Riding La Viva Loca

In April 2017, the last D78 ran in service on the District line. After two years, D78 Stock have been revived by Vivarail into a viable alternative to new rolling stock, especially for lower-utilisation routes like the Marston Vale line, and on 23rd April 2019, the resulting DEMU Class 230 entered passenger service with London Northwestern Railway (West Midlands Trains).

230004 on the second day of service at Bedford.
© Aubrey Morandarte

These "upcycled" trains have, instead of a pickup shoe to pick up electricity, there is a diesel motor which drives an electric source, which is used to power the motors which are pre-existing from the D78 Stock. The bodyshell, chassis, some parts of the seating, motors and bogies are all pre-existing from the D78, whilst the interior and other major things have been added or changed.


Spot the difference? Merely two years ago, the last D78 ran in passenger service on the Underground.
© Aubrey Morandarte

There had been some testing mishaps back in 2016, when it was mooted that they would be tested on the Coventry-Nuneaton line under former West Midlands franchise operator, London Midland (Govia). However, unfazed by the setbacks in 2016, the incoming new franchise operator, West Midlands Trains (Abellio-JR East-Mitsui) took three of the Vivarail units for the Bedford - Bletchley line. As the Vivarail prototype is 230001, and the battery EMU is 230002, these took the TOPS numbers of 230003-5.



This video shows a ride between Bow Brickhill and Woburn Sands. Clearly audible are the diesel engine undertones with the distinct pre-existing D Stock motors. The ride on the trains are the same as with the D Stock, as the bogies are the same as the ones fitted to the D78s since the late 1990s/early 2000s (fitted by Adtranz). Seating is fairly comfortable considering the type of seats chosen, although the opinion may be in part due to the author's frequency of using trains with the same type of seating. The door closing can be clearly heard, and closes with greater force than when under LU ownership.


230004 turns around at Bletchley for a trip to Bedford Midland
© Aubrey Morandarte

The front of the train has been slightly modified to meet modern crash worthiness standards. New LED lights replace the under-body lighting seen on the D Stock. The emergency door at the front has been plated up, and a fully modernised cab has been installed.


Interior of one coach of 230004, Bedford
© Aubrey Morandarte

One coach has been refurbished extensively, with the centre doors being boarded up. The seats between the boarded up centre doors are of the "ironing board" high backed seats, with the longitudinal being refreshed seats from the 2005-2008 refurbishment with London Underground. All seats have new moquette, and padding. Handrails have been repainted, the LED displays have been replaced internally (but the housing has not been replaced).


Interior of the other coach of 230004, Bletchley
© Aubrey Morandarte

The second coach has the corridor-side part with the existing layout. The centre part has a similar layout until the second boarded up door, where a new accessible toilet has been installed. Yes, for the first time, one can legally go to the toilet on a D Stock.


Toilet and wheelchair space within train.
© Aubrey Morandarte

An extended wheelchair area is located next to the toilet, which is all near to the front set of doors, where four original seats are retained between the door and the cab. A mixed layout of seats overall, with a clean look. As a personal opinion, the refurbishment seems to be very neat, to the extent that some can think it was a completely new train.


Table seating next to a boarded up door, note the shorter windows.
© Aubrey Morandarte

The trains are fitted with plug socket and USB charging points underneath the transverse seating, with USB chargers between seats embedded at the bottom of the arm rests next to the longitudinal seating.


Detail of the longitudinal seating, original from the mid-2000s LU refurbishment.
© Aubrey Morandarte

One thing also changed from the original D Stock is the installation of a inter-car corridor, operated by pressing a button which unlocks the first door, with the second door opening using a handle from the corridor. This introduction of the corridor has made walking between carriages safer. Also seen on the photograph on the left is the exhaust from the underfloor diesel engine.

© Aubrey Morandarte

There are posters detailing both the train's history as well as notable connections and notable information of each place on the line.
© Aubrey Morandarte


A line diagram using the former advertising panels. Further detailing of each panel can be seen:
Bletchley-Bow Brickhill
Woburn Sands-Ridgemount
Lidlington-Stewartby
Kempston Hardwick-Bedford Midland


© Aubrey Morandarte

The Marston Vale trains have special branding, with a whiter version of the LNR livery. This photo also shows the side external displays for the destination, as well as the treatment for the former doors.


230004 leaving Bedford for the Marston Vale line.
© Aubrey Morandarte

Overall, these trains are a fair, refreshing low cost upgrade to the Class 150/153s that are usually on the route. Although the trains themselves are OLDER than the Sprinters that they replace, they are notably more efficient due to the electric motor driving the wheels, rather than the diesel transmission. This leads to an mpg which is lower than Pacer trains.

