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Red RF routes
Route 212
A significant route for us because our RF486 was delivered new
to Muswell Hill garage in February 1953 for the 212. A high
capacity route that used single deckers until the bridge on Muswell
Hill was removed and was London's highest-frequency RF route.
Dates of RF operation
10 Feb 53 to 5 Jan 60
(total 6 years, 11 months, all crew
operation).
RFs 411 and 352, plus
one, lay over at Muswell Hill Broadway, 4 Aug 59.
Photo
© KG Carr, Peter Gomm
collection
Destinations
FINSBURY PARK - MUSWELL HILL BROADWAY
Express service M-F peaks introduced 12/10/55
Route history
 Originally
numbered the 111, the route was introduced in April 1914 from
Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill. Due to a weight restriction
over the railway bridge on Muswell Hill, the route was operated by
single-deckers until 1960, despite being one of the businest routes
in London. Indeed, in 1921 the LGOC and two
drivers were fined at Highgate Police Court for running double
deckers on route 111 over the weight restricted railway bridges at
Crouch Hill and Muswell Hill.
A single-deck B-type (climbing Muswell Hill?)
on route 111.
Photographer unknown, John Hinson
collection
Initially worked by Holloway garage (J), the 111 was
reallocated to Muswell Hill (MH) when that garage opened on 23 Sep
25. Using LT 'Scooters' from 1931, the route was
renumbered on 3 Oct 34 into the new
200-series of single-deck routes.
The LTs lasted until 1946/7, when there was a phased
replacement by new 14T12 Regals during 1946. However,
the 7.7 litre AECs proved underpowered (presumably the burden of
full loads up Muswell Hill was too much for them), so from December
1946 they were in turn replaced by the whole of the first
batch of 31 TDs, with 7.4 litre Leyland engines and Weymann
bodywork, a process completed in June 1947. With a few now
spare, the TDs also appeared on the 210. Meanwhile, Muswell Hill's 244 was
still LT-operated (until 1952), and some joint allocation meant
that one LT working reappeared on the 212, Mondays to Fridays
in the late 1940s.
Providing important links for Muswell Hill and Crouch
End, the 212 was always a very busy route, with a bus every
two minutes in the 1930s to 1950s. LT would have
dearly loved to run double-deckers - in 1950, the route was losing
£20,000 p.a. due to the higher staff cost per passenger of
single-deckers. Following inconclusive correspondance
with the railway company about strengthening the bridge on Muswell
Hill, under which coal trains still ran, in 1953 this moved on
to correspondence about possible closure of the line 'if the coal
traffic could be redirected'.
 The peak
requirement of the 212 increased steadily over the years, to a
maximum of 23 LTs, then 27 when run by a mixture of LTs and Ts
and finally 30 TDs in 1952, falling back slightly to 29 after
the introduction of the larger RFs (but 29 41-seat RFs provided 20%
more seats than 30 33-seat TDs).
TD2 about to pick up in
Muswell Hill Broadway once the driver resets the blind for its
journey to Finsbury Park. Note the flared rear lower panels
of the Weymann-bodied TD, classic Weymann and unlike the later Mann
Egerton bodies.
Photo Ian Armstrong collection
The 212 was the second route at Muswell Hill garage
operated by the RF class, from February 1953. The first of
the second batch of RFs was licensed on 4 February and the
last few were held back and not licensed until 1 March. The
route required many more buses than the 210, but was busiest Monday
to Friday, whereas the 210 was busier at weekends, particularly
Sundays. Hence the 31 new buses allocated for the 29-bus peak
requirement on the 212 also provided just enough (at least in
theory) for the 210 to convert fully to RF at the weekends.
In addition, there were enough buses to allocate some RFs to the
251 on Saturday and, when the winter
schedules came in and the 210 requirement reduced, on Sunday as
well. Meanwhile at Muswell Hill, the 244 kept its TD
allocation. In practice, it seems likely that the picture was
less clear-cut than this.
