London Buses Complete 6,300 Miles on the Continent
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TWO London buses which in less than I two months covered 6,300 miles on the Continent, were welcomed back to the Chiswick garage of London Trans port last -Friday. This was the fifth overseas tour of double-deck buses in which London Transport has taken part.
Neither of the vehicles, one of which was a Park Royal-bodied Leyland and the other an A.E.C. with Weymann bodywork, experienced mechanical trouble during the tour.
The buses left Chiswick on June 11 and crossed to Dunkirk by the train ferry from Dover. Proceeding by way of Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbout and Basle, they reached Zurich, c scheduled, on June 15. There, the ere of three craftsmen which Lon& Transport provided to drive and mair tam n the vehicles, quickly trained tt Swiss crews who were to operate (het during their stay in Zurich, and the were in service later the same day.
During Zurich's "British Week," tt buses provided a service between tt central station and the Kongresshau and were later used for normal servic in St. Gallen, Lucerne and Geneva. is reported that the municipal author tics of these towns were delighted the opportunity of observing the pe formance of double-deckers, whit were hitherto unknown in Switzerlan On July 16 the buses left Swid.erlar on an 800-mile journey via Germar and Denmark to Malmo, Swede where they participated in anoth "British Week."
Some 30,000 passengers travelled the vehicles throughout the tour. Ti Swiss were particularly impressed them.
Low Cost
The cost to London Transport •w, negligible. Responsibility for operatic was accepted by the transport concer who operated the vehicles in the ifariol towns, and any other expense involvi was defrayed by revenue from aelverti ing Carried on the buses.
Welcoming the buses back London, Mr. L. C. Hawkins, a inemb of the L.T.E., said: "They have be admired wherever they have been f their power, refinement, stability at passenger comfort. This is a high t bute to the British engineering indust and the skill that has gone into pr ducing these typical London buses."