Vivarail have done an excellent job with the interior refurbishment, and the quietness of the engine does mean that the loudest sound is usually the motor noises, or the train announcements. The interior is more airy than their predecessors, with brighter lighting thanks to the LED interior lighting.

The main issue would possibly be the toilet sinks having too powerful water pressure at the taps, but otherwise are very good units. These are set to be the only DEMUs from Vivarail so far ordered, as the 230s for Transport for Wales will be diesel-electric hybrid trains.

Post, photos and video by Aubrey Morandarte

All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2019

Go-Ahead, CT Plus

On 23rd March 2019, Route 20 was gained from Go-Ahead London by CT Plus from Walthamstow Avenue (AW). It had been with London General for just under 6 years, and under the Go-Ahead Group for a full 5 year + 2 year extension.

Go-Ahead won the route from Arriva in 2012, with the change covered by this blog. Initially, it was with the Blue Triangle subsidiary before moving on the 22nd June 2013 to London General at NP (Northumberland Park). WVL462 approaches Walthamstow Central on the first day of London General operation back in 2013.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)


The latter part of the days of operation were with older buses than the allocated ones, including E55 which started out at Bexleyheath with London Central, and WVL189 which started out at Putney replacing Routemasters on Routes 14 and 22.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

On 23rd March, the route changed hands, this time to the growing Walthamstow Avenue operation at CT Plus. It is the second route gained from Go-Ahead London, having gained D6 earlier in 2018.


2539 navigating the new layout at Whipps Cross on the first day of CT Plus operation.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

New Enviro 400H (E40H) City buses were ordered for the route, in continuation with the previous buses ordered for Routes 26 and 388. It seems to be the standard CT Plus double decker body, as there are similar bodies on Scania gas chassis in Bristol for their operation on the Metrobus "BRT" there.


2547 with a faulty destination display at the Debden stand.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

These new buses have longer wheelchair bays (as noted in the recent Central London consultation notes repeatedly), and are the first double deckers operated from their Walthamstow Avenue base. Having been delivered very soon prior to the contract start, some rumoured that the first day would be littered with loaned buses from the previous operator (even though the allocated buses were due to be put at Bexleyheath for the 486 the very next day).


However, the only buses on loan from other operators were from Stagecoach London. 10113 is seen at Whipps Cross on a short journey to Leyton, Bakers Arms. It will terminate at Leyton Green, ironically in front of the garage it was loaned from.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Stagecoach London have loaned out two Enviro 400s to cover the two buses intended from the 388, but was not received because of the PVR cut being delayed. The 388 will be shortened (then extended again) under the Central London bus cuts, with the southern terminal revised to Liverpool Street, then London Bridge by the end of 2019, which would free the buses for both the 20, and the 26 frequency increase.


The other bus loaned from Leyton Garage is 10114, seen on a journey towards Debden.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

However, as CT Plus is a small operation in comparison to other operators in the area, especially with the very few decker routes, yet their high utilisation rate meant that until ULEZ operation began in April 2019, 26 and 388 were prone to single decker operations. Walthamstow Avenue only has the 20 as a double decker route, meaning that if multiple buses are out of service, this can lead to single decker operation.


A week after CT Plus started operation on Route 20, a bus from the W19 is seen on the route. As the single deckers do not have Route 20 blinds, paper displays are forced to suffice.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

CT Plus is notably the sole TfL bus operator in Debden, having gained 397 in late 2017, and 167 being withdrawn from the area due to Essex County Council subsidy cuts. The operator is gaining in small, but sustainable chunks, which can only be positive for competition in TfL tendering.

Post by Aubrey Morandarte

All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2019

Moving Parliament

These services feel like a side-note in the vast essay that is the UK rail network, but all the same their importance is on equal or greater terms, and historically even more so.  They are rarely seen, usually connecting unusual stations, often running at inconvenient times and likely to be carrying no more than one man and his dog, on a good day; this of course is reference to the "Parliament" or "ghost" trains.  The Parliament service is a long-standing principle of running, sometimes as little as one train a week, and in only one direction, over sections of the railway network that would otherwise be closed.

The Parliament trains have proved a useful tactic to employ when the costs of a formal procedure for closing a specific portion of line become too unwieldy.  They can also run for other means such as refreshing driver route knowledge along diversionary routes, the latter is the focus for this post.

