London General Omnibus Co route 105, between
Watford Junction and Kilburn, was renumbered 142 in 1914. The
route formed part of the development of the northern Country Area
when, in 1920, the General opened Leavesden Road depot in
Watford and transferred in from Cricklewood garage (W) much of the
operation of the 142, along with the 140 (an earlier
version) and 141 (later to become part of the 107). The
Central Area rates paid to crews on these buses were higher than
the 'country route' rates on other routes, leading to strike
action. Rather than raise wage rates, General handed the
garage to National in 1921, as part of an area agreement that was
to come to fruition in the formation of London General
Country Services in 1932. The Central routes returned home to
W.
Saunders-bodied RT1279 sits in the yard at
Edgware Garage.
Photo © Paul Redmond
Cricklewood took sole ownership of the 142
until 1925, from when the next 20 years saw involvement by
Willesden (AC), Hendon (AE), Edgware (EW) and Harrow Weald (HD)
garages. Between 1925 and 1932, the route operated as
142B before reverting to its former number.
From at least 1933, the route was operated by STs.
Occasionally during the 1930s STLs appeared, until they replaced
the STs completely after the outbreak of war in 1939. At that
time, Hendon's famous pre-war STDs also made an appearance on
Sundays.
In 1932, the original routing via Stonegrove was replaced by the
longer one via Edgware Way (in a swap with route 141), a change
that was to endure until 1993, when the original routing was
reintroduced on withdrawal of the 251 between Stanmore and
Edgware. The only other significant changes over the last 85
years have been the shortening of the route to Edgware (Colindale
Annesley Avenue in peak hours) in 1970, and the
re-extension to Brent Cross in 1976.
Edgware's STL allocation was replaced by RTWs in 1950,
one of the original suburban routes before the 8-footers were
accepted by the Police into central London. In late 1950 and
early 1951, the route had the distinction of operating all three RT
variants, with EW's RTWs joined by a partial RTL allocation on
Saturdays and replaced by RTs from W on Sundays (as well
as W STLs on Saturdays and AE STDs on Sundays).
The allocation was fully RT from mid-1952, except for
1963 to 1968, when W's RTs were replaced by RTLs, until OMO
conversion in 1970. The allocation was of SMSs, all operated
by EW. Conversion to Metrobus took place in 1980, until the
route was contracted out in 1986. The route is now
operated by Arriva from Garston garage.
Edgware's SMS77 leaves the
A41 and heads for Canons Park and Stanmore en route to Watford.
Photo ©
Paul Redmond
