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Red
RF routes
Route 227
Originating as a FWW munitions route, the 109 between Penge
and Chislehurst was transferred to Tilling and was renumbered in
1934 into the single-deck series as 227. It still operates
over the Crystal Palace to Bromley section today and is the longest
running single-deck service in London.
Brand new RF338 in
Penge. The bus has run down from Crystal Palace past the
church of St John the Evangelist and now passes the Crooked Billet
short working terminus.
Photo © Geoff Morant, Mike
Morant collection
Dates of RF operation
5 Nov 52 to 1 Jan 71
(total 18 years, 2 months, all crew operation).
Destinations
CRYSTAL PALACE and CHISLEHURST
Reason for single-deck operation
Single-deckers were required both due to the low bridges at
Clock House and Shortlands and the famous Chislehurst Water Tower
at the top of Summer Hill, through which all traffic from Bromley
to Chislehurst had to pass until it was demolished in 1963.
Although Clock House no longer provides a barrier, the bridge at
Shortlands still only has a 12' headroom, leading to the route
being the longest running single-deck operation in
London.
RF344 in May 1968, newly repainted and still
bearing side adverts, having left the stand at Crystal Palace
Parade and about to run round the roundabout. Snappy Snacks
no doubt provided tea to crews on the 154
and 157, which terminated at the top of
Anerley Hill.
Photo © John King
Route history
The first route between Penge and Bromley was the 112, which
ran using single-deck B-types from June to August 1914 and from
December 1914 to January 1915. The road was covered again by
new route 109 in August 1916, which was introduced as a 'munitions
service' from Penge Crystal Palace Entrance, via
Beckenham, Bromley, Chislehurst and Eltham to Woolwich Eton
Road. Operation was by the General from Streatham garage
(AK). The route ceased operation after the first war ended,
in February 1919, but was reintroduced in September that year to
work between Penge and Bromley North, extended further to
Chislehurst six months later on the familiar radial route
round London's outskirts linking Penge, Beckenham, Bromley and
Chislehurst Queens Head.
The first B-type buses used on the route could not manage
the steep hill on Beckenham Road up into Bromley, so worked
eastbound via Blyth Road until replaced by new buses in 1925.
The service was briefly extended westwards in 1921, to Sydenham and
then to Forest Hill, and transferred from Streatham garage to be
operated by Nunhead (AH), using some of the type-7 Bs that had
proved too heavy for the 111.
The 109 ran through the heart of Thomas Tilling
territory. In May 1924, the operation was transferred to
Tilling's Bromley garage (TB), although formal agreement
didn't follow until October 1925. The General loaned 12 Bs
until a dozen O-class 30-seat TS7 petrol-electrics arrived.
These were owned by General, and until 1930 were operated in
General colours (at which time they were licensed in Tilling's name
and repainted accordingly).
 Under the
Bassom scheme introduced on 1 Dec 24, the Penge terminus was
registered as Crystal Palace Entrance, but the route ran (as the
109 A) only from Penge Crooked Billet. On
16 Jun 26, the route was extended north from Chislehurst via
Mottingham to Eltham High Street with a bus every 10
minutes and renumbered 109 (because the Crystal Palace Entrance
terminus was withdrawn). To cover the additional requirement,
Tilling's TS7s were assisted by three General Bs from Sidcup (SP),
these being replaced by K-types during 1927, until 1930 when
the TS7s had been converted to pneumatic tyres and Sidcup's
involvement ceased. At the end of that year, a further
frequency improvement required the addition of two buses from
Elmers End (ED) plus extras from AH and ED at weekends.
The Chislehurst Water
Tower, dating from 1860
Single-deckers were required both due to the low bridges at
Clock House and Shortlands and the famous Chislehurst Water Tower
at the top of Summer Hill, through which all traffic from Bromley
to Chislehurst had to pass until it was demolished in 1963. A
batch of AEC Regals (3T3s, numbered T307-318 and specially designed
to fit the Chislehurst Arch) was bought by General in 1932 for
Tilling to operate and replaced the TS7s at TB between
August and October; ED's and AH's Ks had been replaced in
1931 by a mix (over the next few years) of Ss, Ts and LT
Scooters. Tilling's operations were taken over by General in
October 1933.
In May 1933, the route was extended from Eltham to Welling
Guy Earl of Warwick; AH's involvement ceased from January
1934.
A sister route from TB, the 609, was added on 1 Apr 31,
running between Penge and Bromley North Station but routed to the
south of Shortlands (thus avoiding both the railway bridge and the
water tower). This route became the 229 in 1934 then the 254 until, in 1940 and by then cut back to
Beckenham, it was double-decked as the 126.
RF415 was delivered new to
Sutton in January 1953, but the following month sees it loaned to
Bromley and using the blind from a Scooter (this loan is noteworthy
as Sutton and Norbiton did not themselves have enough RFs to work
the 213, which had its peak
allocation on Saturdays, like the 227). The effect of the
cream band is more striking without the indicator ears.
Photo © AB Cross
The 109 was renumbered 227 in the
new sequence on 3 Oct 34. By now running every 7½ minutes
over most of the route, larger buses were required and LT Scooters
replaced ED's Ts. However, it was not until 1936 that the
Tilling Ts were moved to Kingston and replaced at TB by LTs.
At the same time, SP added three more Scooters on Saturdays, from
1929 the busiest day of the week.
On 4 May 38, the route was cut back to Chislehurst Gordon
Arms, running from the Common along Green Lane in both
directions. The sections to Welling was covered by new routes
160 and 161. On the same day, the TB and SP allocations were
withdrawn, leaving the route to ED's Scooters, in sole charge until
1951. During this period, the vehicle requirement grew from
11 to 21 during the week, 17 to 24 on Saturdays.
