The story starts by 1924, when the General was running the 115 between Kingston and Guildford every hour on Mondays to Fridays, along what was then the main London to Portsmouth road.  This passed under the low bridge at Ditton Marsh - just on the Kingston side of the (later) Scilly Isles, where the road goes under the main line to Woking, Southampton and Portsmouth.  This is still the same today and was the main cause of so many Kingston area routes being single-deck. 

The Kingston Bypass opened in 1927 and by 1930 the Monday to Friday 115 was complemented by the double-deck route 620 (to Guildford) and 620^A (Esher only) at weekends.  Because of the low bridge, the 620/^A travelled via Hook and the Kingston Bypass.  The Sunday service was twice the frequency of weekdays, obviously to cater for leisure traffic.  By 1933, the weekend journeys were all numbered 620.

In the 1934 renumbering, the 115 became the 215 (operated by early T class AEC Regals) and the 620 became the 20.  By now, the Kingston terminus was 'Kingston Bus Station'.  The 1936 timetable shows a requirement for three buses, with Guildford Horse & Groom to Burpham shorts fitted in before each bus returned to Kingston. 

RF536, one of the six green RFs transferred to Sidcup in 1956 and repainted red in 1958, turns onto the stand in Church Cobham in the 1970s.

Photo © Phil Picken, Peter Gomm collection

The route ran through Church Cobham in the Guildford direction only, otherwise keeping to the old A3.  'Church Cobham' is the main shopping area in the village (where Waitrose is now), leading down to the River Mole, whilst 'Street Cobham' is the separate section to the west on the old A3, en route to where Sainsbury's is now.  So far as we can tell, it was only LT that maintained this historical distinction.

Operated by Kingston garage, the route used T-class AEC Regals during the 30s, replaced by LTLs in March 1938.  Ts were reintroduced on 6 Dec 1939, under the changes brought about by the outbreak of war, which led to the withdrawal of the 20 and the 215 becoming a daily service, and its shortening to run from Kingston to Ripley only.  The Guildford to Ripley section became Country Area route 415.  The elegant consistency of numbering was continued in 1946, when the Green Line route from Guildford to London was one of the first reintroduced and was given the number 715 (although the 715 never served Kingston, using the by-pass).

Wartime brought further changes, including the reintroduction of higher-capacity LTLs in March 1940, assisted at various times by Ts from the 218 or 219.  From May 1943 to July 1945, the Sunday morning service was withdrawn between Ripley and Esher, a move that was to have resonance thirty years later.

After the war, new 14T13s progressively replaced the Scooters from March to October 1946, by which time the frequency had increased to half-hourly to Ripley, plus Church Cobham short workings.  The Ripley to Kingston journeys continued to avoid Church Cobham.  Kingston had operated a number of classes of single-decker over the years, and there were regular reallocations between routes, with Qs replacing the Ts during 1950 and Ts rejoining the Qs from May 1951.  Kingston borrowed Qs from Sidcup on Saturdays to cover a shortfall on that day; its own buses included ex-Country 4Q4s as well as the 5Q5s.  It is reported that TDs were used after Kingston received its first in spring 1949, but the official conversion to TD was 6 May 1953.  During the 1940s and 1950s, there was a substantial (but shifting) inter-working of the 215 with the 218, 219 and (from its introduction in 1954) the 215^A.

RF536 at the same location in Church Cobham a week before the end, on 16 Oct 1976.                                                        Photo © John Parkin

Kingston's Scooters were gone by 1949.  The pre-war Ts lasted until 1953 due to a weak bridge on the 218, and the Qs also went that year, all swept away by the effect of the deliveries of red RFs.  But Kingston wasn't to see RFs for another six years, its Ts and TDs ruling the roost until RFs arrived for the 216 in July 1959.

Six months later, in January 1960, Muswell Hill converted the 212 to RT, releasing over 20 RFs.  Many were transferred to Kingston overnight and used to convert the 218 and 219 joint allocation to RF.  At this stage, the TD-operated 215^A to Downside was not approved for the larger RF; as this weekday route was jointly worked with the 215, the 215 also kept its TDs on weekdays.  However, at that time there was joint Sunday working of 215, 218 and 219, so the 215 gained RFs on that day only.

By October 1961, 215 duties that did not include the 215^A were converted to RF, followed by the 215^A and the rest of the 215 on 28 Feb 62.  This represented the end of TD operation south of the river - they continued for another eight months at Edgware on the 240^A. 

 

The driver of Norbiton's RF489 seems to be filling in his duty card, apparently before reaching the garage as the bus sits in front of Fulwell's RM1152 on the 281, some time between 1973 and 1976.  Both buses are now preserved.

Photo Peter Gomm collection

Just over 4 years later, OMO-conversion and transfer to Norbiton of the 215 and 215^A occurred on 23 Jan 66, before Kingston's 218/219 (bringing to an end the joint Sunday working), but after the 216.

The first major change to the route for many years came on 30 Dec 67, following the withdrawal of the 215^A the previous day.  The route was cut back from Ripley to Church Cobham daily, and journeys extended to Downside Mon-Sat, to cover the 215^A.  This left the Cobham to Ripley section unserved except by Green Line 715.  Following a temporary bridge restriction, the Cobham to Downside journeys were suspended from September 1968 and formally withdrawn on 18 Jul 69.  On 8 Feb 75, the route was diverted to run via Hinchley Wood. 

From 2 Apr 77, Surrey's financial support was withdrawn and switched to London Country, leading to the withdrawal of the 215 between Esher and Cobham and an increased frequency on Green Line 715 between Guildford and Kingston.  Then local resident Steve Allnutt tells us that this was highly unpopular - a public meeting was held at Cobham Village Hall when plans were announced to withdraw the 215 service. The angry audience were told that the Green Line 715 route would now serve the village and be re-routed in to Kingston (having previously used Kingston Bypass; the low bridge at Ditton Marsh meaning the RMCs wuld not return).  A march from Cobham was organised about 20 people, along the route for the 7 miles to County offices!  Following the establishment of the new service, temporary bus stops were added along the route, but it was soon recognised that residents of the council estate Northfield Road/Wyndham Avenue could not alight before a 'round robin' tour of the village and were eventually let off at the Street Cobham White Lion bus stop toward Guildford.  Steve tells us he 'hijacked' a bus stop from Fairmile Corner on the A3 and placed it opposite Old Common Road on several nights - the new stop was eventually established!

BL51 displays the black on yellow blind that was intended to alert passengers that the bus was taking a roundabout route to Kingston.

Photo Ian Armstrong collection

Having seen reasonable stability as a route under RF operation, change now came thick and fast.  The following year, on 28 Oct 78, the route was completely revised to operate from Kingston via Surbiton and Claygate to Esher and Hampton Court, replacing the 206 and part of the 201, and the allocation moved back to Kingston.

Kingston's BLs were replaced by Norbiton LSs in 1982, by which time the route had been cut back from Hanpton Court to Lower Green, with a school journey to Giggs Hill and back to  Kingston.  These confusing workings used black on yellow blinds to warn the travelling public.  The route was finally withdrawn on 26 Jun 87, replaced by midibus route K3. 

Just to complete the picture of the other related routes, the 715 was replaced by the 415 in the 1990s, working for a period through to Victoria, which was in turn replaced by the 515 now operating between Kingston and Guildford.  How tidy.

Allocation joint with 215^A M-S to 1967