Hackney Marshes Bus Running Day

Sunday April 16th 2006

Prepared by Ian Smith, 30th April 2006

Part Seven: Late short-workings (and a bonus)

38A: Clapton Pond to Hackney Station, (RTL139)

I jumped aboard RTL139 at Clapton Pond, quite failing to notice that it had "Hackney Station" rather than "Mildmay Park" as its final destination. I settled in the behind-the-bonnet seat, just in time to see modernised Green Line RF48 come round the corner on a short 715 working.

We turned right, to head down towards Hackney Central. It seemed (and actually was) a very short time before our conductor announced that this was the last stop. I got off, and the RTL turned left and departed back towards Clapton Pond.

Now where was I? I thought I was at Mildmay Park, but could not make the observed geography fit the map. Where was Dove Road? Not surprisingly I couldn't find it, as I wasn't anywhere near it!

178: Hackney Station to Clapton Pond (RLH 48)

While I tried to make sense of my surroundings RLH48 came round a corner (from Dalston Garage) and pulled up at the lights. I hopped aboard. The front nearside seat was occupied, so I went upstairs, along the sunken gangway and up the awkward step over the driver's cab to reach the front seat.

Being up on the front seat of an RLH reminded me just how difficult it is to see out of them! Childhood memories don't suffer from this of course, as then one could see out of the windows without bending down! But very quickly we were back to Clapton Pond, and I alighted to take a picture of the bus there.

178: Clapton Pond to Hackney Wick (RLH 48)

I had no plans from now on: all the buses seemed obe concentrating on Leyton Garage or Hackney Wick. Blinds for a short journey to the latter were wound up on the RLH, so I reboarded, and took up the front nearside seat (downstairs!).

A little way down Homerton High Street we met a pair of First London's Darts: long 41310 on the 236 followed by shorter 41697 on the S2.

Further along, on Homerton Road beside the green space, we passed Stagecoach Dart 34342 on the 276. We turned right towards Hackney Wick, and met RLH23 coming the other way.

But now we turned right, under the A12, and back west towards Hackney Central. Very low bridges on our right prevented our doing a short turn round the block, so we found ourselves passing Clapton Garage before turning under the North London Line and right again onto Clapton Road and Homerton High Street. We passed RF486 heading for Clapton Pond. We headed for Hackney Wick, and stopped for traffic lights just as Swift SMS369 pulled round the corner heading for Leyton Green on the 236.

This time we turned into the maze of back-streets by Hackney Wick Station, and emerged onto Carpenters Road. But this time we did not go all the way to Stratford under the notorious bridge, but turned left up Waterden Road. I had not been here before, and was amazed at the extent of the bus garaging here. All of it will need to be relocated well before the Olympics, for this area, and the industrial zone around Carpenters Road is where the Stadia are going.

We pulled in to Waterden Road garage (Stagecoach), and made a circuit round the yard before following RLH61 out of the gate.

Hackney to Kings Cross, (RLH48)

I asked Mike Sheppey if I might ride with them to find a suitable station for heading home. They were going via Kings Cross, which suited me admirably. We took photos outside the Stagecoach yard, before we set off.

We followed the 178 route again as far as Clapton. Perhaps inevitably we came up behind RF486 on the 208A at Hackney Wick. But our routes diverged. We also passed RT2043, heading empty towards Leyton Garage along Homerton Road.

From Clapton we headed west past Hackney Central towards Highbury & Islington, and down the Essex Road to Angel. I enjoyed the unfamilar ride down into London from this direction. The crew dropped me off at Kings Cross. I went round the block to acquire some chips - and RLH23 came round the corner. Now what's the chances of getting two RLHs at Kings Cross! I headed for the station with a smile on my face.

Many thanks to those who organised the day - Peter Osborn and Steve Whitelegg, and to all those who brought buses along, drove them and conducted. Special thanks to Richard Proctor and Mike Sheppey for the bonus trips at the end of the day.

See Peter and Steve's website for many more pictures of the day, as well as backround on the routes and buses.

Buses:
TD95
RT190, RT2043, RTL139
RF28, RF48, RF319, RF433, RF453, RF457, RF486, RF491, RT503
RLH23, RLH48, RLH61
RML2364, RML2394
SMS369

All photos by Ian Smith. Click on most of them for a larger picture.

Back to Ian's Bus-stop Part 1 Part 6 red-rf.com