Bromley Classic Bus Mini Running DaySunday 8th December 2013Prepared on Wordpad by Ian Smith, 13th December 2013Starters: RM on the 94I reached Petts Wood Station by train. No problems at all this morning, and the train was on time. At the station I saw where a tree had been cut up on the up side, probably having been blown down by the storm just three days earlier. There was no Routemaster in sight, but there were some of the crew for the day: Nigel and John. So we repaired to the Petts Wood Cafe for breakfast.RM1397 pulled up outside while we were busy, and the transfer crew and friends poured into the cafe, also intent on breakfast before we began. You just have to get your priorities right!
94: Petts Wood Station to Bromley (West Street)Nevertheless we were all aboard the gleaming Routemaster ready for a punctual departure at 1045.
I settled into a seat behind the bonnet, and we were away. With John driving the progress is always crisp, efficient and utterly professional. We didn't lose time. We didn't speed, either. We rumbled westwards through Petts Wood, passing the Crooked Billet at Southborough, where the 94 originally terminated, as did its predecessor, the 136. We turned out onto Bromley Common from the new spur road, just on the south side of The Crown, and headed for Bromley. Traffic was much lighter than expected, and the road was almost deserted as we passed St.Lukes. We followed the old road down Masons Hill to the dip at Bromley South, and then the big Leyland engine growled as we climbed the hill past Bromley South Station and on up the High Street. The narrow part of the High Street, leading to the Market Place, has long been pedestrianised, so perforce we turned right through the link road, pausing at the stop by what used to be The Glades. Now it is called something totally unmemorable. Metrobus Scania OmniCity 514 was ahead of us on the stop, on the 358 to Crystal Palace via half the Western hemisphere. I pondered that these too are getting long in the tooth in TfL's eyes, 514 now being over nine years old. Will we see one in preservation?
We passed through the bus-way onto Kentish Way, and roared up to the junction at the Town Hall, where Tweedy Road, Widmore Road and Kentish Way all meet. Every bus route in Bromley comes through here. 514 turned left ahead of us, as one of Metrobus' brand new EnviroDarts headed south on the 126. We in turn turned left, pausing at the main shopping stop, then turning right into West Street, to stop outside Sainsbury's. Colin Rivers and I alighted there, to head back round the corner to the Market Place.
Part 2: TD on the 227All photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
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