The Route Numbers 456,7,8 and 9 - Not

As we move through the 400s, the non-existent routes are increasing in number.  Thanks to the much used Eplates website from which I am shamelessly quoting, I can tell you all about the buses which used to have these numbers, all London Country Area buses.

The 456 was a South Eastern sort of bus operating Mondays to Saturdays:  it plied its trade between Woking Station and Addlestone Garage via Maybury, Pyrford, West Byfleet, Woodham and New Haw, and occasionally extended to the Ship pub in Weybridge.  The Ship Inn is still in Weybridge, but is a Best Western Hotel now. This route died but the number was reused in 1978 for a Sunday-only service  between Sevenoaks and Dartford (Darenth Park Hospital) via Otford, Shoreham Station, Eynsford, Farningham, Sutton-at-Home, Hawley, Wilmington, Dartford Station and Joyce Green Hospital. It was little used, despite serving two hospitals, and was withdrawn after a short while when operating subsidies ran out.

Route 457 dates from 1934, when the 507 changed its name, as it ran from Uxbridge to Windsor (Bus Station) via Iver Heath, George Green and Slough. For a while the route was extended to Staines via Pooley Green, but this extension was withdrawn in 1936. In February 1937 journeys from Uxbridge to Pinewood Studios were introduced, this service being renumbered 457C in August of that year. It stopped being the 457 in 1980 as part of the Chilternlink and Thamesline route reorganization by London Country.

The 458 and 459 were also Uxbridge area buses.  The 458 ran between Uxbridge and Windsor, and sometimes as far as Staines.

In the 1960s route 459 ran on Mondays to Saturdays from Uxbridge Station to Richings Park Estate via Iver Heath and Iver. The route was withdrawn in the mid-seventies. In the late ’70s a completely different 459 ran between Feltham and Chertsey Station via Sunbury Cross and Shepperton.

To change the subject:  apparently there are more than 240 museums in London, according to a rather good list we found.  Now there's a challenge.  This number includes many of the nation's great museums, and we have been past many of them on our bus journeys.  The 7 takes you past the British Museum and the 74, among others, passes the V&A.

 We have also often been past the V & A's Bethnal Green Branch, the Museum of Childhood, and as recently as the 453, we were within touching distance of the Imperial War Museum's Lambeth Road branch.   Sadly no bus passes either of the IWM's other two London branches, Churchill's War Rooms under the Treasury and HMS Belfast moored near City Hall.  And we have only been past one of the two London branches of the Tate, since 'Mod' is also riverside and bus free.  But the 87 goes past the front of 'Brit' and both the 88 and the C10 drop you at the back.

240, eh?  that should keep us busy when we finish all the buses.  And as Linda points out, we shall only need to change one letter to become 'Ladies who Mus'.

As Mary's and my grandmother used to say, 'if we're spared'.....

The Number 455 Route

Thursday 6 December 2012

This was a very cold day, and getting to Wallington, where our route begins, had been a little slowed down by the effect the weather had had on the railways.  But Linda and I set off from the quiet station forecourt at 10.32 on a single decker which felt warm at first, but not for long.

Turning out we passed first the Melbourne Pub, which apparently spent a little time being called O'Neill's.  But I don't know if it was named for the Australian town or for the politician who was Queen Victoria's favourite.  We also passed the John Jakson Pub, definitely spelt like that despite a number of directories spelling it with a 'c'.  It's quite an unusual name but I have found no explanation:  oh that it were a Wetherspoon's not a Marston's pub.
The former Town Hall houses Orchard Hall College, and one of their students got onto our bus in his wheelchair.  The teaching assistant with him had the most beautiful blue hair, on which we complimented her.  We headed on through the town, past rather a fine bridal shop, and then up the hill.  This area has a mixture of semis and bungalows, mostly with hardened front drives, perhaps necessary as the road is quite narrow and busy.

Soon we came onto the Roundshaw Estate, passing the Phoenix Leisure Centre and some pleasant green spaces before spotting the golden pillarbox which reminds us that the golden David Weir was brought up round here.







