Numbers are links to sections showing the vehicle, bold indicating the most prominent.
Click on any of the thumbnail pictures to see a much larger version of the photograph. Click on the blue caption to read more about the buses, coaches, trams and trolleybuses.
On the closer side of the upper road are, from left to right: a Diddler trolleybus, formerly owned by London United, heading to Hampton Court on route 604 from Fulwell depôt (FW); following it is trolleybus number 1253 on the 677 service to West India Docks. Then comes STL 1734 on route 8 to Old Ford, operating from Willesden garage (AC), which was opened in 1912 by the London General Omnibus Company – I think the STLs were my favourite of London’s old buses – they were attractive, not like today’s metal-and-glass boxes. Another, STL 2080 on the 66 to Leytonstone follows it, operating from Forest Gate (G) garage which was opened in 1898 by the Great Eastern London Motor Omnibus Co. and closed in April 1960.
Just sneaking into the extreme right of the picture is Q 2, a front entrance double-decker (see right), which was a rare sight before World War II. It’s on service 77 to Mitcham, operating from Chalk Farm garage (CF). It had a sister service, the 77A, but in recent years London Buses decreed that suffix letters were to be banned from route numbers; the last one was the 77A which picked up the spare number 87 in 2006.
Other vehicles in the photograph are described elsewhere (the trams and the lower-road buses here, and the lower-road buses are further covered here).
In the further lane of the upper road are three trams: the left and centre vehicles are both Felthams on route 21 to Holborn; 2104 is a London Transport vehicle, and 355 is owned by Metropolitan Electric Tramways (MET). Leading the convoy is a much older London County Council open-top vehicle, number 106. This service originally shuttled to and fro between Abbey Wood depôt and Beresford Square, Woolwich, supplementing the Abbey Wood to Embankment routes 36 and 38, though this tram is bound only for Kashgar Road, Plumstead. There’s more information about the tram services, especially in south-east London here.
On the lower road, closer side, are two Routemasters, RM 1125 and RM 1. Then comes a lengthened Routemaster in Country area (green) livery, RML 2345. On the far side of the lower road are (left to right) MD 141, D 149, D 74 and G 131. These are all described in other sections (RM 1125, RM 1, MD 141 and D 149 here, D 74 and G 131 here).
On the bridge over the lower road of the diorama, I constructed a piece of railway track which ducks under the ridiculously narrow hump-backed bridge. The closer loco is a Class 50, number 50023, named “Howe” in Network SouthEast branding; on the further track, in Railfreight livery is number 37892 “Ripple Lane”. These ‘brands’ (Railfreight and NSE) were the first steps to privatising British Rail to become the disaster it now is!
Below 50023 in the far lane of the lower road emerging from the bridge is a “Bendy-bus”, MAL 31, on Red Arrow service 507 to Waterloo; the bendy-buses have now been withdrawn as they sometimes caught fire and also were deemed to be a danger to cyclists. Next to MAL 31 are two T-types and on the upper road are three Qs and two STLs.
In the near lane are two Routemaster buses in Central area livery: on the left, bound for Clapton Pond is RM 1125 allocated to Clapton (CT) garage, and branded for Arriva’s route 38 (Victoria station to Clapton Pond); behind it, RM 1, the very first of the breed, is heading for Golders Green Station on route 2, and is from Cricklewood (W) garage.
Beyond them, left to right, are MD 141 from Plumstead (PD) garage [not the old Plumstead, coded AM, that I remember as a boy]; it’s on its way to Crystal Palace on the 122, probably from Plumstead Station [the old 122 ran from Woolwich, ‘Earl of Chatham’ to Bexleyheath Trolleybus Depôt, later converted to a bus garage]. MDs operated this route only from 1980 to 1982. In front of it is D 149, a Green Line double-decker coach on route 721 to Brentwood; these were based at Romford, North Street (RE) garage; all the routes from east London terminated at Aldgate as they were not permitted to cross the City of London or the West End. These Daimlers were bought by London Transport, as not enough RTs were available after World War II.
A longer version of the original Routemaster bus in Country area livery is RML 2345 on route 480 which used to run between Erith and Gravesend (Denton); this bus was allocated to Northfleet garage; many years ago I did my ‘Teaching Practice’ at Gravesend Grammar School, about one stop short of Denton; as I lived in Erith at the time, I remember just about the whole of the 480’s former route very well. In those days the 480 was operated by RTs from Northfleet (NF) or Dartford (DT) garages.
