Picture Archive Post 54

Stagecoach London 12134 on Route 15, Blackwall Station, 30/06/12 (© Aubrey)

12134 is an ADL Enviro 400H ordered for the 15, and ran the 5 (N15 duties), 8, 15, 205, N15 from Bow Garage until 19th March 2015, when the bus transferred to Leyton Garage for Route 56. It was ordered initially (and still is in) a special hybrid bus version of the Stagecoach interior, and this is the only batch of London buses in this interior specification. All other future hybrid Stagecoach buses are in the normal Stagecoach specification.

Route 15 started out as a cross-city route running from Acton and Ladbroke Grove to East Ham and Becontree Heath. It had journeys to Dagenham and North Woolwich in 1936, but was standardised to become Acton Vale (Sunday)/Ladbroke Grove-East Ham by 1937. STs, TDs and original LTs ran the route back then. From November 1947, the route was extended to Kew Green on Sundays via Gunnersbury Avenue. From 1948, the RT/RTW/RTL started to be the mainstray for the route, from Upton Park (U) and Middle Row (X) garages. 1964 saw the introduction of the Routemasters, which lasted on the route until 2003. From 1969, the Kew Green extension became seasonal, and at all other times, the 15 ran to Acton on Sundays. 1972 saw the Kew Green extension be extended to Kew Gardens. From 1975, the extension to Kew was again extended, this time to Richmond Bus Station, and all year round. This lasted until 1981, when it was replaced with the 7, and the 15 ended up with East Acton (Sunday)/Ladbroke Grove-East Ham. Middle Row moved to Westbourne Park in 1981, and their allocation on the 15 ended in 1982. In 1985, the route was rerouted to go via Tower of London. In 1987, the 15 was withdrawn from East Acton, and a deviation via Bank was introduced on Monday-Saturday replacing 15A. On Sundays, the route was converted to OPO with Titans. Under sectorisation, Centrewest gained an allocation from Westbourne Park on the 15 between Ladbroke Grove and Aldgate, and East London continued on the whole 15. In 1991, the route was extended from Ladbroke Grove to Westbourne Park.

In 1992, as part of widespread Central London changes, the 15 was split into the 15 and 23. The 23 took Ladbroke Grove-Liverpool Street, and 15 took Paddington-Canning Town (East Ham evenings/Sundays). However, on Sunday, there was no change. Centrewest involvement ended, and since it has stayed with East London/Stagecoach/ELBG/Stagecoach. The Sunday element also gained Scania double deckers. In 1993, the 23 replaced the northern part of the 15 completely. In 1999, the OPO element was made low-floor with Tridents. Also, the 15B was renumbered 115 (18/09/99) and the 15 was rerouted from Canning Town to Blackwall DLR Station at all times except evenings.
On 30th August 2003, the Routemasters were replaced with Tridents, and the route was withdrawn from East Ham, White Horse as the 115 was introduced in evenings. The route also moved from Upton Park to Bow (BW). In October 2007, the route was extended within Paddington to the Paddington Basin development. The route was withdrawn between Oxford Circus/Regent Street and Paddington in 2010 when the short-lived 159 extension to Paddington Basin took place. In 2011, the Tridents were replaced by Enviro 400Hs. Due to "Crossrail works", the route was further retracted "temporarily" from Oxford Circus to Trafalgar Square in 2013. This arrangement is expected to be permanent for the 15, but not for the N15. From March 2015, the Borismaster took over, as covered in this post. Other than workings off the N15, the 15 is now fully LT.