Check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Luckily, I made it over to the other stand in time to obtain the best seat on the bus. RT1700 had been drafted in at the last minute to cover for a broken-down Bristol VR (SFJ106R), so that was going to be my ride through to Great Missenden.
The only indication that this was, in fact, the route 27 bus for the day was the route number - no intermediate or destination blinds had been provided, but I guess they can be excused as it was a late notice cover! The journey was not what I had come to expect from London Bus Company drivers, as it was relatively slow, but we still made it to Great Missenden roughly on time. Being a service with only 3 trips that day, you would expect it to be rather busy. However, only the odd seat was taken on the upper deck with even fewer on the lower deck. As we grumbled into Great Missenden, I checked my timetable and realised that, even though buses were scheduled to meet here, the 359 and 394 weren't due out for about another 20 minutes.
10 minutes had passed before I heard the unmistakable sound of a heritage bus growling up the hill. The popular T792 had arrived, about to run the next 394 to Great Missenden. Surprisingly, I was able to board and obtain a seat easily - about half of the passengers had swapped on to the RT that was due out imminently on its next trip to High Wycombe, which looked as if it was going to be much better patronised than the one I had travelled on.
As expected, the bus hung around for 10 minutes before departure. Between those two times, RF600 (still in dire need of a repaint) arrived at the station and changed its blinds for the return trip on the direct 359. Unfortunately, everybody wanted the T, so the RF departed with under half load after the much busier and less direct 394. In previous years, the 394 has operated in a loop from Amersham, first going via Chesham and Great Missenden (this year's route) before taking what I can only assume was this year's 359 back, as far as Amersham. This year, the route was not just reduced, but also extended beyond Chesham all the way through to Tring, which seems to be a destination served in every most A&D running days - yet I've still not been there! We made very swift progress for such an old vehicle, meandering along the country lanes until we reached The Lee, which was a prime location for a photo.
Unfortunately, we did not seem to have the correct blinds - this is rather bizarre, because (as can be seen by the last photo) we had the right ones for the outward trip! If RF406's situation also applied to this bus, there were blinds from last year's running day, where most buses terminated at Amersham. Soon after, BN45 burbled up opposite us and deposited some people either wishing to get on our bus or just take photos. The odd person was able to squeeze on, then we were off and so was the BN, continuing its journey to the nearby Lee Common, a few minutes up the road.
A few minutes delay had been racked up at that stop, so the driver chucked the old thing around the corners a little, which made for an entertaining experience! Still, we made it through Chartridge (the 348B's terminus for the day) and off the small, single-track road to return to civilisation and, eventually, Chesham.
Upon arrival there, T792 returned to the buses' base today (Water Meadow Car Park) and many other buses turned around in the short space of time between that and my next bus. I managed to get some photos of multiple buses in almost perfect sun. They were BN45, having returned from Lee Common on a long run through to Tring and RF673 on one of the few 348B (Chartridge - Chesham - Hyde End) trips running that day, as a replacement for the 394C service that just covered Amersham - Hyde End in previous years.
and RF673 on one of the few 348B (Chartridge - Chesham - Hyde End) trips running that day, as a replacement for the 394C service that just covered Amersham - Hyde End in previous years.
Neither of those were my bus, as I had planned a short return trip on a rather nice Routemaster next instead...
Continued in Part 4.
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