Routes 6 and 11 are two of London’s oldest and most well-known routes, and their history goes back to the start of motor-buses in around 1910. They also hung on to their Routemasters until relatively recently. Route 6 ran between Hackney Wick and Kensal Rise Station via Well Street, Hackney, Cambridge Heath, Hackney Road, Shoreditch, Liverpool Street, Bank, St Paul’s, Fleet Street, Aldwych, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Edgware Road, Warwick Avenue, The Chippenham and West Kilburn. A Monday to Saturday peak hours extension ran from Hackney Wick to Leyton Town Hall via Ruckholt Road. Willesden Garage journeys continued on from Kensal Rise via Staverton Road and Brondesbury Park. In 1964 Saturday service was withdrawn and replaced by new route 6B and regular service on the 6A. In 1966 Saturday service was reintroduced between Hackney Wick and Warwick Avenue Station. In 1968 Saturday service was extended from Warwick Avenue to Kensal Rise but withdrawn between Aldwych and Hackney Wick. (The latter was replaced by increased service on the 6A.) In 1969 the 6 was withdrawn between Hackney Wick and Leyton Town Hall. In 1970 Saturday service was re-introduced between Aldwych and Hackney Wick, but operation was split into two overlapping sections: Hackney Wick to Oxford Circus and Aldwych to Kensal Rise, replacing the withdrawn 6A. In 1973 Saturday through service was re-introduced. In 1992 the Aldwych to Hackney Wick section was replaced by new route 26. In 2005 it was extended from Aldwych to Willesden Garage via Kensal Rise, Chamberlayne Road, Donnington Road and Pound Lane. Route 11 runs between Hammersmith and Liverpool Street. Route 59 was a long-standing Sunday-only route that ran all the way from West Hampstead (West End Green) to Chipstead Valley via St John’s Wood, Baker Street, Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Westminster, Lambeth Bridge, Kennington, Brixton, Streatham, Norbury, Thornton Heath, London Road, West Croydon, Croydon, South Croydon, Purley and Coulsdon. In 1978 it was withdrawn and replaced by routes 159 and 190. The 59 was worked from Croydon [TC], Streatham [AK] and Thornton Heath [TH] garages. A detailed history of route 6 can be found in Kenneth Warren’s book, The Motorbus in Central London (Ian Allan, 1986; ISBN 0 7110 1568 6). |