Chiltern Railways have operated a late morning Parliament service between South Ruislip and Paddington via the New North Main Line (NNML).  The NNML was built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and opened between 1903 and 1905 running as a spur off the 'traditional' Great Western Main Line at Old Oak Common, running north through Greenford, before joining the Great Central Railway's (GCR) main line at South Ruislip.  The NNML continued to High Wycombe and beyond towards the Midlands and North West as a GWR & GCR joint railway [1].  Normal services ceased in 1963 and today the one passenger train that uses the line only reaches High Wycombe. This is an extension in reality as the "Parliament" service used to terminate from Paddington at West Ruislip until 2017.  The line is also used by freight workings, and prior to High Speed 2 (HS2) construction, was partly used as a method to turn GWR High Speed Train sets around from Old Oak Common.




Sign of the times; both services on the indicator boards here, now start at West Ealing.
Chiltern Railways 165 006 at Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling



Circle Line 21313 passes Chiltern Railways 165 006 at Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling

Chiltern Railways 165 006 passes Royal Oak with Paddington in the distance.
© Tommy Cooling

Chiltern Railways 165 006 passes then-First Great Western (now GWR) 165 127 at Royal Oak.
© Tommy Cooling

A 3x2 Chiltern Railways 165 DMU set passes North Acton heading towards Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling

Chiltern Railways 165 005, with Wembley Stadium in the background, passes through Perivale heading to Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling

Construction for the new High Speed 2 rail link, linking London to the Midlands and beyond [sound familiar?] is churning through the new development site at Old Oak Common, ready to become a massive interchange between from HS2 to GWR services, Crossrail and London Overground.  The NNML traverses two of the HS2 tunnel boring sites, and after 115 years since opening, the line is now severed.  A decision is yet to be made regarding whether the track will be reinstated to run a more substantive HS2 Old Oak Common connecting Chiltern service, however such a service has been muted to increase Chiltern Railways' presence and to take the strain from their Marylebone terminus.

This is not the end for the "Parliament" service however. From the December 2018 timetable change, the Chiltern Railways service from South Ruislip now runs to West Ealing leaving at the slightly later time of 11.02, diverting off the NNML at Greenford.  The return journey, now at 11.47, still runs to High Wycombe.  It waits to be seen as to whether this ghost service will ever return to Paddington, although given the congested nature of the "local lines" through Ealing Broadway and Acton, and with Crossrail around the corner, it does look unlikely.

Chiltern Railways 165 020 arrives at West Ealing.
© Tommy Cooling

Chiltern Railways 165 020 is joined by GWR 165 124 at West Ealing.
© Tommy Cooling

A busy scene with three different TOCs in view (Chiltern 165020; GWR 165124; Tfl Rail 345012)
© Tommy Cooling

[1] - Joe Brown; London Railway Atlas (2012)

Post by Tommy Cooling
Some of these images and more can be found on my Flickr page:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127662272@N07/

Please do not reproduce any of my images without permission

RIP Buses Excetera

The sudden demise of Buses Excetera on 11 March 2019 meant that there were stranded school children at schools, and people were stranded across Surrey. School routes 43, 45, 617, 618, 619, 668 and regular routes 28 and 479 stopped running with immediate effect after the morning peak on the Monday. This has led to a series of emergency contracts having to be agreed, and other operators just stepping in to operate the former school routes. Routes 28 and 479 took longer to find operators, with them being found later on in the week.

Buses Excetera in their "prime", running Surrey County Council routes, including Route 516 (now 21 under Metrobus), with Edward Thomas & Sons running Route 479 on behalf of Sunray Travel, prior to the Buses Excetera takeover of the route. This was taken in 2013.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Buses Excetera started out as Croydon Coaches, before expanding into bus work with Surrey County Council tendered bus work and ended up one of the bus companies that picked up the pieces from the Countryliner demise.


Two operators in 2015 were still running, but by 2019 were completely gone. Buses Excetera running the 479, with Abellio Surrey in the background on Route 515.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Unfortunately, events have not been rosy for Buses Excetera, with their fairly recent losses in Surrey County Council tendering meaning they were left with a small stub of a network. Financial issues also loomed over the company during the latter stages of its life. September 2017 saw their Guildford town services move to Compass Travel. September 2018 saw a large amount of losses, with the 32 and 479 Sunday service moving to Stagecoach South. 318 and 866 moved to Metrobus, and 73 moved to Falcon Buses. This left BETC with the remaining school routes, and routes 28 & 479, all commercial.

