26 Nov 58 (weekends), 10 Jun 59 (daily) to 7 May 63

and

16 Jan 71 to 11 Dec 76

UXBRIDGE STATION and LALEHAM Broadway (daily 26 Nov 58 to 7 May 63, Mon-Fri peaks and Sat shop hours 16 Jan 71 to 14 May 76)

UXBRIDGE STATION and STAINES Moor Lane (Mon-Fri off peak and Sat outside shopping hours 16 Jan 71 to 14 May 76)

UXBRIDGE STATION and COLNBROOK Coleridge Crescent (Mon-Sat 15 May to 11 Dec 76)

UXBRIDGE STATION and POYLE GAF Factory (journeys Mon-Fri peaks 15 May to 11 Dec 76)

Reason for single-deck operation

Dating from July 1929 as the General's route 506, Uxbridge to Staines, the route was worked by Uxbridge (UX) garage using crew-operated K and S-type single-deckers.  Presumably the traffic expectations were not met, as the route was converted to OMO for the first time on 26 Jun 30, using DA-class Darts.  In March 1932, the 506 (since October 1930 running weekdays only) was extended from Staines to Stanwell.

On renumbering as 224 on 3 Oct 34, an additional working from Hounslow garage (AV) was added, also an OMO Dart, running Saturdays and Sundays only between Staines and Stanwell - the beginning of the unsettled Staines to Stanwell Sunday workings that became RF operated as the 203 in 1965.  These comprised the only Sunday workings on the 224.  The Darts continued until the outbreak of war, when they were replaced by diesel-engined CRs (UX) and a Cub (AV).

The war saw a number of route withdrawals at less busy times.  On the 224, this comprised withdrawal south of Harmondsworth in the evening, for various periods.  This left unchanged the busy section from Uxbridge to the 'Peggy Bedford' on the Bath Road, by what is now Heathrow Airport North but was then Fairey's Great Western Aerodrome and no doubt involved in war work.  In March 1942, the southern section was transferred to the 223, including the weekend Hounslow Cub working, and the remaining Uxbridge to Harmondsworth section was upgraded to crew-operated Ts.

OMO RF350 in the 1970s.

Photo © Eamonn Kentell

On 28 Oct 42, things start getting complicated.  The 223 Stanwell workings were transferred back to the 224, which retained crew-operation on the Uxbridge to Harmondsworth section.  Harmondsworth to Stanwell (Mon-Fri between peaks) and through workings at other times were covered by OMO Cubs (the CRs by now having gone into store).  This was thus the second OMO conversion.  Three weeks later, the AV weekend Staines to Stanwell workings were taken over by UX.

On 3 Oct 45, between peaks through journeys were reintroduced and the whole route converted to crew-operated Ts, but the Stanwell to Staines weekend journeys were returned to AV-operation, also with a crew T.  In May 1946, Sunday operation was introduced on the northern section from Uxbridge to Harmondsworth, meaning the route ran in two separate sections on that day.  One wonders why the Hounslow-based journeys hadn't been given a separate route number.

On 4 May 47, Sunday working was reintroduced over the whole route for the first time since 1930 and the separate Stanwell to Staines service was withdrawn on that day - but still operated on Saturday for a further six months, even though the route was also covered by through buses.  On 24 Mar 48, the Stanwell to Staines section was withdrawn entirely and replaced by new ST-operated route 162 running between those points only.  In place of Stanwell, the 224 was rerouted to Laleham.  The Uxbridge to Laleham route then continued until the end of the RF era, except that the route was temporarily withdrawn between Uxbridge and West Drayton while the railway bridge was rebuilt, November 1959 to September 1960. 

Uxbridge's RT701 runs to Staines during the sixties.

Photo © Paul Redmond

After the war, the Ts in use included a variety of converted and repainted Green Line coaches, mainly 11T11s but including one 3T3.  Uxbridge was the first recipient in 1946 of post-war 14T12s, nominally for the 223 but also occasionally on the 224.  By 1953, all the Ts had been upgraded to 14T12s.  These lasted until 26 Nov 58 and with Southall's 211 allocation were the last of the class in service.  They were replaced at weekends by a mix of TDs and RFs (spare from the 222, initially on Saturday and Sunday, but on Saturday only from 13 May 59) and by TDs during the week, until the TDs were were in turn replaced by further RFs from 10 Jun 59.