We passed Wilson's School, one of those schools which moved out of central London, or at least Camberwell where it began in 1615, for the more spacious areas of Sutton, to become a selective state school.  It's interesting, in a Gove-like way, that the FAQs about the entrance test include the pass mark (108).  Presumably if a lot of boys achieved this, they would have to have portacabins.  Heading on through Bandonhill and past the cemetery, we had disant views of Croydon, as we turned down Hilliers Lane to get into Beddington.  We crossed the River Wandle, pretty small and modest at this stage, to reach the huge Asda and then the industrial area.  This was not particularly attractive, and we wondered, as so often before, why it is acceptable to keep building new offices and warehouses when so many lie around empty.

There had been some attempts to soften the area with planting on the banks, and we were also cheered by a flock of geese, Canada we think, enjoying the grass around the sewage works.

 Coming out to Therapia Lane tram stop, we were getting closer and closer to Ikea:  the factory chimneys, ringed with the corporate colours, had been visible for some time, but now we came close and through the associated retail park to reach the outskirts of Croydon and the enormous Sainsbury's, where our fellow passenger and his wheel chair had a bit of a problem negotiating the lowering of the ramp, but eventually disembarked safely.  We, however, pressed on down Waddon Road, with time to admire the remarkable mistletoe balls in a tree, as we took that loopy route past the church to get into central Croydon.

As so often in the past months, we admired the hoarding around Reeves Corner.  It's clear that the store will not be rebuilt here (they are doing fine at their other shop) but we saw no sign of the multi-million pound development actually getting started.  We did, however, pass the Tamworth Arms, buit in the 1850s and still a Young's Pub.  Why Tamworth?  we don't know.

We noted a Christmas Treat at Centrale, but were quite glad to have neither children nor grandchildren of the right age for it.  As we went through the centre to get to West Croydon bus station, we noted that the winter pansies in the council's baskets were looking pretty good, but it would have taken more than a few flowers to prevent a jaded feeling creeping over us:  we have been here just too often in the past few weeks.  So the Clock Tower and Croydon Flyover bit was simply not exciting.  We did, however, turn up onto the flyover to reach the Swan and Sugarloaf, through streets we had not previously visited.  Along here, people who had got on with shopping in the centre were getting off.

Next, with great excitement, we headed along Pampisford Road.  Why excitement?  well, our parents/in-laws lived at Number 140 in the 60s.  This is the only bus along here, and of course back then, everyone went places by car, with little or no problem parking. I had remembered a Barnardo's Home along here, but Netherheys closed in 1973.  Now there are many schools, Regina Coeli, St Giles and Cumnor House among them.  The steep banks  of the mock Tudor properties where the parental home was prevented photographs.

We came down into Purley itself and passed the railways station to come out past the giant Tesco's.  This had been a trip of vast supermarkets among other sights.  Noting an American Golf Shop of similarly gargantuan proportions, Linda wondered if it meant larger checks on the trousers, but it seems to be a brand rather than a description of the goods.

On past Reedham Station, we headed uphill, noting REAL SNOW on the hardened driveways of the narrow roads.  OK, OK, only a sprinkling, but we were still pleased to see the evidence of what had caused the disruption, and we arrived at the destination, Old Lodge Lane, at 11.50.

The Number 454 (Not)

Jo had reminded me how the family had, over the years played and fallen out over ‘The Great Game of Britain’ especially the side of the board portraying the Victorian and pre-nationalised (and pre-denationalised, privatised and then partially re-nationalised – do keep up) rail lines and companies.

Similarly we played the Underground Game, which is a glorified version of the Underground Map, which always repays a visit. The family’s edition is we know not where (not with either LWB): we suspect we passed it, in a spirit of condescension, to a country dweller so that they should learn their lines before they came on a day trip to London.

However what we did find was a Fifties edition of ‘Taxi’ where the point is to pick up and deliver your fares as quickly as possible and reach a (pre-decimal) cash target, the game’s equivalent of ‘doing the knowledge’ came with the discovery that the most direct route was rarely the quickest...  The board is quaintly dated but essentially recognisable though in reproducing it here we have edited out some of the more unfortunately period/stereotypical passengers. 

For a fuller review of other London-based games (Monopoly is of course the main one), please see Peter Watts’ 2007 Time Out article , though I see he got weary of rolling the dice too often, and struggling  with pre-decimal currency!

PS Taxis are of course the most rarified form of travel but on the whole the trend has been for less  use of private vehicles and greater use of  public transport.

