2000s Sutton's Transport History

2000s
	2007 - 15th April If it wasn't for the heavy Sunday afternoon traffic passing Carshalton Parish Church (and the colour photograph!) you might be forgiven for being led into believing this was a scene from the 1940s! On 15th April 2007 a group of bus enthusiasts put on the Carshalton Running Day, when they ran services on routes as they were through the village in days gone by. STL2377 entered service with London Transport in 1937, and is today preserved in pristine condition by Cobham Bus Museum. It is running on the old 77 bus route, and is seen from Honeywood Museum's fine vantage point overlooking Carshalton Ponds. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April Of the 30 or so vehicles that ran over 4,500 journeys on that one day, London Transport's country area RT3148 is recreating part of the 403 route. It is seen here in Shotfield, Wallington. In its heyday the 403 ran from Tonbridge and Leatherhead to Wallington. The route was run in two overlapping sections: Chelsham to Leatherhead, and Tonbridge to Wallington. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April DM 1052 is seen here leaving Walling Shotfield recreating a short working to Sutton The Grapes. Normally the route would have terminated a little further on from the centre of Sutton, at the bus garage in Bushey Road. Note the Routemaster behind it: this is RM3, the third ever Routemaster produced for London Transport, entering service in 1958. It is owned an maintained by Cobham Bus Museum, and only recently (July 2004) had its 'nose' restored to original condition by the Museum. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April One of the first wider class of vehicles in London Transport's fleet, RTW467. The RTWs, London's first 8' wide buses, were first permitted by the Metropolitan Police to be used in London in 1949, and then only in the suburbs. Until then 7'6" had been the maximum permitted width. A picture taken from across the pond from Honeywood Museum. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April RT3871 is maintained in pristine condition by Blue Triangle, one of the Go-Ahead Group's London bus companies. The vehicle is seen here crossing Carshalton Ponds in the bright spring sunshine replicating a 157 journey to Morden Station. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April RTW467 about to turn into Carshalton High Street having crossed Carshalton Ponds. Honeywood Museum in the background shows off it's fine position overlooking the water. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April RTW467 once again, coming down Manor Road in Wallington, past The Whispering Moon public house, once the Odeon cinema. It wasn't until the road was lowered under the bridge in 1966 that double-deck buses were able to pass under the railway. Until then double-decker buses had terminated in Belmont Road, just the other side of the bridge as we see it. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April RLH48, seen here drawing into the bus stop opposite Sutton Police Station on its way to Beddington Plough, was a member of a fleet of low-height vehicles ordered by London Transport for routes that required the seating capacity of a double decker bus, but had previously been unable to operate them because of a low bridge on the route. They were built to a height of 13'4" rather than the standard 14'6". From 6th May 1953 they were introduced to route 127 and ran under the then low bridge at Worcester Park on journeys from Morden Station, though North Cheam to South Wimbledon Station. Occasionally from October 1958 green London Transport RLHs from Staines garage ran duplicate services on the busy 725 Green Line service between Windsor and West Croydon, by way of the A232 through Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Wallington Green and Beddington. RLH48 replicates part of this journey, currently covered by the X26 bus service between Heathrow Airport and Croydon. (See picture below for more.) Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April (See picture above.) The reduction in height from 14'6" to 13'4" was achieved by moving the galleyway between the upper-deck seats in the centre of the bus to one side. As can be seen from this interior picture of RLH48, this resulted in a rather cosy four-abreast style of seating! The galleyway was sunk into the floor, which resulted in an intrusion into the headroom above the off-side seats in the lower deck. RLH48 is seen at the Croydon facing stop at Beddington Plough, with all the passengers disembarking to enable the vehicle to turn around the pub and depart empty back to Sutton Garage for the crew's meal break. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April Much as it might have in the 1970s, RT604 arrives at Beddington Plough on its journey to Wallington on route 403. The 403 remains a major bus route today, albeit a shadow of it's former self running only between Warlingham and West Croydon rather than Tonbridge to Wallington (and, for a while onwards to Cheam)! Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April RT604 (left) arrives at Wallington Shotfield, passing, as it does so, a modern Wright-bodied DAF single-decker. DWL61 was new to Arriva's London fleet in June 2003, and provides an interesting comparison with the RT that entered London Transport's fleet new in July 1948 (albeit carrying a different body to that it both had on retirement and remains with in preservation). Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2007 - 15th April RF489 runs south down Manor Road in Wallington towards the end of the day's scheduled running, and shows a short-working on the 234A to Purley Fountain rather than the more usual terminus at Purley Old Lodge Lane. The hugely popular Carshalton Running Day was organised by Red-RF.com and a large number of further pictures of the day's events may be viewed from here HERE. Picture Copyright © Tony Price
	2008 - 28th October What a contrast with the picture from this same location on our 19th Century page! Beddington Lane on a sunny autumn morning, with tram no. 2553 about to leave for New Addington. 2553 is shown having been very recently re-liveried into Transport for London's corporate green, white and blue Trams livery. It had worn a more traditional red and white over the previous eight years it had been in service. TfL took over the running of Croydon's trams from Tramlink Croydon Limited on 1st July 2008. Did you know that Croydon's trams are numbered sequentially from the last of the old London Transport trams? London's last trams ran early in the morning of 6th July 1952. Picture Copyright © David J. Price