My Picture Archive Post 26

Metroline DP1014 on Route E8, Hanwell, 21/07/11

This bus was ordered for the 190 in 2002, plying the streets of West London under Armchair, until the ever growing Metroline took over in 2004. Initially, Metroline intended to keep the Armchair (and Thorpes) names, but over time, these buses ended up being painted red and blue skirt with Metroline names, removing in a master-stroke many years of the name of a well known local independent. Local names keep on disappearing, another victim of capitalism. In 2011, the bus had the blue skirt painted all red, and later on in the year, it was moved to Potters Bar for Route 234. It ran there until it unfortunately had an accident and was withdrawn. It was transferred to Central Engineering, and was eventually scrapped by October 2013.

Route E8 started out as trolleybus route 655, before turning into Route 255, which oddly ran daily between Hanwell and Brentford, but with a confusing service pattern on all other places on the route!
Route 255 was initially Acton Vale-Clapham Junction, but only the full route on Mon-Fri peaks. It ran Acton Vale-Hammersmith during Mon-Fri daytime, Acton Vale-Brentford during Mon-Fri evenings, Hanwell-Hammersmith during Saturday, and Hanwell-Brentford on Sundays. Complicated, isn't it? It ended up being Chiswick Roundabout-Clapham Junction during Mon-Fri peaks, Turnham Green-Clapham Junction Mon-Fri daytime, and Hammersmith-Clapham Junction Mon-Fri evenings and Saturday, before being withdrawn  in 1972.

The Hanwell-Brentford corridor was replaced by service on Route 83 from 1965 to 1968. Route E1 replaced that, running Greenford to Brentford via Ealing Broadway, practically doubling back onto itself at Hanwell, taking the E3 would be more practical to Hanwell Broadway, then taking an E1 would be quicker than going on an E1 direct between Greenford and Brentford due to the Ealing Broadway run. Route E1 was then split at Ealing Broadway, and Route E8 was born in 1990. It was initially run by Centrewest with Renault van-derived buses, before converting to Dennis Dart SLF in 1997, going along with Route E2 to Armchair, where the Darts have since been replaced by newer 2002 examples, and since been replaced by Enviro 200s. The route also had a spell of hybrid Optare Tempos. It is now operated by any bus from Brentford garage, double or single decker, although in more recent times, the buses intended for the route (and 209) are more or less on the route.

Reading Leopard & Chocolate Courtney

Thames Travel withdraw their services from Wokingham and Reading (except X39/X40), including Route 144 (Reading-Wokingham via Arborfield), replaced mostly by Courtney Optare SoloSRs.

Thames Travel 912 on Route 144, Reading St Mary's Butts

Reading Buses operate over the Route 144, renumbered the 3, and running with gas buses branded 'The Leopard', called so because they 'ran out of colours'!


Reading Buses 424 on Leopard 3 in front of First Beeline TN on Route 190, both heading for Reading, whilst at Wokingham Broad Street
Every third bus of an every 20 minute schedule go to Wokingham, thus an hourly service from Wokingham to Reading 'the long way'.


Reading Buses 423 on Route 3, Reading Station
As per always, there is a generic bus that is part of the batch, 423 being the one on the 3.


Reading Buses 426 on Route 3, Reading Station
The rest of the buses go only up to Arborfield Garrison.
The PVR to Wokingham is 2, but there is one more bus that runs Reading-Arborfield.


Reading Buses 424 on Route 3, Reading Station
What would the next set of brands Reading Buses would introduce, seeming as they have resorted to animals. The leopard print on the bus seems a very interesting selection for a route branding.

Courtney Buses have taken over the Wokingham locals and the 127-129 group of routes, under the 'chocolate and cream' brand:


Courtney Buses 'Latte' (YJ14 BGY) on Route 122, Wokingham Broad Street
This is the only bus named.


Courtney Buses YJ14 BGZ on Route 121, Wokingham Broad Street


Courtney Buses 'Latte' (YJ14 BGY) on Route 122, Wokingham Broad Street


Courtney Buses KX07 HFB on Route 128, Wokingham Broad Street
This bus is on loan to Courtney until the final SoloSR arrives.


Courtney Buses 'Latte' (YJ14 BGY) on Route 124, Wokingham


Courtney Buses YD63 VBN on Route 128, Reading Station

This withdrawal has allowed the Enviro200 and Solo buses to pass to Carousel Buses for their services, to replace Primos.

Steam + Electric on the H&C 02/08/14

Been a long time since I've done a train-related post, but oh well!

