BL Class At
Fulwell 19th July 1976 – 8th March 1982
95 small buses delivered in 1976/7
to London Transport. Single deck one man bus, with an under floor engine, and a
single front entrance / exit. The under floor engine gave a very high (3 big steps),
but flat floor.
Bristol LH Chassis, with Eastern
Coach Works (ECW) bodywork B39F+3 (single deck Bus 39
seats + 3 standing, with Front entrance / exit)
Fulwell had a BL allocation and used them on Routes 201, 202, 206 & 264 as well as a brief fling on the 270.
Route 264 was the first FW route to be converted from RF to BL operation on 19th July 1976. It retained BL’s until its withdrawal on 27th Jan 1978. Next came Routes 201 & 206 on 22nd August 1976. The 201 was only operated by FW on Sat & Sun. The Kingston (K) M-S and Norbition (NB) M-F allocation followed suit on 7th November 1976.
When Route 264 was withdrawn on 27th Jan 1978, the BL’s transferred to route 270. They only lasted 3 months; DMS’s took over from 9th April.
Reductions to routes running into Surrey occurred from28th October 1978. Route 201 was severely reduced, with the evening and Sunday service withdrawn altogether. The route was now worked by 3BL’s from Norbition, thus ending Fulwell’s association with the route. Route 206 was withdrawn altogether. Most of the route being covered by an extension of Kingston’s BL route 215. (Kingston, Surbition, Hinchley Wood, Claygate, Esher. Ext M-F except eves, and Sat shopping hours, via Lower Green to Hampton Court Station)
To make up for this loss of work at Fulwell, route 110(5 LS) and route 202 (5BL) where transferred in from Hounslow (AV).
From this date Fulwell’s BL’s where no longer used on a Sunday. Route 202 (the predecessor to route H22) ran Monday – Saturday, between Hounslow Bus Stn and Richmond, via Whitton and Twickenham. From 27th September 1980 the route was extended in Hounslow, along the High Street and Lampton Road to the Civic Centre. During the early part of 1982 M’s gradually took over from BL’s on the 202, with the route converted to the type by 8th March, thus ending their allocation at Fulwell. On 4th September 1982, route 202 was severely altered and transferred back to Hounslow.