A Bus Spotters Dream - Tottenham High Road 1949

Comment by Geraldine on February 20, 2015 at 9:05

How much more orderly man in the street was.  Look at the bus queues!  Hats - you rarely left home without one.  Bovril sandwiches, Palm Toffee and the good old 627 and 649 trolleybuses.  Nice picture painting a thousand words and bringing back many memories.

Comment by Jeremyb on February 20, 2015 at 9:11

Nowadays, of course, the buses are diverted away from the ground on match days and you can't catch one outside after the match---progress!

Comment by irene rose neil on February 20, 2015 at 22:22

lovely picture of how I remember London thanks

Comment by StephenBln on February 20, 2015 at 23:00

Just a note regarding the amount of buses.

Until the middle of the 60s (actually from January 1967), there was a bus every minute during the daytime and peaks along Tottenham High Road, Seven Sisters Road, as well as along Green Lanes in Harringay! It was a walk to bus stop, get straight on bus service! Towards the end of the 60s, services were cut, mostly in connection with the opening of the Victoria Line.

Comment by Paul on July 21, 2024 at 7:35

I remember trolley buses as a child in Green Lanes, but in the picture above we have trolley buses overtaking. What I'm wondering is how they did this? Were different routes attached to different wires? There appears to be two sets of wires. If I'm not mistaken sometimes the bus conductor manipulated the pantograph with a long pole to change wires? I also remember the trolleys being electrically propelled pulled away from the bus stop very fast!

Comment by StephenBln 21 hours ago

Paul. Because of the large crowds after matches, a lay-by wire was provided where trolleybuses which had been turned at Tottenham Snell's Park could wait empty for the punters, allowing those running in service from Edmonton to pass by. I've added two diagrams.

Comment by Geraldine 11 hours ago

Amazing organisation on the part of the bus company.  My memories of the trolley buses are similar to Paul's.  I imagined they were somehow towed for the order to be changed.  Female illogic.  Still bowled over by the photograph.  It seems another era and of almost a different species.

Comment by StephenBln 10 hours ago

For anyone who grew up in that period, they were such a big part of everyday life. And they were big, very big (especially for kids) - a lot longer than the motor buses of the time. All the routes had very low headways of 2-3 minutes at peak times, with over 600 trolleybus movements over the Manor House junctions in the evening peak period. So they were a real presence. I remember waiting at Manor House to catch one down to the Salisbury.

Comment by Geraldine 10 hours ago

How wonderful they were.  I waited at the greengrocers opposite Salisbury for my mum to come home from work.

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