London General AEC single-decker
Bus planned for
operation: T31
Now preserved by
Cobham Bus Museum and
converted back to its original rear-entrance format, T31 is seen
here on the 213 at Worcester Park in September
1949.
The AEC Regal single-decker, known to London Transport and its
predecessor LGOC as the T class, was not one class at all, but a
series that stretched from 1929 to 1948. Detailed
accounts of the type can be found at
Ian Smith's and
Dick Gilbert's
sites. We are concerned here to profile the first batch of
buses, delivered to LGOC in 1929 and known as 1T1s.
The 1T1s marked a significant step forward in bus
design, replacing as they did elderly K-type single deckers.
The last 5 of the batch of 50 were delivered new to Sutton Garage
for route 113 to Kingston, predecessor of the
213, in tghis case replacing S-types. The
29-seaters were originally delivered with rear open platforms, but
were rebuilt in the mid-30s with entrances behind the front
wheels.
The back of the 1T1s were
obviously substantially rebuilt when converted to
front-entrance. The most noticable feature is the
Chiswick-standard central emergency door; compare the picture of an
LT Scooter below. The opportunity was not taken to
incorporate a rear blind; the destination board holders on the
emergency door are out of use. It appears that there were
long seats along the side at the back, unlike the LT.
The scene is North Cheam, August 1949.
In the background a Sutton Daimler waits at the lights on route
156, to the left is the Queen Victoria.
Photo © Alan
Cross
The 1T1s were petrol engined, and ready for pensioning
off after the war. But they were lighter than any other
full-sized buses, and were therefore in demand for the
weight-restricted bridge at Walton-on-Thames, used by Kingston
routes 218 and 264. So 18 buses were sent to Marshalls to be
rebuilt and emerged with diesel engines from scrapped STLs. A
further 8 were strong enough to continue and were also converted to
diesel; the whole lot were sent to Kingston. In the photos
above, T32 is one of the former, T31 one of the latter. They
lasted until 1953, when the bridge was replaced. T31 became a
trainer until, in 1956, it was the last ex-General bus sold by
London Transport and became the first London bus to be
preserved.
LT1078 in the same
location on the same day, slightly later in the afternoon. If
this was the next bus along, we could deduce that T32 was headed
for Sutton Garage.
Photo ©
Alan Cross