The Number 453 Route

Thursday 29 November 2012

It was with some excitement that Linda and I met at Deptford Bridge Station on this nearly-but-not-quite sunny morning.  It has been some time since we have followed a Central London route, and we have been looking forward to the 453 pretty well since it was a bendy. 

We sent off just after 10.00, at quite a rapid pace, which meant we could admire but not get a clear photo of Abstracticus, an emporium with a skeleton and a spangled Harlequin outside it.  It is listed in directories as a seller of second hand furniture, but does not seem to have a website.   It would be nice to see inside some of the living rooms furnished here. We also passed the Sion Chapel, and a number of attractive terraces in between the less than thriving shops, as we moved into New Cross Gate.  


Goldsmiths was looking impressive, and we also admired an alcohol shop with winged creatures at roof level.  They looked a bit topless to be angels, though if you’ve visited Mulcheney Church in Somerset you will know that bare breasts and angels can go together. 

As might be expected near a University, there were a number of bars and cafes’ including a salsa bar with shop dummies on the roof, waving vinyl discs.  We also liked a notice, sadly on a shuttered shop, which read ‘tired of feeding the fat cats? Please use local shops and services’ and enjoyed the council notice about ‘feeding the cows’ to go with the recycling bins which are painted like Friesian cattle.  (By the way, have you noticed that Americans call this make of cow Holstein, though they pronounce it Holstien? But I digress)  We passed the Dig this Nursery garden centre, and then were a little saddened when our driver refused to reopen the doors for a man who panted up to the bus stop just to late.  We were happy to note that later in the journey he was more charitable.

We headed on along the A2, resisting the temptation to fork left into Peckham, as so many buses do, and passed the building site which, in the mid 20^th century, was New Cross Hospital.  It seems to be going to be new homes built by Hyde,  though there has been more demolition than construction so far.  With views of the Shard to our right, we were passing many shuttered shops, as well as a former bank, now a bookie. (‘same thing’ said Linda)

We came to the large Avondale Estate which is owned by the asset-rich and space-poor City of London, a reminder of how ‘affordable housing’ used to be provided in the past.

Trafalgar Avenue to the left, which is where the 63 comes and goes, marked the start of very much more familiar ground, and we passed Burgess Park, having a makeover which included planting ‘like in the Olympic Park’, and then we came to the Bricklayers Arms, as the bus stops are called, though there is no longer a pub here.  Our bus was very full by this time, both upstairs and down.  


The Old Kent Road becomes the New Kent Road, and the route runs through what used to be the great Heygate Estate.  Not much remains, though the Mural on the United Reformed Church is still a bright spot.

Elephant and Castle seemed much smoother than on many previous journeys, and we were soon alongside the Imperial War Museum and passing St George’s Catholic Cathedral.   It’s St George the Martyr, by the way, because he never really slew dragons,  such depictions being representations of his hatred of evil:  rather he was tortured and beheaded by the Emperor Diocletian. 

Heading on past Morley College and Lambeth North Station, we passed Westminster Bridge House, once the HQ of the Necropolis Railway, about which we have written before.  Disposal of the dead, like clean water and safe removal of sewage, is something we tend to take for granted, but it was big business in the nineteenth century, as London’s graveyards became overfull and the dead, like the living, needed to move to the suburbs.

From now on, our journey was pure tourism.  We passed the Coade stone lion which guards Westminster Bridge.  This stone is actually a kind of ceramic, invented by a woman in the 18^th century, and very weather resistant.  Over Westminster Bridge with fine views of  Big Ben and of course, poetry ringing in our heads, though of course not much now lies ‘open unto the fields’.

A quick turn right in Parliament Square, where the peace protest is till clinging on, gave us a glimpse of Winston Churchill before we headed up Whitehall.  They were removing the poppies from around the Cenotaph.  I suppose they might accumulate litter if left for even a month.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how coy government departments are about their names – compare Macdonalds, or Marks and Spencers – but we passed the small name plate of HMRC, as well as the gates of Downing Street and the unlabelled but – obviously - identifiable Horseguards and then the Admiralty.  I had thought that the screen was by Wren, but it was actually Robert Adam.  Similarly we weren’t sure which statue the naked man had climbed on a few weeks ago, but it was the Duke of Cambridge – not the current one, obviously. 

We turned left in Trafalgar Square and then right into Waterloo Place.  It’s odd that the Crimean War Monument should be in an area named for a much older battle.  The monument was apparently only erected in the ealy 20^th century fifty years after the event. 