Meanwhile, in 1955 and 1957 respectively, two variants in the form of 224^A and 224^B were introduced, both also initially T operated.  From November 1959 to September 1960, the main barrier to double-deck operation, the road under the bridge at West Drayton, was rebuilt.  While the road was closed, RFs on the 222 provided the service through Cowley, with the 224 group operating the southern sections only.  In March 1961, the bridge now open, the 222 was discontinued and the 223 extended from West Drayton to Hounslow in replacement and a third 224 offshoot, 224^C, appeared to provide a service along Cowley Road to Heathrow in rush hours.  This road, restricted by a further low bridge at Yiewsley, was now served only by the 224 group.

The second low bridge (presumably the one at Cowley Peachey carrying the Uxbridge to West Drayton branch?) was dealt with shortly after, allowing the 224^A/^B/^C to be converted to RT on 9 May 62, although the 224 itself held on to its RFs for another year (why?) until 7 May 63.  From that date, RTs took over and for six weeks only, one Monday to Friday pm journey was extended from Uxbridge to Ruislip Station over the 204.  

The 225 was a new route introduced between West Drayton and Staines Moor Lane in 1965, to serve Poyle Trading Estate upon closure of the West Drayton to Staines West railway line.  It ran Mon-Fri peak hours and followed the 224 except that it used Poyle Road to cut off the Horton loop.  RT1256 is seen crossing the Colnbrook level crossing in 1965.  The route was replaced in 1971 by journeys on the 224.

Photo © Bob Turner, Ian Armstrong collection

To a large extent, the 224 followed a pair of the Great Western's branch lines, the West Drayton to Uxbridge already mentioned and the West Drayton to Staines West.  The former served Uxbridge Vine Street, Cowley and West Drayton, the latter West Drayton, Colnbrook, Poyle and Staines West.  The main deviation from the railway was at Poyle, where the 224 ran instead down Horton Road to the west.  The level crossing at Colnbrook appears to have been the only one crossed by a red RF route.  The forecourt of Staines West station provided the Staines terminus of most bus routes terminating in Staines, including the 203, 216, 218; the well-known station building (see photo at foot of page) was a Georgian mill owner's house altered to serve as a station.  The West Drayton to Uxbridge line closed to passengers in 1962, the West Drayton to Staines West in 1965.  RT-operated route 225 was provided Mon-Fri peak hours as rail replacement to serve Poyle Trading Estate.

There followed a period of stability for the rest of the sixties, only slightly disturbed by the shortening of the 224 on Sundays from Laleham to Harmondsworth in October 1969. 

The next substantial change came on 16 Jan 71, when the route was converted from RT to OMO RF.  The 224 was withdrawn on Sundays and its journeys beyond Staines to Laleham were now restricted to Mon-Fri peaks and Saturday shopping hours.  Some Mon-Fri peak journeys were diverted to run via Poyle, rather than Horton, replacing the 225 which was withdrawn.

RF533 looks very uncared for on 30 Oct 76, with just 6 weeks left to run before its final move to Kingston.  It stands at West Drayton, having worked in on a short working.  This RF was one of the green batch repainted red whilst at Sidcup in 1956 and worked at Uxbridge before an early OMO conversion in 1959 and again in the early 1960s.

Photo © John Parkin

From December 1974, Monday to Friday peak hour journeys via Poyle were re-routed at the Industrial Estate along Blackthorne Road to serve the GAF factory.  In May 1976, the route was cut back from Laleham and Staines to terminate at Colnbrook, but retaining the peak hour journeys to the GAF factory.

The end came for the Uxbridge RFs in December 1976, when the 224 converted to SMS and the 223 and 224^B went to DMS.  Saturday operation ceased in September 1977 and the route was withdrawn entirely on 21 Apr 78.