AEC Regent I - the pre-war standard London
bus
In 1929, the General adopted as its standard buses the 27ft
six-wheeled AEC Renown (LT or long type), the 25ft four-wheeled AEC
Regent (ST or short type) and the 26ft single deck AEC Regal (T) -
all legal maximum lengths in the capital at that time.
n 1932 the overall length of four wheel double-deck buses was
raised from 25 to 26 feet, and the gross weight from 9.5 to 10
tons. AEC produced a lengthened Regent chassis, 16ft 3in to replace
the 15ft 6.5in version used on the LGOC ST class buses.
The new class - the Short Type Lengthened or STL - was built
continuously by LGOC and London Transport until the outbreak
of war in 1939. Most bodies were built at the Chiswick works,
but a few were unsatisfactorily contracted to Park Royal. The
type operated until replaced by RTs in
the early 1950s.
Thnaks to Ian
Smith for the brief STL history.
Cobham Bus Museum's STL 2377
was 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.
The STL will be running on the 77
(precursor to the 77B) between Mitcham
Cricketers and Wallington Station. The first journey
departs Mitcham at 1115. For further details, see the
timetable - the STL will operate
the journeys marked 77.
