CR class.
17th May 2023
Green Rovers have a renewed programme for this summer.
A little while ago I had a query about the pre-war single decker Guys, I think prompted by a reference on the redRF bus site.
When I followed it up, there were rather more small Guys, of several types, some of which came to Central Buses (G1-8) and rather more to LGCS or the Country Area (un-numbered). I have compiled some text and histories, but have not yet done the drawings, which I hope will follow.
1st April 2023
Arriva also used President bodies on its DAF chassis, the DLP class. Many of these, after some years with Arriva London North , were converted to open-top or part open-top for use by The Original Sightseeing London Tour (TOLST).
10th February 2023
Updates to the London DLA histories, and pages on those for Arriva the Shires
and Arriva Southern Counties.
These two have been complicated, with the Shires having both its own buses and also ex-London DLAs, with country conversions to both, and Southern Counties having different batches from London for red routes, and then conversions for Kent Thameside, Medway Towns and Kent and Surrey. With the latter mostly falling outside the remit of LOTS, information on these allocatins has been sketchier, and largely based on internet searches.
16th January 2023
I spent much time last summer working on the 1950 histories, which are still not complete. I have loaded up some of it on relevant pages.
Then I started work on Arriva London's DAF/Alexanders, London first low-floor double deckers, the DLA class. With 389 buses, this has been quite a task. I still have some more researching to do for the histories, but I have put up the work so far. It has taken a while, as I have spent half of November and December away from home installing and tiling a kitchen for my daughter and son-in-law in Salford.
19th July 2022
I am pressing on with the 1950 histories. There is a lot of data to process!
5th July
I have spent of months in a fairly boring way, interesting in others, working on the January and February 1950 changes: many LTs, STs and STLs disappearing, while RTs, RTLs and RTWs arrive, with the displaced STs and STLs moving around to full gaps. I have not put the changes to histories up yet, but will. It has filled the days while recovered from Covid. Yes, its still around, even among us careful older types.
Important News: from the end of April 2016 Virgin Media have ceased to support my web-space.
So this page, the bibliography and the Country Bus Rallies front pages have moved across to countrybus.org,
ie front page,
bibliography,
and Country Bus Rallies.
I know this will not be welcome new to those of you who have difficulty accessing www.busspotter.com, but I don't have much choice:
eighteen years of loyal customer and Virgin just dumps me.
It will take me some time to change every page that I have written, so that the back-link to the index page points to the right place, so I ask your patience.
(My Google links will also take some time to catch up with the move, I expect. Similarly the links to the bibliography page will take time to change.)
Return to Contents list.
Ian does not pretend to be an expert: any corrections,
additional information, flattery or news gratefully welcomed.
Rivet-counters can make their own web-sites!
Most BUS-STOP pages contain:
- drawings or photos (when I can get them) of a class of London bus;
- a potted class history;
- some history of individual buses;
- a list of photographic sources, and
- a bibliography.
The histories are not complete. They are assembled from data from a variety of sources,
that do not always agree with each other. In some cases I have much more data than I have displayed,
and just need time to fill in the gaps. They are are offered as a help to your own researches, not as a complete entity.
I do not attempt to keep the histories up-to-date.
If you want the latest information, there are plenty of special interest groups
on the net.
For comprehensive monthly updates, subscribe to LOTS to get "The London Bus".
The plan drawings by Ian Smith are NOT scale drawings from originals,
but based on a few known dimensions and (usually) a variety of photographs.
In places inferences have been drawn where the photographic evidence is poor.
In particular adverts shown on buses may have incorrect colouring where I have guessed
wrongly from black & white pictures, or may be inappropriate to the livery worn by the bus.
They may be of use to modellers if printed at an appropriate scale.
You'll have to experiment to find the right printer settings.
Pages are designed for use on the Firefox browser, on 800*600 resolution.
Other resolutions may give odd results. If a display ratio is not 4:3 the photos and drawings may be distorted.
Using other browsers may also give odd results at times, especially
if they do not follow the rules, like Microsoft's Explorer, which does its own thing.
I am trying to amend pages so that they show properly on 4:3 ratio pages other than 800*600,
but this may take some time, and you may need a good pair of reading glasses.
Return to Contents list.