To celebrate the 150th year of the Hammersmith & City Line, which was part of the Metropolitan Railway/Line until 1990. The route was initially jointly operated by Great Western Railway and Metropolitan Railway, called the Hammersmith & City Railway. It was electrified in 1906, the curve for Kensington Addison Road (Olympia) stopped after it was bombed in 1940 and in 1970, the C Stock replaced the CO/CP stocks, which was in service on the line until this year, where they were replaced by the current S7 stock. Experimentally, at one point, the service was supplemented by a 'panhandle' service, running Hammersmith-Liverpool Street-Tower Hill-High Street Kensington-Edgware Road-Liverpool Street (again)-Whitechapel-Barking. A shorter version, running Hammersmith-Liverpool Street-Tower Hill-High Street Kensington-Edgware Road is today's Circle Line!

Back to the steam and electric loco:


Sarah Siddons heading the heritage train, formed of the 'Chesham Set' and Carriage 353...


...with Met 1 bringing up the rear (or front, when it reverses).
The oddity of heritage stock compared to the new station is clear to see.


Sarah Siddons at the rear at Hammersmith.


Met 1 now being the front of the train.


The consist at Ladbroke Grove, this was followed by many rail enthusiasts, like myself, as it is a rare opportunity to catch a photo/video of this, and I joined a group of them for the rest of the trip.


The rear slipboard had changed to Moorgate for the second trip back.


Paddington NR, 2014. Modernisation has changed Paddington H&C to the modern station it is and will be in the future, especially with Crossrail coming soon.


Getting the best photo spots could be interesting, but travelling along the same parts of the same line could be conceived as tedious yet rewarding!


S7 Stocks sometimes did however stop at stations when the train got past, and this shot is a cropped version, here it is approaching Wood Lane.


Shepherd's Bush Market -  Thanks to the S7 Stock driver who held his train outside Shepherd's Bush Market Station so people could get photos of this train!


As seen. The driver got a personal thanks when we got to Hammersmith on that train.


Sarah Siddons heads towards Northfields Depot to end the railtour, seen here at Chiswick Park!

The train also ran on the 9th August as well, and did a few Chesham-Rickmansworth runs on the weekend of the 16/17th.

LT by Night, and Day - Route 8/N8 NBfL Conversion (inc NBAD 6)

Borismaster Conversions are now turning to the '11' model of gradually pulling them in. Otherwise, the 8 is a 'meh' conversion. It is the first East London and Stagecoach route to be converted, and it is also the first route to have the air conditioning to work in some sort from the first few weeks.

Stagecoach London LT251 on Route 8, Tottenham Court Road

The route has been curtailed to Tottenham Court Road due to Crossrail works, which is surprising as the 25 still runs to Oxford Circus. Capacity issues with the stand or even with these LTs?


Stagecoach London LT269 on Route 8, Tottenham Court Road

The 8 and 38 both have Adidas advertising as part of a deal with Exterion Media/TfL - this one is of Dani Alves of Barcelona/Brazil. This is one of the few which also pointlessly feature the roundel as well as the advertising.


Stagecoach 12139 on Route 8, St Paul's
Conventional buses co-existed with the LTs during the early weeks of the conversion. This hybrid is usually on the 15, compared to the usual Tridents of the 8/N8.


Stagecoach London LT264 on Route 8, St Paul's
These buses are OPO at the moment, but there are hints that staffing arrangements may change.


Stagecoach London LT271 on Route 8, St Paul's
This is one of the simpler silver buses painted for the Year of The Bus, where like their London United and Arriva counterparts, the Stagecoach logos are black.


Stagecoach LT256 on Route 8, Chancery Lane Station
This is another one of three Silver buses for Stagecoach on the 8.

These buses are also allocated for the N8 which was also gradually converted, hence during NBAD 6, I covered the N8:


Stagecoach London LT240 on Route N8, Tottenham Court Road
This bus is doing one of the common, scheduled shorts to Stratford.



Stagecoach London LT253 on Route N8, Tottenham Court Road
This bus has the German Mesut Özil, and the four stars equal the amount of World Cups Germany/West Germany has won.


Stagecoach London LT253 on Route N8, Hainault The Lowe
Having a night NBfL route using the LTs is quite odd to see them in the suburbs, especially making a tight turn towards the Lowe at Hainault.

Blinded eventually for the return not in service, this bus is one of 7 with Adidas all-over advertisements, with various slogans, players and now new designs, including 'all in or nothing' or 'hunt or be hunted'. Controversial Luis Suarez was part of this advertising, under 'fear or be feared', but after the World Cup biting scandal, this changed on the buses to 'all in or nothing' with no player fronting it. However, someone cheeky has put edited a 'bite or be bitten' on a photo one of these Luis Suarez buses, which is somewhere on the internet!

