Hertford Running DaysSaturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd June 2012Prepared by Ian Smith, 12th June 2012.Early afternoonBack at Hertford it was busy. GS64 (from the London Transport Museum) was fully loaded for a trip on the 329 to Bulls Green, and departed to allow GS2 onto the stand to unload from a similar trip.
A type celebrating fifty years since coming into service was the Routemaster RMC coaches. Two were operating today on the 715 between Hertord and Wormley: RMC1500 and RMC1477. The former, masquerading as RMC1486 as its original registration is still in use elsewhere, had operated up from London, despite the Jubilee celebrations affecting the capital. RMC1477 belongs to Timebus, and we were delighted to see it here. Both worked into the bus station at the same time now.
Meanwhile RW3 sat at the other side of the bus station, attracting much admiring attention. Eastbourne Corporation AEC Regent V No69, as hired by London Country (but not here) was in operation too, and arrived on a 331 working from Standon.
Hertford to Hatfield and back: RT3062I asked organiser Colin Rivers if there was anything particular that he wanted me to cover. He asked if I would be conductor on RT3062, which driver Paul Brophy had brought in from The London Bus Company. This is something of a favourite of mine, and I readily agreed. Paul and I had a bite of lunch first, before going out.We did not have a full set of blinds. The nearest we could find for a 341 trip was Hertford Bus Station as a destination! As we were not going to be able to use the Essendon Road anyway because the heavy rain was weighing down the trees, it was not going to be much of a 341 trip anyway! (Trees along this road have not a few heavy branches at about fifteen feet above the road. After heavy rain they are about a foot lower.) There were still hardy souls braving the torrential rain when we loaded up for the trip. We set off round the town, and instead of turning left up past the County Offices to Horns Mill we continued along the main A414, under the railway viaduct and straight for Hatfield, swooshing along in the rain. It was not until we reached the roundabout at the junction with Holwell Lane that we rejoined the actual 341 route for the remaining short drive along the dual carriageway to Mill Green. There we turned off up into Hatfield, turning south down the Great North Road to reach Hatfield Station. As we made the complete turn onto the stand outside the station a brand new WheelForward Streetlite of uno made the turn the other way to head off southwards. The resulting photo, grabbed from the rear platform, was sadly out of focus and blurred in the bad light. Sorry!
At least for the return trip we had Hertford on the front! (and Special Service on the rear). Ding-ding! We were away again, back along the Great North Road to meet the A414 at Mill Green, where we spiralled down onto the main road for the dash eastwards. And RT3062 does go. Fast and smooth.
It seemed no time at all before we were wending our way back round Hertford and back into the bus station. Now we had a short wait before our next trip out, on the 390 to Stevenage. So we took the RT over to the other side of the bus station, and parked in front of RW3. Centrebus Dart SLF528 squeezed past and went off towards Waltham Cross. Paul and I went for a cup of tea.
Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
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Part Six: Stevenage and back
Ian's Bus-stop
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