London Bus Route 140 Heritage Event (23/11/19)

[quarella]

It was an enjoyable day. Good to actually do a route with stops instead of a run to a photo stop and straight back. Interesting to see an RT can maintain current schedules being on the tail of a service bus at origin and terminus. Rather unfortunate location for a service bus to break down on the diversion around Hayes which caused severe delays. Bus I was on took 45 minutes from start of diversion to rejoining the route at Asda. It was disappointing to have to witness the foulmouthed tirade from a photographer towards a driver because he was wearing a hi-vis.

 

[AlbertBeale]

The entry for 23rd January 1966 shows the 140 as operating via Porlock Avenue, so it appears to have been in force at least from that date, if not earlier.

I also looked up the 114 and 158. The 114 was rerouted via Porlock Avenue from 23rd January 1957 until 23rd January 1966, when the 114 and 158 swapped routeings south of Harrow - the 114 took over the 158's route to Ruislip Lido and reverted to Bessborough Road, whilst the 158 was diverted via Porlock Avenue to terminate at Rayners Lane. When the 158 was withdrawn from 30th October 1971 the 114 (which converted to driver-only SMS operation from the same date) returned to Porlock Avenue.

This left Bessborough Road unserved and there were calls for a service to be restored. London Transport's solution was to run a limited service of one bus per hour on route 114 via Bessborough Road instead of Porlock Avenue during Monday-Saturday daytimes, these journeys commencing from 18th November 1972. Buses operating these journeys carried distinctive black-on-yellow blinds. If I recall correctly it was only short journeys to and from Eastcote Lane that operated via Bessborough Road, I do not ever recall seeing a Ruislip Lido journey and I don't even know if black-on-yellow Ruislip Lido/Ruislip Station displays were ever produced. These journeys ended from 22nd April 1978 when route 258 was extended to South Harrow via Bessborough Road.

Aha - thanks so much for this! So some at least of the H/H to South Harrow buses started going round via the housing instead of along the A312 from 1957 - a bit earlier than I remembered it. (Though my relatives who lived near Shaftesbury Circus thought, when it did happen, that it was about time - my grandparents had died some years earlier, and my mother was always upset that her parents had never had the bus link before and during the war. I remember walking with my mother, to visit the family, going from South Harrow station along Northolt Road and down Shaftesbury Avenue in an early-'50s pea souper, feeling our way along the railings going past what must have still been a bit of farmland going down the hill on Shaftesbury Avenue; although much of the area was built on in the '30s, gaps in the housing were only filled in during the years after the war.)

I do vaguely remember local discussion about the time it was completely the other way round, and no buses went down the main road; but as you say that was eventually solved when there were a larger number of routes running there.

Thanks again for this.

 

[Busaholic]

The UX allocation may have been short workings Ruislip Lido - Ruislip Station The lido was a major attraction in 50s 60s

There was a short period when UX operated a couple of duties on Mon-Fri on the 158, which were probably just shorts, but the Sunday service in 1961, for instance, had six UX RTs out of a total of 20 on the route, so I'm pretty sure they'd have operated the full route.

 

[AlbertBeale]

The UX allocation may have been short workings Ruislip Lido - Ruislip Station The lido was a major attraction in 50s 60s

Ruislip Lido was indeed very popular - a bit of open water to swim in (and, I seem to remember. a miniature railway too). My mother sometimes took me for a day out there as a kid, in the '50s, after we'd moved to South Harrow - on the local bus of course. And I have later memories of going out that way in the '60s too, after dark with a girl from my school...

 

[Busaholic]

Ruislip Lido was indeed very popular - a bit of open water to swim in (and, I seem to remember. a miniature railway too). My mother sometimes took me for a day out there as a kid, in the '50s, after we'd moved to South Harrow - on the local bus of course. And I have later memories of going out that way in the '60s too, after dark with a girl from my school...

You lucky whatsit, I attended the abomination known as an all-boy school.

 

[matt_world2004]

It was an enjoyable day. Good to actually do a route with stops instead of a run to a photo stop and straight back. Interesting to see an RT can maintain current schedules being on the tail of a service bus at origin and terminus. Rather unfortunate location for a service bus to break down on the diversion around Hayes which caused severe delays. Bus I was on took 45 minutes from start of diversion to rejoining the route at Asda. It was disappointing to have to witness the foulmouthed tirade from a photographer towards a driver because he was wearing a hi-vis.

With the current traffic around a lot of the route walking can probably make current schedules

 

[jumble]

Ruislip Lido was indeed very popular - a bit of open water to swim in (and, I seem to remember. a miniature railway too). My mother sometimes took me for a day out there as a kid, in the '50s, after we'd moved to South Harrow - on the local bus of course. And I have later memories of going out that way in the '60s too, after dark with a girl from my school...

A few of us had a mini forum meet at the Lido a few weeks ago and we had a ride on the Railway
No one swimming but people do in Summer ( Dogs swim from the dog beach all the year round)

 

[AlbertBeale]

A few of us had a mini forum meet at the Lido a few weeks ago and we had a ride on the Railway
No one swimming but people do in Summer ( Dogs swim from the dog beach all the year round)

Wow - so is the lido and railway still on the go? Not having been near it for decades, I half-assumed it had gone the way of so many fine mid-20th-century resources and been destroyed by some awful "development". Let me know if there's ever another visit!

 

[56 1/2]

Wow - so is the lido and railway still on the go? Not having been near it for decades, I half-assumed it had gone the way of so many fine mid-20th-century resources and been destroyed by some awful "development". Let me know if there's ever another visit!

Lido has had a very bad time, council put the prices up and killed it, Art deco cafe vandalised then demolished, Waterlevel changed to suit wildfowl, water to dirty with duck poo. . . . Railway got much longer. Council since 2010 trying to revitalise, water level restored and quality improved, swimming may be OK one day .