garage	HW
291	91	Liverpool Street - Hounslow Heath	HW
11E	11	Liverpool Street - Shepherds Bush	R (and S)
25A	25	Victoria - Seven Kings	R and AP
26	25A	Victoria - Chigwell Row	AP
126	25C	Victoria - East Ham	AP
148	148	Leytonstone - Dagenham	AP

This first batch was followed immediately by a second, that started arriving in October. Half of these were bodied by Chiswick, together with fifty by Strachans and fifty by Short Bros of Rochester. They were first allocated as follows, to Leyton (T), Chalk Farm (CF), Elmers End (ED), Norwood (N), Nunhead (AH), Forest Gate (G), Seven Kings (AP), Romford (RD), and Harrow Weald (HD):

1930 route no.	1934 route no.	Route	Garages
10	10	Elephant & Castle - Abridge	T
35	35	Clapham Common Stn - Highams Park Stn	T
68C	68	Chalk Farm Stn - South Croydon	N, CF, ED, AH
168D	68	Kings Cross - Waterloo station	N, CF, ED, AH
169B	169	Kilburn Park Stn - Norwood Junction Stn	N, CF, ED, AH
82B	-	East Acton - West Wickham	AH
125	25B	Ebury Bridge - Becontree Heath	G and AP
186	86A	Stratford Broadway - Upminster	G and AP
66	66	Leytonstone - Gidea Park Stn	RD
183B	183	Golders Green stn - Pinner Green	HD

Three of the batch, ST462, ST464 and ST466 were fitted with AEC-Acro A155 8.1l diesel engines. As these were longer than the petrol engine these buses exceeded the regulation maximum, and needed special dispensation. The extra weight reduced the seating capacity as well, down from 49 to 44. They went to Harrow Weald, but at the next annual overhaul the oil engines were replaced with standard petrol engines, and the seats replaced.

The Watford highbridge STs: (Total 9) 2/1ST9
ST 107, 111, 116, 129, 132, 135, 143, 152, 159.

Standard Chiswick bodies for the National services at Watford. (H29/20R)

The National lowbridge STs: (total 6) 3/1ST9/1

ST 136, 140, 141, 157, 162, 163.

Short Bros of Rochester low-bridge bodies for National Services: Watford -Chesham (later 336), 48 seats (L24/24R), twin gangways upstairs, with 3-in-a-row bench seats. They were converted to diesel in 1950, lasting until 1952: the longest in-service survivors of the STs. Many received modifications during their lifetimes, gradually acquiring Chiswick features: the cab doors went; some received complete Chiswick cabs (that did not quite match the rest!); windows were renewed, some receiving square -cornered frames while others retained the rounded-top style; waist-bands, destination boxes and roofs were modified, so that by their final demise they were strongly individualistic. Modellers need to collect careful photo evidence of individual buses at a specific time: a generic model will not do! (That's why the type drawing is of a specific bus).

ST 140, lowbridge ST, postwar condition. Drawing by Ian Smith

The Metro-Cammell ST (Total 1) 1/1ST3

The Second Standard STs: ST518 to ST836 (with exceptions)(1ST2)

162 of this lot were actually owned by the Tramways (MET) Omnibus Co, and ran briefly with their Metropolitan fleetnames until their next overhaul, when they reappeared with a General fleetname. The MET buses were allocated as follows:

1930 route no.	1934 route no.	Route	Garages
30	30	South Hackney - Roehampton	T
35	35	Clapham Common Stn - Highams Park Stn	T
106B	106	Finsbury Park Stn - Becontree	T
8	8	Colindale Stn - Old Ford	AC
7	7	Liverpool Street - Shepherds Bush	X
166	166	London Bridge Stn - Waterloo Stn	X
118	18A	London Bridge Bridge - Acton Stn	X

This allocation of the 35 route to Metropolitan freed some of the General STs at Leyton, which were reallocated onto the 40, 100, 148 and 604:

