Hertford and Stevenage Running Day

Sunday June 3rd 2001

Prepared by Ian Smith, 17th June 2001, best on 800*600.

Part 3: Hertford, Hatfield and Ware

Hertford Bus Station

While I grabbed a bite to eat there were continued comings and goings. GreenLine RF113 was parked quietly between turns on the Bengeo Bus - the 333. GS17 roared off on another well-packed 384 to Stevenage. Red RF489 departed on a 308A to Little Berkhamsted: I shall have to do that trip one of these days! RT3148 turned round from a 395 Hertford-Ware shuttle. In a quieter moment Arriva East Herts & Essex Metrobus crabbed into a slot on the normal 311 service from and to Enfield.

Red RF406 arrived from Little Berkhamsted and disgorged a good load of passengers. There were long queues for buses as RT2083 arrived to work the 1430 return 390 to Stevenage.

341 to Hatfield and back: RMC1476.

My allotted task for the afternoon was to act as navigator aboard RMC1476, as the driver, Mike Dawes, hadn't driven these routes before. The first journey was the 1437 341 to Hatfield, a journey I had enjoyed on RF4 the September before. We loaded up, I took the "instructor"'s seat behind Mike, and we were away. We wound our way out of Hertford onto the Essenden Road, and were soon heading west along the old road through Essenden Mill heading for Hatfield. We kept a wary eye on the tree-line, but the branches were well clear of the bus today. Soon we had to turn onto the new highway for the last dash into Hatfield, where we turned onto the station forecourt.
It was busy. Sullivan Bus T914 was on Rail Replacement work, and Sovereign's Volvo/Wright #134 called on a 301 service to Stevenage.

We waited for our departure time (1510), and then headed back for Hertford, interpreting the running instructions as a run down the main highway all the way to Hertford.

Back at the bus-station there was less than twenty minutes until our next trip, so after unloading Mike pulled round to park opposite the bus station. It was still busy. Green RTL1256 came in from a journey to Ware and back bringing a reminder of their days at Hatfield. RT3148 headed out to Hatfield, and GS32 came in to unload. A little afterwards in came RT604 in NBC livery, on the 341 trip following ours.

395 to Ware (Fanshawe Crescent) and back: RMC1476.

Mike pulled the RMC round onto the stand, ready for the 1555 to Ware. Red RF 366, now restored to doorless condition, set off on a local service, and I moved into the sunshine to see it go. It was followed out of the bus station by Arriva's DAF #3445 on the cross-country GreenLine 724 to Harlow.

On the trip I managed no photos at all - not even at Fanshawe Crescent. We scarcely paused there, before shimmying back through Ware - dropping off a passenger at the station - and motoring back along the main road into Hertford. Mike was enthusiastic about the RMC.

Hertford Farewells

Back at Hertford it was busier than ever, as services came in to drop their last loads and the feeder services prepared to carry people home. SNB312 was there, having come down from Stevenage on the 390, plus RF113 and a couple of the red RFs.

GS1 had arrived from Stevenage, and was unloading next to RT2083 which was being prepared as a 716 to Hitchin. It was supposed to be working the last 341 to Hatfield, and the long 303 feeder through Stevenage to Hitchin, but the GreenLine 716 Relief blinds were more fun!

GS1 pulled round past parked GS62, red GS2 came in on the 388 from Welwyn, and RP90 glided in to load up for the long haul back to London and Guildford. Finally, RM1699 pulled in to collect its party for return to London.

Homeward: by 390, 381, 339, 370, 399 and 477 to Swanley, on RF679

Routes map By now the shadows had stretched almost across the whole carpark, the stalls, refreshment hut, control desk and spare wheels had been packed away. Nearly everyone had gone. We didn't seem to have left anyone behind. I had run out of film and my camera was misbehaving. It was time to go.

The homeward journey was by courtesy of Colin Rivers, organiser of the day, aboard his RF679. First quick hop was to the day's "garage" - where we found four of the day's five GSs parked and a chinwag in progress. We set off again and ambled eastwards towards Harlow and Epping. Alan Charman came up behind in GS62 for a while, until we stopped for fuel. Then we ambled on. It was a glorious evening, and the rural backroads seemed infinitely preferable to the M11 and M25. So we found ourselves on the old eastern twig - the rural 339 from Epping through Ongar to Brentwood and Warley. We ran out of Country routes briefly, but meandered on down towards Upminster and Purfleet, sliding onto the M25 at the last minute for the high-level swoop over the Thames. The light was going as we headed for Swanley Junction, where I left them for a train back to Bromley. Thanks folks, it was a superb ending to an amazing day.

Thanks too to all the organisers of Country Bus Rallies for putting on some 160+ journeys, and to the preservers, owners, drivers and conductors who gave their time to make it possible. Especial thanks to Peter Gomm for controlling Hertford Bus Station: with twenty buses an hour, (140 in total) - not counting the ordinary service buses, he kept things moving, and safe.

Postscript

These two got missed during the telling of the story somewhere: RF486, seen here on a 329 for Knebworth in the middle of the afternoon, and RF28 on a 384A service to Great Munden. That's Peter the Controller in the green top by the front of RF486.

Buses in service: I didn't see them all this time: I'm sorry if I missed you!

GS 1, 2, 17, 32, 62.
RF 4, 28, 113, 366, 406, 486, 489, 679,
RT 604, 2083, 3148.
RMC 1477,1478
RM 1699
SNB 312
Western National Bristol 280 KTA

Photos by Ian Smith except where indicated. Click on them for a larger picture.
Sorry that some are fuzzy: I have an intermittent focussing problem that I can't track down.

Next Country Bus Rally Day: Dorking, Sunday 2nd September 2001.

Ian's Bus-stop Country Bus Rallies Part 1 Part 2 Part 3: Hatfield and Ware