The General's route 79 between Kingston and Woking was already well-established by 1924, running every 30 minutes.

In the renumbering of October 1934, the 79 became the 219, still running to Woking via Walton and Byfleet and operated by T-types from Kingston and Weybridge (WB) garages.  LT Scooters briefly made a scheduled appearance from Kingston in 1937 when released from the 232, but in October that year the route was cut back and reverted to T operation.  The Woking to Weybridge section was replaced by larger buses on Country Area routes 437/^A and 456 and the 219 diverted at Weybridge to terminate at Weybridge Station forecourt.  At the same time, the 219 was supplemented in Weybridge by local service 219^A between Weybridge Grotto Road and the station, worked by buses from the 219.

January 1938 saw the introduction of the extension to Vickers Works, with Mon-Fri peak journeys.  Certain 219^A journeys were also extended there, including Saturdays.  March saw the formal reintroduction of Scooters, whilst the summer timetables in May saw the beginnings of shared allocations with the 215 (Mon-Fri) and 218 (weekends) on Kingston to Hersham short workings.

After the outbreak of war, four-bus Weybridge garage closed in December 1939 and the 219/^A gained a purely LT allocation.  The 219^A lasted only until February 1941, when the 219 Vickers Works journeys became daily, including a new Sunday service although this latter did not operate throughout the war. 

In 1942/3, a number of Country Area buses, including 9 Qs at Addlestone and two Ts at Leatherhead, were painted grey to reduce their visibility when serving the Vickers Works.  From 1942 to 1945, the Central Area allocation books refer to 'special vehicles' being used for Vickers Works journeys and it is presumed that this refers to buses being painted grey - does anyone know any more?

On the last day of RF service, RF512 sits in Kingston Bus Station.  In the backgrond, RF522 carries blinds for the 216 although that route had lost its RFs three years earlier.  The following day, an official tour by 3 RFs of routes 218 and 219 includied RF512. 

Photo © John Parkin

Also in 1943, the Scooters were converted to perimeter seating and authorised to carry 20 standing passengers, an arrangement that continued until union objections brought the practice to a close (earlier at Kingston than elsewhere) in October 1945.

From 1946 to 1949, the official allocation was changed to Ts, shared with the 218 Mon-Sat; some Scooters were still scheduled on summer Sundays.  Kingston's Scooters were gone by 1949, from when the joint allocation was switched to the 215 (which only shared the road as far as Esher), with Qs allocated alongside Ts from 1950.

Kingston's 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 elsewhere on the network.  But Kingston's later Ts and newly arrived TDs had the single-deck allocation to themselves until RFs arrived for the 216 in July 1959; the 219 allocation, joint with both 215 and 218 from 1954, stayed TD until conversion to RF in January 1960, on Kingston's largest intake of the type.

In 1966, operation of the 215 moved to Norbiton, leaving just the 218 and 219 to share an allocation for the rest of the life of the 219.  It was not until September 1968 that the routes were converted to OMO RFs, the last single-deck routes south of the river to be so converted and the last except the 210 in 1970.

Reducing receipts led to the withdrawal of the Esher to Weybridge section on Sunday mornings from January 1971, with the exception of a single journey to BAC Works - renamed from Vickers in 1964.  Otherwise, the OMO RF route ran unchanged until 1979 except that the Weybridge Station terminus was moved in March 1977 from the station forecourt to the top of Heath Road. 

During the last week of service, the RFs carried posters in their windows advising of the change.  RF510, another of those that undertook the final tour on Saturday 31 Mar 1979, rounds the roundabout at Weybridge Station to stop on the stand in Heath Road.

Photo © Steve Fennell

As related on the 218 page, the end came on Friday 30 March 1979, when Norbiton's Leyland Nationals took over the 218 and 219.  That weekend saw the end of weekend journeys to the BAC Works, but the reinstatement of the Sunday morning Weybridge service, at the request of Surrey County Council (changed days; Surrey no longer supports any Sunday buses).

October 1981 to September 1982 saw a short lived peak-hour extension north of Kingston to serve Ham Beaufort Road, but this was a final fling before the route disappeared completely on 28 Jan 83, partly replaced by LCBS route 437.