In the further lane is D 74 in war-time livery from Merton (AL) garage; it is on the 127 to Highgate; note the diamond shapes in the windows – most of the glass was covered with anti-blast sheeting and the diamond-shaped peep-holes allowed passengers to see where they were. Just visible with the grey roof in front of it is G 131 from Barking (BK) garage, heading for Marylebone on route 23. Both the Daimlers and the Guys were special purchases during the war-time emergency.
A general view of the right part of the diorama.
Taking a look at the vehicles on the right part of the hump-back bridge over the railway, we have GS 62 on the 471 Pratts Bottom circular from Dunton Green (DG) garage, a very attractive design for a small single-decker; behind is a typical old Austin London taxi, with its open nearside compartment for passengers’ luggage. Another view below.
A general view of the right part of the diorama from a higher viewpoint
Below the hump-back bridge, in the hotel forecourt is a Royal Mail van, blocking the exit for two open-top, outside staircase S types; the further one is in East Surrey livery (which was a subsidiary of the General and operated mainly from Reigate, this one on route S22; the nearer bus is in General livery, and is operating on an apparently unnumbered service to Hither Green from north-west London (quite possibly route 36). Note that these two early buses carry a destination board at the front rather than a destination blind, common on almost all the other buses shown here. Another view above.
Leading the procession of buses heading to the right on the main road is STD 101 (with the light brown roof) followed by RLH 74, RTW 467 and ‘bendy-bus’ MAL 21. Heading leftwards are T 648 (in the all-grey US Ambulance livery), T 651 then RF 215, RT 2000 and RTL 1.
The main component of the central part of the diorama is the railway line; the locomotives are described in another caption.
However I will draw your attention to three rather attractive buses at the top of the photograph; the double-decker with the white top and the two single-deckers following it across the bridge are all Q-types. They were of an unusual design for the time (early 1930s) with full fronts and front entrances. Q2 on the 77 to Mitcham from Chalk Farm garage (CF); Q6 on route 218 to Hampton Court, operating from Kingston (K) garage, from which several single-decker routes ran, because of several low bridges and weak bridges in the area; then comes the Q43B on a country service, the 431 to Horsham; note that the Central area bus has no closing door, the Country version has.
Two 10T10 buses (the most superb of the pre-war single decker T-types), the first (in LT’s fleet T 648) was loaned to the United States Red Cross (as ambulance X201123) during World War II and later returned, and the second (T 651) is a Country area bus on the 431A to Chipstead, operating from Dunton Green (DG), the main garage serving the Sevenoaks area.
T 651 (see below) has a white disk on the back as a war-time aid to drivers, as headlights were banned, and these disks helped avoid crashes, as did the white ‘skirt’.
Based at Swanley (SJ) garage [SJ was named after Swanley Junction railway station, a little way outside Swanley Village] is Green Line coach RF 215 on the long haul across London, this time on a short working (719) to Watford. Wrotham used to be served by the 703 service to Amersham.
Only bits of the once extensive Green Line system now exists, mostly serving the ‘London’ airports.
T 651 (in front of the RF) has a large white circle painted on the back as a war-time aid to drivers, as previously described.
RT 2000, one of London Transport’s standard series of buses (with mostly interchangeable bodies and chassis), is on Central area route 65 to Leatherhead, deep in the Country area’s territory.
The RT-family was designed before the Second World War, by London Transport’s own team at Chiswick. The vehicles were serviced at Aldenham Works, where the bodies were lifted from the chassis, the two components passing along a conveyor where each techician had one part to deal with. Of course, the two parts of the original bus rarely finished their journeys together, so, because of the interchangability of chassis and bodies, almost any two could be married, and given the next freed-up registration number.
AEC (Associated Equipment Company) was intended to supply all the chassis, but, they were unable to keep up with the demand, so Leyland picked up some of the work, with some differences, named the RTL and RTW series – the W was for ‘wide’, as London Transport became permitted to use 8-foot-wide buses, upping the width limit from 7ft 6in. RTL 1, probably on route 21, is behind RT 2000; note that part of its destination display has been blanked off, a fairly common practice allowing blinds to be transferred between different types of bus.