Sutton Garage was built by the London General Omnibus Company
and opened in January 1924. At the time, much of the area was
undeveloped and only about half of the 100 bus capacity was used.
However, the extension of the Underground to Morden and development of housing in the area led
to an increase in services.
Well known after the war for its allocation of D-class Daimlers
with war-time 'utility' bodywork dating from 1946, these buses were
replaced after only 7 years by RTLs and soon afterwards RTs, which formed the main fleet for many
years. Meanwhile, single-deck services on route 213 were operated by elderly six-wheeler LTs,
replaced in 1952 by RFs.
One of Sutton's Park Royal
Daimlers, D281, sits outside Sutton garage blinded for a run to
Epsom on the 164.
Photo © Alan Cross
One-man operation arrived in 1969 with RFs on the 80 and 80A,
followed by double-deck in 1972 with DMSs on the 213 - another type to be long associated with
Sutton.
The garage was passed over to the re-born ‘London General’ bus
company in the run-up to privatisation in 1985 and continues to be
operated by them today. The garage now holds about
80 buses and runs London bus routes 80, 93, 151, 154, 163, 164,
213, 413, Night routes N155 and N213.
Please note that Sutton Garage is not open to
the public.
