Notes About This Vehicle

Most motor bus designs are an evolution of the previous model, though occasionally one or two are rather more than that and a significant step forward. It can be argued that the LT of August 1929 and the ST of October the same year support this proposition, making their widespread predecessor, the NS, the last of which were still coming into regular service new, look decidedly antiquated.

The Metropolitan Police had extensive powers over the construction and use of public service vehicles in London, though from the earliest days of motor buses, legislation gradually allowed longer 2-axle buses and thus greater seating capacity. The first with three axles was the, as it turned out, not very successful small fleet of LS-types, introduced in 1927-29, though they paved the way for longer vehicles. The 2-axle double-deck ST, 3-axle LT and slightly later double-deck STLs were to dominate London’s streets for two decades.

The first 150 LT class had bodies built at the London General Omnibus Company’s (LGOC) Chiswick Works and mounted on the new ‘Renown’ chassis from the AEC. These were double deckers and still had an open staircase – those with them enclosed were numbered from LT151 and had bodies from Chiswick and three other builders.

The Renown chassis was available in two lengths; the shorter capable of supporting a 27ft body and the longer enabling 30ft. The greater length was put to good effect on the single deckers and the double deckers still offered slightly more seats than the STs on their ‘Regent’ chassis, also from AEC.

LT1 entered service on 6th August 1929. Single deckers numbered LT1001 to 1201 (excluding the experimental Green Line LT1137 double-decker mounted on the longer chassis) entered service from January 1931.

As with most other classes, during their operational lives there were significant variations and progressive improvements fitted. An offside driver’s mirror was added from July 1931. Very obviously, the first single deckers only had a destination blind box at the front and relied on interchangeable destination boards at the rear, originally, and very inconveniently for the conductors, positioned above gutter level. A route number plate augmented these and was positioned at the bottom of the rear nearside window. Both had black lettering on a white background. The later buses in this batch were built new with the addition of a rear blind display, similar to the one at the front and with the rear plates and destination boards omitted. Additionally, route number stencils were fitted to both offside and nearside windows. These, and the rear plates, were dropped later in life. Some later new vehicles had rear corner bumpers added. The photographic record shows that the configuration of opening windows varied following overhauls, though all had rain deflecting glass valances fitted to all side windows.

The formation of London Transport in July 1933 caused little or no change to the vehicles for some time. The new fleetname transfers only started to replace those of ‘General’ slowly from 1934 and the triangular General radiator badges would not have got changed to London Transport ones for a while. Also changed were the General metal radiator filler caps which were gradually changed to the newer London Transport rubber type.

As depicted here, LT1076 entered service in May 1931 from Dalston garage. It was transferred to Leyton in November 1933 having received its Metropolitan Stage Carriage licence number 9260 in May of that year. From December 1934 it carried a later body type with a rear destination blind box and so lost the rear wooden destination board included in this drawing. The combination of LT fleetname and metal General radiator cap and badge is therefore plausible for 1934, but only for a short while. It went back to Dalston briefly in February 1942 and then Elmers End in June of the same year to end its working days. It was finally withdrawn and sold in June 1950 to become a garden shed.

By March 1994 it was in a very poor state when bought for restoration by the London Transport Museum. With extensive work completed 2000-04, its condition in 2024 is replicated here as faithfully as practical.

In its restored condition it is displaying route 236 blinds, as when allocated to Leyton garage. A photograph by Alan B. Cross of LT1131 when it was at Leyton shows this. The route started in October 1934 as a replacement for the 263A.

Notes About This Drawing

The drawing is based on about 140 close-up and general photographs taken when visiting the London Bus Museum at Brooklands and at the London Transport Museum Depot at Acton, followed by extensive measuring of the vehicle.

It should be understood that all four elevations are seen here as one would see each part of the vehicle at a truly perpendicular angle. In real life this is of course impossible.