Point at the garage on the map or use the alphabetical links:
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HERTFORD:
The earliest stage carriage services to operate in the eastern side of Hertfordshire were set up by the Harvey and Burrows company, trading as Hertford and District, in 1921. By 1924 quite a network was in operation, much to the distaste of the London General. A public war was waged in the streets and newspapers, and it was a suprise when H & B capitulated in July of that year. The operating licences were immediately transferred to the National Omnibus and Transport Company, who were the agents of General in the northern 'country' area. H & B had operated about two dozen vehicles from a garage they had built behind the Town Hall in Ware in 1923. These premises were also acquired by General and operated by National.
More competition came from Thurgood of Ware, a coachbuilder, who traded as People's Motor
Services. It was not until 1934 that London Transport used its powers to compulsorily
purchase this business with its premises in Park Road, Ware. London Transport
continued the General's practice of giving their garages letter codes, and under this scheme
Ware (Park Road) became WE, and the old National garage became WR. After
closure the code WR was transferred to Windsor, to replace its unfortunate WC code signifying
Windsor Castle (or 'Coach').
It was obvious that better and more spacious premises were required, even before the takeover.
Pressure to amalgamate all the operations on one site was intense, so in a mere six weeks the
new garage at Fairfax Road, Hertford was completed. It opened for business on 2nd January 1935.
It was given the code HG, since other obvious codes were already occupied. The palatial garage
provided accommodation for 65 buses. By the end of that year a run-down area between the town
centre and river was cleared and re-developed as a car park, market and bus station. There were
some passenger facilities in the car park, but it was after the war that shelters and proper
stands appeared.
Notable residents at HG were the experimental full-fronted Q type double-deckers, which were
mostly used on the 310 service to Enfield. Hertford also ran a large fleet of Q type
single-deckers on the Green Line. The growth in services that occurred in the New Towns was
denied to the area, so there was little real change at Hertford until the London Country years.
The urgent requirement for one-man operation resulted in the country area's first double-deck
conversion, using AN vehicles from April 1972. In 1980 the bus station was moved to a site at
the new shopping centre.
Deregulation after 1986 saw the garage pass into the hands of the Parkdale Holdings company, while
the bus services became London Country (North East) Ltd. This unhappy rump of the NBC did not
prosper and was split in early 1989 into operations at Hertford, Harlow and Grays (County Bus
& Coach) and Hatfield and Stevenage (Sovereign). Hertford garage was closed in April 1989 and
redeveloped for residential purposes. A move to Caxton Hill was short-lived as services
dwindled, and finally the vehicles returned to their spiritual home in a yard at Ware. Does
this count as progress?
Initially, the garage was built by the LGOC in 1922 and situated on the south of St.Albans Road at the side of the railway
bridge. Like other northern area garages, the new one at Hatfield dates from New Town days. It stood on the opposite side
of the road from the LGOC shed and was opened early in 1959 and must have seemed lavish after the privations of the old
premises. The garage was closed after the takeover by Parkdale, and now it is occupied by a neat little estate of houses
with easy access to the railway station.
LT ceased to use the garage from 5th September 1934 following rationalisation of sevices in the
area, and the opening of a new garage at Epping. It continued in use by Eastern National.
Although the code was allocated by London Transport, it was never used.
The garage was closed by Badgerline, who purchased the operations of Eastern National from the
management buyout team in April 1990.
GRAYS was the scene of a strange division when the town was cut in half on the formation
of the LPTB. Local services had previously been operated by NOTC and subsequently by Eastern
National, but after 1934 all services were divided with the LPTB keeping services to the west
of the town centre and Eastern National those to the East. Cross-town journeys were no longer
possible!
Since the LPTB had no operating base in the town, hurried arrangements were made to rent the
yard of Seabrooks Brewery, an arrangement that lasted until the new garage, coded GY, in
Stifford Road was ready in February 1935. It could be suggested that the rush resulted
in an inferior facility, because the building was an ugly shed with corrugated walls, and none
of the contemporary style could be discerned in the single-storey office buildings alongside.
