The 109 lost it's conductors on 7th February 1987, so it was great to be able to ride them again on the 109 for one day only, Saturday
9th April 2011.
Arriva were celebrating the 60th anniversary of the re-opening of Thornton Heath Garage as a bus depot and the start
of route 109 with a mini running day over the current route - Brixton to Croydon.
No fares were charged but donations were taken for
the Friends of Mayday Hospital. A lot of people were looking at the buses as they went past - young and old alike. You cant argue
and say people dont notice or love them!!
Full credit to Arriva for sending out 4 of their Routemaster's from the private hire
fleet, and for covering the fuel costs. But a special mention needs to go to the crews who gave up their time voluntarily today.
Click
on the thumbnails to see the image.
This is a picture of the poster from a DLA on route 250, showing pictures from route 109 between 1951 and 2010, and telling passengers
about the 60th anniversary of the garage.
RM6 made a welcome trip out in the sunshine and is seen here at Croydon Park Street, showing off the Arriva Heritage fleet advert.
And a front view of RM6 at the same place with the drivers windscreen open as it was such an unseasonably warm day..
From one of the earliest standard length Routemasters to the last one - RM2217, which had performed as the last bus on the 159 saw itself once again running along Streatham High Road, but this time having started in Croydon.
RM2217 caught in the heavy traffic caused by gas main works in Streatham!. You can see the special via blind used for the day.
The longer RML was represented by RML901, seen near Thornton Heath heading towards Croydon.
The fourth bus was an RMC - the coach version, but without upstairs luggage racks. RMC1453 was in Croydon just before 11am.
And finally a front view of RMC1453 showing off the dual headlights that were standard for this class of vehicle, intended for longer runs out into the suburbs on Green Line duties.
