Meanwhile, new route 115 was introduced in July 1921, all the way from Kingston Market Place to Guildford Horse & Groom via Cobham and Ripley.  This was operated by Putney garage and used the 26-seat type-7 Bs that had proved too heavy for the 111.   In January 1922, the 79 was rerouted at Esher (see 219 for more details), leaving Cobham served by the 115, now operated by and from the new Kingston garage.  The route also saw the prototype 32-seat S-class single-decker in 1922 and this class replaced the Bs in 1924.  In that year, the 115 ran hourly.

The route ran through Church Cobham in the one direction only, otherwise keeping to the old A3 (originally serving Church Cobham northbound, this being reversed in 1932).  'Church Cobham' is the main shopping area in the village (where Waitrose is now), leading down to the River Mole, whilst 'Street Cobham' is the separate section to the west on the old A3, en route to where Sainsbury's is now.  So far as we can tell, it was only LT that maintained this historical distinction.

The Kingston Bypass opened in 1927, and in March 1929 the 115 became Mon to Fri only, replaced at weekends by double-deck NSs on route 620.  Because of the low bridge, the 620 travelled via Hook and the Kingston Bypass.  The Saturday and summer Sunday services were twice the frequency of weekdays, obviously to cater for leisure traffic; in 1930, new STs replaced the NSs.  Meanwhile the single-deck Ks, and the Ss that latterly worked alongside them, were replaced by new 1T1-class AEC Regals in 1930.  17 Jul 30 also saw the commencement of the first Green Line service from Guildford to London via Cobham and the Kingston Bypass.

RF423 stands at the stop in Cobham village.  Note the via-point 'Street Cobham' shown on the blind, which applied northbound only.  The non-underlined fleet name transfer was theoretically meant for Routemasters but occasionally applied to RFs and RTs on repaint.

Photo © Paul Redmond

In the 1934 renumbering, the 115 became the 215 and the 620 became the 20.  The 1936 timetable shows a requirement for three buses on the 215, with Guildford Horse & Groom to Burpham shorts fitted in before each bus returned to Kingston. 

Kingston's official allocation replaced the Ts with LTLs in March 1938.  Ts were reintroduced on 6 Dec 1939, under the changes brought about by the outbreak of war, which led to the withdrawal of the 20 and the 215 becoming a daily service, shortened to run from Kingston to Ripley only.  The Guildford to Ripley section had been covered by Country Area route 415 since 1938.  The elegant consistency of numbering was continued in 1946, when the Green Line route from Guildford to London was one of the first reintroduced and was given the number 715.

Wartime brought further changes, including the reintroduction of higher-capacity LTLs in March 1940, assisted at various times by Ts from the 218 or 219.  From May 1943 to July 1945, the Sunday morning service was withdrawn between Ripley and Esher, a move that was to have resonance thirty years later.

After the war, new 14T13s progressively replaced the Scooters from March to October 1946, by which time the frequency had increased to half-hourly to Ripley, plus Church Cobham short workings.  The Ripley to Kingston journeys continued to avoid Church Cobham.  Kingston has operated a number of classes of single-decker over the years, and there were regular nominal reallocations between routes, with Qs replacing the Ts during 1950 and Ts rejoining the Qs from May 1951.  Kingston borrowed Qs from Sidcup on Saturdays to cover a shortfall on that day; its own buses included ex-Country 4Q4s as well as the 5Q5s.  It is reported that TDs were used on the 215 after Kingston received its first in spring 1949, but the official conversion to TD was 6 May 1953.  During the 1940s and 1950s, there was a substantial (but shifting) inter-working of the 215 with the 218, 219 as well as (from its introduction in 1954) the 215^A.

Kingston's Scooters were gone by 1949.  The pre-war Ts lasted until 1953 due to a weak bridge on the 218, and the Qs also went that year, all swept away by the effect of the deliveries of red RFs.  But Kingston wasn't to see RFs for another six years, its Ts and TDs ruling the roost until RFs arrived for the 216 in July 1959.

RF536 at the same location in Church Cobham a week before the end, on 16 Oct 1976.

Photo © John Parkin

Six months later, in January 1960, Muswell Hill converted the 212 to RT, releasing over 20 RFs.  Many were transferred to Kingston overnight and used to convert the 218 and 219 joint allocation to RF.  At this stage, the TD-operated 215^A to Downside was not approved for the larger RF; as this weekday route was jointly worked with the 215, the 215 also kept its TDs on weekdays.  However, at that time there was joint Sunday working of 215, 218 and 219, so the 215 gained RFs on that day only.

By October 1961, 215 duties that did not include the 215^A were converted to RF, followed by the 215^A and the rest of the 215 on 1 Mar 62.  This represented the end of TD operation south of the river - they continued for another eight months at Edgware on the 240^A. 

Just over 4 years later, OMO-conversion and transfer to Norbiton of the 215 and 215^A occurred on 23 Jan 66, before conversion of Kingston's 218/219 (bringing to an end the joint Sunday working), but after the 216.

The first major change to the route for many years came on 30 Dec 67, following the withdrawal of the 215^A the previous day.  The route was cut back from Ripley to Church Cobham daily, and journeys extended to Downside Mon-Sat, to cover the 215^A.  This left the Cobham to Ripley section unserved except by Green Line 715. 

