No sign of the Q - or anything else - on the 200. I walked over to the route 32 stop to catch a bus along to Raynes Park. It turned out to be RT2043, which had sneaked past into Worcester Park Station while I was looking the wrong way.
I climbed aboard the well-loaded bus, and sat inside. We set off eastwards, negotiated a roundabout and soared over the Kingston By-Pass into Raynes Park. At a more sober speed we then picked our way through the narrow streets to reach the south side of Raynes Park Station. RT2043 was continuing to Merton Garage, but I had the opportunity to make a connection here, and did.
I popped through the tunnel to the north side of the station, served by the 200 and 286. Nothing there. I returned to the south side in time to see RT190 arrive, also dressed for the 32, but this time going to St.Helier, whence it had just come. The bus was almost empty. I sat in my usual seat at first, behind the bonnet. We were quickly away, following Dart SLF LDP105 on route 163 - another horseshoe-shaped route in the local tradition..
A right turn and then a left took us back onto the main road to Merton. The bus was nearly empty, so I took the opportunity to change seats to the front upstairs. I nearly missed the Utility lowheight Daimler while doing it. But I was just in time to see it whizz past on the westbound 127. The registration plate looked strangely familiar, ringing bells in my sub-conscious. I KNEW it was not an ex-LT Daimler, but HGC 257??? But the Daimler masquerading as D130 certainly looked the part, in nice LT red with London Transport fleetnames.
Now we reached the end of the traffic jam on Kingston Road, which stretched way off into the distance to South Wimbledon. After a while we could see RT2043 ahead of us, still stuck in the same queue. I wondered about getting off and walking down to the junction, where I could catch the 286. It would have been quicker. Then, as we waited the last time at the temporary traffic lights, a green RT dashed across in front of us: it was RT3148 on the 286. Eventually it was our turn, and we escaped round the corner and south to Morden Station, where RM1033 was jostling with the modern buses as it paused on its way to Merton Garage on the 93.
We wriggled our way past Morden Station and rumbled up St.Helier Avenue for almost a mile, before turning right into the estate to turn round a roundabout and come back to the stop outside the USDAW building. I was heading south for Sutton Garage, so left the bus here and went out onto St.Helier Avenue to see what was coming. After a few minutes RT190 emerged and headed north again for Worcester Park.
Now, what was due????
Part Five: St.Helier to Sutton
Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
Back to Ian's Bus-stop
Part Three: Merton to Malden
Part Five: St.Helier to Sutton