118 The London Bus
The much-altered 89
Like many of London’s long
established routes, the 89 has
changed significantly over the
years. Its initial route was from
Plumstead via Lewisham to
Bromley with some journeys
extended to Westerham. By
the outbreak of World War 2,
its northern terminal point
had moved to Welling and
it was curtailed to run only
between there and Lewisham in
November 1939.
In 1963 it was extended from
Welling to Eltham with part of
the allocation transferred to
Bexleyheath garage alongside
buses from New Cross. By
1978 it was the last route at
Bexleyheath to use RT double-
deckers, but these were replaced
by DMS-class Fleetlines from 22
April when all operations were
transferred to Bexleyheath and
the 89 was diverted to terminate
at Slade Green instead of Eltham.
When Bexleyheath garage closed
in 1986, operation of the 86
passed to New Cross until 1991
when some of its buses returned
to Bexleyheath. The remainder
of the operation followed in 2000
although New Cross operated
some journeys between 2002 and- Night service N89, between
Trafalgar Square and Erith,
began in June 2002.
Although it originally ran
between Lewisham and Bexley
with a Sunday extension on to
Dartford, by 1939 route 132 had
become a circular service linking
Eltham Well Hall station, Welling
and Bexleyheath. In March
1959, as part of the trolleybus
replacement programme, the
circular route was discontinued
and replaced by a service linking
Eltham Well Hall station and
Erith. It was revised to run
between Eltham and Woolwich
from 1964, when operation
was reallocated from Sidcup to
Bexleyheath.
In 1970 it was revised again
to run between Eltham and
Slade Green and converted from
crew operation with RTs to
single-deck SM-class AEC Swifts
without conductors. Operation
transferred back to Sidcup when
Bexleyheath closed in 1986.
Operation of the 86 passed to
Boro’line Maidstone in January1988 following a tendering
exercise. In February 1992,
Boro’line’s London operations
were sold to Proudmutual
Group, the holding company of
Kentish Bus (the former London
Country South East), which took
over the route.
Retendering in 1998 passed
the 89 on to the Belvedere depot
of Grays-based Harris Bus,
which operated London buses
on both sides of the river. Harris
Bus went into receivership in
December 1999 and after its
attempts to find other operators
prepared to take on the contracts
failed, Transport for London
established its own East Thames
Buses company, which remained
a TfL subsidiary until Go-Ahead
purchased it in July 2009.
The route 89 had been extended
to North Greenwich station inLondon Bus Garages
ABOVE: Bexleybus
59, a Leyland
National originally
numbered LS294 in
the main London
Transport fleet,
with an Iveco
minibus behind.
EAMONN KENTELL
RIGHT:
Bexleyheath-based
E50, an Alexander
Dennis Enviro400,
in Blackheath.