In the major floods of September 1968, which inter alia flooded Leatherhead garage, the bridge between Cobham to Downside was partly swept away on 17 September.  From that date, journeys were suspended, with buses waiting time in Cobham.  The bridge received a temporary repair, prior to the building of the present bridge in 1971, but this proved not strong enough to support RFs and the route was formally withdrawn beyond Cobham (and rescheduled) on 18 Jul 69.  The Downside service was replaced by a shuttle minibus provided by Esher UDC on Mon-Fri and MC Ash (later to become Mole Valley Transport) on Saturdays from 19 Oct 68.

The driver of Norbiton's RF489 seems to be filling in his duty card, apparently before reaching the garage as the bus sits in Wood Street in front of Fulwell's RM1152 on the 281, some time between 1973 and 1976. Both buses are now preserved.

Photo Peter Gomm collection

On 8 Feb 75, the 215 was diverted to run via Hinchley Wood.  Originally this was because of road works, but the section proved a success, so was retained.  In this period, when Surrey County Council were changing their support arrangements, there were many schedule revisions.  Fares were different outside the GLC area, so ticket machines were specially adapted for routes 215, 218 and 219.

From 2 Apr 77, Surrey's financial support was withdrawn and switched to London Country, leading to the withdrawal of the 215 between Esher and Cobham and an increased frequency on Green Line 715 between Guildford and Kingston.  Then-local resident Steve Allnutt tells us that this was highly unpopular - a public meeting was held at Cobham Village Hall when plans were announced to withdraw the 215 service. The angry audience were told that the Green Line 715 route would now serve the village and be re-routed in to Kingston (having previously used Kingston Bypass; the low bridge at Ditton Marsh meaning the RMCs would not return).  A march from Cobham was organised about 20 people, along the route for the 7 miles to County offices!  Following the establishment of the new service, temporary bus stops were added along the route, but it was soon recognised that residents of the council estate Northfield Road/Wyndham Avenue could not alight before a 'round robin' tour of the village and were eventually let off at the Street Cobham White Lion bus stop toward Guildford.  Steve tells us he 'hijacked' a bus stop from Fairmile Corner on the A3 and placed it opposite Old Common Road on several nights - the new stop was eventually established!

BL51 displays the black on yellow blind that was intended to alert passengers that the bus was taking a roundabout route to Kingston.

Photo Ian Armstrong collection

Having seen reasonable stability as a route under RF operation, change now came thick and fast.  The following year, on 28 Oct 78, the route was completely revised to operate from Kingston via Surbiton and Claygate to Esher and Hampton Court, replacing the 206 and part of the 201, and the allocation moved back to Kingston.

Kingston's BLs were replaced by Norbiton LSs in 1982, by which time the route had been cut back from Hampton Court to Lower Green, with a school journey to Giggs Hill and back to  Kingston.  These confusing workings used black on yellow blinds to warn the travelling public.  The route was finally withdrawn on 26 Jun 87, replaced by midibus route K3. 

Just to complete the picture of the other related routes, the 715 was replaced by the 415 in the 1990s, working for a period through to Victoria, which was in turn replaced by the 515 operating between Kingston and Guildford.  This disappeared in 2016 when Abellio abandoned most of their Surrey operation and was replaced by new Stagecoach route 715.  How tidy.

The 1964 bus map (©  London Transport) shows the route running off the edge at

Wisley, plus the section to Downside taken over from the 215^A in 1967.

Now here's a treat - a picture of RF472 on the stand behind Ripley Post Office, alongside RLH45 on the 436^A, which has arrived from the other direction.  Occasionally, RLHs arrived as a 415 and departed as 436^A and vice versa (these were positioning journeys for the 436^A from Guildford).  There are now more cars (but not A40s) and no buses in Rose Lane.

Photo © Mike Beamish

Memories

Stan Attewell was employed at Norbiton from June 1964 to 1990 and started driving crewed RFs on 201 & 264.  He shares a few of his memories:

'I started work at NB in June 1964 and trained at Chiswick on the RTW, then type-trained on a Private Hire RF and the RM.  I initially worked with a conductor on the 201 and 264 (without doors of course).  In November 1964, the 201 went OMO and I transferred to that for another £5 a week.  In 1966, we got the 215/^A and then in 1969 RFs started working the 285 on Sundays.  I stayed on RFs until the BLs arrived.

One evening on late duty I pulled into Kingston after completing a journey from Downside, when a police officer and bus inspector came over to me to ask a favour. A Southdown coach was parked there whose driver had been injured when someone had thrown something at the screen.  They asked if I would take the passengers to Victoria, where all-night coaches had been told to wait for my arrival.  We loaded 45 people onto the RF plus loads of suitcases down the gangway and off I went.  When I got there, the poor RF was steaming but the passengers all got their connections.

Another time, I was the last bus to Downside.  It snowed in the early hours of the morning and had settled when I got to Downside.  To turn at the common, you had to reverse into a side road.  As I did so, the bus lost all its air pressure - it transpired it was because snow had got under the bus and the belts were slipping.  The engineers came out to remove the snow from the underneath with hessian flares, but in doing so they set the floor alight.  I was in someone's house having a cup of tea at the time.'

Re-creation

RFs again operated the 215 to Ripley at our Kingston 2009 RF event.