Sense prevailed in September 1951 when the local routes of Eastern National were acquired by
London Transport, together with the Argent Street garage (coded GA), staff and loaned
vehicles. From January 1952 a recast route map reunited the divided town, and the Argent Street
garage was closed. Plates bearing the GA code were never carried by vehicles - the rolling stock
was branded with red GY plates, at least in theory. GA was acquired by the Co-Op in 1954 and
subsequently demolished during high-rise redevelopment in the 1960's.
In 1957 a second hangar-like shed was added to GY, together with a new single-storey staff and office
block which ran along London Road. Again, there was no hint of coporate style in the building,
which was a very plain structure with a pitched roof. That the structure was over-enthusiastic
is demonstrated by just how quickly its facilities became redundant - its principal purpose in
the 1970's was as a store for redundant or broken vehicles.
Privatisation in 1986 saw ownership pass to London Country North East Ltd., and County Bus &
Coach in 1989. GY was closed on 17th September 1993 to facilitate clearance of the large site,
and replaced by new premises in West Thurrock. A downturn in the local and National economy
means that the site is still vacant at the time of writing in 2001.
Thanks to LOTS's London Bus Magazine 116 for these details, where pictures of the
garages may be found.
Incidentally, Luton had a third garage at Kingsway, which was the depot of Luton Corporation.
They became motor bus operators in 1932 when faced with the renewal of their decrepit tramways,
and no agreement could be found on how to transfer the operation to any other transport
company. An operating agreement was soon reached with Eastern National on mileage and revenue
sharing which would expire in 1970. Faced with increasing losses and serious recruitment problems,
the Corporation was desperate to rid itself of its buses. After a lot of arm twisting and some
political involvement, United Counties purchased the operation on 4th January 1970. The
Kingsway garage was not included , but was leased for 6 months since it was impossible to
maintain all the vehicles at Castle Street. History shows that the acquisition of this
loss-making enterprise and 77 aged and variously dilapidated and unworthy buses nearly sank
the United Counties company completely.
On 4th December 1976 United Counties took over the operation of London Country's routes 360
(Luton to Caddington) and 365 (Luton to Codicote). Desperate manning difficulties brought the
handover forward from 29th January 1977, when it was planned to close the Park Street West
garage. Ironically, UC were forced to ask Bedfordshire County Council to dip deeper into their
pockets in order to support conductor operation of the routes until 6th March, as one-man
agreement was not possible.
The closure of Luton garage coincided with a complete recasting of the local Greenline network.
The old 712/3/4 routes were abandoned in favour of new 707 and 717 routes between Luton Airport
and London Victoria. The 727 remained unchanged at the time, as it was operated from St.Albans.
Dunton Green was strategically placed to serve the area between Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Bromley,
and the premises accommodated 12 vehicles on opening in April 1922. It was inherited by LCBS in
1970, and subsequently by Kentish Bus in on 27th April 1987. Management of the services moved
to Maidstone, under the Invictaway umbrella, and eventually that identity was lost in favour of
Arriva Kent Thameside. Dunton Green was closed on 14th February 1998, and services concentrated
upon Dartford and Northfleet garages. A small outstation survives at Tonbridge. Closure day was
marked by a visit from GS56 and GS62, which left through the front doors which had been out of
use for some time previously. The last LT vehicle out? I hope they switched off the lights.
I am informed by London Country Management Services Limited that the garage site is now a row of luxury houses. Thank
goodness it isn't a row of crummy houses!
After closure, the few remaining duties were dispersed among Croydon, Guildford, Merstham and
Fulwell garages, or to other operators. The building was demolished with extreme haste only
days later.
The original Dartford garage was closed in 1986 and subsequently demolished. The current garage operated by
Arriva Kent Thameside (successors to LCSE or Kentish Bus) was converted from a previous non-PSV use and opened in the same year.
This was reduced to an outstation in 1988 but reverted to a full garage at a later stage, although the offices were sub-let.
Thanks to Keith Nason for that update.
The premises has survived all of the takeovers of the post-regulation years, and is now one of
just two garages operated by Arriva Kent Thameside, the final repository of the London Country
(South East) business. It has been opened and closed several times since its original closure,
and used by several different companies.
The original building was a minimalist, corrugated-iron structure which was rebuilt in more
substantial style by the LPTB in 1934.