The route was still under pressure, despite the increase in
capacity provided by the RFs, so to ease the plight of passengers
at intermediate stops waiting in vain for a bus with room to
board, a peak-hour express service was added from 12
Oct 55. This ran the full length of the route in both
directions, stopping only at Alexandra Park (Muswell
Hill Victoria Hotel) and Crouch End
Broadway, but as the faretable shows, the morning peak
journey to Finsbury Park was the key section. Blue blinds
with white lettering were apparently used, but these
journeys seem to have eluded the photographers - does anyone
know of a picture of an RF-operated 212 Express?
The Express was highly successful and continued right through the
RT era until replaced by MBSs on the W2 in 1968.
 Extra capacity. The later Routemasters (with
offside illuminated advertisements) were delivered to Muswell Hill
for the 134, but after a 1967 repaint, RM1965 is seen here,
otherwise in original condition, after the use of an ultimate blind
on the short 212 was abandoned.
Photo
© Paul Redmond
The route finally converted to RTs in January
1960, once the bridge on Muswell Hill over the abandoned
railway was finally removed. The majority of the RFs moved
overnight to Kingston for the 218/ 9, which needed 22
buses. RTs remained on Monday to Friday up to the end of the
route, but operation switched to RMs at weekends in June
1963. The route converted to one-man flat-fare operation in
the changes of May 1969, being renumbered W7 in the Wood Green
series. The last 212 was an RT on 9 May 69.
The W7 continues over the same route today. Still
very busy, it is one of the few (the only?) suburban double-deck
routes that is pay-before-you-board.
RF route in detail, with timing points
FINSBURY PARK Wells Terrace, Clifton Terrace, Lennox
Road (return direct from Stroud Green Road to Wells Terrace),
Stroud Green Road, Stroud Green
The Stapleton, Crouch Hill, Crouch End Broadway, Park Road,
Muswell Hill Victoria
Hotel, Muswell Hill, MUSWELL HILL BROADWAY
Faretable
We don't have access to the faretable during RF
operation. However, to view the faretable (including garage
journeys) for May 1965, when the route was RT operated, click
here; for the Express working, click
here. Note that higher fares for
short journeys were only charged before 0945 and only towards
Finsbury Park, moving the crowds to Finsbury Park being the key
role for the 212.
Garages
MH Muswell Hill
Garage journeys: to/from Muswell Hill Broadway
RF allocation
New RFs delivered Feb 53: 436, 443, 449-453, 462, 466-467,
469-473, 475-478, 480-487 (total 27 + 4 second hand = 29 +
2 spare)
PVR 1953 (Feb): Mon-Fri 30, Sat 23, Sun 20
PVR 1953 (May): Mon-Fri 29, Sat 23, Sun 20
PVR 1953 (Oct): Mon-Fri 26, Sat 19, Sun 18
PVR 1954 (Mar): Mon-Fri 24, Sat 19, Sun 16
PVR 1955 (May): Mon-Fri 23, Sat 18, Sun 16
PVR 1955 (Oct): Mon-Fri 23, Sat 18, Sun 15
PVR 1958 (Nov): Mon-Fri 21, Sat 15, Sun 15
Looking at these allocations, it is worth
remembering that the route only took 15 minutes from end to
end.
Memories
Dave Wangford lived
on Crouch Hill for about 18 months in 1954. One of his
abiding memories is the frequency of the service on the 212:
'I was about 11 years old and used the 212 service to get to
school in Finsbury Park at Blackstock Road School, which was a
short walk from the terminus in Wells Terrace. I can recall
coming out the front door and seeing a bus heading towards
Finsbury Park coming down the hill, but not worrying about not
getting to the bus stop (about 100 yards away) in time because
there would be another bus in a couple of minutes!
I also remember that there was quite a heavy fall of snow
during the winter that we lived on Crouch Hill and coming out
the door to see the amazing sight of three or four RFs stuck at
different angles up the hill, going nowhere.
Happy days - what wonderful buses the RFs were. But
soon afterwards we moved to Southend on Sea; I thought that the
buses there were very poor things after being used to the splendid
London RTs & RFs.'
See also Stuart Perry's memories of driving RTs on the 212
while based at Muswell Hill, here.
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