Celebrating a British icon 63
of the Underground station
through Mill Hill to Golders
Green with General’s B-type
single-deckers. At one stage
the 114 ran through from the
west side to the Green Man at
Mill Hill but was soon cut back
to Edgware. The 104 was later
severed at Mill Hill where the
Golders Green section became
route 240, while a new single-
deck route 240A operated via
different roads from Mill Hill
Broadway to Mill Hill East.
Later changes during the 1960s
saw the 240A replaced by an
extension of the Routemaster-
operated 221 from North
Finchley. The 240 was eventually
extended back to Edgware and
operated with RTs then later by
Routemasters.
Night buses first reached
Edgware in April 1984 when
the N94 (Liverpool Street-
Cricklewood) was extended
north. It was renumbered N16 in
January 1991 and terminates at
Victoria. It has been joined by the
N5 from Victoria and the N113,
a variant of daytime service 113,
from Trafalgar Square. All serve
different intermediate points.For many years, Green Line
routes 706, 707 and 708 passed
through Edgware on their long
cross-London journeys.Three garages
There has been a bus garage in
Edgware since the first opened
in April 1925. It was replaced by
a larger one in 1939 and in 1984
by today’s building, alongside the
Underground line and opened in
1984.
This has capacity for around
200 vehicles and was created at
the same time as the Broadwalk
shopping centre and a new bus
station. All three garages have
been coded EW, which Metroline
retains for the main part of the
building.
RATP-owned London Sovereign
operates from part of the
building, using code letters
BT, probably a legacy of when
Borehamwood-based BTS
operated here.
Postwar years saw London
Transport operate prewar STL-
type AEC Regents, their RT-class
successors and for a short time
the wider RTW-class Leylands.
In the 1960s and into the 1970s
RTs on the 18, 79A, 107, 113,
114 and 142 took passengers
to Alperton, Enfield, Harrow,
Kilburn, Oxford Circus and
Watford.
My own favourites from my
youth were the TD-class Leyland
Tiger PS1 halfcab single-deckers
bought in the early postwar
period.These transported me part
of the way to and from school
in Burnt Oak. I can still recall
the sounds as they growled
their way up Hale Lane out
of the town towards Mill Hill
East on route 240A. Those
fine vehicles were eventually
replaced by underfloor-engined
RF-class AEC Regal IV, which
although interesting were not as
characterful as the Tigers. RFs
remained in Edgware until 1977,
when BL-class Bristol LHs took
over route 251.
The Routemaster was the last
crew-operated halfcab double-
decker to frequent Edgware,
lasting until route 113 was
converted to driver-only
operation on 25 October 1986.Competitive tendering
Edgware was one of the first
parts of suburban London to
experience competitive tendering
for contracts to provide London
Transport services.
The first in the area was route
142 (Watford-Brent Cross), which
was awarded to London Country
North West from 21 June 1986,
operated from the former
Country Area garage at Garston
in Watford. To start with,
existing Leyland Atlantean and
Olympian double-deckers were
used until new green and grey
Olympians were delivered.
Next up was the 292 (Edgware-
Borehamwood) on 6 June 1987
when it turned green with
London Country North East,Suburban London
LEFT: London
Transport replaced
many RF-class AEC
Regal IVs in the
1970s with Eastern
Coach Works-
bodied Bristol
LHs like BL41,
photographed
in Edgware High
Street in 1987.