London Trolleybus Route 654 - Park Lane

Click on picture [52] for an enlarged version

Click on picture [1081] for an enlarged version

From:"Chris Cook" <C.Cook@btinternet.com>

The bus has just turned from Ruskin Road into Park Lane, going from Carshalton into Wallington in the process. Nothing much has changed round there, except the junction now has traffic lights and all the front gardens shown in the picture are now concreted over for car hard standings - the chap on the right was wasting his time, if only he'd known.

From: "Richard Burmingham" <Richard.Burmingham@tfl.gov.uk>

I've just discovered this site and although I'm not old enough to remember London trolleybus operation, it has been of interest to me for many years. I'm truly amazed at the quantity and quality of the photographic records contained herewith. I do seem to remember some evidence of tramway and/or trolleybus infrastructure at Boundary Corner during my childhood - for the record I was born in 1961 and lived, until 1987 in West Avenue, Wallington, a road set back off Stafford Road, on the opposite side to Roundshaw.

I was particularly interested in the Park Lane, Carshalton photograph. If I'm not mistaken, the gentleman tending his front garden is a Mr George Richardson. George lived at 102 Park Lane throughout the 1950's and right up until his death in the early 1980's. He never owned a car, and his front garden was spared the indignity of over-paving, during his lifetime at least. His son Chris married my sister in 1981. From the late 1960's onwards, Chris was a car owner, but his thoroughly disreputable, pale grey Austin A35 was usually to be found parked overnight in Ruskin Road, just around the corner.

Whilst not being able to remember trolleybus operation in the area, I do seem to remember some evidence of tramway and/or trolleybus infrastructure at Boundary Corner during my childhood, and I can definitely recall a disused traction standard a the top of Ringstead Road [junction with Carshalton Road] still being in situ into the 1970s. I can still [just] remember Park Lane and Ruskin Road being the routeing for bus route 154, whilst at various times routes 151 and/or a variant of the 213 route [possibly 213A ?] served the Banstead Road and Beeches Avenue area, the current [2008] 154 routeing.

Thanks for a wonderful website.

Extracted from the book "The Tramways of Croydon" by G.E.Baddeley

This corner was the scene of a runaway tram accident. On Easter Monday 1 April 1907, car No.19 was running as an extra car to Sutton with a full holiday load of passengers, when it got out of control on the Wallington Railway Bridge and ran away down the gradient in Park Lane. It overturned on attempting to take the sharp corner into Ruskin Road and fell on its side in front of a doctor's house. Two people were killed and thirty injured. The accident occurred at about 3.30pm and was the SMETs only really serious accident.