The last day of operation by London & Country, the company which grew out of London Country
(South West), was 25th July 1997. The day was marked by the attendance of a number of vehicles
and personnel from the nearby Cobham Bus Museum. RP90, RF 534, RF672 and RMC1476 made a
representative selection of the garage's earlier vehicle allocation, ably assisted by RM2116.
The following day brought a major revision of routes in the area, with operation being dispersed
to Leatherhead and Woking (LH didn't see two more full years before it, too, was abandoned).
For a short while Addlestone became a collecting area for vehicles being seen off by the new
generation of Dennis Darts. The museum was able to secure the LONDON COUNTRY lettering from the
side of the building.
HATFIELD should be the garage that I know most about since I travelled on vehicles from here most often, but sadly
that is not the case. In fact due to the routeing of the 303 through the town centre, I only glimpsed it rarely when using
the 716 which travelled along the Great North Road. In fact, Hatfield is almost unrecognisable today, as the old Barnet
By-pass, The Stone House, The Comet roundabout and all the blocks of flats have gone under the Galleria shopping centre and
contemporary road tunnel. Many pictures survive of vehicles standing on the forecourt, which faced the sun for much of
the middle part of the day, but I have never seen a decent picture of the garage itself.
BISHOPS STORTFORD was deep in the Hertfordshire countryside when The National company first opened
a garage at Dane Street, from where services were operated to Harlow and Epping. From 1921 the
service was extended to Ongar and Brentwood under the LGOC umbrella, and numbered N9. The garage
was soon relocated to South Street, and it continued to serve the National routes operated for
the LGOC and on their own account.
LUTON garage was first established by the LGOC in Langley Road, following the takeover
of the business of Road Motors in 1925. This garage was used for a short while by the LGOC's
agents, the National Omnibus and Transport Company. A new Castle Street garage was built by
National in 1927. Upon their split it was passed to Eastern National, and subsequently to United
Counties in 1952. It was the base of Luton & District Transport - sorry, Arriva serving
the Shires until 2001, when the premises were moved out of town to Chaul End Lane.
LPTB moved its operations to Park Street West upon the acquisition of the
business of Strawhatter coaches, who were absorbed into the Greenline empire in February 1934.
The code letters allocated were LS, signifying Luton Strawhatter - or Luton South. It has been
suggested to me that LN (North) was used by National for their original garage. Note that Castle
Street is a long way south of Park Street!
DUNTON GREEN was the first garage to be opened under the collaborative agreement between
East Surrey Traction Company and the London General Omnibus Company which was signed on 7th July
1921. The terms of the agreement provided 'all the motor omnibuses required' together with all
the 'garages sheds and equipment' required to keep the services operated on behalf of the LGOC
within the London country area. East Surrey paid a proportion of the fares income on a monthly
basis, and leased the garages.
LEATHERHEAD was one of the five garages opened under the collaborative agreement between
East Surrey and the LGOC. It was opened on 1st June 1925, and was closed on 30th April 1999 by the
Arriva Crawley & East Sussex company. Like many of the earliest garages, the accommodation was
extended during the period of ownership by London Transport. An office building in the LT
vernacular is therefore a prominent feature of almost all the garages. Although operation on
express and Greenline services was a feature of the earliest days, there was no subsequent
activity on Greenline after services were withdrwan for the war in 1939.
SWANLEY was the last of the garages opened under the collaborative agreement between
East Surrey and the LGOC. The J in the name drives from the nearby Swanley railway junction.
Facilities were provided for 16 vehicles when it opened in October 1925.
DARTFORD was one of many garages taken over from other operators in the major shake-up
of services following the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board. Dartford garage was
originally built and owned by Maidstone & District, but was taken over on 1st of July 1933,
along with Northfleet.
NORTHFLEET was one of two garages taken over from Maidstone & District following the
formation of the London Passenger Transport Board. Originally the premises were the the
Dover Road tram sheds. A new garage was built by London Transport in 1937, and was notable by
being only the second to be provided with full canteen facilities.
ADDLESTONE was called WY because it should have been at Weybridge, but of course it
never was. It was built in 1930 and ended the temporary arrangement whereby coaches for the
early Greenline service were billeted at the Weymann coachworks. It was not long before buses
for local service joined the coaches, requiring yet more space!