Charlton
Victoria Way Stand

RT 1582. KLB 670. On service 180, Abbey Wood via Abbey Estate - Lower Sydenham
September 1968. Photograph. John King

The RT 180 with the blind still displaying Victoria Way, Woolwich Road. The bus stands at Victoria Way were actually in Troughton Road, as above or Rathmore Road, below. Buses would go along Woolwich Road, turn into Victoria Way. Then into Troughton Road, then into Rathmore Road to exit back into Woolwich Road.

RT 4338.NLP 503. On service 180 in the same place as the photograph above. This one is a roofbox number RT. Seen here on a wet day in January 1970. The tree looks a little larger.
Photograph. John King

The above picture is a bit of a fake as the bus is allocated to AW (161a) The 161 was worked from SP. RM 1584. 584 CLT. August 1970.
Photograph. John King
Victoria Way was not only used by buses on short workings. It was also used by some routes on extended workings. Services 177 and 180 worked a few shorts here in rush hours. Services 51, 51c, 96, 132, 161, 161a, were extended here during rush hours. This carried on the tradition of the trams on workman specials. Trams from Eltham worked specials to Greenwich along Woolwich Road. This necessitated them reversing at Beresford Square, Woolwich. However in 1940 a special section of track was laid so they could work direct. (This track can be seen in the picture of the 51 bus on the Woolwich page. This section of track was put to use in July 1952 to take trams to the scrap yard at Penhall Road, Charlton. 

The need for these extra buses doing extended workings and extra shorts was that the Woolwich Road had a lot of industry, and many workers used these buses to make their way home. Names now disappeared from the area. Johnson & Phillips, Siemens, G.A. Harvey, and Stones, and others. The area has now gone over to retail outlets, with the associated car parks.

RT 1582. KLB 670. On service 180, Abbey Wood via Abbey Estate - Lower Sydenham
September 1968. 
Photograph. John King
The routes doing rush houir extended working in 1966 were as follows:-
    51.        Locks Bottom - Woolwich.
    51c       Green Street Green - Woolwich
    96         Dartford  - Woolwich
    132       Eltham - Woolwich, via Bexleyheath and Erith.
    161       Chislehurst - Woolwich, also extended from Chislehurst to Sidcup
    161a      Petts Wood - Woolwich.
by 1972 the routes were as follows, 51a (as 51c above), 96, 161 and 161a. 

This page was designed and is maintained by Toby and John King, I would accept any comments or questions  See Index Page


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