Regent Street is decorated for Christmas, apparently by the Paralympics authorities, with illustrations of the 12 days of Christmas  though I think these swans look like geese.    

We were able to maintain the Christmas spirit when we noticed the van in front of us was a purveyor of Christmas Trees called ‘Pines and Needles’.

Regent Street was not as slow as it often is, and we got across Oxford Street without more than a glimpse of the strange marmite themed decorations there.  I’ll leave it to DG to comment. 

We had good views of the new BBC behind All Souls Church, before passing the various statues in Portland Place.  I suppose the most ironic thing is that the wartime leader of free Poland, General Sikorski, is right outside the embassy of the ‘Peoples’ ‘Republic’ of China.

This is rich Blue Plaque territory, but we only had time to note General Gage and Frances Hodgson Burnett, writer of the relentlessly sentimental ‘Secret Garden’ and ‘A Little Princess’.

A left turn took us along the Marylebone Road, to pass Madame Tussauds  and Baker Street Station as well as the Royal Academy of Music before turning right to reach Marylebone Station at 11.10.  We just had time to glimpse the blue plaque in Dorset Square, to George Grossmith, an amazing man, who not only starred in the premieres of several Gilbert and Sullivan operas, but also co-authored ‘The Diary of A Nobody’.  A great way to finish a ride full of touristy interest, which had taken us just over a hour.

The Number 452 Route

Tuesday 26 October 2010

The third bus of our day carried on the slightly depressing trend of the previous ones as we waited 40 minutes for this ‘every 8-12 minutes’ bus.

It did give Linda and me time to buy me a bite to eat, at ‘Delicious Bakery’ opposite Kensal Rise Station.  The conversation went like this:

‘Do you have any soup?’

‘Yes. Broccoli’.

‘I don’t really like broccoli soup’.

‘You’ve never tasted ours’.

So I had £1.50 worth, and it was delicious, and clearly home made - very buttery.

Thus it was a warmed and nourished pair of travellers who headed towards Wandsworth Road Station at 13.50.

There were lots of new flats going up along Chamberlayne Road;  as the road became Kilburn Lane, we were stationary for more than 10 minutes, before crawling slowly past a four way control for some road works at the crossroads with the Harrow Road.  We passed the Mayhew Animal Home and Humane Education Centre, established in 1886. Their website does not say who Mayhew was.  The great Henry Mayhew (London Labour and the London Poor) died the year after the home was founded, but I have been unable to ascertain whether he cared for animals as he did for his fellow humans.

We also passed Bales Independent School, which appeared to be a large Victorian Church.  Presumably there was a school attached.  Then we were over the canal, and turned into the Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury’s, where Sylvia used to shop, and where there is the memorial to the dead of the Ladbroke Grove Rail disaster of 1999. 

But for us, it was yet another delay:  we were seven minutes from turning in to getting back out and it would have taken longer had out driver not been fairly forceful with a number of other vehicles.

Back along Ladbroke Grove, we noticed a surprising number of houses painted blue.   When we visited Jaipur, our charming if cynical guide had said that blue houses belonged to people who were Brahmins, or who wished to be thought of as Brahmins.  I don’t know what the reason is in Ladbroke Grove, but it added a bit of colour to this murky day.

This may be the moment to apologise for the poor quality of the pictures.  Not only was it raining, but the bus was very busy, with people breathing (!) and fugging up the windows.

Passing Ladbroke Grove Station, we turned right along Elgin Crescent and then right down Kensington Park Road to bring us to Notting Hill and the Gate Theatre.  A left and then a right headed us down towards Kensington, past the Churchill Arms and the Kensington WineRooms, a tapas bar with high aspirations, judging by the website.

We have been here a number of times before:  a bus that starts and finishes in less prosperous bits of London, but passes through these wealthy areas is always interesting.

As we turned left towards Kensington Palace and Queen’s Gate, I was amazed to see a TKMaxx.  What is the world coming to?  But then we had plenty of time to notice the more exclusive shops and houses as the traffic was again very slow.  We were doing a little better than the cars who had paid £8.00 for the privilege, but the bus lane was not as effective as we might have hoped because building works and road works narrowed the street. (Of course by the time you read this the Western Extension to the Congestion Zone will have been abolished.)

