Photo gallery

^{Page last updated 5 January 2018}

This page captures some of the pictures that have graced our home page over the years. There seems to be a Kingston area bias, I wonder why.

Aaah. RF486 on the 215 leads RF422 on the 219 in Esher on 19 April 1969.

Photo © David Christie

RF371 in Staines on route 216. Thanks (belatedly) to Ian Hogben, we now know that this photo was taken approximately opposite Staines Country Bus Garage. The shops are still there (although altered) but the Gas Board office has been demolished.

Photo Peter Osborn collection, photographer unknown - if this is your copyright, please let me know

Romford in 1969, during the construction of the ring road. RF511 on route 250 is on diversion, turning from Junction Road into Eastern Road (now a dead end) before reaching Romford Station en route to Hornchurch. An Eastern National FLF on the 251 can be seen in the distance.

Photo © David Christie

There were also green RFs. On 1 August 2015, two Green Line route re-creations took place. RF280, a former Green Line coach downgraded in 1965 to a country bus, ran over the 704 from Windsor to Tunbridge Wells. RF679, always a country bus, ran over the 703 from Wrotham to Amersham. By one of those joyous coincidences, the two arrived simultaneously at the former Green Line coach station at Victoria.

Photo © Peter Osborn

Kingston again, as we like to remember it; June 1970. RF511 departs to Walton-on-Thames on the 218, more RFs, and an RT on the 71 completes the scene.

Photo © Richard Cripps

Occasionally, the home page features an image from one of our events, rather than a historical photo. RF486's 60th birthday on 17 February 2013 provided such an opportuntiy - joined at Muswell Hill Broadway for the 212 run by RF459.

Photo © Peter Larkham

RF467 is still crew-operated as it runs south on the 208 under the Fairfield Road bridge, just by Bow Garage, on 27 March 1970. See also the recreation of this shot here (photo © Steve Whitelegg 2013).

Photo © David Christie

Finsbury Park - Clifton Terrace in the days of the coal yard and a 212 every couple of minutes. No express service in 1953. RF483 is less than a month old.

Photo Allen T Smith collection, © Alan Cross

2 January 1962, the last day that the 200 reached 'West Wimbledon Copse Hill'' before being cut back to Raynes Park. The turn was a U-turn in the road junction on Coombe Lane, as exhibited by RF384.

Photo © Andrew Hicks

Snow falls. Here's a scattering at the Scilly Isles on 13 Jan 79. RF502 on the 218 to Staines has been caught by RF437 on a short to Esher. See here for Ian Hogben's story of antics on the 218.

Photo © Dave Jones

An early 1961 scene in Clarence Street, Kingston. RF332 on the 215 leads K3 1424 on the 602, RF436 on the 216 and a roofbox RT on the 131.

Photo © Dennis Battams

Five weeks before the end of RF operation in London, RF437 passes the offices of Ian Allen in Shepperton, bound for Laleham and Staines on the 218.

Defective RF449 is being towed back along the 213 to its base along Malden Road, Cheam in summer 1962. The breakdown tender 743J was formerly STL297. A Green Line RF follows on the 725.

Kingston Bus Station in 1971/72, much as it had been for the previous 10 years. RF443 on the 218 and RF423 on the 215.

Photo Kevin McCormack collection

One of London's last TDs, TD124 climbs Flower Lane towards Mill Hill Broadway on the 240^A shortly before conversion to RF in October 1962.

Rail replacement work at Worcester Park in June 1962, believed to be when the railway was closed for replacement of the bridge. Kingston's RF509 and 527 are on duty.

More rail replacement. The RFs are joined by two of the ill-fated MB class on rail replacement duty at Surbiton in June 1970. RF485 has been provided by Kingston garage, RF479 by Norbiton and the Merlins by Merton. Note the contrasting 'uniforms'.

The yard at Edgware Garage, sometime between July 1973 and January 1977. The 292 has converted from RT to DMS, but the 251 continues to be RF operated. RF499 was at Edgware for 11 of the 12 years that the garage worked the route.

Autumn days. RF437 passes the Orleans Arms (now a Cafe Rouge) at Littleworth Common, by the Scilly Isles, in October 1978. The 218 is the subject of several Ian Hogben stories.

The last RF in scheduled service, RF507, in dock at Kingston having been specially prepared for its role.

Red RF photo gallery