Harrow Weald to Heathrow Airport
Route 140 Celebration
23/11/19
With the upcoming withdrawal of the direct 140 service between Harrow Weald and Heathrow, the London Bus Museum arranged for heritage vehicles to run over the route between Harrow Weald garage and Heathrow Airport. It was the final 80th Anniversary of the RT type event for the year, but other types relevant to the route also participated.
For us, it was important that RT4275 attended for two reasons. Firstly, we had lived near the route for nearly 30 years and, secondly, because the body on RT4275 was mounted on a Harrow Weald-based vehicle (RT2911) between 1960 and 1964. Despite lack of opportunity to fully road test the bus after major repairs, it behaved impeccably in the damp and dull conditions on the day.
We used the two of the oldest blind rolls in our collection in the rear of the bus – a 1959 roll for the intermediate points and a 1963 one for the destinations. Thankfully, despite their fragility they did not disintegrate!
We were scheduled to work two runs to Heathrow before a short to Hayes (where we garaged overnight) but traffic conditions dictated otherwise. Owing to road works and a massive diversion in Hayes, we departed on our second run around 45 minutes late – intending to make up time by turning short at Hayes. Well, that was the plan but with Metroline’s Volvo VW1213 (LK61 BNJ) also on the 140 broken-down in an awkward place on the Hayes diversion we actually ended up getting back to Harrow Weald an hour late!
Metrobuses worked the route from 1983 through to 1999, and two of the type were present. M1014 is snapped through a bus window at South Harrow.
Photo: M C Lane
Vehicles that participated were:
RT714, 786, 1798, 2177, 3251, 4275, 4777, 4779
RM545, 835, 1397, 1527
RCL2239 (I’m not sure what relevance this type has to the 140, but never mind)
M1014, 1069
RT3316 was also in attendance, acting as a mobile information vehicle