London Trolleybus Route 654 - Boundary Road Terminus

Click on picture [48] for an enlarged version

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

Boundary Corner, Wallington - there was a terminal loop there as you can see by the arrangement of wires. The bus shown isn't on a short working though, the trolley poles are on the 'main line'. The only time tabled use of this was the very first bus from Croydon on Sunday mornings, but I recall some Saturday extras turning there. The lay-by that went with that loop, also shown in your picture, remained completely unused after 1959 for many years, until unexpectedly a couple of 154 regular short workings used it for a few years in the 1970's [RT's]. It's now been absorbed into a road widening to accommodate a roundabout.

From: "John Parkin" <trolleybus654@aol.com>

I regularly used the 654 on Saturdays and Sundays from my birth until it finished. I used to board one on the Boundary Corner stand, sometimes to go to church in Croydon on a Sunday morning. I have a large photographic collection of the 654.

From: "John Willis" <john_willis@talk21.com>

I would like to say a few words of thanks for your super trolleybus website. As a long time exile from Croydon, please accept my appreciation and thanks for a fascinating site.

I left Croydon finally in 1962 to live in the parts of Britain well North of Watford, but have many happy and nostalgic memories of Croydon. When I was very young, I used to travel over to somewhere in Wallington, on a frequent basis, by 630, and I just loved those great, silently swishing beasts of buses. What a shame they have all gone.

My mother had some friends in Carshalton too, with whom I used to stay sometimes. Of course I always travelled there by 654. Thanks for some great memories.

From: "Peter Harris" <prbharris@tiscali.co.uk>

A wonderful site. I have an extensive collection of materials from the 654 too, including the fair chart located next to the conductors stairwell, a blind set and a number of tickets.

Chris Cook is spot on about the turning circle at Boundary Road. I have a piece of the tarmac from the turning circle bit when it was covered over in 1974, to make a traffic island. The turning circle was timetabled for rare use – a situation that was repeated by the 154 replacement route, although that was scheduled to turn down Wallington High Street and layover close to the old Library in Wallington.

Incidentally, you excellent route diagrammatic does not show the turning circle at Waddon Station. This was unusual in that it was completely separate from the main line, as it was not a regular turn, as the Boundary Road turn was. To turn there, the conductor had to re-wire. I never saw it in operation but have a number of b&w photos of it.

From: David Bradley

OK, I'll get the route diagram modified real soon, but meanwhile here is an extract from the LT archives of this turning circle.