Blue Bus

A Memory of Bedfont.

I don't know the name of the bus driver but I clearly remember the bus service mentioned which had its origins in the 1950s. I don't think it had a number in the early days, it was known simply as "The Blue Bus" and has its own distinctive blue bus stops, different to the standard LT signs. Originally it did not go to Bedfont Green but instead turned into Richmond Avenue then went clockwise around Northumberland Crescent and back along the full length of Richmond Avenue. It's hard to imagine a bus service using Northumberland Crescent these days, and indeed in the early 1960s this was changed so the bus just ran along the length of Richmond Avenue, backing up at the far end near the river and returning the same way - presumably the increasing volume of parked cars in Northumberland Crescent made it impossible to run buses along there.
In the late 1960s the route was amended to serve Bedfont Green, coming back via Hatton Road and New Road and around the same time it acquired the number 601. The Feltham end of the route terminated just before the level crossing, so the service did not cross the railway except briefly at the end of its life when it merged with route 603 which connected Feltham and Hanworth. This evolved into the H25 route we are familiar with today, operating to Hatton Cross instead of via New Road.