The changeover of the 8 to LT is a gradual process that is finished by the time the post is out. A stark contrast now to when the 8 lost its Routemasters back in 2004. How things change in ten years...

Bracknell Bus War - Courtney Spread their Wings

The introduction of Routes 189 and 192 are some sort of mixed message by Courtney Buses on First Beeline.

Route 189 is some sort of competition to Route 190, but doesn't reach Bracknell Town Centre, is only hourly, but does reach Jennett's Park, which will be served every 30 minutes by Route 90 from mid-August, hence leaving the competitor to make the next move. It uses double deckers that are usually from schools, and they are older than the rest of the Courtney Buses fleet...

Courtney Buses RX06WRU on Route 189, Wokingham Broad Street

The double deckers are painted in the chocolate-cream branding, this bus was originally from the Brooklands The Heights contract, but was moved to the 189 aftewards.


Courtney Buses RX58HVJ on Route 189, Wokingham
Sorry about the bad photo - it did spring up by surprise!

This second bus is from the Milton Park contract, which has since gotten new E40H thus displacing this bus to the 189.

The other competing route Courtney has started is Route 192, which is basically the 191 to Windsor from Bracknell - offering a very limited service in the early mornings and evenings northbound am, southbound pm. This livens up the dead runs of the 6/6A/16 buses of Windsor.


Courtney Buses 'Rupert' (YJ62 FYB) on Route 192, Windsor Castle

This bus had arrived with one passenger. This however, was the first service at nearly 6:50am on a Monday... This bus became a 6 afterwards, with next stop information - a step ahead of First Beeline!

Also, before the 194 for First Beeline was planned to change to the 94, Courtney Buses first made an identity of the 194 separate from the 171/172, branding with a lemon-peach livery:


Courtney Buses 'Pinocchio' (YJ62 FYF) on Route 194, Bracknell Bus Station
The 194 (Courtney) also has an hourly service throughout each day.

And a comparison between the two lemon brands:


Courtney Buses 'Woodie' (YJ62 FMD) on Route 171 and Pinocchio (YJ62 FYF) on Route 194, Bracknell Bus Station

Wright Gemini Three for Seven (and N7 - NBAD 6)

"Smoother Rides for the 7/N7", if they did advertising for the new buses...

Delivered by mid-May, these Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 3s replaced Scanias, which has caused a cascade which has led to Holloway getting more Volvo B9TLs...
Metroline VWH2004, Perivale CELF

The fleet started arriving into service by late June, the lengthy time between is due to driver training at least!


Metroline VWH2008 on Route 7, East Acton

Route 7 terminates at Brunel Road, after being extended to there, hence making East Acton Station without a bus, hence a walk is needed to go to the station.


Metroline VWH2006 on Route 7, East Acton

Previous to this extension to Brunel Road, this bus route went to Acton High Street, which Ealing Council want as a way to get Acton linked to the West End, which is a very useful link lost thanks to the 70, which is severely overcrowded at peaks. The 70, itself a 7 supplement, is the sole link to what could be deemed as Central London from Acton, going to South Kensington and Queensway.


Metroline VWH2007 on Route 7, East Acton
The route is curtailed to Oxford Circus due to Crossrail works.


Metroline VWH2015 on Route 7, East Acton Station
These buses look bottom heavy due to the smaller windows of the upper deck, but the cramped nature of the upper deck is like the LTs. The ride is smoother than the previous Scanias.

The N7 has these buses too, and in my opinion, they look a lot better for the N7, and as with white on black blinds that are on new buses - they look better at night:


Metroline VWH2009 on Route N7, Oxford Circus


Metroline VWH2009 on Route N7, Oxford Street


Metroline VWH2019 on Route N7, Ealing Broadway
Evidence of the smaller upper deck sight is shown clearly on this picture. The reason for the lower deck being low is because most people would be seated there anyway, hence no need apparently for a higher upper deck.


Metroline VWH2020 on Route N7, Ealing Broadway/Haven Green
An offside view shows the lack of logos on this particular bus, I don't know why....

But also, they can also go on other routes and the blinds include...


Metroline VWH2015 blinded for Route 105, East Acton
The 105 returns to its old haunts (which is now the 95)...(!)

They have also been noted in service on the 79, 611 and 297N.

But things get better for the N7...:


Metroline VWH2010 blinded for Route N7, East Acton Brunel Road (Lewis)

Yeah, the N7 has been mooted an extension to Rayners Lane Station for some time, but the routing is definitely unclear. Some say it is via 140 and H12, others say it is via 140, 398, and some said the most unlikely route of 140 then direct via Alexandra Avenue, skipping out South Harrow Station!