After being stationary for 15 minutes, we got past Harvey Nichols and into Sloane Street, not stopping to pick up or drop passengers very often.  We agreed that people who shopped in Chanel, MiuMiu etc were unlikely to board a bus.  We were quite quickly past the various locked square gardens, through Sloane Square and on to the  - still derelict – site of the Chelsea Barracks, a monument (if a disused building site can be a monument) to the interference of the Prince of Wales in planning matters.

Over the river, we came to Battersea Park station, and the bus stop we had used a number of times before but were now passing for the last time as far as the project is concerned, anyway. Then on Southwards, and into Lambeth, along the straight road that takes you past the garish Artesian Well Pub and the Lost Society to arrive at Wandsworth Road Station at 15.20.

A ninety minute journey, for a route which begins at a bus stop that promises 44 minutes.  I suppose if there had been no road works and  no-one about in these busy parts of London, we might have got close…

The Number 451 Route (Not)

The Overground
With one week to go before the big join-up and the maps already up on the trains (Very deceiving – West Croydon looks like a footstool for Clapham Junction) this is one person’s account of the Overground, south of the river…. 

When ‘London Buses One Bus at A Time’ started their project in March 2009 all my journeys north of the river were dependent on waiting until 9.30 (to travel free) and then on the vagaries of Southern Trains before being able to access the Underground at London Bridge.  ‘Twas ever thus as we in South East London had always been left off the tube map and ‘out of the loop’ – pitied, neglected, ridiculed, unloved and unvisited.

In the spring of 2010 all that was to change. In the build-up we had been suspicious – we were to lose our intermittent Charing Cross trains: could anything compensate?

Then the Overground arrived.  I dubbed it the Butterscotch Line – fancifully, its official colour reminded me of Angel Delight pudding – but more prosaic family members call it orange.  The trains were new, spacious, quiet, surprisingly frequent and initially very empty. Suddenly our trains were the envy of all other tube users. For paying passengers the promise was to get through London avoiding the costs of the central zone (this has since been reneged on with Shadwell/Whitechapel (See Comment below)  suddenly moving into Zone1). Visits to and from family in Camden/Islington/Hackney became easier by train. Drinks all round then. Passengers with dogs, buggies and bikes all piled on. Several areas with new stations and good links to the whole Underground Network == all good. 

Very quickly the Overground became the victim of its own success. It is virtually impossible to get a seat at most times of day and in the rush hour you are talking serious Japanese style overcrowding in those spacious aisles.

However it all seemed worth it with elderly relatives at the far end of the Jubilee Line, the ability to access ‘serious shopping’ in about 35 minutes at the West End or Westfield, Stratford. It made an afternoon trip to a gallery or museum very feasible. Employers and employees could cast their nets wider.  As for the Olympics we had a completely hassle-free time getting off at Shadwell and sneaking onto a 339 bus to Fish Island – virtually at the Victoria Gate. Accessing East /West lines at Whitechapel has benefits and changing Overgrounds at Canonbury offers joys from Stratford to Richmond.

But that was then. The Overground is about to get its final link to Clapham Junction, while we (I speak here for all passengers who use stations between New Cross Gate and Sydenham) lose the lovely South London Loop (manky rolling stock but pretty route). The travellers at Denmark Hill lose direct trains to Victoria and London Bridge.

And what’s this with New Cross? The admirable Diamond Geezer who has studied the frequency of the proposed complete network makes it clear that New Cross will continue to receive 4 trains an hour.  Have TFL (or the Overground) never stood on Platform 2 at Canada Water as nearly empty trains head for New Cross while the platform gets dangerously crowded with folk waiting for Crystal Palace or West Croydon services?  You can more or less walk from New Cross to New Cross Gate and it’s only 2 stops on a bus with just the good old ‘Marquis of Granby’ in between. Do they really need four trains an hour? Another solution might be to add more carriages to relieve pressure as I assume the tracks are fully committed?

The new bits will be good and will allow our third lady who buses to join on the Overground fun.  Still, stopping trains at Dalston Junction will not be helpful with yet another ‘opportunity’ to tangle with the new-style indicator boards (they can lie you know) and it’s hard to see which is the order of running and which the platform.

So once again I find myself awaiting a new phase of the Overground with mixed feelings... Watch this space. . 

PS The 451 runs round Staines

PPS You may enjoy this version of the Underground map - biased for  South London