1930 route no.	1934 route no.	Route	Garages
40	40	West Norwood - Epping Forest	T
100	10A	Elephant & Castle - Epping Town	T
148	148	Leytonstone - Dagenham	T
604	34B	Edmonton Stn - Stratford Broadway	T

ST 822-836 were intended for Overground, but most were replaced before delivery by Dennis Lances with Metro-Cammell all-metal ST bodies. The STs went to LGOC ownership, but ST822-826 were leased by Overground and appeared in their colours, until repaint in March 1931 (ST 824) or October 1931 (the others). (In autumn 1932 twenty seven other STs were repainted INTO Overground colours, for use at Potters Bar (PB).)

Those for General service went to Norwood (N), Hendon (AE), Turnham Green (V), Kingston (K) and Hammersmith (R) during the spring and early summer of 1931:

1930 route no.	1934 route no.	Route	Garages
2	2	North Finchley - Catford	N and AE
55	55	Chiswick - Hanwell Garage	V
65	65	Ealing - Leatherhead	K
25A	25	Victoria - Seven Kings	R
52	52	Victoria - Ladbroke Grove	R

ST 746 was fitted with a Daimler transmission, with epicyclic gearbox and fluid flywheel. It was allocated to the garage currently favoured with "experiments", Harrow Weald, for service on the 18.

ST 833/834 were transferred to East Surrey as 2/1ST2 in 1935.

After this series the LGOC continued building Regents, but on the new longer chassis, as STLs

The STs continued in service alongside increasing numbers of LTs and STLs. Allocations of these to busy routes displaced some STs to other garages and routes, so that soon they were a common type throughout the system.

STs at War

They should have been due for replacement in the early forties, ten years being a full life for these light wooden-framed buses. But they had to soldier on due to the war. Their petrol engines and small capacity made them candidates for storage, their thirst for petrol being prodigious.

Gas Operation

Many went into store, but some were converted for gas operation and operated with coke-fired trailers for a year or two. These trailers manufactured producer gas by drawing air through hot coke. The gas was piped onto the bus, and along to a gas-tank in front of the front bulkhead, and into the engine. The engines had to be modified, with an increased bore and compression ratio. Petrol was still required for starting, with modified carburettor jets, and manual advance/retard of the ignition. Garages had to be equipped for daily maintenance of the trailers, and procedures installed for firing them up and attaching them to the buses. These were started with petrol and then the gas supply was phased in and the petrol supply out. Standing still in operation for more than a few minutes gave its problems too, as it was engine throughput that kept the fire burning hotly and the gas producing. Trailers were good for about 80 miles, so schedules had to allow for the swapping of buses, as conductors were not expected to be stokers! Special turning arrangements had to be made for the gas buses too. In general the performance was poor, and gas buses were restricted to a few not too hilly routes. They smelled, too.

Grays garage was selected for a trial of twenty gas STs, to be used initially on routes 370, 371, 372, with five T's for the 375, although the actual routes changed at about that time (autumn 1942). All these Grays buses were red, incidentally.

Camberwell received a bunch for the 36 (West Kilburn- Hither Green) in March 1943, and Epping some for the 392 (Epping - Ongar) and 396 (Epping - Bishops Stortford) in June 1943. Two Waters and Tring received some in spring 1943 for the 301 (Watford Junction - Aylesbury) and 302(Watford Heath - Hemel Hempstead). Tring kept a petrol ST on standby to take over from late-running gas buses for the run out to Aylesbury. Addlestone also received gas buses for the 461 (Addlestone - Chertsey), 461A (Walton - Ottershaw) and 462 (Leatherhead to Staines), which had to be painted grey for operation to the Vickers factory at Weybridge. Croydon received a batch in January 1944 for the 197 (Norwood Junction - Caterham Valley), and Catford received some for the 36 and for the 124 (Forest Hill - Eltham). There were advanced plans for other routes too, from Hertford and Clay Hall, which progressed as far as training, and forward plans for many other garages. But the petrol supply situation eased markedly in 1944, and the gas buses were all reconverted for petrol operation in the autumn of 1944.

