London: Buses in London

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemaster RM201 (VLT 201) travelling along Oxford Street at Oxford Circus on service 73. The unknown RM on the left is waiting to turn into Regent Street.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemaster RM327 (WLT 327) seen amidst Saturday afternoon shoppers in Oxford Street heading to Streatham Garage on service 159. It was allocated to Streatham garage and carried garage code AK. A young lady can be seen alighting from the rear platform whilst the bus is stopped at the traffic lights as was the way of the world with open platform rear door buses. In her case there was the risk of moving traffic coming up in the lane between the bus and the pavement.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemaster RM1811 (811 DYE) seen in Oxford Street heading to West Hampstead on service 159.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – The driver of this Routemaster takes a moment to observe the surroundings in Oxford Street as he waits for the bell from his conductor to restart. London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemaster RML2305 (CUV 305C) allocated to Brixton (BN) garage. The yellow plate is the running number used to identify where in the pattern of service the bus should be.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemaster RML2488 (JJD 488D) seen turning from Regent Street into Oxford Street at Oxford Circus. Service 15 was a cross city service linking East Ham (East London) with Ladbroke Grove (West London) travelling through the heart of the city passing some key points including the Tower of London shown on the front advertising panels. The bus was allocated to Upton Park (U) garage.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemaster RM2515 (JJD 515D) seen amidst Saturday afternoon shoppers in Oxford Street heading to Dulwich on service 12.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemasters seen at Oxford Circus. RML2674 (SMK 674F) on service 13 was already turning into Oxford Street. RML2536 (JJD 536D), in Regent Street, would follow it. This bus, allocated to Upton Park, was working service 15 - a cross city service 15 which ran to Ladbroke Grove (West London) from East Ham (East London). It sports a form of branding for service 15 (and service 15A) which pass a number of key city landmarks most notably the Tower of London and Oxford Street.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemasters seen turning into Regent Street from Oxford Street at Oxford Circus. RML2581 (JJD 581D) was working cross city service 15 which ran from Ladbroke Grove (West London) to East Ham (East London).

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemasters travelling along Oxford Street at Oxford Circus on service 73. Leading is RML2655 (NML 655E) with RML2729 (SMK 729F) following. RML2655, dating from 1967 and allocated to Tottenham (AR) garage, appears to be fitted with an illuminated advertising panel, a feature en vogue in the 1960s.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemasters seen in Oxford Street. Prominent is RML2668 (SMK 668F) heading for Hackney Wick on service 6, a cross city service. It sports a form of branding on the front panels which was applied to certain services which traversed central London passing key city landmarks.

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemasters RML2686 (SMK 686F) and RML2717 (SMK 717F) seen in Oxford, Street. Both were allocated to Upton Park (U) garage and were working service 15 to East Ham. RML2686 sports a form of branding for service 15 (and service 15A).

Saturday 20 June 1987 – London Buses AEC-Park Royal Routemasters seen in traffic in Oxford Street. The lady on the platform of the leading bus is carrying a C&A bag. C&A had stores in many large British cities but retrenched to concentrate on business in mainland Europe.

Thursday 5 May 1994 (1806) – London Buses had some of its early 1980s Leyland National 1 buses rebuilt as East Lancs Greenways when they were around 12/13 years old. GUW 438W was delivered to London Buses in its original form as LS438 in July 1981. Rebuilt in February 1994 it became GLS438 and was seen here crossing Waterloo Bridge when working ‘Red Arrow’ service 521. It carries the name ‘City of London’. Following behind is similar bus GLS455 (GUW 455W), a Grey-Green Leyland Olympian and a London Buses Metrobus. A number of office workers are walking in the same direction, the first one seems to be having a good yawn after having a ‘busy day at the office’.

Thursday 5 May 1994 – The London General bus garage at Cornwall Road, Waterloo around 1900 as the buses started to come in at the end of the evening peak. The garage allocation comprised Routemaster double deckers and Leyland National Greenway single deckers, the latter supporting most (if not all) of the ‘Red Arrow’ services operated in the core city area.

Thursday 25 April 2002 – Over the years I regularly travelled to London for business meetings although these visits didn’t enable much opportunity to photograph the buses but this particular day as I was in Holborn heading to a meeting at the head office of Sainsbury’s I snapped one of the new Mercedes-Benz Citaro articulated buses devoid of any identification and running on trade plates. It appeared to be on driver training duties.

Wednesday 14 February 2007 - London General (Go Ahead Group) MAL9 (BX02 YZO), a Mercedes-Benz Citaro O 530G articulated single decker new in May 2002, seen outside Victoria Railway Station, London on service 507. The 507 was one of the original ‘Red Arrow’ services started in the 1960s running from here to Waterloo Railway Station.

Wednesday 14 February 2007 - London General (Go Ahead Group) MAL9 (BX02 YZO), a Mercedes-Benz Citaro O 530G articulated single decker new in May 2002, seen outside Victoria Railway Station, London on service 507. The 507 was one of the original ‘Red Arrow’ services started in the 1960s running from here to Waterloo Railway Station.

Sunday 28 September 2003 – Stagecoach London 23029 (LX03 HDU), a Mercedes-Benz Citaro O 530G articulated single decker new in March 2003, exhibited at the ‘Showbus’ rally at Duxford.