Sovereign's Next Step

For the first change of the year, on 6th January 2018, Routes 142 and 642 moved from Arriva London North to RATP London Sovereign.

The 142 and 642 are allocated ADL Enviro 400s displaced from the loss of routes 120 and 222 at Hounslow to Metroline. These buses had worked [mostly] all their lives from Hounslow, thus this is a change of scenery for these buses from their usual haunts on the 81, 120, 222, H98 and occasional trips on the 111 and H32.


Logo work on some of the ADEs has occurred with ADE40418 being one with London Sovereign logos seen turning to Edgware High Street enroute to Watford.
(© Tommy Cooling)


Newly refurbished ADE40429 stops on Edgware Road (Edgware High Street) enroute to Brent Cross
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

As a result of the 142 changes, a few other changes were required for the route to squeeze into Edgware Garage. Edgware's 183 allocation had to move into Harrow as the Gospel Oak to Barking London Overground rail replacement Service J took up the remaining garage space. To fit the 183 into Harrow, routes 398 and H17 moved to London United's Atlas Road garage on a permanent basis, as well as six 183 buses (drivers still based at Harrow), albeit on a very temporary basis until the LO-J service finished later in January.


VHs from the 139 allocation also strayed onto the 142 on the first day, with VH45106 being an example at Stanmore.
(© Tommy Cooling)

Other buses on the first day strayed onto the 142, including VHs, and SP40135 originally from the London United division, for Route 10 then Route E3.


SP40135 seen at the southern terminus, just starting another journey towards Watford Junction.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)


SP40135, having finished the journey it was seen on above, now turned at Watford to head back towards London.
(© Tommy Cooling)

First day service was generally alright, although there were some notable gaps of 20+ minutes. These gaps were, however, few and far between. Overall, service was decent for the first day. With familiar drivers amongst possibly other staff, the service should settle to a normal, improved state.


Some of the buses still have their AV (Hounslow) codes in original yellow, although the logos, garage codes and refurbishment are due for some ADEs still. To be honest though, the unrefurbished examples do not have many notable signs of wear.  Unrefurbished ADE40434 is seen turning into Edgware Station.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)


Multiple VHs saw service on the first day of the 142, with VH45121 advertising Too Faced in the middle of Central London being far away from said store, at Stanmore.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Prior to London Sovereign, the 142 has only been at Garston, since 1986, having been won then by London Country from London Transport, then still under National Bus Company control (for only 3 more months). Between 1986 and 2018, during its time at Garston, it was run either with the ordered Olympians (LRs), ordered DAF DB250s (60xx), or...err.. anything TfL at Garston Garage!


6014 (DLA614) showing the order after the low-floor conversion of the 142 back in 2003. 6000-6024 was the combined order for the 142 and 340, with 6025 (DLA625) (the last ever DLA-class to be built) as a top-up in 2004 for the 142.
(CC Aubrey Morandarte)


The allocation later became the VLA-class Volvo B7TL/ALX 400 displaced from other parts of the Arriva London area. 4 examples are seen here at Watford Junction.
(© Tommy Cooling)


The route did also see the use of Wrightbus vehicles too with the Volvo chassis (VLW-class) and the intergral (DW-class). Here 6100 (later DW190) and 6101 (later DW191) pass at Edgware Bus Station. These two were bought by Arriva for the 640 school contract in 2009.
(© Lewis Nagle)


However, a more too familiar sight was the single deckers on the double decker routes, even when deckers were found on single decker routes!


A Cadet during the last few days of 142 operation by Arriva London North at Watford Junction. The use of singles on this route (and the 258) had become common place during the last few months of the contract.
(© Tommy Cooling)


And on the odd occasion, singles on both routes have been captured together, with [now withdrawn] Cadet DWL97 (3728) and PDL117 in Bushey.
(© Tommy Cooling)



A rarer sight was to see the few Dart/Pointer buses at Garston on the 142, as Garston only had a few. Back in 2015 and under Arriva Shires control, 3804 is seen at Brent Cross.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)



As a result of this there were a number of knock on effects, a number of Arriva's remaining VLAs were withdrawn, the last remaining VLWs were/will be withdrawn. A couple of the older deckers will need to be kept for scheduled school workings on the H18 and H19, alongside the new Streetdecks allocated to the 340. All of Garston's routes are now scheduled to move out of the garage, mainly to wins by other operators leaving the sole 340 to move to Palmers Green. Their two closest routes are now with RATP London Sovereign, and later on this year, after the rest of the routes will move away, Garston Garage site will be sold to developers. It's a sad time for many enthusiasts, as Garston holds a significant historical relevance in today's bus operations, being one of the few original London Country garages left.

Post by Tommy Cooling & Aubrey Morandarte
Photos by Tommy Cooling, Lewis Nagle & Aubrey Morandarte

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