Picture Gallery
Route 62 / 145 Heritage Day and Barking Bus Garage Open Day

​24 March 2024
ABOVE: Preserved London Transport buses RM 5 (VLT 5, left) on route 62 at Parloes Park, Becontree, and RT 4424 (NXP 778, right) between journeys at Dagenham, New Road. All photos in this article were take on Saturday 23 March 2024.

​The London Bus Museum ran another of its now tri-annual Heritage Running Days on Saturday 23 March 2024, based on two bus routes in the Barking area of East London - route 62 (heritage service between Barking Town Centre and Chadwell Heath Station) and 145 (heritage service between Dagenham, New Road and Redbridge station, with journeys to Woodford Wells and Chingford, Royal Forest Hotel). Meanwhile, Stagecoach London opened its Barking bus garage for the day to celebrate 100 years of its operation.

I go to a lot of these kinds of events, but I don't always document them on this site. There was so much going on here, though, with almost 30 buses on the road, huge crowds at the garage and decent (mostly!), if chilly, weather, that a pictorial record seemed appropriate.

All vehicles shown are former London Transport vehicles, unless otherwise stated.
ABOVE: A chance shot that turned out well, taken from the side upstairs window of another bus. This is RT 1798 (KYY 653) on Valence Avenue near Becontree Heath. I once heard someone describe the RT class, of which there were nearly 7000 including the Leyland-engined RTLs and wider RTWs, as the "father of the Routemaster", which I think, given how many people think of all old buses as Routemasters, sums things up very nicely!

ABOVE: Having had a running day of its own in 2019, Route 62 was perhaps the minority partner this time, with buses scheduled every 18 minutes along most of the route, but with extras from Barking Garage (actually in nearby Faircross) to the Town Centre. Routemasters RM 1527 (527 CLT) and RM 5 (VLT 5) load up at the Faircross stop for the short run into Barking.

​ABOVE: Often referred to as one of the "pre-War" RT buses, RT 113 (FXT 288) actually entered service in 1940. The bus is running into Barking Garage after one of those short journeys from the town centre.
​ABOVE: Here is another genuine Routemaster (or "son of RT")! This is RM 1397 at Chadwell Heath, which has just carried a capacity load from Barking. This was the extent of the Heritage operation on route 62, although the 'real' service continues a little further north-east, across the A12 to Marks Gate. After being the very last route to operate with RTs in 1979, the 62 operated with Routemasters for less than a year before crew-operated Leyland Titans took over at the beginning of 1980.
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​ABOVE: A handful of more modern buses that are no longer in service were out as well.  Transbus ALX400 Dennis Trident 18214 (LX04 FXB) was new to Stagecoach in 2004, and a few similar vehicles are still in operation in other parts of Britain. One wonders whether casual travellers would have realised that this was not part of the normal allocation, even with Stagecoach London ADL Enviro400 MMC 10324 (SN16 OKF) behind it, on Porters Avenue in Becontree, to bring the point home...
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ABOVE: I started my day at Redbridge station at about 10.15am and found RT 714 (JXC 77) nicely posed outside. As can be seen by the side lettering, this is one of the various London Buses that ended up in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, operating tours for Abegweit Sightseeing Tours. As it was 'early', I even managed to get the front right upstairs seat on this bus for the journey to Dagenham - front seats are always the first to go on these occasions!

ABOVE: RT 1 (EYK 396), introduced in 1939 and therefore approximately 85 years old, is outside Barking Garage. Behind it is what I believe to be RTW 467 (LLU 957).
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​ABOVE: Buses were running every five-to-ten minutes on the 145, whilst the 'official' service had to make do with its normal 12-minute frequency! Heritage buses terminated at Oval Road South in Dagenham, and parked up on the other side of New Road at Kent Avenue. Here are RTs 714 (JXC 77, right) and ​4424 (NXP 778, left) awaiting their next trips.

ABOVE: DMS 1 (EGP 1J), a Daimler Fleetline with Park Royal bodywork, was the start of the first fleet of production double-decker driver-only vehicles for London (after the experimental XA & XF classes, and front-entrance Routemaster FRM 1). DMS 1 arrived in 1970 and entered service in January 1971 on route 220 (then Tooting to Harlesden, Willesden Junction) from Shepherds Bush garage. Here it is in Ballards Road, Dagenham.

ABOVE: Leyland Titan T 1064 (A64 THX) was new to London Transport in September 1984 and spent most of its London life at New Cross bus garage in South East London. It is seen at the Longbridge Road stop in Faircross, just around the corner from Barking Bus Garage. This is about five minutes before the Open Day is due to begin (at 11am), and the queues to get in are around the block, as you can see from the crowd on the left, none of whom want to board my bus!

​ABOVE: MCW Metrobus 192 (F292 NHJ) was new to Ensign of Purfleet in 1988. It is also outside Barking Garage, in the company of a New Routemaster on route EL2 (Becontree Heath to Dagenham Dock via Barking).
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ABOVE: The Barking Bus Garage Open Day was extremely well-patronised, and included a good static display of vehicles ancient and modern. Here are, left to right:
  • An AEC Regal IV RF from the early 1950s (despite it being static I have failed to note which one!);
  • STL 2377 (EGO 426), an AEC Regent I from 1937 (if the RT is the Father of the Routemaster then this is the Grandfather); and
  • RT 1702 (KYY 529).
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ABOVE: Various buses in view include, left to right: 
  • Stagecoach South 11589 (YX23 OPR, left), in the livery of the route 700 Coastliner (Brighton to Portsmouth);
  • 34359 (LV52 HKL, second left), a preserved Stagecoach London Dennis Dart SLF Plaxton Pointer;
  • 18499 (LX06 AHF, third left), a preserved Stagecoach London ALX400 Trident; and
  • 34221 (W221 DNO), a preserved Stagecoach London Dennis Dart SLF-Plaxton Mini Pointer II.
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Left to Right:
  • London Transport Leyland Titan T747 (OHV 747Y);
  • Leyland Olympian 250 (J135 PVC), new to Capital Citybus; and
  • Open-top MRT 9P, a Roe-bodied Leyland Atlantean AN68, which was new to Ipswich Buses in 1976.
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ABOVE: The star of the Running Day was G 351 (HGC 130), a 1945 Guy Arab II 'utility' vehicle. It is seen on Hedgemans Road in Dagenham.
Thanks to all the people involved in organising the day and running the buses!

There are further Heritage Running Days being organised by the London Bus Museum, on:
  • Route 406 (South West London / Surrey), 9 June 2024
  • Route 61 (South East London / Kent), 14 September 2024
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There are numerous other Running Days, Open Days, etc, up and down the country throughout the year. One good listings site for details of these is the Classic Buses website.