Route 208

Originally numbered 108^D, part of the 108 Blackwall Tunnel route, the 208 was established in 1927 and has run over roughly the same route ever since, although renumbered as the flat-fare S2 in 1970 and 488 in 2008. Another of the early RF conversions in 1952/3, the 208 was the last route to run LTL Scooters.

RF308 - as it then was - in original condition, busy as usual, running south to Bromley-by-Bow in 1954. Note the full blind, rather than the lazy blind later used. This was one of Dalston's first batch of RFs, delivered new for the 208^A, and one of those renumbered in March 1956 in order to keep the fleet numbers of Green Lines, Country buses and red buses in tidy batches. Whilst still at Dalston, it became RF527. The replacement RF308 is now preserved.

Photo © Alan Cross

Dates of RF operation

12 Oct 52 (weekends, see notes) and 31 Jan 53 (Mon-Fri) to 17 Apr 70

(total 17 years 6 months, all crew operation)

Destinations

CLAPTON POND and BROMLEY-BY-BOW

RF Garages

D Dalston

Reasons for single-deck operation

Low bridges in Kenworthy Road and Fairfield Road.

Dalston's 5Q5 Q139 is seen southbound in Urswick Road, loading more into what looks already a pretty full bus (note the five ladies on the 5-seater long seat over the engine). Not bad for a route that ran every three or four minutes. Note the entrance ahead of the front wheels, a feature not shared by the Country or Green Line Qs.

Photo © PJ Marshall, Peter Gomm collection

Route history

The Blackwall Tunnel opened in 1897, featuring the sharp corners still evident in the northbound tunnel today. The first motor bus route through the tunnel operated by LGOC, replacing a Tilling horse bus service, commenced on 21 Nov 1912. Metropolitan Police concerns about clearances resulted in this being single-deck operated, the first LGOC single-deck route. This was numbered 69, running from Poplar to Plumstead (altered the following June to run to Greenwich Woolwich Road) and was worked by Athol Street garage, Poplar, (C) using B types. On 29 Mar 14, the 69 was renumbered 108 and extended to run from Bow, the southern section being extended to Blackheath for a few months only.

Associated route 108^A, a much extended version of the 108, commenced operation on 29 Nov 22, running from Clapton Pond via Bow and Blackheath to Lee Green and operated by Dalston (D) and Hackney (H) garages. Three months later, the route was diverted at Blackheath to run to Lewisham and H was replaced by C. October 1923 saw the route extended via Catford to Forest Hill, and another route, 108^B, introduced from Poplar to Southborough via Lee Green and Bromley. During 1922-23, the Bs were replaced by new single-deck Ss.

The 1924 Bassom numbering scheme grouped short workings under the same main number, but bifurcations into related numbers, so the Clapton Pond to Forest Hill route became 108, with various short workings numbered 108^A to 108^E; 108^B became 158. The route was heavily used and discussions commenced with the Metropolitan Police regarding double-deck operation, leading in 1927 to the prototype 'tunnel' NS, lower and with a specially curved roof and curved enclosed rear end. NS2050 was a success and led to the construction of 24 similar buses. The northern section of the route was however not suitable for double-deckers due to low bridges in Kenworthy Road and Fairfield Road, so on 19 Oct 27, the 108 was split at Bromley-by-Bow into the NS-operated 108^B to Forest Hill (with other-suffixed short-workings) and the S-operated 108^D to Clapton Pond; the full registered route 108 ceasing to operate although through fares were offered (until at least 1936). Twelve new LTL Scooters were delivered to Dalston in May 1931 to replace the Ss.

Renumbered in the single-deck sequence as 208 in 1934, the route continued to be operated mainly from D, with a small additional complement from Tottenham (AR) on Saturdays, always the busiest day. From 1936 to 1938, the D allocation switched from LTL to Q, then back to LT until 1943, with Qs again for the ten years until replaced by RFs at the beginning of 1953. Meanwhile the AR allocation fluctuated between LTL, Q and T types until ceasing in 1943. The route was the last to operate LTL Scooters, with Dalston's last three buses appearing occasionally, although no longer scheduled, until withdrawal on 31 January 1953.

Meanwhile in the tunnel, the NSs were replaced in 1937 by the tunnel STLs, again specially shaped (see photo here). These lasted until the tunnel was re-profiled (by raising the roadway) in 1953, when they were replaced by normal STLs (temporarily) and RTLs. These retained the strengthened tyres of the tunnel buses to address the scuffing of the kerb.

Standard STL719 in Crystal Palace Parade, awaiting departure through the Blackwall Tunnel to Bromley-by-Bow, where is will connect with the 208. This must be in 1953, the year that the tunnel was re-profiled, as the bus was withdrawn at the end of that year.

Photo Ian Armstrong collection

RFs replaced Scooters on sister route 208^A, which operated Monday to Saturday only, between 9 and 17 Oct 52, for which Dalston received 14 RFs. They were doubtless immediately put to work on the 208 at weekends as well - with 3 buses licensed by the first weekend, they probably worked the 208^A on Saturday and appeared first on the 208 on Sunday 12 Oct 52. By 22 Oct 52, the official allocation on the 208 included 8 RFs on Saturday and 14 RFs on Sunday, meaning that the whole allocation worked at weekends, an indication of the pressure on the new buses.

The 208 had to wait until January 1953 for its own buses, the first two RFs (413 and 414) were licensed on 16 January to enable the Scooters to retire, with the remaining batch licensed between 4 and 9 Feb 53. Between November 1953 and April 1954, the RFs were joined on the 208 by two experimental lightweight buses on trial, Bristol PHW918 and Leyland Tiger PTE592. No purchases followed from these experiments.

A very high frequency route, the 208 was still operating every 3 minutes at certain times on Saturdays through to the end of the 1960s. Because of its high loadings, it was initially uncertain that it could be converted to one-man operation, but this came with conversion to flat-fare MBS buses in 1970 and a renumbering to S2. The last RF to run on the 208 on 17 Apr 70 was RF400 running as D9; LOTS reported that it was decorated with commemorative hand-written leaflets.

Already fitted with doors, RF462 turns into Clapton Pond from Lower Clapton Road, some time between 1966 and 1968; the original blinds have given way to lazy blinds. The RT in the distance is on the 106 - the background also features in the Hackney photo gallery.

MBSs were in turn replaced in 1973, when the S2 became the proving ground for two new vehicle types, the LS Leyland National and the MS Metro-Scania, with six of each. The MS type was forever associated with Clapton Pond after, on the first day of operation, one ended up driving into the pond, but they did not stay long and were replaces by LSs in 1979.

The S2 followed much the same route as the 208, except that it avoided the narrow Cadogan Terrace, and was extended to serve Stratford. In 2008 it was in turn replaced by the 488, which now overlaps the 108 for a short distance.

Red RF routes

Route 208