Stagecoach London Catford Garage (TL) Open Day

Firstly I must apologise for the lateness of this post, I've been busy studying lately and didn't have much time to write for the blog.

Old and new vehicles lined up in the front of TL, nearest is wartime utility Guy G351.
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On the 10th of May 2014 Stagecoach were holding an open day at Catford (TL) to celebrate the garage's centenary. There were many things to do and I went to the garage intending to do them all.

I arrived at the garage at 9:20am to find a lot of people waiting, mostly old men. Everyone was milling around the front gate waiting. The opening was late due to several vehicles from the display being late, which annoyed several people in the crowd. At around 10 the garage was announced open and people poured in. Inside the garage were many old vehicles on display and some were still arriving an hour later. There were also many sales stalls selling models, books and even destination blinds, and you could go on bus wash rides on new Enviro400H 12284 from around 11.

12284 carries a full load through the bus wash.
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Also from 11 there was a heritage service running on the Bellingham-Elmers End section of route 54. There was a heritage service running to the garage in the morning on route 47 but I missed it. The first heritage 54 out, at 11, was Stagecoach Bedford 14000, a tri-axle Leyland Olympian new to Hong Kong. The 100-seater bus filled up quickly, mostly with enthusiasts and it was off towards Elmers End. At practically every turn someone took pictures of the bus. After a short 20-minute ride we had arrived at Elmers End. Many of the passengers, including me, got off to take pictures. The break lasted about 2 minutes before the bus went back towards Catford. Many people waiting were visibly surprised to see the old Olympian roll up and there was a full load by the end of the trip.

14000 generates quite a stir at Elmers End.

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On arrival back at TL the queue for the heritage service had gotten massive. My original intention was to get on the other heritage buses which were two Routemasters and RLH61. However the queue was off-putting so I sneaked off to get some food and found that the buses passing the garage were extremely crowded. On the 208 people were noticing my camera (which was rare) and asking questions about the event. Soon I had eaten and went to Catford Bridge as the 171 was standing there as a result of the open day. The stand was packed with buses parked on the crossroads behind, making the road a lot more congested than it usually was. Some of the 171 drivers looked a bit annoyed at the diversion.

I walked back to the garage in one of the rainstorms of the day and walked to 12284 ride through the bus wash. Like 14000 earlier, it filled up quickly, this time with a lot of small children. The bus was off 5 minutes later and entered a passageway behind the garage that led to the bus wash. It entered the wash not far from the sales stalls, I imagine some of them got a bit wet over the course of the day. As the rollers powered up the children on it started to get really loud and excited, meaning my ears were ringing by the end of the ride. It exited the garage through the maintenance pits.

After going on all these rides I decided to sample the interiors of all the buses on display. I started with utility Guy G351 and immediately noticed how hot the interior was. Not spending much time boiling to death I walked to one of the new Geminis for Plumstead, 13015. The seats aren't as padded as on Tridents and the seats look like they're a slightly different colour too. However it was nice inside and it was clearly the most popular of the buses on display as it got a bit crowded. There's also some contraption on the windows to break them in an emergency like on Borismasters.

The emergency window smashing ...thing on 13015.

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Back inside the garage near the bus wash was an Optare Excel with posters inside detailing the history of Catford garage. These showed a lot from the opening of it by Tilling in 1914 to the conductress who saved a bus from a bomb by ringing the stop bell in 1944 and more recent things like the arrival of low-floor buses in 1999. It was an interesting read and I spent several good minutes inside. There were several other things to do but unfortunately I didn't have time for them as I had to go to Elephant & Castle as the 136 had been extended on the same day. Still the experience was great and I'd definitely rate this open day highly. I recommend going on a garage open day, it's a great chance to see behind the scenes which not many people usually get to do. There are several open days throughout the summer and one will probably be near you so try and go. These are:

7th of June - Alperton (ON)

21st of June - Stockwell (SW)

28th of June - Fulwell (FW)

5th of July - Potters Bar (PB)

19th of July - Walworth (WL)

7th of September - Dartford (DT)

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