 Kingston
2009
Route
416
RF54 sits on the departure
stop at Leatherhead Garage ready to set off for Box Hill
Greenacres. This modernised Green Line RF was
downgraded to a bus in 1970 and was one of the last few London
Country RFs, helping out at Leatherhead in 1977 due to a
shortage of Bristols - one of which sits just out of shot.
Photo © Paul Redmond
Esher was one of those places on the outskirts of London
served by both red and green RFs. Representing the Country
Area was Leatherhead's longstanding route 416, as well as Green
Line routes 715/A.
Original RF route
ESHER, Oxshott, Leatherhead, Headley, BOX HILL or
TADWORTH
Timetable
On 22 March, the 416 will provide a regular service
between Leatherhead Station and the event site at Sandown
Park. Timetable.
 Main
boarding points Esher Sandown Park
Leatherhead Station
Admittedly not an RF and
not on a Kingston area route, but MB90 moved on from High
Wycombe, where it is seen here in the company of an RP, and
last saw service in 1977/8 from Leatherhead. It will
return to its old haunts and will be operating the 416 on 22
March.
Photo © Paul Redmond
After the war, the 416 operated between Esher and Leatherhead,
with the 435 providing the link from Leatherhead to Tadworth (where
it met the 406 and the 80A). The 422 was
introduced in 1948 or 1949 between Leatherhead and Box Hill
Holiday Camp. Sometime between 1957 and 1960, the
435 was withdrawn and replaced by an extension of the 416, running
by a different road to serve RAF Headley Court and Headley
Church. Certain journeys ran to Box Hill rather than
Tadworth.
In 1964, there was no 422 on Sunday and all Sunday
journeys ran to Box Hill from Esher. By summer 1966, the
Sunday service ran only between Leatherhead Station and Box Hill,
with the single bus working a 462 to Fetcham between each
journey on the 416.
The modern equivalent is Sunray's 516, which covers part of
the old 439 from Chart Downs via Dorking to Brockham, then
climbs Pebblecombe Hill (which LT never did) to serve Box Hill and
Headley en route to Leatherhead Station and Tesco, from where it
follows the old 408 to Epsom.
(We're sorry not to have access to a full history of country
routes - would anyone like to write one?)
| 