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Congratulations on Buses reaching its 70th anniversary last month and to see the re-creation of John Gillham’s 1949 bus journey. Although I hesitate to argue with such a luminary as Bob Hind, John Gillham’s 480 would certainly not have been run by Chatham & District, which was broadly confined to former tram routes within the Medway Towns.
Rather, it would have been a London Transport Country Area service. When LT was formed, it was given a virtual monopoly of bus services within a specified radius of the capital. As such, it took over operations in the Dartford and Gravesend areas formerly operated by Maidstone & District. The postwar terminus was the quaintly named Milton Ale Shades on the eastern side of Gravesend.
When the route started, this may have been the urban boundary of the town or possibly the limit of the radius. A local tram service, which finished about 1930, had extended to the area. It may also have been chosen because the road layout at that point, plus little other traffic, allowed double-deckers to make a U-turn to return westwards. The terminus was shown in October 1965 Buses Illustrated in an article by D. Trevor Rowe.
Nor would John Gillham have had to pay the …
