Recreating London’s country bus routes 464, 465 and 485

Saturday 27th September 2025

The London Transport Museum Friends held another country bus route recreating day on Tuesday and I was lucky enough to get a sought after ticket and take a ride on board.

It follows the wonderful day in June 2024 when route 386 was recreated between Bishops Stortford and Hitchin and another, I couldn’t make earlier this summer, retracing route 350 between New Barnet and Bishops Stortford.

Following requests for an event ‘South of the River’ Tuesday saw us exploring border territory where Surrey meets Kent recreating a trio of routes connecting Oxted and Hurst Green with Westerham and Edenbridge.

And who better to act as our tour guide for the day but my good friend Ray Stenning, who lived and grew up in Oxted and neighbouring Hurst Green and who was joined by veteran busman, John Kateley, who kept us all in check for the day having once driven these routes when he was based at Chelsham bus garage.

As we toured around, Ray kept us informed and entertained with a welter of anecdotes and fascinating historical facts, including those famous people who lived in the local area, and of course, the history of the bus routes serving this part of Surrey and Kent. As befits his approach to such matters we were all presented with a lovely map at the beginning of the tour…

… and a superbly designed 12 page souvenir brochure as a memento of the day at the end.

This superb brochure explains the origins of the three routes going back to their arrival on the scene in August 1921 when East Surrey began running the S4 from Croydon through Warlingham and close to Botley Hill to Limpsfield and on through The Chart to Crockham Hill and Edenbridge. There were many changes as the route developed, not least after London Transport took over in 1933, but things settled down after the Second World War as many new houses were built in Oxted and Hurst Green in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

For many years through the 1950s and 1960s the area had the three routes we were recreating:

• 464: Holland-Hurst Green-Oxted-Limpsfield-Crockham Hill-Westerham
• 465: Holland-Hurst Green-Oxted-Limpsfield-Crockham Hill-Edenbridge
• 485: Edenbridge-Crookham Hill-Westerham

Generally the route between Holland and Oxted received a 20 minute frequency with GS type single decks, later replaced by RFs, but for a short period in the early 1960s this frequency improved on Saturdays to every fifteen minutes. Alternate journeys continued half hourly to The Chart and from there hourly to Crockham Hill then alternating again two hourly to either Westerham (464) or Edenbridge(465).

Four other routes in the area were:

• 410: Reigate-Redhill-Godstone-Oxted-Limpsfield-Westerham-Bromley
• 705: Windsor-London Airport-Victoria-Bromley-Westerham-Sevenoaks
• 706: Aylesbury-Watford-Victoria-Croydon-Chelsham-Westerham
• 707: Aylesbury-Watford-Victoria-Croydon-Chelsham-Oxted

Our day began outside Oxted railway station with London Bus Company’s RF180 ready and waiting for us alongside a row of shops and what was once a rather nice waiting room and toilets, with the latter still available today, albeit rebuilt since the 1950s when an RF waiting here would have been a common sight.

The bus was one of those Green Line buses latterly downgraded to bus work but carries the wonderful moquette synonymous with its days on Green Line routes.

With everyone on board we set off ‘out of service’ to begin the tour proper at the southern most terminal point of route 464 at Staffhurst Wood where three buses which had operated journeys to a nearby school departed at 09:16, 09:20 and 09:27 using a delightful remote triangle at a road junction to turn round ready for a journey back to Oxted.

This was the first of many scenic photo stops we enjoyed on the tour as well as keeping us all fit getting on and off the bus each time.

The tour proper then began recreating a journey on the 464 through to Oxted and a spur just north of the town centre to Barrow Green Road where short journeys known as ‘swingers’ terminated every two hours instead of continuing on to The Chart (hourly) and Westerham (two-hourly).

This took us via the normal southern terminal point in a village called Holland where we recreated the point where the bus would have turned…

… and even spotted the original bus stop post which would have carried the familiar London Transport flag with roundel/bullseye symbol.

It was then on to Hurst Green and a loop round Pollards Oak continuing further north to Old Oxted…

… where it’s hard to believe that as late as 1971, (obviously pre M25) and a diversion of the A25 to a new ‘by-pass’, all traffic used to pass through this very narrow village centre.

As we entered Oxted there was time for another scenic pause by the lovely Master Park for more photos…

… before continuing to the terminus at Barrow Green Road and then heading back to the bus stop by the station but this time on the east side in Station Road East where we turned into a route 465 to take us down via The Chart and Crockham Hill to Edenbridge.

It was interesting to see shoppers reactions to the bus as it stood for a while at the bus stop in the centre of Oxted with many of the more senior passers by looking nostalgically and fondly at what in years gone by would have been a common sight.

Once we reached Chart, also called The Chart, also called Limpsfield Chart it was time for another pause for photographs at this delightful spot…

… when a Metrobus bus on today’s equivalent route 594 heading to Westerham appeared…

… making for an interesting contrast spanning around 60 years.

It’s a lovely run down to Edenbridge through the wonderfully wooded Kent Hatch…

… and Crockham Hill (with an emphasis on the words ‘down’ and ‘HIll’ in this part of the route) which sees dramatic changes in levels as we arrived in Edenbridge and headed to the point where buses on route 465 (as well as the 485) turned round and waited time before returning towards Oxted. This was on the forecourt of the small Maidstone & District bus garage situated to the south of the town centre.

Sadly this closed in 1996 (having only opened in 1955) and was subsequently demolished to make way for houses so we gave the residents a taste of how life was like a few decades ago for their enjoyment albeit we avoided turning and standing on their driveways!

The blind was then changed a third time for our final recreation – route 485 back via Crockham Hill to Westerham and it was all aboard once again with us soon arriving in this busy town on the A25…

… and meeting up with another modern day bus on TfL’s route 246 which connects the town to Bromley as route 410 and Green Line route 705 once did.

After another welcome pause in the glorious afternoon sunshine, although the blind was set for Edenbridge, our final port of call was Chartwell where tour organisers Mike Kay and John Kately had arranged for a scrumptious afternoon tea to be laid on by the staff together with an illustrated talk about Winston Churchill and the history of Chartwell which made for a fascinating listen.

And a great note on which to end the day.

The legendary Mike Kay presented Ray with a well deserved certificate in recognition of his amazing efforts as our guide for the day as well as to John…

… and also to our superb driver Sean.

Driving an RF doesn’t compare with today’s modern day buses, having rather basic amenities for the driver.

Then it was all back on board for one final time to take us back to Oxted. And naturally we went the pretty route via Kent Hatch again.

It was a great day which was clearly enjoyed by everyone attending and huge thanks to Ray and John for all the organisation that went into making it a success. Looking forward to the next one.

Roger French

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