Buses in Essex

The 1960s and 1970s

This volume starts with London Transport’s green Country bus routes, radiating eastwards from Rainham, Epping and Romford. The author lived in Romford at this time and a favourite ride was on the 370 Romford–Tilbury Ferry route end-to-end, which started just half a mile from his home at the London Road Green Line Garage forecourt. Southend-on-Sea and Colchester Corporation are the municipal companies featured, as well as independents such as Upminster & District and Osborne’s, as well as some contractors. Most of the images are of the traditional half-cab exposed-radiator buses that were then in their last days, being withdrawn from service in some cases just weeks after being photographed. Going against the trend, Southend Corporation unusually chose to ignore the all-conquering Atlantean rear-engine type (as far as it could) and operated a few of the last exposed-radiator Leyland PD3s built in 1968. With his wonderfully evocative photography capturing an interesting and unique scene, David Christie offers a nostalgic and fascinating snapshot of the area in the late 1960s and early 1970s.