Route
127, nearly circular, ran from Morden
via
Worcester Park, Raynes Park and
Morden to St Helier. In the 1950s it was operated by
ten of London's small fleet of
RLH buses,
before the bus strike saw it withdrawn in 1958. Here RLH59
reaches
North Cheam Queen
Victoria from Morden in 1956. The (very
collectable) bus stop also served the
93
and 712/3, but the 127 will now turn right to Worcester
Park.
With the
127 leading the way and the
230 following shortly afterwards, wartime London found it needed
lowbridge double deckers. The lowbridge utility Daimlers were
not designed for a long life and became due for replacement along
with the other utility buses.
Thus in addition to the introduction of the standardised
RT family, London Transport purchased 76
of the RLH class in 1950-52. The RLH was essentially
provincial in design, with a body built by Weymann of Addlestone,
Surrey, on the standard AEC Regent III chassis. Like its
predecessors, the 13'6" height was achieved by setting the upstairs
gangway to the side and lowering it over the heads of the offside
passengers downstairs. Mind your head if you ride on an
RLH!
The buses were used both in the Country and
Central Areas, and occasionally green buses were borrowed by the
Central Area to cover for buses being overhauled. Only four
Central Area garages ran the RLH, including Dalston's route
178 which saw the last operation of
the RLH by London Transport, on 16 April 1971.
In the last two years before the 127 was
withdrawn, it was extended to St Helier to cover the withdrawn
32. RLH63 demonstrates the difficulties of providing useful
blind information on a circular route, made more obscure by the
wrong ordering of the intermediate points.
