East Kent double deckers at Walmer running day

[Neil Gow]

Here are pictures of five of the East Kent double deckers in action at the Walmer running day on Saturday.

- Guy Arab MFN 888 at Sandown

- Leyland Olympian 7801 at Whitfield

- AEC Regent PFN 874 at Deal

- Fleetline RFN 953F at Deal

- Guy Arab FFN 399 at Sholden

[Nicholas King]

Thank you, Neil – but MFN 888 is actually MFN 898.

                Note its very unusual blind display.

 

Nicholas King

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[Neil Gow]

Thanks Nicolas, I believe MFN 888 which was once preserved by the company, is still around - but it should be a prerequisite of any bus enthusiast to read a registration plate correctly!

That combined display is certainly interesting and I'm guessing that the number 15 was a Folkestone area service at that time (and that the Canterbury-Dover service had a different number before it became 615 in the 1970s area route numbering scheme).

Neil.

[Nicholas King]

Easy bit first : yes, MFN 888 is with the same owner, but hasn’t been on the road for some time.

Less easy bit.  Right, sit down.  All of this relates to the period from the late 1940s to mid-1960s, though the precise detail changed from time to time.

The 15 on the number display is the traditional Canterbury to Dover route.

The destination blind is for early and late short workings of 16 from Folkestone to Broome Park AA Box.  Some of these ran via Hawkinge Aerodrome; such journeys were, from about 1961, numbered 102.  The return trips don’t seem to have had any special “short working” display, and used the normal full panel for southbound 16 or 102.

On Sundays during the winter period, the first through 16 from Canterbury to Folkestone wasn’t until 1035.  However, there was a bus at about 0845 from Folkestone to Broome Park.  This kissed and turned at Broome Park to connect with the 15 at 0907 from Canterbury to Dover, providing an earlier facility from Canterbury to Folkestone.  It was for that trip that the “15/16” number blind was intended.

There is known to have been a special destination panel at Canterbury for this working, showing BRIDGE/BROOME PARK/DOVER/FOLKESTONE.  It is not known whether Dover buses also had that display.  (Does anyone know whether the destination blind in 898 is a Canterbury or Dover set?)  Vehicles swapped ends on the 15 and so Dover vehicles would have sometimes turned out on that trip.

This unusual arrangement eventually fell foul of service economies.

What 898 was displaying on Saturday was therefore a mongrel of the destination panel for the northbound trip from Folkestone and the number blind for the southbound connector from Canterbury.

                There is a lot more here on which one could digress, but not now.  Maybe other correspondents will pick up the threads.

 

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[Nicholas King]

Correction of earlier messsage

 

Easy bit first : yes, MFN 888 is with the same owner, but hasn’t been on the road for some time.

Less easy bit.  Right, sit down.  All of this relates to the period from the late 1940s to mid-1960s, though the precise detail changed from time to time.

The 15 on the number display is the traditional Canterbury to Dover route.

The destination blind is for early and late short workings of 16 from Folkestone to Broome Park AA Box.  Some of these ran via Hawkinge Aerodrome; such journeys were, from about 1961, numbered 102.  The return trips don’t seem to have had any special “short working” display, and used the normal full panel for southbound 16 or 102.

On Sundays during the winter period, the first through 16 from Canterbury to Folkestone wasn’t until 1035.  However, there was a bus at about 0845 from Folkestone to Broome Park.  This kissed and turned at Broome Park to connect with the 15 at 0907 from Canterbury to Dover, providing an earlier facility from Canterbury to Folkestone.  It was for that trip that the “15/16” number blind was intended.

There is known to have been a special destination panel at Canterbury for this working, showing BRIDGE/BROOME PARK/DOVER/FOLKESTONE.  It is not known whether Dover buses also had that display.  Vehicles swapped ends on the 15 and so Dover vehicles would have sometimes turned out on that trip.

This unusual arrangement eventually fell foul of service economies.

What 898 was displaying on Saturday was therefore a mongrel of the destination panel for the northbound trip from Folkestone and the number blind for the southbound connector from Canterbury.  Does anyone know whether that number blind is a Canterbury set or a Dover set?

                There is a lot more here on which one could digress, but not now.  Maybe other correspondents will pick up the threads.

 

Nicholas King

 

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