please empty your brain below
Part of this route travels along West Barnes Lane. It goes over both railway crossings and over it again on the flyover(but not on it). It must be the most twisted road in the UK.
My wife worked in the ELF petrol Garage in West Barnes Lane in the seventies(Raynes Park end). They had numerous enquiries of where number so and so was that they had a hand drawn map showing the two crossings and the windy bit at the end and the direct route between the crossings, all neatly numbered.
Long ago I used to use the K5 occasionally from Kingston to Kings Road if one was coming and it was raining or I had a tired toddler in tow - but now I don't have a Travelcard - and the toddler has just passed his driving test! - so I always walk.
Warburton Van Man wouldn't have too much trouble getting to the CoOp on Kings Road - that 100-yard stretch of the K5 is in fact part of a former tram route, and 30 years later became part of London's first trolleybus route, lasting right through to the last day of London's trolleybus operations. The 371 still went that way for another 30 years, until 1992.
@Graham - it doesn't quite pass Kingsmeadow, (let alone go in!) but joins Cambridge Road about 50 metres east of its main entrance.
@David - the link reveals that a local councillor was active in keeping the service through the Tudor estate: but he isn't a LibDem
The current K5 is cobbled together from bits of the old K5, K6, K9, K10 and 485, so no wonder it's a bit confused.
In 2001 it was, I believe, the first London route to operate bus with new-style "51-plate" registrations.
The current operator is, I think, the sixth -
Westlink (1989)
London & Country (1993, part of Arriva from 1998),
Tellings Golden Miller (1999),
Mitcham Belle (2001, taken over by Centra in 2004),
Transdev (2006), and finally
Quality Line (2011)
The K9 lives on as Epsom Coaches (Quality Line's) E16
One mystery remains - how did you get to Ham in the first place? The merry, mazy 371? Walk across the bridge from Teddington? Or are you going to combine this with your current series on ferries by telling us about a trip on Hammerton's ferry from Twickenham?
maybe the oldest - N97? (goes back to 1934)
Or the highest numbered? N551?
I did suggest the N47 before, as it is my favourite of the night buses (to Orpington and beyond - the cut price Toy Story tagline). But here's some other notable night ones...
N8 - you live on the 8, try the dangerous and violent version.
N9 - because Heathrow Terminal 5. Also the second longest.
N15 - this bus route is hardcore. Take at your own risk and beware those on the Dagenham/Romford/Barking/Becontree Lifeline.
N89 - the longest route and one of the straightest (the Lewisham to Bexley bit is one straight line)
N207 - the straightest route, but very boring (it's just the 607 at night).
N279 - Waltham Cross is something special in the silly hours.
Also, make sure you take either the first Londonbound night bus or the last outbound night bus, unless you pick your local N8 or N205 because of your sanity.
But it is one of the buses in that list :)
And I picked the first outbound journey at the weekend, for added authenticity.
Wait and see...
The terminus is not that far from Ham House, but because of the loopy course of the river you would actually have been better to walk in the opposite direction, away from the lock. If you did walk along the riverbank from the lock, Ham House is downstream (and muddy), Kingston is upstream.
But yes, there are quicker ways to get to Ham from Morden
Minimalist bus blinds - the 8 and 65 occasionally have short workings to Bank and Ham respectively. Has the No 8's terminus ever been shown as plain "Bow", instead of Bow Church or Bow Garage?
TfL's journet planner reckons you could do the journey in an hour by changing buses in Raynes Park and Kingston, and even more quickly by using a train for the second leg.
TridentScan | Privacy Policy