Random Picture of the Month. Reborn (Post 1/Post 11)

Since Lewis has discontinued posting on this subject, I'll do it instead. Because Boredom. (God, I'm turning into the Au...)

Y522UGC (Arriva The Shires 6280 and fromer Arriva London DLA280) on route 48 at High Wycombe Bus Station.

As most of you probably know, I love all things DAF. And this is most certainly no exception! The main reason behind my DAF obsession is most certainly the kickdown. If I'm on a DB250, and it kicks down, certain individuals know how mental I will go!!!!

This particular DLA started life at (Tottenham?) depot in 2000 for London service. It left said London service fairly recently in February 2013, and re entered Arriva service with the Shires. Despite its age, it's in really good nick, and I hope it brings pleasure to drivers, and passengers alike through the rest of its serviceable life.

Random Picture of the Month 10 (October)

In light of the fact that October is now with us, I thought I should do the post for September before it's too late.

In light of the fact that it's nearing the end of October, this post was really the September one but published as the October one. Next month's will probably be an October picture, unless I can help it.

This month's is an interesting one, a working that has only happened once before (but a few times more since)!

Metroline West VW1397 (LK62DVG) on route 487 at South Harrow Bus Station

Originally bought as part of a batch of 15 Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 buses for route 52, VW1397 is now at Alperton in a bid to convert the busy 245 to double deck. The way that buses were transferred preceding the NBfL conversion of route 24 confuses many people (including myself) but I will not hesitate at trying to explain it.

When the 24 contract was awarded to Metroline in November 2012, 24 VWs and 5 VWHs were ordered for the route. Following the NBfL conversion, 24 VWs (not necessarily all the ones from route 24) transferred to Alperton to double-deck route 245. However, the VWHs were transferred to Willesden for the 52 which in turn freed up 5 more VWs which joined the batch at Alperton for route 245. 4 VWs have recently transferred to Brentford to aid the double-deck conversion of route E8, all originally part of a batch ordered for route 43.

If there is anything you wish to add to this explanation, please feel free to comment below.

Next post next month!

Random Picture of the Month 9 (August)

Well, I promised the Sovereign VHs, and I have not failed to deliver.
And, although I may post this in September, I did start it in the last minute (31/08/2013, 23:59) of August so it does still count.

Like the July post, this picture is a blind change, and a variation which is stead never to happen (although I jolly hope it does).

London Sovereign VH17 at Aldwych.
Thanks to the kind driver for changing the blinds.
Seen blinded for route 114 to Field End Road.

And there it is!

As I'm sure you're all aware, the 114 is indeed my local route. Between May 20th and August 12th, YT11LSD became a regular part of service (although I can confirm this has now left), and since the arrival of the VHs the allocation has become somewhat irregular with more SPs, VLPs and 55-reg SLEs on the route.

Now whether the above will actually happen (although I can almost guarantee the curtailment won't) or not is somewhat uncertain. BT do have a tendency to mix the buses around on a day-to-day basis but because this is a hybrid it may be a different scenario.

More about the bus, it comes with the new Veolia Transdev merger styling, with the "name of one and the colours of the other" - hence the Transdev name remains albeit with a Veolia style interior and exterior branding. It is remarkable that London United have kept more of the 'Transdev traits', such as the yellow branding and turquoise interior, rather than London Sovereign which is actually still technically Transdev.

But, I must say, these are positive steps for Sovereign. Some of the displaced SLEs have already gone for refurbishment, and the others will soon follow suit. These will replace most of the older Volvo B7TLs creating a nearly full Scania allocation for the non-hybrid routes. In 2015, the 114 will be tendered and upon the contract being retained (or not, but I hope Sovereign do retain it) it is imagined that a large new batch of buses will be ordered for both the 114 and 292, similar spec to the VHs.

The new logo should also be applied to the 11-reg DEs at SO and BT, which have been without logos for 2 years. Whether the legals and other branding changes too, we'll just have to see.


Thanks for reading this post, and if you haven't gone on these buses I seriously recommend you do!
Oh, and, typical WLTM style, they do have that 'rubber smell'...

LJN 2013

Random Picture of the Month 8 (July)

Hi All,
Sorry this one's late - just been busy doing all kinds of things.

Yes, hurrah, it is now July and the sun has finally decided to reintroduce itself to everyone, so I thought it would only be appropriate to use a picture which not only was a feature of the month, but had a lot of 'sun influence' in it as well!

The sun can be very useful for photography - if you use it in the right way. Generally if you have your back to it the buses come out all bright and shiny, but if the sun's behind the bus then the bus is merely a silhouette.

Look at all that blue sky.
KX59AEE blinded for route 268 at South Harrow Station.
Thanks, driver!

The 268 is a weird one an almost Central London route run from the very outskirts of the suburbs. Often, GR like to intermix the double and single deckers when they run out of buses but since the 268 is so far from the depot they try to keep the correct allocation on this route.
So, I decided to make use of this bus being on my local school route with a driver who I know and see what it would look like if it were to ever suddenly end up on the 268. I think it looks quite good myself, what with the '2' in 'O2' being subscript (put down) unlike any other blind I've ever seen.

Like I said though, it's doubtful this will ever happen, and we should just enjoy the sun whilst it lasts.

Also, for those going anywhere nice this summer, do have a good and restful time!

And finally, hopefully the next 'Random Picture Series' Post will be of the new B5L Hybrids with London Sovereign, so keep your eyes peeled!

LJN :)

Random Picture of the Month 7 (June)

It's Random Picture of the Month 7 with an 07-reg Citaro from the 7series on route 7!
Anything else?

LK07CCJ on route 7 at Uxbridge Station

ES64034 above, was ordered for the 7series routes in 2007. The new blue branding replaced the old silver, and does look very smart indeed. Now that the new Volvo 7900H buses have arrived for routes 75 and 76, some of the older Citaros have not been needed for the 7series, and have ventured out onto Slough's other routes, most commonly the 7. It's a good route - you should go on it if you haven't.
The traditional display found on all of First Berkshire buses with the proper symbols still used for London Underground and National Rail Stations, and Heathrow Airport can be seen. It's unfortunate that these displays have disappeared from everywhere else - everyone knows that the double arrow like above represents a National Rail Station, and the TfL Roundel and Plane symbols are reknown worldwide! It would be nice to see these return, particularly to blinds, to save writing 'Airport' or 'Station', or just leaving a single display as an ambiguous destination.
Eh, what can you do?

Also, the photo above shows that full-size single decker buses can make the turn-around at Uxbridge, so why the Carousel routes don't go in here is a mystery. Perhaps it's to save time, but really that walk out to Belmont Road can be tedious in the rain like was evident on that day.

Random Picture of the Month 6 (May)

Whilst I will now mainly post on the West London Bus Blog, I will continue to do these small posts on here.

This month saw YT11LSD pass from Stagecoach's Plumstead garage in Plumstead to Transdev's Edgware garage in Edgware. The bus was first seen in service on Monday 20th, and I simply couldn't miss the opportunity to photograph it.

YT11LSD on route 114 at Ruislip Station

Ruislip Station is the home to the photograph above, undergoing some work to the bus stands on the left. Buses now use the original stop area to stand, and pick up the first passengers from a temporary stand outside the Station Approach area.

YT11LSC and YT11LSD (and YT11LSE for outer-London services) were introduced by Scania whilst the company gradually started taking back all the N230UD chassis buses to undergo changes. YT11LSC was first introduced with London United (numbered SC01), but has now passed to Stagecoach (numbered 80021). YT11LSD was first introduced with Metrobus (numbered 979). then passed to CT Plus (where it was uncoded) and finally Stagecoach (numbered 80019).

The bus had some problems today, mainly with setting the smartblind. The system has not been reprogrammed since gaining new blinds, so in order to set a certain destination and route, you have to put in a completely different destination and route!
To Display '114 Ruislip', you have to set '99 Woolwich' into the smartblind.
To Display '114 Mill Hill Bdy' you have to set '99 Erith' into the smartblind.

As the small notice telling the driver about this strange system only displayed how to set the system with 114 displays, I am assuming that the bus will be allocated to route 114 for it's time at Edgware.

Finally, the bus has been coded 'YT11'. This code obviously stems from the numberplate, although why they didn't code it anything remotely related to 'Scania' or 'SP' does befuddle me.

Thanks for reading the post!

Random Picture of the Month 5 (April)

I'm temporarily taking over the feature until I hand it over to Lewis next month. The feature will keep on going, even though James hasn't (and left in a messy way). And here is the random picture:

London United SP175 on Route 222, Heathrow Airport North, 07/04/13

This picture was taken before James had left the blog, although his last post was the 82 one - where James and I contributed at once. And the last time he had contributed. Utilising a lower angle does help with reducing glare from the sun, although it is far from ideal. This is a unallocated working, as 222 are allocated  ADEs. Instead, what we have here is a 111 batch SP on the 222. The route itself was double decked formally with the ADEs however was already double decked by that time with VA and VP, off the 111, H32, 120 (and if we had to go further, 337 and 220). SPs are less common on the 222, as the ADEs rule that. But one comes along sometimes.

And to make up to that James left the blog, here is another photo as compensation:


London United ADE7 on Route H98, Hounslow/Treaty Centre, 07/04/13

Route H98 was the 98 until the 1990s. This bus is what you'd see normally on the 81, 222 and (annoyingly) the 120. I wish these were more common on the 111...  It is normally allocated DLEs (10.8m Enviro 200s), but occasionally, a double decker appears on the H98. Hounslow Garage seem to do this a number of times, which does help if/when loading pick up (and they do, quite a bit, sometimes on the H98. 81 and 222 were double decked as single decks were commonly being filled). ADE7 is part of the batch for the 120, which I covered when Matt told me about them.... Oh, the good old days... How times change.

Also, how times change. Ten years ago, H98, 81, 222 were operated by DPs. 10.8m single deckers. 120 had VAs and VPs. And the occasional TA that should be on the 111...

Random Picture of the Month 4 (March)

London United DPS 694 (SN03 LFK) at Shepherd's Bush Market

The DPS was the main fleet of the 283 before it's contract was lost to NSL Buses. Personally, I likes the DPS as it had my favourite engine noise (compared to the old DPs on the 72 around 2000-2005ish as it was sometimes used on the route). The DPSs for the 283 were branded buses, giving the name "Duck Bus" as it served the Wetland Centre in Barnes. Being based at V, these buses stray onto the 391, which, to me, is considered a twin route to the 283 operationally (bus type etc.)

DPS694 was transferred to PK and it is one of 4 odd workings on the 283 (the other three being DEs from the 440) and this is due to the 440s using 4 OVs from the 283 batch. There were probably not enough spare DEs to cover the OVs when they did 440 duties so they borrowed DPS 694 from NC to cover the missing bus. This DPS still has old London United moquette, unlike other DPSs like DPS 727 which has the green Pre-RATP Moquette.

I personally like the DPS and it brings back memories from when I was younger when I took this bus to school every morning.

Random Picture of the Month 3 (Feb)

London United/RATP SP 7 (YN56 FCJ) on Route 120 at Southall Station

The difference between London United's Early SPs and their other SPs is that they have different features. Lights are an example. Instead of small round lights, they have fairly large 'brick' lights as I call them. Their Chassis is also different to the later SPs, with these early examples using the N94UD chassis, the ones used for the OmniDekkas, meaning that these are lower and unsuitable for tall people. This chassis also means the rear window is on the right, instead of the left, like the OmniDekka.

In my opinion, it's harder to tell the difference in height when you're outside but inside, it's a bit short and the difference in height can be really noticed. Later OmniCitys were built on a different chassis which meant people had more headroom and the engine and rear window were located in different places.

Random Picture of the Month (2)

But late but January's Picture of the Month was actually taken in February!

This VW was spotted doing an odd working on the 390. It could be a bus for the 52 but since the 390 comes from Holloway, it could be a spare bus from the 24.

The bus in question, taken from the top of ADH6

This is also some of my shots taken from my new camera. It's a bit excessive and i'm still learning it but some of my shots are actually good, despite a crappy autofocus...

A new format for the blog's also coming. A new banner has been put up, created by yours truly. Each month, the banner picture will change and the picture will be...

The Random Picture of the Month!

Keep an eye out for the banners whilst browsing!

Random Picture of the Month (1)

Some may recognise this picture. Au's version is more upright but this is the intended angle and height  and this is different, really different to the original "day" picture.

The 'night' version

The Original. Wider, yes, but it was taken by a different camera.

The original can be seen above, and there is one obvious difference. Both times that I took the picture, an ALX400 on the 159 appeared. Both will be used for a friend's novel and there may be two versions of the cover. the "night" version and the "day" version

A little hint, it's the parent site of this blog. WLTM.