THE 'FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN' BUSES
The following text was written in 1994 by Robert Wilkin of the 1702 Preservation Society for the "Festival Times" newsletter:
"RT1702 was delivered new to London Transport (LT) in 1950 from the body builders at Park Royal and work immediately commenced on converting the bus to a mobile exhibition for the forthcoming tour of Europe.
On the 28th July 1950 RT's 1702 and 3114 were shipped from Hull on board the S.S. Sivino for the journey across the North Sea. At about the same time RTs 1692 and 3070 were transhipped via Millwall Dock. During the following three months the four buses, London Transport's first Ambassadors, would cover over 4,000 miles through 8 European countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France - without any mechanical problems. During the tour over 122,000 people visited the Festival of Britain promotional exhibitions aboard RTs 1692, 1702 and 3114, while as many as possible were given free rides aboard RT3070. After their marathon journey all four buses returned to Britain on October 30th, 1950 when they were met by Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin.
Following their moment of fame all four buses entered normal passenger service from Mortlake Garage on routes 9 and 73.
In May 1951 the four vehicles were again united at Old Kent Garage to work Service J, the first Round London Sightseeing Tour. In June 1951 Service J was reclassified Excursion 1 and the buses were moved to Victoria Garage. In 1954 RT1702 was transferred to Holloway Garage on routes 14, 27 and 134. In 1959 the bus moved to Seven Kings and routes 86, 148 and 150. In 1962 RT1702 was allocated to Hornchurch for four years before its final move in 1966 to Catford where it could be found working on routes 1, 47, 54, 94, 160 and 180. Like all LT buses RT1702 visited the vast Aldenham Works for overhaul at regular intervals: August 1954, June 1958, July 1962 and August 1966, but unlike the majority of vehicles it kept its original body (number 3675) throughout its career.
In July 1972 RT1702 was purchased by Messrs. Denton, Field and Wilkin, three Catford Garage staff, who formed the 1702 Preservation Society. The Society members then set about the task of restoring the bus to its 1950s condition. Since then RT1702 has become a bit of a celebrity in its own right. In May 1976 it was used by LT to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Round London Sightseeing Tours - passengers being charged the 1951 price of 2/6d. Later the same year the bus was used as part of the 'A Tonic to the Nation' Exhibition* at the V. & A. The Exhibition was opened by the Queen Mother on November 24th 1976 and the bus was used to take the dignitaries and press from the Royal Academy of Arts to the Victoria and Albert for the ceremony. RT1702 was then used as a static exhibit outside the V. & A. for the duration of the exhibition* (26.11.76 to 3.4.77).
* It celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Festival of Britain in conjunction with the Royal Society of Arts.
Two sadder occasions followed with the bus involved in the last South London RT celebrations at Catford and Bromley in August 1978 and then again at the last ever London Transport RT workings at Barking in April 1979. In the same year RT1702 was invited to the 150th Anniversary Celebrations of London Transport RT1702 and since then it has appeared at various Garage open days and Rallies, including the first European Rally at Vollendum in Holland and the Calais Rally in France.
So at least one of the Festival Buses lives on and will no doubt be appearing at many more events durting the forthcoming years...if you would like information about other appearances send a SAE to 1702 Preservation Society, 79 Pinewood Avenue, Sidcup, Kent, England, DA15 8BB."
FOR MORE DETAILS, SEE "AN ADVERTISEMENT ON WHEELS" WRITTEN BY DAVID J. WEBB (ASSISTED BY ROBERT WILKIN) ON PAGES 170 AND 171 OF "A TONIC TO THE NATION" (1976) FROM WHICH THE FOLLOWING VISITOR STATISTICS ON THE EUROPEAN TOUR ARE TAKEN:
Belgium 17,000/Denmark 4,500/France 62,750/Germany 3,750/Holland 10,500/Luxembourg 4,000/Sweden 10,000
"THE FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN, 1951 - A NATIONWIDE DEMONSTRATION, BY MEANS OF EXHIBITIONS, ARTS FESTIVALS AND OTHER EVENTS IN ALL PARTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, OF BRITAIN'S CONTINUING CONTRIBUTIONS TO CIVILISATION AND OF HER FAITH IN HER FUTURE PLACE IN THE WORLD."
(ANNOUNCEMENT IN SEVEN LANGUAGES IN THE SPACE BETWEEN UPPER AND LOWER DECKS.)
Germany, 1950
South Bank, 1951
HOLD VERY TIGHT PLEASE..... (an article from the "Festival Times" newsletter no. 15 of Spring/Summer 1993)
"Up until the Festival of Britain the area around Waterloo was not well served by public transport. Buses normally kept to the recognised bus stands in Alaska Street or Mepham Street and the trams terminated on a short stub track just short of Waterloo Bridge. If you had to get from Charing Cross to Waterloo you were faced with a walk across Hungerford Bridge and a further 300 yard hike through dimly lit and dirty streets.
In 1951 this had to change - several million people were going to make their way to the South Bank and various other Festival of Britain sites, and it was up to London Transport to make sure their journey was accomplished in comfort and on time.
This was not an easy time for London Transport. Considerable damage had been sustained by the system during the war and all of the new RT type buses were either allocated to replace the ageing wartime bus fleet or were being used as part of the continuing tram replacement programme. However, as it always did, LT rose to the challenge, and when the Festival opened on May 4th 1951 they provided not only 8 special services but also nearly 60 back up buses to reinforce the existing services.