Wartime losses and loans

The Central Area buses in particular suffered during the Blitz, and again during the cruise missile (V1) and ballistic missile (V2) attacks in 1944 and early 1945. Some were totally destroyed, others received spare bodies from the float, and some received major rebuilds. One new bus was assembled from spares, and unusually took the number of a destroyed bus.

Many STs also went on loan to other companies throughout the UK during autumn 1942, including Hants & Dorset, Wilts & Dorset, Venture (Basingstoke), Stockton Corporation, Bradford Corporation, Midland Red, Coventry Corporation (which ran some on gas), City of Oxford, Cumberland, West Yorkshire, Crosville, Yelloway (Rochdale), Lancashire United, Lincolnshire Road Car, United Counties, Young's (Paisley) Northern Roadways (Glasgow), Red & White (Chepstow), Bristol Tramways, Rhondda, Pontypridd, Caledonian, Enterprise & Silver Dawn, Trent, Halifax Corporation, Central SMT, West Bromwich Corporation, South Shields Corporation, Bolton Corporation! They were returned in late 1944 or early 1945.

On a happier note, a handful of STs were converted in 1944 for operating the Interstation services. The Interstation Cubs were still busy entertaining the troops with ENSA, so these STs had two bays of lower deck seats removed, in front of the stairs, for luggage, and received a coat of primrose and blue paints. They reverted to red when the Cubs returned after the war.

Postwar Make-do-and-mend

The STs continued to be overhauled, where possible, throughout the forties. Some overhauls were contracted out to Mann Egerton in Norwich in 1946, and Berkeley Caravans of Biggleswade in 1948, some buses being so done several times. The shortage of buses was so desperate that only the worst examples were allowed to be scrapped in 1947. But as more utilities became available they began to disappear, a large swathe being cut through the standard buses in 1948, and most of the remainder going in 1949. No Central Area STs survived the onslaught of the RT classes in 1949 and 1950, although in some cases they were directly replaced by Guys that had in turn been displaced by the new buses. Many of them were scrapped by LT, body scrapping sometimes contracted out and the chassis returned to LT for parts reclamation. Hundreds disappeared to the scrapyards of Daniels in Rainham, who won the contract for their scrapping (or non-psv sale) during 1949, the year when most succumbed.

Only one standard ST is known to survive in bus form, and that a Country one: ST821, seen above. Another, ST798, sold during the war to the Royal Navy, became a trainer for submariners, and was sold after the war to the Israeli Navy along with some submarines! It survives at the Clandestine Immigration & Naval Museum, Haifa.

They had put in a very creditable performance, most lasting seventeen or eighteen years with the war years in the middle. For a wooden-framed bus that was truly remarkable.

Lowbridge Reprieve

However, there was a reprieve for the lowbridge buses. London Transport still had no replacement for these. The lowbridge Daimlers bought during the war and just after it were all fully committed, and the lowbridge routes were all too busy to revert to single-decker operation. So the lowbridge STs were pushed through overhauls, further "Chiswickising" them, and received diesel engines from scrapped STLs. This kept them going into the new decade, until they were eventually replaced by RLH lowbridge Regent IIIs.

Part 2: Tilling STs.

Acknowledgments

For this and the following ST pages I have gleaned much information from the following sources in particular (a fuller list is given in the general bibliography):

• "London Buses 1929-39", Gavin Martin, Ian Allan
• "London Buses Before the War", Ken Glazier, Capital Transport
• "Last Years of the General", Ken Glazier, Capital Transport
• "London Buses and the Second World War", Ken Glazier, Capital Transport
• "London Transport Buses and Coaches, 1939-45, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950", John A.S Hambley, various
• "London Bus File, 1946-9, 1950-4", Ken Glazier, Capital Transport

Part 2: Tilling STs. bus histories photo references Bus Stop ST index. standard STs.