< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright Google Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details Location Link/s Ash Grove Garage Ash Grove Garage Date added to site 12/03/2021 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: The early 1980s saw an ambitious programme of improvements to London's bus garages, which had remained largely unchanged since the mid-1950s. Several garages were extensively rebuilt, while there were also a number of completely new garages built. The first of these to open was Ash Grove on 25th April 1981 (the same day that the former Clapham tram shed/bus garage was reopened after serving as a transport museum for years, to allow Norwood and later Streatham garages to be rebuilt). Ash Grove replaced smaller garages at Dalston and Hackney and its name was unusually taken not from its locality but from a residential street over which it was built. The rump of Ash Grove (the road) remained as the main access route to the garage, passing under the Liverpool Street railway lines and joining Mare Street. The road can be seen in the bottom left-hand corner of this view, and is also the location of the previous photo. Another access point is at the opposite end of the yard, leading onto Sheep Lane. This was not normally used in London Transport days, though it appears to be open here (middle right). Ash Grove has had a somewhat chequered history since, with bus tendering losses rendering it surplus to requirements for a time. It is now back in use and is one of the small elite of London bus garages that are actually shared between two operators, in this case Arriva London and CT Plus (Hackney CT). However, unlike Fulwell and Edgware, there is no clear distinction between the sections used by each. An open day had been planned for this April, to mark 40 years since the garage's opening. Understandably this has now been postponed. Another of 1981's new garages features at the end of today's batch of photos.

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