London Transport
Green Line Coach Routes 704–705

Last updated 03-06-08.

Route 704 was introduced in 1946 as part of the post-war re-instatement of the coach services. It ran between Tunbridge Wells and Windsor via Southborough, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Riverhead, Knockholt, Farnborough, Bromley, Catford, Lewisham, New Cross, Old Kent Road, Elephant & Castle, Millbank, Victoria, Hyde Park Corner, Kensington, Hammersmith, Turnham Green, Osterley, London Airport North, Colnbrook, Langley, Slough and Eton. The first of the famous RF-class vehicles was introduced on this route in 1951 and this type stayed on the route until conversion to RCL (Routemaster Coach, Long) in 1966. These in turn gave way to one-person-operated RP coaches in 1972. Apart from some summer Sunday variations, the terminals of the route never changed until it was withdrawn later in the 1970s as the traditional Green Line network collapsed due to lack of patronage.
704
 704 TUNBRIDGE WELLS VIA SEVENOAKS
This plate is interesting as it includes the word VIA rather than naming the places in sequence. It is also very much less common to have four lines of text on Green Line plates; the standard ones usually have three.		 704 TUNBRIDGE WELLS VIA SEVENOAKS
This “E” plate is particularly unusual in that the word VIA is in smaller letters and is not on its own line.
704 BROMLEY SEVENOAKS TUNBRIDGE WELLS
The back of “E” plates are usually the same colour as the face; however, this one is cream.		 704 VICTORIA SEVENOAKS TUNBRIDGE WELLS
This plate is unusual in that the back of this plate is cream rather than the same as the observe, which is more common.
The backs of a surprisingly large number of Green Line “E” plates are the same colour as the lettering rather than the background colour. This is the reverse of the BROMLEY SEVENOAKS TUNBRIDGE WELLS plate to the left.
704 VICTORIA SEVENOAKS TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Reducing the amount of space between lines allowed for a slightly larger route number on this “E” plate.		 704 SEVENOAKS TONBRIDGE TUNBRIDGE WELLS
This “E” plate was bought from the London Transport Museum in Syon Park in the late 1970s when it closed down to move to Covent Garden.		 704 SEVENOAKS TONBRIDGE TUNBRIDGE WELLS
My guess is that this “E” plate came from the Sevenoaks area, as there are only these two destinations left beyond Sevenoaks.
704 LONDON and WINDSOR
This “E” plate came from Sevenoaks Bus Station and is an example of the very rare use of the word AND between place names.		 704 VICTORIA LONDON AIRPORT SLOUGH WINDSOR
 704 LONDON AIRPORT SLOUGH WINDSOR
These two plates are from westbound stops, and date from the days before the name Heathrow Airport was widely used, as later “E” plates carried that rather than LONDON AIRPORT as on these plates.
704 WINDSOR via VICTORIA
 704 WINDSOR via SLOUGH
This westbound plate was posted in Great West Road at Oxford Avenue.		 704 SLOUGH WINDSOR
Later “E” plates omitted the word VIA.
704 - 705
Routes 704 and 705 ran together between Bromley and Windsor. Two examples of this plate were displayed: Slough High Street and Elephant & Castle; both towards Windsor.		 704 WINDSOR -705 WINDSOR
 704 VICTORIA TUNBRIDGE WELLS - 705 VICTORIA SEVENOAKS
This extremely rare “E” plate was discovered at the back of Windsor Garage in the early ’seventies by an RF driver. It was attached to a stop flag that had been knocked over in an accident.
Timetable leaflet for Green Line Coach Routes 704 and 705
This is a copy of a leaflet for coach routes 704 and 705 with a print reference of 1063/2806S 60M, presumably from October 1963. It is a single sheet of paper, folded to give ten 3" × 6" pages. It has complete timetables and a faretable, showing four coaches per hour over the common section of route between Windsor and Bromley. The through fare for the 3 hour 20 minute journey from Windsor to Tunbridge Wells was only 12 shillings (60p). It is printed in maroon throughout, with blue being used for the express section of the timetables for route 705 between Victoria and Windsor.
Timetable leaflet for Green Line Coach Routes 704 and 705

Route 705 was introduced in 1946 as part of the post-war re-instatement of the coach services. The 705 ran between Sevenoaks and Windsor via Riverhead, Sundridge, Westerham, Biggin Hill, Keston, Hayes, Bromley, Catford, Lewisham, New Cross, Old Kent Road, Elephant & Castle, Victoria, Hyde Park Corner, Kensington, Hammersmith, Osterley, Heathrow Airport North, Langley, Slough and Eton. From 1963 until 1967 journeys from Victoria to Windsor ran as a limited-stop express service and white-on-blue “E” plates were used on that section of the route. Operated throughout most of the 1950s by the famous RF-class coaches, RCs replaced RFs from 28 November 1965. Conversion to RCL-class long Routemaster coaches came on 2nd December 1967, followed by one-man-operation in 1972 with RP coaches. The Green Line route network began to be run down in the 1970s, but the 705 survived longer than some others by means of a re-routing via Heathrow Airport in 1977 and journeys to Windsor Safari Park on summer Sundays. However, by 1978 it had been reduced to one weekday evening local journey between Tunbridge Wells and Westerham, plus a Sunday through service from Windsor. No trace of it remains today, although the Kent part of its former routing is covered by services 246 and 402.
705
 705 FARE STAGE
705 BROMLEY WESTERHAM SEVENOAKS
This plate perhaps came from the start of the 705 in Windsor.		 705 VICTORIA WESTERHAM SEVENOAKS
This plate is unusual in that the back of this plate is cream rather than the more common Lincoln green.		 705 VICTORIA WESTERHAM SEVENOAKS
A newer version of the plate above, with white figures.
705 SEVENOAKS VIA WESTERHAM
 705 VICTORIA WESTERHAM SEVENOAKS observe
The observe of the “E” plate above.		 705 SEVENOAKS
This “E” plate was at Pimlico, St. George’s Square.
The “E” plates above are all from eastbound coach stops; the ones below for westbound.
705 VICTORIA LONDON AIRPORT WINDSOR
This plate would have been from a westbound stop at the eastern end of the route, probably between Sevenoaks and Bromley.		 705 HEATHROW AIRPORT SLOUGH WINDSOR
This plate is particularly interesting as the name HEATHROW AIRPORT is in condensed lettering that is smaller than the other destinations.		 705 HEATHROW AIRPORT SLOUGH WINDSOR
A newer version of the previous plate, with white lettering and the text on four lines.
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Click on any of the tiles below to go to images of the “E” plates and the route descriptions for that number series.
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Red Arrow & Express Routes 500-616 Trolleybus Routes 513-699
Green Line Routes 701-703 Green Line Routes 704-705 Green Line Routes 706-708
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Green Line Routes 725-799 Country Area Routes 800-804 Country Area Routes 805-854A
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