Day 282 Much nearer home again; to Crystal Palace for the No 417 and Kingston to Epsom on the No 418.

 I caught a No 407 to the top of Tamworth Road and then a London Overground train to Anerley. A No 157 conveyed me from there to Crystal Palace Parade and at 1205 I was aboard Arriva London's ES34.

Two No 417s waiting at Crystal Palace Parade

Journey should take 36 minutes

The final bus of 7 to do here

Arriva's ES34 coming out of lay over

This bus takes two sides of the Westow triangle at Upper Norwood before turning left in Central Hill at Gipsy Hill police station. Given storm Amy was battering the far north it was very windy at this elevation with the trees swaying wildly as we passed Norwood park.

A Just Married Routemaster ahead on Westow Street

A view over London before turning into
Central Hill

The trees in Norwood park blowing about

Beyond this point as the bus climbed towards crown point the No 417 was on its own but crossing over at the lights at crown point we were joined by the No 249. However, this meeting was brief as we turned right into Leigham Court Road and ran alone until near Glennie Road where the No 315 joined us for a short while to Knollys Road. The run down to Streatham Hill station from here was alone, but as we turned right onto the A23 many buses joined us for the run to Brixton bus garage.

The No 417 on its own

Streatham Hill station at the end of the road

At the bus garage we exchanged drivers between 1233 and 1236 and then set off turning left on to the south circular for a short while before taking the right at Kings Avenue. This road I also covered on the No 137 and No 355. On this occasion though the traffic was really bad at the northern end where we eventually went left into Clapham Park Road at 1255.

Roadworks in Streatham High Road

Power cable drums

Power cables for strengthening London's power

Baring right at Park Hill we reached Clapham Common station and then went right into Long Road and finally Rookery Road where we terminated at 1302.The journey was billed to take 36minuttes but actually took almost an hour, mostly owing to the traffic jam in Kings Avenue.

Crossing Clapham Common

ES34 returning towards Crystal Palace

The next bus starts from Kingston so I walked to where I could catch a No 345 to Clapham Junction station. However, on arrival I found all trains around the Kington loop were delayed owing to trespassers. Making a swift decision, as it was 1331 I boarded the 1333 as far as Raynes Park where I knew there were two buses which I could catch to Kingston. Boy did I chose the wrong one. The first to arrive was the No 131 and checking the timetable it stated it would only take six minutes longer than the No 57. I boarded the bus at 1351 which should have taken 25 minutes, there were two sets of roadworks and long holdups at each roundabout which meant the journey took nearer 40 minutes.

RATP 45160 laying over 

Bus takes 45 minutes and runs every twenty

There are some 500s and 700s here

RATP 45160 approaching

Since the No 418 only runs every twenty minutes it was not until 1517 that I was aboard RATP 45162 at the Cromwell Road bus station. This bus repeats the route of the No 406 as it round the one way system to access the High Street at Kingston and then heads west towards Surbiton.

St Marks hill

Climbing up St Marks Hill after passing Surbiton Girls School the road was half closed as some workmen were chopping up the remains of a tree which had recently been blown into the road. We then continued along the road in the direction of Tolworth Broadway and the Tolworth roundabout where we arrived at 1537.

Tolworth Roundabout

Chessington train still of Class 455 stock

We continued along the A240 in the direction of Ewell following the same path as the No 406 until we reached Ruxley Lane. At this point the bus finally branched off on its own for the length of this road.

Entering Surrey from the LB of Kingston

Ruxley Church Ruxley Lane

Joining Hook lane

Once we reached Hook lane we went left joining with the sparsely operated No 467 until we reached Long Lane. Along this road the bus was the only user to its far end where we turned left and joined with two ' E ' buses the E5 and E9. At the railway bridge the bus turned hard right, as presumably it was two high to go through and took Chase Road to reach Epsom station where it terminated at 1604. I then caught the 1633 train to Carshalton and the No 407 home.

The bus doesn't go into the station forecourt to terminate