Hornchurch Garage was originally known as Romford, hence its RD code. It was opened in 1924 with accommodation for 40 buses and it was envisaged that it would expand in order to cope with the growth in bus travel as Romford became part of the suburbs. In 1935 it was renamed Hornchurch to avoid confusion with the Green Line garage in London Road Romford RE. Postwar, Hornchurch along with many other east London garages was allocated austerity G type double deckers.
In the early fifties STLs replaced the Gs and RTLs arrived. After many years of one man operated C types, in 1949 these were replaced with crew operated Ts. In 1955 RLHs enabled the 248 route which ran under a low railway bridge, to be double decked.
From 1953, local services were shared if not dominated by the new Romford (North St) NS garage. In the sixties RTs were predominant until replaced by SMSs and DMSs in the early seventies and Hornchurch became the first 100% OMO central garage.
The half relief model depicts the distinctive varied brickwork of the garage (a remnant of rebuilding rather than war damage) and measures approximately 23" wide.
The areas of paving, but not the road surface, are now included in the kit.
