Red RF routes

Route 212 (Palmers Green)

^{Page last updated 20 December 2014}

The last RF route introduced, an OMO conversion of a Palmers Green RT route.

RF385 sets off from Palmers Green for another trundle round the North Circular on 10 Mar 76, ten days before RFs made way for Swifts.  Note that the blind display was not amended when the route changed to serve Brent Cross.  Behind is RT2488 on the 34 - AD and WW would continue to run RTs on the route for another 18 months.

Photo © John Parkin

Dates of RF operation

18 Sep 71 to 20 Mar 76

(total 4 years 6 months, all OMO)

Destinations

PALMERS GREEN GARAGE and DOLLIS HILL Brook Road (circular)

RF Garages

Reason for single-deck operation

By 1971, XAs and the FRM were in double-deck OMO operation, but these small classes were fully committed, whereas a number of RFs were coming available.  Those for the 212 came (with some resonance) from Muswell Hill on conversion of the 210 to SMS.

11 Mar 76 and the brand new Brent Cross M&S sees dented RF401 in the bus station.

Photo © JGS Smith, Peter Gomm collection

Route history

On 13 Jun 70, little more than a year after the 'real' 212 was renumbered the W7, Palmers Green's workings on the well-known 'North Circular' route 112 (itself dating from 1935) were withdrawn when the route was shortened from Palmers Green to Henlys Corner.  The section to Palmers Green was replaced by RT route 212, which overlapped with the 112 as far as Dollis Hill (effectively at the Edgware Road). 

This was a 'circular' working, running from Palmers Green to Dollis Hill, turning left off the North Circular and looping round to rejoin at Staples Corner before heading back up the North Circular to Palmers Green.  Not much of a circle, but it had only a single layover point.  The route was crew-operated for just over a year, with RMs on Sundays from its second month, until OMO-conversion came on 18 Sep 71.

By this time, although Merlins and Swifts had been introduced two or three years before, there were a large number of RFs coming spare in the system.  Whilst most of the unconverted crew RFs on the 227 and 236, which finished in early 1971, were withdrawn, all of Palmers Green initial allocation came from Muswell Hill, where the 210 had finally lost its RFs the night before.

The route continued unchanged for over four years, running every 32-33 minutes (at 58-59 minutes for the round trip, it was just too long to offer a nice tidy half-hourly service), until in January 1976, when it was diverted Mon-Sat to serve the soon-to-open Brent Cross Shopping Centre (John Lewis, the anchor store, opened in March).  This increased the running time by only 3 minutes, but an increase in frequency to 15-20 minutes increased the vehicle requirement to 6.

You wouldn't think to look at it that RF401 was newly overhauled when it went to AD in January 1972.  Sitting here outside the garage with RF419, it looks more like the builders' personal transport.

Photo © JH Reed, Peter Gomm collection

No sooner did the shopping centre open but the route was converted to SMS operation on 21 Mar 76.  One can imagine standee buses being unpopular with heavily laden shoppers - for whatever reason, the route was double-decked to DMS operation in March 1977.  This didn't last, as the route was withdrawn on 21 Apr 78 and replaced by an extended DMS-operated 112, running to ... Palmers Green.

RF route in detail, with timing points