On 2 May 51, the route moved wholesale back to TB, its home from
then until today except for a five year contract 1992-97 with
Kentish Bus out of Dunton Green. The Scooters moved with it,
Bromley's first single-deckers since the double-decking of the 254
(to 126) and 232 (to 138) in 1940,
the duties replacing part of the 47 that moved to Catford, in turn
replacing the 36 which moved to the brand new Peckham garage.
Still doorless, RF324
stands at Crystal Palace in front of Stockwell's RM930 on the
long 2 to North Finchley. The RF is one of those
converted to OMO configuration in 1970 and returned for a brief
period at TB with the doors fixed open. Crews were happy to
have the benefit of the doors, however, and reportedly often
carried a screwdriver to remove the wooden batons stopping the
doors from closing.
Photo © Chris
Stanley
On 27 Jun 51, the 227 was extended from Penge to Crystal
Palace, although this was a minority of buses, two or three turning
in Penge for every through bus. The LTL Scooters were
replaced by new RFs in November 1951, with the first 3 buses
licensed on the 5th and the remainder being delivered during the
month (the last two were not licensed until 1 December). It
is interesting to note that the nickname 'Scooters' lasted to be
applied to RFs at Bromley, but not generally elsewhere.
During 1954, there were detail changes to the route at
Chislehurst. The terminal working was unchanged (the
stand was in Alexander Road, beside the Gordon Arms, with the buses
leaving via Edward Road), but from May the route arrived and left
via Albany Road and the High Street, changing again in October to
arrive via Albany Road and depart down Green Lane to the
Common. Other than this, and a gradual reduction in weekend
frequencies, the route remained unchanged for approaching 20
years. For much of the period, Crystal Palace buses
alternated with Penge Crooked Billet short
workings.
 Just before the end of the RFs, LOTS reported
that 'RF348 was taken from outside Bromley garage at 3am one
morning and the joy-rider ended up crashing into the front of a
shop. When the RF was seen being towed through Bromley it looked a
complete write-off. The joy-rider was not found.' RF348 was
indeed a write-off, it was one of two scrapped at Aldenham the
following year.
The route was the
second last crew-operated RF route (the last was the 236) when converted to OMO Swifts on 2 Jan
71, having been the only RF route operated out of Bromley for all
that time. The last bus in service was driven by the late
Fred Chapman, a proud RF owner for years afterwards.
SMS321 seen in Bromley
Market Square.
Photo Jeff Lloyd
collection via London Bus
Scene
The Swifts were replaced by Nationals after only
6½ years, these lasting until the route was won
by Kentish Bus, operating from Dunton Green, in 1992. At that
time, the route was cut back from Chislehurst to Bromley North,
leaving the route as operated today. However, operation
returned to TB, now as Stagecoach, in 1997, where it remains
running between Crystal Palace and Bromley North to this day.
RF route in detail, with timing
points
 Map © London Transport
1955
CRYSTAL PALACE Parade, Westwood Hill, Crystal Palace
Park Road, Penge High Street, Penge
Pawleyne Arms, Penge High Street, Beckenham Road,
Beckenham War
Memorial, Beckenham High Street, Bromley Road,
Shortlands Station, Beckenham
Lane, Bromley High Street, Bromley
Market Place, Widmore Road, Bickley Road, Bickley
Park Road, Chislehurst
Station, Summer Hill, Bromley Road, Chislehurst War Memorial, Centre
Common Road, High Street, Albany Road, Green Lane, CHISLEHURST
Gordon Arms. (Return via Green Lane, Heathfield
Lane, Loop Road, Centre Common Road).
Garage journeys: to/from Bromley Market Place via
High Street, Masons Hill, Bromley Common.
Crew change at Bromley Widmore Road.
Terminal working at Chislehurst: turn into Alexander Road to
stand, leave via Edward Road to Green Lane
Terminal working at Crystal Palace: [? U-turn across Parade or
use roundabout]
Terminal working at Penge: turning circle at Crooked
Billet
The 1969 timetable is here (thanks to Roger
Newport).
A later farechart (from 1979) is here.
RF allocation
New RFs delivered Nov-Dec 52: 331, 333-353, 358-360, 369, 377
(26 + 1 spare), Feb 53: 463.
PVR 1952 (Nov): Mon-Fri 24, Sat 26, Sun 15
PVR 1958 (Apr): Mon-Fri 24, Sat 23, Sun
15
PVR 1958 (Nov): Mon-Fri 20, Sat 23, Sun
12
PVR 1959 (May): Mon-Fri 20, Sat 23, Sun
15
PVR 1959 (Oct): Mon-Fri 21, Sat 23, Sun
12
PVR 1960 (May): Mon-Fri 21, Sat 23, Sun
15
PVR 1960 (Oct): Mon-Fri 21, Sat 23, Sun
12
PVR 1962 (Oct): Mon-Fri 21, Sat 23, Sun
10
PVR 1963 (May): Mon-Fri 21, Sat 23, Sun
12
PVR 1963 (Oct): Mon-Fri 22, Sat 22, Sun
10
PVR 1964 (Nov): Mon-Fri 22, Sat 20, Sun
10
PVR 1969 (Aug): Mon-Fri 23, Sat 20, Sun 7
RF385 in earlier
years about to take the Chislehurst Arch. The bus spent
much of its life at Bromley. Another photo of the arch,
taken from the other side, appears in John Hambley's 1961 book
(p21).
Photographer unknown
Memories
Terry Cooper, Roger Newport and Ian Smith all remember RFs on the 227,
read their accounts on the next page.
Re-creation
RF486 operated route 227 at the Sidcup
Running Day in 2007 and (with other RFs) at the Bromley Running
Days in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
.
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