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South Park Drive, BARKING, IG11 8UD

Barking bus garage was one of two opened by the London General Ominibus Company in January 1924 to serve a local population increase created by the building of large out-county housing estates at Becontree and Dagenham by the London County Council. The garage is currently operated by the East London subsidiary of Stagecoach.

These Coat of Arms appear on the front of the former Ipswich Borough Transport No.9 (MRT 9P), a Leyland Atlantean AN68/1R with Roe 72-seater bodywork. They are explained on the Wikipedia website. The bus is on display at an Open Day held at Barking Bus Garage.

As seen from South Park Drive.

This bus No.9 (MRT 9P) named Phillipa Jayne, is a Leyland Atlantean AN68/1R with Roe 72-seater bodywork, which entered service in 1975 with Ipswich Borough Transport. It was converted to open-top in the early 1990s and is now preserved. The destination board showing route 422 Bexleyheath refers to the Stagecoach London route which currently runs between North Greenwich Station and Bexleyheath via Blackheath, Charlton, Woolwich and Plumstead. It is one of several vehicles on display at an Open Day held at Barking Bus Garage.

The garage opened in 1924, is currently operated by the East London subsidiary of Stagecoach and is one of three bus depots in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. This shows the side that fronts South Park Drive.

These and a number of other once ubiquitous RT-type buses were assembled here to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of the operation of such vehicles in London. Barking was chosen because it was the last London Transport garage to operate the type, their final appearance being on local route 62. The RTs were replaced on the route (but not for long) by newer Routemasters, an example of which can be seen on the far right.

This photo shows the bus wash where vehicles go through so that they are kept clean. The bus on the left is 10326 (SN16 OKH) a 2016 ADL E40D Euro 6 with ADL Enviro 400 MMC 65-seater bodywork while the one on the right is 10181 (SN63 JMJ) a 2013 ADL E40D with ADL Enviro 400 65-seater bodywork. Incidentally, ADL is the abbreviation for Alexander Dennis Limited which is mentioned on the Wikipedia website at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dennis.

This photo shows two Stagecoach London buses on display at an Open Day held at Barking bus garage. The one on the left is 34359 (LV52 HKL) a 2002 Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer 2 bodywork. The destination blind shows route 314 that runs between Eltham Station and New Addington via Bromley and the letters TB on its side indicate that it was allocated to Bromley Garage (TQ4266). The double-deck vehicle on the right is 18499 (LX06 AHF) a 2006 Dennis Trident 2 with Alexander ALX400 bodywork with front entrance and centre exit. The destination blind shows route 5 which runs between Canning Town and Romford Market via East Ham and Barking. That route is now operated by Go-Ahead London General.

Taken on the garage Open Day held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of the operation of once ubiquitous RT-type buses in London. Barking was chosen because it was the last London Transport garage to operate the type, their final appearance being on local route 62. An example of the type can be seen standing in the interior of the garage.