Routes 61 & 261 Heritage Day and Bromley Garage Open Day

No need to book, just put out your hand at any route 61 or 261 bus stop and a heritage bus will stop to pick you up!

Buses used will mostly be the iconic RT-type, which in the 1950s formed the largest standardised bus fleet in the world, plus their successor the Routemaster. There will also be a selection of more modern buses of types used on route 61 (and 261) over the years.

Plus ... In support of charity, our friends at Stagecoach London will be holding an Open Day at Bromley Garage on the same day to celebrate the garage's centenary (small entry charge). It will be open between 11am and 4pm with visiting/vintage vehicles on display, trade stands and a range of branded event merchandise on sale. Routes 61 and 261 pass the garage. Come and see behind the scenes!

History ~ Bromley Garage [TB = Tilling Bromley]

New Bromley Common garage was opened by Thomas Tilling on 16 April 1924. The first route operated was the 47 (Shoreditch to Farnborough), reallocated from Catford, plus a short-lived 66 which ended two months later after the Southern Railway banned all buses except B and K types (so no Tillings) from crossing a bridge on the route. Other routes came later.

The 47 route was already 12 years old and had been extended south from Bromley, passing the site of the new garage, in 1913. Operation was shared with Dalston garage. The 47 ran to Farnborough until 1982, and then Bromley Garage until 1985, when it was shortened to form today’s route 47. An RTL will run the full route from Dalston Garage and Shoreditch to Farnborough, and back, with an RT feeder service from and to Lewisham – see the timetable of Feeder & Connecting services.

In 1934, the Country Area of London Transport introduced route 471 as a circular service from Orpington via Green Street Green. Always operated by small saloons, the 471 will run on 14 September between Orpington and Green Street Green, operated by a GS small saloon. Connections at Green Street Green with the 402 to Bromley via Bromley Garage (operated by an RF) and at Orpington with route 61 . For 471 and 402 times, see the Feeder & Connecting timetable.

The Green Line coach network was augment from 1953 with new orbital route 725 from Gravesend to Windsor – the original Superloop. A Green Line RF will provide direct connections between Orpington and Bromley on route 725, with a feeder from and to Dartford. See the Feeder & Connecting timetable for times.

History ~ Route 61

The origin of the 61 was new route 610 in May 1933 between Eltham (Well Hall Station) and Chislehurst, which for summer Sundays in 1934 was expanded to run Lewisham – Lee – Eltham – Chislehurst – Orpington – Green Street Green (a service operated in previous summers as an extension of route 1), with the weekday 610 extended to Orpington Station. In the renumbering of October 1934, the 610 became the 61.

The route was operated by Sidcup garage, initially using STs, upgraded to LTs from 1936. The summer Sunday extension continued until 1938, but not south of Orpington after 1936.

In May 1939, the 61 was extended daily beyond Orpington Station to Bromley Common LT Garage, continuing on Sundays to Bromley North Station, thus covering today’s route on Sundays but still starting in Eltham. The extension to Bromley North was lost in the early years of the war, but in 1944 Bromley Garage joined operation of the route with STLs, taking over entirely in 1948.

Hired Leeds City Transport AEC Regents joined the operation in October 1949, but they and the STLs were replaced by new RTs in May/June 1950. The route continued unchanged, Eltham – Bromley Garage until 1957, when the service to Bromley North Station was resumed.

Crew-operated RTs were replaced by one-man operated DMSs in July 1972, somewhat earlier than Bromley Garage’s other RT routes – Bromley was the second-last garage to operate RTs, up to August 1978. The DMSs were themselves replaced by single-deck LSs in September 1979.

The route was briefly withdrawn on Saturdays between Eltham and Chislehurst, from 1972 to 1974, then permanently on Monday to Saturday in August 1986. The section was briefly replaced for three months by a new route 61B, operated by Sidcup, before being absorbed into route 228. The Sunday through service to Eltham continued until January 1991.

As part of the route tendering process introduced in 1985, operation of the route passed from Metrobus Ltd from August 1986, coinciding with the weekday shortening of the route. Two successive contracts were operated by Metrobus, mainly using DMSs followed by Olympians, until the next contract from December 1995 passed to CentreWest.

Formerly a west London division of London Transport, CentreWest had been purchased by its management in 1994 under its managing director Peter, now Lord, Hendy. Flagship Routemaster RML2735 operated on the 61 on the first day of the contract, for which twelve new Volvo Olympians were purchased; until the full dozen had been delivered, Metrobuses were also used. Sunday operation used single-deck Darts; the route was run from Orpington garage. In March 1997, CentreWest was acquired by First London, who retained the contract from December 2001 with the Sunday service now double-decked, but lost the contract at the following renewal from December 2006.

The contract was won by Stagecoach with operation from Bromley garage, but between the win and the renewal, Stagecoach sold its London operations to MacQuarie Bank and the contract commenced under the name Selkent. For this contract, the frequency was reduced from every 12 to every 15 minutes, as continues now. New Enviro400s were initially assisted by older Tridents. Stagecoach reacquired Selkent in October 2010.

The route continues to be operated by Stagecoach from Bromley with Enviro400 double-deckers.

History ~ Route 261

For a relatively young route (introduced in September 1982), the 261 has a complex history. The new route ran from Orpington via Farnborough, Bromley, Grove Park, Lee to Lewisham, extended on Saturday shopping hours to Brockley Rise. The need for the dog-leg at the southern section of the route arose from the loss of the bus stand at Farnborough George, to which the 47 had operated since 1913 and which had been connected with Orpington by route 229. Both routes were accordingly cut back and replaced by the 261, which also replaced route 94 between Bromley and Brockley Rise.

The route was introduced with Routemasters from Bromley garage, but these were replaced 7 months later in April 1983 by one-person operated single-deck LSs. The route was largely double-decked again from October 1984, now using one-person operated Ts.

The route was shortened at both ends, first in April 1985 by the withdrawal of the Saturday journeys between Lewisham and Brockley Rise, then in August 1986 by withdrawal between Bromley Garage and Orpington – this Farnborough section passing to new route R1 on creation of the Roundabout network. This date also marked the commencement of a new contract by London Buses from Bromley, but due to the tender being ‘not correctly costed according to the rules’, the route was retendered the following year and won by Metrobus Ltd. Metrobus not being able to turn in Bromley garage led to the route being shortened by a mile to Bromley Common Crown.

In sympathy with the rural area south of Bromley, some occasional route variations were introduced. From May 1989, certain journeys were extended southwards via Farnborough to Green Street Green, to replace much of route 361; initially Monday to Saturday, the Saturday journeys ceased in November 1992. Between November 1996 and October 2000, one morning journey operated from Pratts Bottom to Green Street Green and Lewisham. The full route was extended in February 2007 from Bromley Common Crown to Locks Bottom Princess Royal University Hospital but the remaining Green Street Green journeys were withdrawn.

Metrobus, who had been acquired by Go Ahead in September 1999, continued to operate the contract with a variety of double-deckers until November 2013, when the contract reverted to Bromley, now owned by Stagecoach, and operated by Enviro400s.

The route continues between Lewisham and Locks Bottom, now operated from Bromley garage by Enviro400 MMCs.