The LONDON TRANSPORT STDs

This page created December 1997 by Ian Smith, updated 14th October 1999

Contents

1. The PreWar STDs: STD 1-100
2. The austerity STDs: STD 101-111
3. The PostWar STDs: STD 111-176

The Post-War STDs STD 112-176 (Total 65)

Introduced: 1946. This time the Leylands were not Londonised: the acute shortage of buses in post-war London required continued suspension of the standardisation process, and perhaps the purchasers had an eye for a quick re-sale once the RT programme resumed. Certainly that was what happened: the entire batch were sold overseas in 1955. In 1963 there were at least 22 in Sarajevo, (Yugoslavia), including STDs 78, 117, 159 and 166, with ex-STD 127 in Split. In 1965 Mostar had STD 113 and probably two others (or more).

Post-war STD: first livery

Chassis: Leyland PD1: the standard Leyland product: 16ft 3in w/b, 7.4 litre engine, single-plate clutch, 4 speed constant mesh gearbox.
Body: was also an un-Londonised standard Leyland product, with no rear display. But it did sport an STL-type roof-box at the front, although the roofbox was only used right at the end by a few buses. Likewise the main front aperture stayed at war-time restricted dimensions except for the few at the end that received full displays. It also had a hinged cab-door - very un-London!
It was 26 ft long, 7ft 4in wide, 14ft 5in high, and weighed 7t 5cwt.

Into service

They all reached London Transport in the autumn of 1946, following STD112 which reached Chiswick for testing at the end of August.
They started to go into service in October, with eight at Potters bar (PB) for the 134, eight at Loughton (L) for the 10A and twenty-two at Victoria (GM) for the 137. The Victoria contingent spread their wings rather wider than this, appearing also on the 10, 52, 77/A and 22, alongside the utility STDs and on Sundays on the 24, 39 and 134.

Date	Route	Garage	Type displaced	Displaced by..
10/46	134: Potters Bar - Pimlico	PB, (GM(Su))	LT(PB)	STD
10/46	10A: Leytonstone - Epping Town	L	LT	STD
10/46	137: Crystal Palace - Archway Stn	GM		STD
10/46	(10: Abridge - Victoria Station)	GM	spare	STD
10/46	(22: Putney Common - Homerton)	GM	spare	STD
10/46	(77: Kings Cross - Tooting)	GM	spare	STD
10/46	(77A: Kings Cross - Raynes Park)	GM	spare	STD
10/46	(52: Victoria - Borehamwood)	GM	spare	STD
10/46	(24:(Sun) Hampstead Heath - Pimlico)	GM	spare	STD
10/46	(39:(Sun) Camden Town - Southfields)	GM	spare	STD

Potters Bar did not receive the STDs kindly. The displaced open-staircase LTs had gone to oblivion, but within a month the new buses were swapped with Loughton for ancient LTs, and appeared on the 38A. Another nine new STDs joined them at the end of November.
Nine more went to Hanwell (HW) for the 55, and nine to Croydon (TC) for the 115. These last were also used on the 133.

Date	Route	Garage	Type displaced	Displaced by..
11/46	134: Potters Bar - Pimlico	PB	STD	LT
11/46	38A: Victoria - Loughton Stn	L	LT	STD
12/46	55: Chiswick - Hayes Stn	HW		STD
12/46	115: Wallington - Streatham - Croydon Airport	TC	STL	STD
12/46	(133: South Croydon - Liverpool Street Stn)	TC	STL	STD

Re-allocations

The arrival of post-war RTs in 1947 started a widespread series of re-allocations. An early change affected the Croydon STDs, which moved to Loughton (also for the 38A) in September 1947.
At Victoria, new RTs on the 10 curtailed the use of the STDs on this route from October, and the 22 was transferred to Battersea in November.

Date	Route	Garage	Type displaced	Displaced by..
9/47	115: Wallington - Streatham - Croydon Airport	TC	STD	RT
9/47	(133: South Croydon - Liverpool Street Stn)	TC	STD	RT
9/47	38A: Victoria - Loughton Stn	L	LT	STD
10/47	(10: Abridge - Victoria Station)	GM	STD	RT
11/47	(22: Putney Common - Homerton)	GM	STD	RT (B)

The 10A (L) was renumbered to 20 in April 1948.

The Hanwell STDs were officially moved from the 55 to the 92 in April 1949 working alongside the Bristols, but stayed on it only until October. Then they moved to Leyton (T) for the 167. During the winter new RTs for the 52 also pushed out some of Victoria's errant STDs, so these were increasingly restricted to the 77/A, where they interworked with Guys (and Daimlers from AL), and the 137. Some surplus STDs at Victoria were moved to Leyton, where they worked on the 106 for two and a half years.

Date	Route	Garage	Type displaced	Displaced by..
4/49	55: Chiswick - Hayes Stn	HW	STD	STL
4/49	92: Hanwell Garage - Wembley	HW	STL	STD, B
10/49	92: Hanwell Garage - Wembley	HW	STD, B	STL
10/49	167: Loughton Stn - Barkingside	T	LT	STD
12/49	52: Victoria - Borehamwood	GM	STD, G	RT
12/49	106: Finsbury Park - Becontree Heath	T		STD

The fifties

Route 167 was transferred from Leyton to Loughton in October 1950, together with an appropriate number of STDs. Leyton's remainder, on the 106, continued until July 1952, when they were internally re-allocated onto the 38A. All but two of them moved to Loughton in May 1954 when the share of the route at each garage was adjusted. Meanwhile the 77A had converted to RTs, and the 77 allocation of STDs moved from Victoria to Stockwell (SW).

Date	Route	Garage	Type displaced	Displaced by..
10/50	167: Ilford - Barkingside	T-L	STD (T)	STD(L)
7/52	106: Finsbury Park - Becontree Heath	T	STD
7/52	38A: Victoria - Loughton Stn	T		STD
3/54	77: Kings Cross - Tooting	GM-SW	STD(GM)	STD(SW)
5/54	38A: Victoria - Loughton Stn	T-L	STD(T)	STD(L)

And finally

The STDs were all sold to BSE of London, who exported them to Yugoslavia, where some could be still be seen ten years later, looking rather careworn. Another thirty years and a civil war or few later, and it seems that one survives, preserved in Novi Sad!

Acknowledgments

• "London Buses Before the War", Ken Glazier, Capital Transport, 1995
• "London Buses 1929-1939", Gavin Martin, Ian Allan, 1990
• "London Transport Buses and Coaches" (various volumes), John AS Hambley, (various publishers)
• "London's Utility Buses", Ken Blacker, Capital Transport, 1997
• "The STD Story", Keith Hamer, London Bus Magazine 104, 1998
.

bus histories photo references

Ian's Bus Stop prewar STDs war-time STDs postwar STDs