Route 266 was introduced in 1962 as a replacement for Trolleybus route 666 and was allocated to Cricklewood (W) and Stonebridge Park (SE) garages. In 1972 , the route was allocated over four garages, Cricklewood, Riverside (R), Stonebridge Park and Willesden (AC). R and W operated the Mon-Sat service leaving SE and AC to cover the Sunday.
The route was solely allocated to Cricklewood following the closure of Stonebridge Park, and the removal of the Riverside and Willesden allocations by 1982. The allocations of the route was then shared between Cricklewood and Willesden for most of the time until 2000 before the route was moved in to Harlesden (HR) garage, before it came back to Cricklewood in 2005 when the low-floor Tridents (TAs) were introduced onto the route.
The route was lost through tendering to First London back in 2012, which then became Tower Transit in 2013. The route was based at their Atlas Road (AS) site throughout, however at the very end of its stint, the route was moved into Westbourne Park (X) for the last two weeks of the service to facilitate the closure of Atlas Road for Crossrail works.
Metroline won the route back in July 2017 on a short two year contract to allow TfL to restructure the route for the opening of the Crossrail Elizabeth Line. The route has been allocated back to Cricklewood again and uses TEs in the 700 series from Edgware (EW).
In 2019, the route is expected to be cut back to Acton High Street from Hammersmith, but the 24 hour night service would continue through to Hammersmith and renumbered N266.
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| VN37983 approaches Cricklewood Bus Garage heading towards Brent Cross 22/05/17 The VN class vehicle were new to the route following First London's acquisition of the 266 in 2012. © Tommy Cooling |
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| VH38136 approaches Cricklewood Bus Garage heading towards Brent Cross 22/05/17 © Tommy Cooling |
In the run up to Metroline taking the route back, preparations were going on afoot behind the scene.
Existing smartblinded TEs that had transferred into Cricklewood from Potters Bar (TE1073-1092) that released hybrids for the 113 at Edgware, were given full route 266 inserts added onto the bottom of the existing smartblind sets. 30-odd E400 TEs from Edgware (TE712-830) were also in the process of transferring down to Cricklewood as well. Upon arrival at Cricklewood they received a brand new manual blind set ready for the 266.
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| TE1089 parked in Cricklewood garage having had route 266 inserts added 17/07/17 © Tommy Cooling |
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| TE732 parked in Cricklewood garage having been fitted with new blinds for route 266 19/07/17 © Tommy Cooling |
The first day of Metroline operation of route 266 saw a number of ex. Edgware (TE712-830) and ex. Potters Bar (TE1073-1092) E400s. A TfL issue meant that the Tower Transit schedules were still in their system so Metroline 266s were not properly showing on bus countdown screens.
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| TE828 passes Cricklewood garage on the first day on route 266 29/07/17 Don't be fooled by the incorrectly set side blind! © Tommy Cooling |
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| TE1083 passes Cricklewood garage on the first day on route 266 29/07/17 © Tommy Cooling |
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| TE720 calls at Willesden Green station on the first day on route 266 29/07/17 © Tommy Cooling |
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| TA642 turns into Cricklewood Broadway on the first day on route 266 29/07/17 © Tommy Cooling |
Post by Tommy Cooling
All these images and more can be found on my Flickr page:
All these images and more can be found on my Flickr page:
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Great post, glad that it is back in route, you doing great job by sharing things like this with us. Thank you for sharing it and keep posting more such stuff
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