My Picture Archive Post 10

London United (well, Transdev at this point) in Hammersmith. A proving ground of many. And some rarity with a poorly focussed camera. And a poor focus in general.

London United VLE8 on Route 9, DP30 on Route 283*, Hammersmith, 11/04/07

At this time, the lower bus station was nowhere near built (is it just a revived, smaller Butterwick Bus Station?), so we have the overcrowded view of this.

VLE8 is still in use on Route 9, although that route should be due new buses as these 04-reg buses do take their toll. But they aren't (unless its the second route converting to full NBfL operation...). It was introduced in 2004 to replaced the old, dearly missed Routemasters. Now, these are refurbished to run on the 9H - paralleling the 9 between Kensington High Street and Trafalgar Square (used to run Royal Albert Hall-Aldwych). VLEs have now gone on refurbishment and STILL run the 9.

In contrast, DP30 has gone on a different course and has been withdrawn and sold to Silcox Coaches in 2009. DP30 started off in Hounslow Garage for routes 555, 556 and 557. They were replaced in 2003 by smaller 8.8m MPDs at Tellings Golden-Miller. They still run the 555 and 557 today. 556 was replaced with the rerouting of 557, as it otherwise paralleled the 555 except at Sunbury-Shepperton. They moved with the routes to Hounslow Heath until London United lost the 555-557 contract to Tellings Golden Miller. They soon entered proper TfL work, and sometimes did that whilst still in blue livery. It then started to work on AV or HH routes (as allocated), still with air conditioning that rarely worked. This then was moved to V for their routes. 283 was one of them at the time, which is why it was here. Later, it was moved back to Hounslow and eventually was withdrawn and sold to Silcox.