Doorless RF486Kingston 2009

Route 219

 

One of the last two routes to operate RFs in London, on 30 Mar 79, Kingston route 219 shared with the 218 both the road as far as Hersham and (from the 1930s) its bus allocation.  Although barely outlasting the RFs, the 219 had a long history including its famous role in serving the Vickers factory during the war.
 
Fancy that.  RF486, no less, in the winter of 1961/62 at Thames Ditton Winters Bridge, terminus of trolleybus route 602.  Shown on the trolleybuses as 'The Dittons', Winter's Bridge on the Portsmouth Road was originally named "Window's Bridge" after an 18th-century blacksmith who built a plank bridge over the River Rythe at that spot.  The trolleybus turning circle at the end of St Leonard's Road has disappeared in a road redesign, but the Masons Arms still stands, until recently called Tiger Joe's but now known as The Leaf.  RF486 will, of course, run on the 219 on 22 March.
Photo © Alan Cross
 
Original RF route

KINGSTON, Dittons Winters Bridge, Esher, Hersham Barley Mow, Hersham Green, Weybridge, WEYBRIDGE STATION, daily journeys to WEYBRIDGE Vickers (later BAC) Works.

 

Timetable

The 219 will operate between Kingston and Hersham Green or Weybridge Station on 22 March, with journeys extended to Weybridge BAC WorksTimetable.

 

One week and counting ...Main boarding points

Kingston Cromwell Road Bus Station stop A3

Long Ditton Winters Bridge

Esher Sandown Park

Esher High Street

Hersham Green

Weybridge Station

 

Route history in detail is here.

 

 

RF520 on its last Saturday of operation, 24 Mar 79, in Brooklands Road, shortly before arriving at the BAC Works.

Photo © John Parkin