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Carshalton 2007
Notes on the buses operated - page 1
Buses taking part in the Running Day on 15 April are profiled
here (RT family vehicles) and on the following pages:
RT190 was an
early RT3-bodied bus first delivered to Leyton for the 10 and
38A in 1947. Many
movements around the system followed before the bus was sold in
1970. During that time, in accordance with normal LT
practice, the identity of body and chassis changed several
times.
The RT190 of today comprises the
original body from 1947 on a later chassis, a combination that was
RT1173 when it left LT service in 1963. This bus last saw
service from Rye Lane, Peckham on the 36 and 37.
Running into Sutton Garage
on the 157, RT190 sports the early restricted blind layout.
Photo © Peter
Osborn
RT604
New with a Weymann roof-box body in 1948, RT604 was always a
Country bus. Having gained a non-roofbox body on its 1960
overhaul, the bus worked at a number of garages in the northern
part of the Country Area before it became to London Country in
1970, transferring south of the river to Chelsham in 1974.
One of the last four RTs at that garage and usually running on the
403, it became the last green RT in passenger service in
September 1978.
RT604 heads along the tram
tracks in Croydon.
Photo © Michael
Petch
RT1702 was one
of four new buses which were the first to travel abroad for London
Transport, touring eight European countries in 1950 to
publicise the 1951 Festival of Britain.
After the tour, RT1702 went to
Mortlake Garage before working London Transport's first Round
London Sightseeing Tour, Service J, during the Festival of
Britain. Spells at Holloway, Victoria, Seven Kings
and Hornchurch garages preceded the final overhaul in
1966, coming out to Catford Garage. As a GB tour bus, RT1702
kept its original body all its life, unlike most of the RT
family.
In 1972, RT1702 was
purchased from London Transport by three Catford Garage staff
members, forming a group that still keeps the bus at
Catford. Its preservation history includes its year in
the Millennium Dome.
On the day, RT1702 worked in
on the 154 from Crystal Palace before forming part of the static
display at Carshalton Depot. It is seen here on its
arrival.
Photo © John
Parkin
RT3062, Blue
Triangle's splendid Saunders RT.
RT3062 heads towards Sutton
Garage for its crew change.
Photo © Stephen Bidey
RT3491 has been
owned by the same owners in preservation for some 35 years,
considerably longer than its life with LT.
Green line RT3491 runs a 408
past Beddington Park.
Photo © Peter
Larkham
RTW467 is another
famous bus, being the last RTW in passenger service in
London. These pioneering 8 ft-wide buses were initially used
in the suburbs until the police permitted experimental use on
central London routes - for which Merton received a batch for a
week in 1950 for use on route 88. RTW467, new later that
year, was a Battersea bus for much of its career, with brief
spells at other garages, before arriving at Brixton for routes 109
and 95. Six months later, on 14 June 1966, it was the last to
run in on the 95.
A little bit of London
history. The trials of wider buses led ultimately to the
Routemaster.
Photo © Geoff
Ragg
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RT593 (on static display at Carshalton
Depot). A super example of the original Weymann RT3 roofbox
body, RT593 was a red bus based at Catford before withdrawal in
1963. It was repainted as a Country Area bus in
preservation.
RT593, smartly dressed as a 408, arrives at
Carshalton.
Photo © Roger Ford
RT624 is a rather well-known bus. Another
of the early batch of roof-box green RTs delivered to Hemel
Hempstead, it was repainted red on overhaul in 1965 and sent to
work at Norwood garage, now with a later body. Spells at a
range of south London garages followed, including Brixton and
Catford, from where it finally moved to Barking in 1978.
Working on the 62 and 87, RT624 was the very last RT in LT service,
arriving back at Barking on the 62 in the middle of Saturday 7
April 1979.
RT624 then sat quietly at BaMMOT in Birmingham, gradually
deteriorating, until purchased and restored to its last day colours
by Ensignbus, making its spectacular debut on the last night of the
Routemasters, 8 December 2005.
A legend in its own lunchtime. RT624
emerges from Sutton Garage.
Photo © Peter Larkham
RT2043 is a former Streatham Garage bus and,
after a morning journey on the 157 from Crystal Palace, spent the
day on Streatham routes 118 and 59.
Morning sun lights up the
early 157 working by RT2043.
Photo ©
Richard Thomas
RT3148 is the well-known Country
Bus Rallies RT, which provided one of the long feeder journeys,
on the 403 from Tonbridge.
John Huxford takes RT3148, running as
DG17, out of West Croydon on its long journey back to
Tonbridge.
Photo © Michael Petch
RT3871, Blue
Triangle's standard RT.
RT3871 arrives in Sutton for
a crew change.
Photo © David
Thrower
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