The description of a seven-day stage carriage tour of southern England in Buses Illustrated No.1 inspired BOB HIND to make this his latest fourpart adventure by local service bus, starting out 70 years later at the same time of day and place as the legendary John Gillham did from north London
John Charles Gillham, or JCG as he liked to be known, died in 2009 at the age of 91. Born in South Ealing in 1917, he was an outstanding transport historian, author, cartographer and photographer.
He was a prolific writer on trains, trams and trolleybuses from another era. He worked for 21 years at London Transport’s Chiswick Works where, at one point, he was part of the team that designed the Routemaster. During his lifetime, he saw great changes in this industry, but at the age of 32 he was living in a much different world and a devastated city.
In 1949, London was still recovering from the destruction of war. The rebuilding of our capital was only starting and it would be many years before the scars were finally healed. In May, the first 10-storey council housing block had been opened in Holborn.
Work had started on reconstruction in the area between Moorgate and Aldersgate but it would take another 20 years be…
