The Epping to Loughton route has a long history.  According to the Essex Countryside magazine (January 1967) 'three famous old Epping horses with just one eye between them proudly drew the coach driven by Joe Wilks of Tidy's Lane from the Cock Hotel to meet the trains at Loughton station when the railway first reached there in 1867'.  The General covered the road with the 10^A, renumbered 100^A in 1924 and back to 10^A in 1934, a variation of the famous 10 to Abridge.  By the 40s, the 10^A had become route 20, operated in the 50s and early 60s by Loughton garage with RTs between Leytonstone and Epping. 

 

When one-man operation was finally introduced in the Central Area in 1964, following the Phelps Brown report, it was permitted only on single-deck buses.  Whereas ten years before, it had been London Transport policy to double-deck all Central Area routes where physically possible, it became inevitable that the reverse would happen on lightly-used routes.  The 20 was the first.

 

The busy Saturday service was left untouched initially, but other days of the week were converted in October 1965, simultaneously with the OMO-conversion of Loughton's existing RF route, the 254, and the creation of the 291 out of part of Barking's 129.  The route was shortened to cover only the Loughton to Epping section, with the southern part covered by the RT-operated 20^A (Leytonstone to Debden).

 

The remaining Saturday operation on the 20 ended on 24 December 1966, being shortened and renumbered 20^B on the following Saturday.  This led to the situation where the 20^A and 20^B were variants of a route that no longer existed.  In addition, the creation of the 20^B broke the rule of over 40 years that all single-deck routes were numbered in the 200-series.

 

A new RT route 20 from Loughton was introduced in December 1968, with a different routing south of Woodford to Leyton and Walthamstow.  Six months later this was converted to OMO MB operation and extended to Epping to absorb the 20^B.  Meanwhile the 20^A continued with RTs until 1976, when it swapped the Loughton to Epping section with the 20 and became DMS operated over the original 20 route, lasting until 1982.  Falling entirely outside Greater London, the 20^B roads are no longer served by TfL.

 

RF route in detail, with timing points

L   Loughton

 

PVR 1965: Mon-Fri 4, Sun 3

PVR 1966: Mon-Fri 4, (Sat RT), Sun 3