Bromley Classic Bus Running DaySunday 18th December 2011Prepared by Ian Smith, 30th December 2011Early afternoonCatford GaragePerhaps I should have caught a bus to Bromley and made a trip out to Chislehurst on Roundabout Dart DT39. I had intended to do that, after hopping off RT1702 at Bromley. But the timing with the RT was not going to work. I stayed at Catford Garage. There was plenty to see. Due to be replaced on the 124 in May is short Dart SLF 34240, whilst Trident 17474 off the 199 is one of many elderly Tridents that will also need early replacement.
Likewise the 136 is due new buses in May, so Trident 17417 will be moving on. But representative of the new Enviro- generation is 36308, a small Enviro-Dart, running in off the 273. Lurking inside the garage fence, and difficult to see, was a group of hybrid-power Tempos, including 25115, that have already been displaced from West Ham to here after loss of their original route.
There was a long line of Tridents -of both lengths - parked in the road outside the garage. They appeared to have been there some time, if the N47 blind on the rear of 17476 was anything to go by. 94: Catford Garage to Grove Park: RT1702RT1702 re-appeared from the garage at last, reblinded for the 94. I don't remember Catford Garage runs operating via Bromley Hill. In my experience they worked to and from Lewisham. But if there were direct runs to and from Bromley I suppose I wouldn't have met them anyway. (I gather from Bob Baker that there were indeed Catford Garage workings via Bromley Hill, including a Saturday afternoon one that ran from Brockley Rise through Lewisham Lee and Grove Park heading for Bromley Market Square, and from Grove Park onwards via Bromley and Bromley Hill wearing Catford Garage blinds - thanks Bob).I climbed aboard, and went upstairs to the front for a change.
We rolled southwards, past Southend Pond to Downham. I wondered if we would turn up Downham Way to reach Grove Park, but we continued up Bromley Hill and into Bromley. As we met the 227 route at the top of Swan Hill, at Bromley College, we also met RF486 heading for Penge, with a Stagecoach SPD in hot pursuit. We also hit a bump, so my camera cut off the top half of the photo. Thanks to Nigel Henty for the use of his.
We turned round the Market Square to West Street, where we loaded up for the short run north to Grove Park. Very familiar to me, this journey. On the way, heading down Burnt Ash Lane towards Southover, we met RT3062 coming the other way on a 126 to Bromley South Station. Again, my thanks to Nigel Henty for the use of his photo, which was better than my own.
At Grove Park Station we caught up with one of today's incumbents on the 126, Arriva Kent Thameside's Enviro Dart 4026. We paused at the stop too, to unload, then continued through the busy road-junction to reach the bus station, established here when the trams finished running up Downham Way in 1952.
94: Grove Park to Petts Wood Station: RT1702The blinds were wound round on RT1702, and it was time to go to Petts Wood.
Nigel and I retrieved our front seats upstairs, and off we went. I didn't ask for a photo stop at the New Street Hill stop, where I used to catch the bus to school - it was out of use, with the pull-in dug up and fenced off for rebuilding. We were turning round Plaistow Green when we saw RML2750 at the stop on the north-west corner. Would we get far enough round the square for a photo before it went? Just. It set off again for Grove Park on the 94 just as we came round the corner onto the west side of the square. We went on up narrow College Road, meeting Enviro-Dart 4025 on the 126 just before the tight corner at The Farwig. I once bumped the offside rear corner of a stopped RT at this point, with the frame of my motorbike and sidecar. Fortunately I discovered that they were made of rubber! (RT offside corner panels, I mean.)
We went on towards Bromley North. Perforce we had to turn south along Tweedy Road, the old route via College Road and North Street no longer being available. But we could turn right down East Street, where these days only short buses go. So we did, down to the corner of the Market Square, then left onto Widmore Road to the Town Hall.
At the Town Hall stop we met another 126 - another EnviroDart, 4027. This one appeared to be mal-functioning. At least, it had its Not in Service blinds up, emergency flashers operating and no driver in sight. These EnviroDarts appear to be the staple fare on the 126 on Sundays, perhaps to give the normal elderly SLFs a good maintenance day. Perhaps this EnviroDart needed one. Round at the cut between The Glades and The Mall we met 61-year old RT3062, still working, on a 126 short to Grove Park.
At Bromley South Station we found ourselves behind another of the brand-new Metrobus EnviroDarts. 172, acquired for the Orpington Roundabout routes, was in use on the 162. We parted company with it at the foot of the hill, and headed out along Bromley Common again, to The Crown. There we met another out-of-service bus, this time SPD 34225, off the 227. But why was it HERE? The west-facing bus stance is neither on the 227 route, nor exactly on the direct route between the garage and the route. (Brian Reynolds has kindly supplied an answer: this is the crew changeover point for the 208. Drivers borrow a bus from Bromley Garage to get here, and the relieved driver takes it back.)
We passed The Crooked Billet at Southborough, the early post-war terminus of the 94 before Petts Wood was developed, and continued on to Petts Wood Station, where we pulled in to the later terminal.
The bus crew were now going to adjourn to a local hostelry for refreshments. I decided to head for Bromley on a 208. Unfortunately one had just gone... Part 4: Late afternoonAll photos by Ian Smith (except those acknowledged to be by Nigel Henty - for which thanks).. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
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