These events all cumulated to the administration of Buses Excetera (Coaches Excetera is unaffected as it is a separate, independent arm) on the 11th March 2019. Surrey has turned into a very cut throat business, with multiple companies over the lifetime of this blog having succumbed to financial difficulties operating in Surrey.


Cardinal Buses TA324 on Route 617 at Epsom Clock Tower
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

The first routes to be given replacements were the school routes. As these were one bus operations, these routes found new homes pretty easily.

Routes 43, 45 were taken over by Safeguard Coaches, who currently operate town routes within Guildford. These routes serve Godalming College (43) and Rodborough School (45).


Cardinal Buses TA950 on Route 619, another affected route
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Routes 617 and 619 were taken over by Cardinal Buses. They have previously been involved with the rescue of a very different operator in Surrey, having taken Route 557 from Abellio back in 2017, in addition to their current school work. Their scope of Tridents have expanded, to ex-Stagecoach London Tridents in addition to their ex-London United ones in fleet livery.


Route 668 was taken over by Go-Ahead London, with their commercial fleet taking over. They have a plethora of buses withdrawn from their TfL subsidiary, including E6 which was from TfL Route 196 prior to transfer to the commercial fleet. Route 618 was also taken over by GAL.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

The commercial all-day routes however were not immediately replaced. Route 28 (Woking-Knaphill-Pirbright Fox-Guildford), the smaller operation of the two remaining all-day operations found an operator in Falcon Buses on Wednesday 13th March.


KV03ZFG on Route 73 next to SK68LZL on Route 28
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Falcon Buses have increased their presence in Woking with their new route, having gained 73 already from BETC in tendering, as well as Route 456 (Monday-Saturday). Two slightly used Enviro 200MMCs from dealer stock were acquired for the service, both in differing lengths.
SK68LZL was formerly used by Ford in their Chariot service, having also seen use in Rail Replacement services. It is a short, 8.9m bus.


YW68OVT about to start service on the 28 at Guildford, on the first day of service.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

YW68OVT saw prior use with Newbury & District, and is the longer one of the two buses at 10.8m.

Most of the route is covered on Sundays by Arriva Route 91 projections from Knaphill to Guildford, and is ironically more frequent than the weekday/Saturday Route 28. However, as it was the smaller operation, it was very quickly taken on as a commercial venture by Falcon Buses. As they were not directly taking over from BETC, they are currently "reviewing" the service in the coming weeks before making any timetable changes.

The main route of the bunch, 479 (Epsom-Leatherhead-Bookham-Guildford) did not see a new operator until Saturday 16th March when Arriva Southern Counties opted to step in with existing buses.


4204 leaving Epsom on the 479 on a schoolday only short journey to Howard of Effingham School
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Route 479 has been operated by Arriva, albeit prior to Countryliner operation. The route has since gone through several operators: Countryliner, Sunray Travel and BETC between its two periods of operation by Arriva Southern Counties. All the operator changes were due to financial issues, with the company dissolving in the process. Ironically, when Countryliner went under, Quality Line also ran a free service on the 479 for a week in October 2012 alongside Sunray Travel before the Traffic Commissioner gave the licence for Route 479 to Sunray Travel. Eventually, Sunray Travel encountered problems of their own in 2013, with Edward Thomas & Sons running buses on Route 479 on behalf of Sunray before BETC took over the route.


J60ETC when BETC ran the route in 2014. Ironically, this bus is ex-Countryliner as AE06VPY.
(CC Aubrey Morandarte)

BETC expanded the route to run every 30 minutes between Bookham and Epsom with these shorts initially numbered as Route 489, before being merged with Route 479. This remained the state until demise on March 2019.


4091 on the schoolday journey towards Chipstead Valley, seen at Epsom Clock Tower
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Arriva have taken over the route, with some support from Surrey County Council, and some Streetlites have transferred over from Northfleet to supplement the existing fleet in running Route 479. It is run under the existing timetable.

However, the week where the 479 had no bus meant that passengers between Leatherhead and Guildford had the option of the rail service, using very limited Route 478 or going via Cobham on Routes 408 and 715.


Reptons SL62REP on the only direct route between Leatherhead and Guildford during the week the 479 was not running.
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

Now, as the routes have found new homes, hopefully these homes are more stable than their prior one in BETC. In order to take these routes under such very short notice is an achievement for each of Arriva, Safeguard, Go-Ahead London, Falcon Buses and Cardinal Buses.

RIP Buses Excetera

Post by Aubrey Morandarte

All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2019