GS1 at King Street

East Grinstead Running Day

Sunday April 21st 2002

Prepared by Ian Smith, 4th May 2002


Part 2: Medley at East Grinstead

I walked down into King Street, the main bus station for the day. The log-jam in the bus-park was resolving, and a stream of green buses was arriving at the stops for the 11 o'clock or thereabouts departures. GS1 had already been busy, coming in from Holland via Oxted. RF679 had run round the block again and was preparing to depart for Crawley. The traffic jams had meant that there had not been enough time to find the ladders to change the blinds for the 473 set.

GS1 in King Street on 494 RF679 and others at King Street

XF3, resplendent in London Transport Lincoln green and cream, was loading well for a journey on the 409, while RF633 was packing them in for the 1055 westwards journey to Turners Hill over the 434 route. This marked part of a slightly different emphasis this year, with more buses on the wetward routes towards Crawley, and markedly fewer buses between Westerham, Edenbridge, Chart and Oxted.

XF3 in King Street on 409 RF633 at King Street on 434

Another theme this year was an increased Southdown participation. East Grinstead was once a border town, with London Transport running in from north-east, north-west and north, Southdown from the southern aspects, and Maidstone & District from the east. Long National RUF37R was a reminder of National Bus Company days, and was wearing route 170 blinds for the 1100 trip to Sheffield Park to connect with the Bluebell Railway.

Parked round the corner was RP90, ready for an active day moving crowds to and from the Bluebell Railway at Kingscote.

Southdown RUF 37R in King Street on 170 RP90 at King Street on 473

Then open-doorway red RF366 came onto the stand to take up duties on an eastbound 434 to Edenbridge, positively glowing in the sunshine. Also glowing red was RF269, but that was just the reflection of a pair of red Leyland Nationals and a red RT in the bus park, reflecting from the deep shine on the GreenLine coach.

RF366 in King Street on 434 RF269 at the bus park

Also representing GreenLine was modernised RF168, and Cobham's T504.

RF168 in King Street park T504 at the bus park

Also in the old bus station were a pair of green roofbox RTs: RT1702 Group's RT227 wearing a set of 403 Express blinds, and Cobham's RT593 dressed for the 409. First production Routemaster RM8 was also there, proudly wearing its new paint.

RT227 at the King Street park RT593 at the King Street park RM8 at the King Street park

After a good look round I felt it was time for a ride. The original queues had subsided, except for GS rides. What was next.....?

Part 3: Dormans and Forest Row: a National and an RT


All photos by Ian Smith. Click on most of them for a larger picture.

Back to Ian's Bus-stop Part 1 Part 2 Part 3: 428 to Dormans, 409 to Forest Row