Old depot in Sutton St E1
 

I found a small depot today in Sutton Street, E1, bearing a sign in Johnson
Font. On closer examination, the faint trace of the words "London C*****y
Buses" could be seen on the wall, with the central word largely obscured by
the present signage. The depot is presently operated by DLO (possibly the
Defence Logistics Organisation).

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll...02494&t=k&om=1

Which bus company's name is obscured? Surely London Country Buses didn't
have a depot a couple of miles from Tower Bridge. Anyway, the gate of the
depot has an arch which looks too low for double deckers.

Old depot in Sutton St E1
 

In message , John Rowland
writes

Which bus company's name is obscured? Surely London Country Buses didn't
have a depot a couple of miles from Tower Bridge. Anyway, the gate of the
depot has an arch which looks too low for double deckers.

Possibly a Green Line coach depot? I'm not aware of one there (most were
well outside central London), but it would have been well-placed to
start the London end of the services that used the Minories terminus -
720, 721, 722 and 723 (the last of which ran along Commercial Road on
its way to Tilbury).

--
Paul Terry

Old depot in Sutton St E1
 

On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 07:25:20 +0100, Paul Terry
wrote:

In message , John Rowland
writes

Which bus company's name is obscured? Surely London Country Buses didn't
have a depot a couple of miles from Tower Bridge. Anyway, the gate of the
depot has an arch which looks too low for double deckers.

Possibly a Green Line coach depot? I'm not aware of one there (most were
well outside central London), but it would have been well-placed to
start the London end of the services that used the Minories terminus -
720, 721, 722 and 723 (the last of which ran along Commercial Road on
its way to Tilbury).

In the later days of LT running Green Line services, there were just a
pair of spare vehicles in central London kept at, I think, Victoria
(GM) and Hammersmith (RV). London Country had yet to be created then,
and I think I'd have heard if LCBS had opened a London garage later.

Unfortunately the Google Earth URL from the OP took me somewhere
rural, but if it was supposed to refer to Sidney street in Stepney
then I'm stumped.

I don't suppose there was something from, say, the GLC called London
Community Buses, doing call-and-ride for the elderly and disabled?

Old depot in Sutton St E1
 

Steve Fitzgerald wrote:
In message , John Rowland
writes

The depot is presently operated by DLO (possibly the
Defence Logistics Organisation).

Had a cycle up and looked at this today. The depot appears derelict and
as you say there is the sign above. I had a close look at it and the
second word is too long to be Country and anyway ends ..ty from what I
could see.

I suggest the sign read London Community Buses which I suspect links in
with the Stepney & Limehouse DLO (I think it was) which I guess was a
community bus operation which pre-dated the current Dial a Ride
operations.

I wonder if this help the identification, or am I totally at the wrong
end of the stick?



The DLO acronym generally stands for Direct Labour Organisation (ie the
arms-length council subsidiary required to compete for tenders).

Old depot in Sutton St E1
 

Ken wrote:
On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 07:25:20 +0100, Paul Terry
wrote:

In message , John Rowland
writes

Which bus company's name is obscured? Surely London Country Buses didn't
have a depot a couple of miles from Tower Bridge. Anyway, the gate of the
depot has an arch which looks too low for double deckers.

Possibly a Green Line coach depot? I'm not aware of one there (most were
well outside central London), but it would have been well-placed to
start the London end of the services that used the Minories terminus -
720, 721, 722 and 723 (the last of which ran along Commercial Road on
its way to Tilbury).

In the later days of LT running Green Line services, there were just a
pair of spare vehicles in central London kept at, I think, Victoria
(GM) and Hammersmith (RV). London Country had yet to be created then,
and I think I'd have heard if LCBS had opened a London garage later.

Unfortunately the Google Earth URL from the OP took me somewhere
rural, but if it was supposed to refer to Sidney street in Stepney
then I'm stumped.

I don't suppose there was something from, say, the GLC called London
Community Buses, doing call-and-ride for the elderly and disabled?

In my time on Green Line spare Green Line vehicles were kept at
Victoria both single and double deckers. If you broke down in the
Central Area while on Green Line you first informed your home depot and
then telephoned internal 79 to GM. If you broke down in the Country
Area you had different numbers to ring depending on the region you were
in.

GM worked the Sat, Suns, Bank Holidays Green Line duplicates
originating from London using Red Bus crews on overtime.

Daphne Ashworth

Old depot in Sutton St E1
 

"John Rowland" wrote:

Which bus company's name is obscured? Surely London Country Buses didn't
have a depot a couple of miles from Tower Bridge. Anyway, the gate of the
depot has an arch which looks too low for double deckers.

I don't think they ever used the name "London Country Buses". The
fleetname was "London Country" and the full company name was "London
Country Bus Services Ltd".
--
Roy