RF

RF (AEC Regal IV)

For ever associated with the Green Line Coach network (to many, a green coloured RF was always a "Green Line" even when it wasn't), the RF was the workhorse London Transport single deck bus from when it was introduced in 1951, and throughout the fifties and sixties. On its formation, London Country inherited 413 RFs. Throughout the seventies, numbers decreased as most were not recertified when their "ticket" ran out. However, because of the general bus shortage, and despite the problems maintaining those remaining without the facilities of the London Transport works to fall back on, more than a few were spruced up and given short period recertification, usually for one or two years. The last RF in service with London Country, RF202 was withdrawn from service in July 1979, although it was kept by the company as a preserved vehicle and ran special trips for the next ten years. Many people, myself amongst them, consider the RF to be the finest bus ever built, a joy both to drive and to ride in.

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	On a cold February day in 1977, RF218 was taken on a tour of Dunton Green routes past and preseny. This picture sees it at Kippington Estate, Sevenoaks. I am the driver; the young lady deep in conversation with me is Marie, my daughter.
	On the same tour, RF218 poses at Kelvin Parade, Orpington, displaying the blind which has been the butt of many a joke.
	A final view of RF218, posing a rare schoolday only variation of route 493.
	A picture taken at the very end of the London Transport era, in June 1969, shows driver Charlie Elliott and RF592 working the last ever journey on route 413a to Sundridge Hospital. I was the only passenger on the trip.
	Several of us formed a group with the intention of preserving RF236. This was a particularly good example of an unmodernised and unrefurbished RF. Our efforts came to nothing, and this bus, like most of its counterparts, was scrapped. This view shows RF236 at Victoria (Eccleston Bridge) substituting for a defective RP in September 1975.
	Later in the same journey, RF236 pauses at Heathrow Airport North.
	The driver in this picture is my good friend, the late Les Flint, one of the driving forces behind the attempt to preserve this wonderful bus. This classic picture shows the bus opposite Dunton Green Garage. Les has brought it from Windsor; I am to take it on to Tunbridge Wells.
	Showing the difference between modernised and unmodernised versions, RF221 and RF218 sit at Windsor Bus Station 10-3-77