London Transport Buses in the 1960s (ePub)

Featured by

The Broad Gauge Society

"This is a book which most London enthusiasts will be pleased to add to their collection."

West Somerset Railway Association

As featured in

Evergreen

At first glance this is a book of high quality photographs with extended captions but reading it reveals it to be far more than that. Your reviewer was a bus spotter in the London Transport area in the 1960s but this book gives a very detailed account of how London Transport was changing at the time, most of which was unknown to me. It is obvious that the writer has an extensive knowledge of the subject, partly from working for London Transport for a time. There is information about routes, allocations of buses to routes, including problems encountered with certain bus types. There is also mention of mechanical changes, body swaps and some service vehicles.

The photographs are not only finely reproduced but are all precisely dated with locations and with information about the routes and precise dates when certain routes were changed. Some photographs are of rare situations, perhaps showing a bus on trial, accidents or short lived routes. Even details like the different driver seating positions on MB class buses is mentioned. The author even took photographs of new buses at the manufacturers’ premises.

The book is best read as a fascinating story of London Transport evolution throughout the 1960s but also sometimes relates to surviving buses and services up to the present day.
It is a well written account of 1960s London bus services, enriched by the author’s skilfully taken and selected photographs. With such extensive coverage throughout the London Transport, Green Line and Country Areas one is left in awe of the detailed recording of information.

This book is hard to put down and is strongly recommended.

London & North Western Railway Society

There are good books on London buses but this is in a class above. Happy memories for those of a certain age.

James Simmonds