To enhance the traffic flow a new tram layout was introduced at Westminster Bridge and two roundabouts were bulit at County Hall and Waterloo Bridge. A new bus stand was provided in Cornwall Road alongside The Cut.
To avoid confusion the 8 special services were given letters instead of numbers and they served the following routes:
A: Connected the Science Exhibition and the Underground at South Kensington with Battersea Gardens. At South Kensington the buses picked up in Pelham Road and at Battersea the stop was in Albert Bridge just south of the Parkgate Road entrance. Fare was 3d. Six buses were allocated to this route and were kept at Battersea Bus garage.
B: Connected the Underground at Sloane Square with Battersea. The stop at Sloane Square was in Holbein Place and this then ran through to Queenstown Road and terminated by the Chelsea Bridge entrance to the Gardens. The fare was 3d. 8 buses were allocated to this route and were nominally kept at Norwood Bus Garage. A shortage of space meant that in reality they were kept in a special compound in front of the nearby Norwood tram depot.
C: Linked the Festival Gardens with the South Bank Exhibition site. The buses departed from a stop in the Prince of Wales Drive west of the Queens Circus entrance to the Gardens and terminated in York Road. The fare was 6d. Altogether 40 buses were allocated to this service and they were split up between the garages- 15 were kept at the Poplar trolleybus depot (although their official designation shows 5 at Athol Street (Poplar), 5 at Forest Gate and 5 at Clay Hall. The latter being of interest in that it was built of the site of the pleasure gardens that once stood at Old Ford.) 10 were kept at Camberwell and 15 were kept at Peckham - although 5 of these were officially allocated to Catford.
D. This was part of the river/bus service to Lansbury and connected West India Dock Pier (Manila Road) with Saracen Street. Return journeys to the pier started from Cannon Street. The fare was 1.5d and there were 2 buses allocated which were kept overnight at Poplar trolleybus depot.
E.This gave a connection between the South Bank and both Victoria Coach Station and the Green Line at Ecclestone Bridge by using a terminus on Elizabeth Bridge. The fare was 6d. and 4 buses were allocated from Victora Garage.
F. This served to connect the large coach parking area set up on Clapham Common near Clapham South tube station with the Festival Gardens (Prince of Wales Drive terminus). 6 buses were allocated from Elmers End Garage and the fare was 6d.
G. This was a 'Park and Ride' fore runner and provided a continuous linking service between car parks and the South Bank. The car parks served were at Lavington Street (between Blackfriars and Southwark Bridges), Southwark Street, three sites in Blackfriars Road, and Lambeth Baths. The fare between these and York Road was 3d. 4 buses were allocated and kept overnight at Camberwell.
H. Connected the Festival Gardens car park at Patmore Street with the Festival Gardens (Prince of Wales terminus). A low bridge meant that the nearest the service could get to the car park was Ascalon Street. The fare was 3d. and two buses were allocated from Streatham Depot.
All of the above services were operated by STL type vehicles.
One further 'lettered' service was also introduced and this was service 'J'. This was really the forerunner of the Round London Sightseeing Tours which are a familiar sight in London these days. For two shillings and sixpence you could spend two hours on a circular tour taking you "Around the town for half a crown". The service had hourly departures and used the four RT type buses that had spent the previous year touring Europe promoting the Festival of Britain. These four buses RTs 1692, 1702, 3070 and 3114 were based at the Old Kent Road. Three pick up points were provided at Buckingham Palace Road, South Kensington Station (Cromwell Place) and Bloomsbury (Southampton Row). Service 'J' started operation on June 11th 1951 and operated daily from 10.00am to 4pm.
Because of the different opening times of the various sites some of the routes started operation before others. Route D started operation on May 3rd and ran every day from about 10.15am to 9.00pm. Routes E and G started on May 4th and ran daily during the exhibition hours. Routes A, B, C, E, F. and H started on May 11th and ran Monday to Saturday when the Festival Gardens were open. A Sunday service on these routes started on June 3rd.
With nothing similar to base research on several mistakes were made in the special services that had been provided. One problem was that those who planned the services assumed that visitors would take in more than one of the Festival sites during the day. As we know this was not to be the case and the special services suffered accordingtly. Route C was heavily over allocated with vehicles and was reduced from 40 buses to just 12. The competition from the slower riverbus service between the South Bank and Battersea had proved more popular than anticipated and this was a major factor in the reduction of services on Route C. Funnily enough the longer longer riverbus ride to West India Dock Pier had not proved so popular and from the 4th of June 1951 the route D shuttle from the Pier to Lansbury was reduced at an 'as required' service.
The route serving the car parks - routes G and H - failed completely and were withdrawn, and routes E and F were reduced in frequency from the 24th June 1951.
Not all was doom and gloom however, route B from Sloane Square to the Festival Gardens was more successful than anticipated and two extra buses were need to reinforce the service.
On the closure of the South Bank Exhibition on September 30th all of the remaining special services except A, B and J were withdrawn. A and B continued until 3rd November when the Festival Gardens closed at the end of the season. Both of these special services were eventually introduced with numbers (45A and 137A) and continued in successful operation for many years."