please empty your brain below
I did the Billingsgate Roman Bath house yesterday which was smaller but of interest.
Looks like an interesting day out. My ancestors were near Welwyn so I will have to make the trip.
Had totally forgotten the green line buses! Fab - they do go long distances. Thanks for the links

(good to have you back BTW. I didn't post before but I was disappointed / worried with Tuesdays hiatus)

AliE17 | 10.07.16 - 7:56 a.m. | #

You've captured the essence of my adopted home town. The 724 bus is impressively reliable but depressingly expensive per-mile - especially when compared to similar journeys in London!

Frank F | 10.07.16 - 8:05 a.m. | #

Interesting account, thanks, and it brought hazy memories of a Green Rover trip on the 724 from Romford Market. I think it was half-a-crown each for schoolmate and me and we ended up at Whipsnade Zoo - a special Sunday route, I vaguely remember, am I right? Sudden urge to look at my old diaries and bus maps.

Herbof | 10.07.16 - 9:49 a.m. | #

Ah, the 724. Childhood memories here too of watching it sail past me every day while waiting at the Two Bridges for a bus to school in Rickmansworth. Happy days.

THC | 10.07.16 - 9:59 a.m. | #

I seem to remember it was the 726 which went from Romford to Whipsnade Zoo (Summer Sundays only) by a double decker RT

Dave B | 10.07.16 - 11:14 a.m. | #

My mum and dad were married in WGC and lived there for a while. The reception was in a pub in Digswell.

I've been on the 724 bus, but only from Rickmansworth to Uxbridge IIRC. I wonder if anyone has ever ridden the entire route, or ever will 😉

Dave B I thought the 726 used to go from southeast London/Kent (perhaps Dartford/ Gravesend??) to Heathrow. Perhaps the number was nicked or reused? 726 was replaced by X26 and curtailed to Croydon or Bromley or something.

Lorenzo | 10.07.16 - 12:53 p.m. | #

The 726 number was reused.. Green Rover tickets were not usually valid on Green Line services.. London Country brought in a Golden Rover day ticket that could be used on both Country Buses and Green Line routes.

Kim | 10.07.16 - 1:03 p.m. | #

The 724 is known locally as The "H" Line - as it travels from Harlow to Heathrow via Hertford, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, etc.

Frank F | 10.07.16 - 1:33 p.m. | #

@Lorenzo

I've ridden the entire route (for the purpose of riding the entire route) several times but never managed to stay awake for all of it.

Once I saw passengers board in Harlow with luggage and alight at Heathrow, so someone does ride the entire route occasionally.

JQ | 10.07.16 - 2:20 p.m. | #

Curoiusly the e-plates site says the 724 started in 1967
http://www.eplates.info/724+727.html
but the two references cited by Wikipedia both say 1966 - significant as the first OMO operated Green Line service.

Dave B is quite right - the original 726 did run to Whipsnade - it was withdrawn in 1968 and the number re-sued in the 1970s.

timbo | 10.07.16 - 8:01 p.m. | #

A Daily Mail Model Village is a gift to satirists.

Ned | 10.07.16 - 8:28 p.m. | #

I commute on the East Coast mainline every day of the week. Although I've seen it a thousand times or more, Digswell Viaduct is easily the best part of the 90 minute journey and I pretty much always stop what I'm doing to admire the view.

Matt | 10.07.16 - 8:46 p.m. | #

I'm pleased the Green Line buses weren't Grey Line, as a good deal of today's comments would be invisible...

NLW | 10.07.16 - 9:16 p.m. | #

I like the green lines.

Herbof | 10.07.16 - 10:59 p.m. | #

thanks NLW ... the penny hadn't dropped that the text going green wasn't my computer acting up ... duh !!!

Caz | 10.07.16 - 11:16 p.m. | #

I'm not writing about buses tomorrow. I do hope you'll still find something to talk about.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 10.07.16 - 11:20 p.m. | #

I thought I'd wait until end of day before making a comment. Mainly because i was in two minds about saying anything about, you know, the 'green' thing. So now can see the attitude taken I'll say good job too. Perhaps though it a 'set-up'; knowing what some commenters are like for them to fall-into the trap. To be honest I found both (main) topics/subjects interesting but feel the comment 'dissing' is bit OTT.

Grumpy Anon | 10.07.16 - 11:58 p.m. | #

The 724 was hardly 'off topic'.

Maybe in future you could use an asterisk on those parts of the post that we are not permitted to discuss, or comment on.

Frank F | 11.07.16 - 5:36 a.m. | #

The 724 is a bus celebrating its precise half-century, so obviously it's not off-topic.

The green was merely to highlight its dominance of the conversation.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 11.07.16 - 8:13 a.m. | #

I'm surprised no one has yet picked up that the 724 hasn't run for 50 years continuously; between 1985 and 1987 it was replaced by the 524, between Watford and Harlow only. When it was re-introduced in 1987 it ran between Heathrow and Stansted Airports for a short while. I doubt if anyone used it to connect two flights though.

3078260061 | 11.07.16 - 9:55 a.m. | #

Always wondered if the 'Green Lines' were classed as bus or coach services? And is the current 724 classed as a coach or bus service?

OnTheBus | 11.07.16 - 3:39 p.m. | #

To London Transport they were coaches, as evidenced by the "bus and coach stop" signs where Green Line services called. And the "C" in the RMC and RCL Routemaster variants

| 11.07.16 - 9:22 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy