My Picture Archive Post 24

Abellio London 9788 (Route 211), London United SLE48 (Route 27), Hammersmith Upper Bus Station, 02/01/12

Abellio London Trident 9788 is now with Geldards Coaches operating on the streets of Leeds, but originally started as Connex London TA97, bought by Connex for the conversion of Route 211 to double deck. The route itself started as a split of Route 11, with 11 curtailed to Fulham Broadway. It was midibus under London General from 1993, operating initially from Victoria (Gillingham Street) Basement. It transferred to Travel London/National Express in 1998. It then turned out the Stewarts Lane TMD cannot legally store buses, so the operation was sold to Limebourne from the current garage at Battersea, opposite Stewarts Lane TMD. It was then sold to Connex (2000), sold to National Express ironically (2004) named as Travel London (again!), then sold to Abellio in 2009.

London United SLE48 started out on Route 27, and is still under London United, running out of Fulwell Garage running on the 267 instead, thus it runs on the Chiswick High Road for the foreseeable future! Route 27 in 1934 had seven garages running the route. It became Sunday only in 1937 until 1952. It ran up to Richmond until 1991 when it swapped terminals with Route 391 (and 391 ran via the 90B route to Richmond from Kew) ending up at Turnham Green Church. Since the photo was taken, the route was extended to Chiswick Business Park, home of the former LT Chiswick Works. It also was converted to hybrid ADH (E40H) operation.

Oh, Ealing One... - 31/05/14

The title - ran out of ideas, and the E1 was the best run of the three E-Line routes that changed operator on the conversion day, all blog members covered this.

The E1, according to Abellio and TfL, go to an obsolete pub in Greenford called the Red Lion:

Abellio London 2444 on Route E1, Ealing Haven Green (Aubrey)


Abellio London 2445 on Route E1, Ealing Haven Green (Aubrey)


Abellio London West 2445 on Route E1, Greenford Broadway (Aubrey)

These buses displaying the obsolete old display. Abellio London use hybrid E40Hs on this route, the first hybrids in Hayes Garage and the start of many hybrid contracts by Abellio for routes not near Central London, which include the C3 (where the buses go everywhere but the C3), 109/N109 and 407, for example.


Abellio London West 2446 on Route E1, Greenford Broadway (Aubrey)


Abellio London West 2445 on Route E1, Greenford Broadway (Lewis)


Abellio London West 2449 on Route E1, Greenford Broadway (Lewis)

The route ran a better service than the other two routes that moved operator, but overall, operations have settled down, Tridents have made odd appearances already and the service is notably nearly better than Metroline West. Route E3 is a much better service under London United, and Route E10 is coping well under Arriva - Tellings Golden-Miller. 

Heathrow Terminal Two 04/06/14

Heathrow Terminal 2 opened finally to the public on the 4th June 2014. United Airlines is the only airline that goes through the terminal, so far, but eventually, most Star Alliance airlines will move to Terminal 2. Terminal 1 will later be demolished to be replaced by the second half of Terminal 2. This is part of the 'toast rack' principle by putting terminal buildings and satellites perpendicular to the runways.

The old terminal was demolished in 2010:


Heathrow Terminal 2 in 2007 by Thomas Nugent, from geograph.org.uk. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
This terminal was small and inadequate for its services, with the check-in notably having a very low ceiling height. It had been called Heathrow East in planning, but eventually ended up as Heathrow Terminal 2, consuming the Queen's Building (which is behind/left of the camera) as well. It closed on the 23rd November 2009, with Air France Flight 1881 the last flight to leave the old Terminal 2.

The first flight to arrive at the new Terminal 2 was United Airlines Flight 958 at 0543.

So, it was my turn to try the new Terminal 2, on opening day!


I have to start with this though...
London United TA281 on Route 111, Heathrow Central Bus Station!


To circumnavigate the problems Terminal 5 had, Terminal 2 for the first two weeks had United Airlines to help the terminal settle in. Then, starting with Air Canada, Air Canada and All Nippon Airways, eventually it'll be the hub of Star Alliance.


The Queen's Terminal - homage to the Queen's Building previously on it?
It is a fairly grand half-terminal which looks a lot like a ghost town when I went there, mainly as the last flight was near leaving, and the next arrival was not for some time. It reminded me of smaller airports in the USA, like Corpus Christi Int Airport, TX, which has a few flights, but is deserted at other times where there are no flights.


A positive feature of the Terminal is that it has good views of the airfield, including this Philippine Airlines Boeing 777 at Terminal 4.


This is the sculpture designed by Richard Wilson, called 'Slipstream'. It has been designed to resemble a stunt aircraft in flight, and has been described as the longest permanent sculpture in Europe. Well placed to welcome guests to London, and the plane itself can be barely seen on the left of the shot.


Inside Terminal 2. From here, there is a view of the roof line through the whole terminal building, from customs and check in, through to the departure lounge and the gates, eventually! It will eventually handle the same amount as Terminal 5, once the second half of Terminal 2 (former Terminal 1) is built.

Also like Terminal 5, Terminal 2 has a dreary under car park bus station!


National Express Hotel Hoppa 8330 on Route H9, Heathrow Terminal 2
Similar to Terminal 5...


Menzies S17 on Flight Switch T2-T4, Heathrow Terminal 2
Interesting service, unless Heathrow Express had messed up?


Tellings Golden-Miller KX59CZM on Business Parking Service, Heathrow Terminal 2
Obviously, some displays weren't ready for Terminal 2, like this one!


But this one definitely was!
After five years, the sign makes sense again, there are three terminals that are served by this station! Sooner or later, when Terminal 1 shuts for good, should it be renamed back to Heathrow Central? It's logical?


So it's back underground, though the lower plaza where there are offices and down back to the long-closed subway!

The terminal should hold good for the foreseeable future, and sooner or later, under "Toast Rack", Terminal 3 would be replaced by Terminal 2 circling around the Central area. If that does happen, we may end up with geographical positions as the terminal designators instead. Hopefully, the terminal falls into its operational rhythm soon.

The building is more efficient, producing 40% less CO2 than the predecessor, by insulation, LED lighting and natural lighting (not seen in the bus station, clearly!). Solar panels and the T2 Energy Centre (burning biomass from local renewable resources) will help too. Part of Terminal 2 has been in use for some time, as Terminal 2B had been in use by Terminal 1, with its connecting corridor to it.