Carshalton 2007

Notes on the buses operated - part 3

Four other double deckers ran in service at Carshalton:

STL 2377 was one of two buses provided for the day by Cobham Bus Museum. The bus was the only pre-war bus in service and was rightly very popular. It celebrates its 70th year this year, having been delivered to London Transport in November 1937 and allocated to Holloway garage. Although many of the EGO 331-EGO 489 registered batch were painted green for country area use in World War 2, STL 2377 remained red. Final allocation was Hornchurch garage until withdrawal from service in December 1953.

Whilst running over route 77^B, the route was known as the 77 when STLs operated from Victoria Gillingham Street garage up to 1953.

Photo © Peter Rogers

DM1052 was delivered new in 1975 and first went into service at Brixton Garage, followed by West Ham (where it was driven by its current guardian), Highgate and Stockwell. After only 7 years' service with LT, it was sold and worked for another 13 years before being purchased for preservation by Paul Brophy. It is now operated by Blue Triangle.

Showing the development of the OPO bus format over 30 years, DM1052 is passed by PVL280 on the 151 (does Sutton's use of a former Camberwell bus still with London Central decals suggest the vehicle allocation on route 151 still hasn't settled down?).

Photo © Jimmy Sheng

RLH48 was built in 1952 and started service at Amersham garage on route 336 (Chesham to Watford). It then moved on to 5 other garages in its 13 year life with London Transport. The bus holds the record of any RLH for having operated on the maximum number of routes which actually required lowbridge vehicles (9 out of 12), including short spells relieving red vehicles on 2 of the Central area routes at Hornchurch and Dalston garages, remaining in green livery throughout this time. RLH 48 was withdrawn from LT service in 1964. The present owner, Mr. Richard Proctor, purchased the bus in 1984 and completely restored her to 1960 condition.

RLH48 passes through Carshalton High Street before returning to Windsor and Amersham at the end of the day.

DM 2646 was the last Fleetline delivered new to London Transport, in 1978, and first ran from Brixton. In 1979 whilst at Cricklewood, it was painted in Shillibeer livery as part of the commemorations of 150 years of London buses. The DM was the the crew version of the DMS, with no automatic fare cabinets. Many including 2646 were converted for one-person operation and reclassified D.

D2646 arrived at Sutton in 1986, where it was fitted with a new Iveco engine. It stayed at Sutton through the SuttonBus era, until becoming the last DM in service there in mid-1992.

Used after sale by other operators, it was bought for preservation by Eddie Knorn in 1998 and refitted with a Leyland engine. It is now owned by Ensignbus and has been repainted into the Shillibeer livery.

A rear view of the B20 Fleetline in Carshalton Road.