Country Area Routes 300–303

Route 300 first appeared on the 63/64 Country Area map running between Grays (War Memorial) and Dartford via South Stifford and the Dartford Tunnel. A note states that a surcharge is required for going through the Tunnel!—one must wonder why there just weren’t fare stages at each end of the tunnel. In 1964 it was been diverted to run via West Thurrock instead of South Stifford, and had been extended from Grays to Stifford Clays (Whitmore Avenue) via Socketts Heath. (Also, appearing just on the 64/65 map was route 300A, which operated between Stifford Clays and Purfleet via Socketts Heath, Grays and West Thurrock.) In 1965 the Dartford Tunnel service was withdrawn and the 300 had replaced the old 300A as a daily service between Stifford Clays and Grays via Fairway and Turps Corner, extended on Mondays to Saturdays to East Purfleet (Mill Road) via West Thurrock and Stonehouse Corner, with some journeys extended to Purfleet Station. This service was renumbered 375 quite late in London Country days (by 1978) as the 300 number was needed for the renumbering of the 303A to eliminate the “A” suffix.

A Maidstone & District service 300 ran well into the London Transport area. It provided journeys on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Thamesmead (Eynsham Drive/Harrow Manorway) to Leysdown (Bus Station) via Abbey Wood, Plumstead, East Wickham, Welling, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Dartford, Stone, Greenhithe, Swanscombe, Northfleet, Gravesend, Higham, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Newington, Bobbing, Queenborough, Sheerness and Minster. In the 1978 timetable, buses were shown as leaving Thamesmead at 0900 on Saturdays and Sundays, and at 1930 on Fridays, arriving in Leysdown two hours and 47 minutes later. Return journeys from Leysdown departed at 1230 on Saturdays and 1730 on Sundays. Journeys on other days ran only between Gravesend and Leysdown. The service was designed to take people on holiday. There wouldn’t have been any number conflict with London Transport’s services, as routes south of the Thames were in the 4xx series.

This plate is especially interesting as it is unusual to find ones with red numbers on white backgrounds which are not for Saturday or Sunday routes. Also, limited stop and express services normally had white on blue “E” plates.

Route 301 was one of the country area’s major trunk services and ran between Watford Heath and Aylesbury via Watford, Huntonbridge, King’s Langley, Apsley Mills, Two Waters, Hemel Hempstead, Boxmoor, Berkhamsted, Northchurch and Tring. When the route was extended from Watford to Little Bushey via Bushey on 29 January 1964 (replacing the 312), the main Sunday service remained Watford Junction to Aylesbury. To serve Little Bushey an irregular, infrequent service was provided from Garston Garage to Little Bushey.

Route 302 is described below. Route 306 ran between New Barnet Station and Leavesden (Ganders Ash) via Barnet, Arkley, Borehamwood, Elstree, Bushey Heath, Bushey and Watford. During rush hours some journeys ran to Leavesden Works instead of Ganders Ash. The Sunday service ran only between Borehamwood and Leavesden.

A more detailed history of route 301 can be found in Kenneth Warren’s book, The Motorbus in London Country (Ian Allan, 1984; ISBN 0 7110 1360 8).

Route 301A provided just one Monday to Friday rush hour journey between Ovaltine Works and Watford By-Pass (Savage & Parsons) via Kings Langley and Watford Junction. It was a rarely-seen short-lived route and the journeys only ran from 1959 to 1967.

Route 302 ran between Watford Heath and Bennetts Gate via Bushey & Oxhey, Watford, Ridge Lane, Langleybury, King’s Langley, Apsley Mills, Two Waters, Moor End, Hemel Hempstead town centre and Longlands. Along with the 301 it provided the main trunk service between Bushey, Watford and Two Waters, at which point the 301 ran on to Aylesbury via Tring. The routes were very long established and were operated by RTs for many years.

Route 377 ran between Apsley Mills and Redbourn via Two Waters, Hemel Hempstead and Cupid Green.

A more detailed history of route 302 can be found in Kenneth Warren’s book, The Motorbus in London Country (Ian Allan, 1984; ISBN 0 7110 1360 8).

Route 302A was apparently a Sunday-only variant of the 302, as I have not been able to find reference to it on any of my Country Area maps. My guess is that it operated during the early- to mid-1960s, at the zenith of the suffixed routes in the Watford area.

Route 303 ran between Hitchin (St. Mary’s Square) and New Barnet Station via Little Wymondley, Stevenage, Knebworth, Mardley Hill, Welwyn, Welwyn Garden City, Stanborough, Hatfield, Bell Bar, Brookman’s Park, Little Heath, Potters Bar and Barnet.

The 303A also ran between the same termini, and is described below.

A more detailed history of route 303 can be found in Kenneth Warren’s book, The Motorbus in London Country (Ian Allan, 1984; ISBN 0 7110 1360 8).

The 303A followed an almost identical route as the 303 between Hitchin (St. Mary’s Square) and New Barnet Station, except that it diverted between the Rookery and Little Heath to serve Welham Green and Brookman’s Park Station while the 303 served Brookman’s Park (Town Centre). During the ’70s the 303A was renumbered 300 when London Country was busy eliminating suffix letters from its routes; the original route 300 being assigned the new number 375.

A more detailed history of route 303A can be found in Kenneth Warren’s book, The Motorbus in London Country (Ian Allan, 1984; ISBN 0 7110 1360 8).

Route 303C ran between Hitchin (St. Mary’s Square) and Stevenage Industrial Area via Symonds Green during Monday to Friday rush hours, and was introduced in the 1970s after the 303 and 303A had been converted to one-man-operation in order to retain some crew operation for the remaining conductors. (As there never was a 303B, I wonder if the “C” stood for Crewed?) It was a relatively short-lived operation and used RTs from Stevenage Garage [SV]. Of course, routes with “C” suffixes were always less common.