Great West Abellio

On 6th April 2019, Routes 207 and N207 transferred from Metroline West to Abellio London West, giving Abellio a very large stronghold in West London. Both routes will eventually be based in the upcoming permanent Southall Bus Garage in the Great Western Industrial Park, but in the meantime, are based in the former Wings Buses base at Hayes.

2005, one of the few new buses ordered for the 207, starts the journey on the first day to Hayes By-Pass. Most of the allocation is compromised of existing classic and MMC Enviro 400s made spare by a reduction on Route 415, as well as the complete withdrawal of Route C2.
© Aubrey Morandarte

The gain of the 207/N207 offsets the loss of Route C2 to the Central London bus cuts, and along the 211 loss, offsets the 24 and 27 tender gains. The relatively small base of Hayes that Abellio has means that they had to shuffle a few routes to accommodate the 207/N207. Routes 195 and U5 moved to Fulwell (TF). Routes U7 and part of H28 moved to the temporary Southall (AB).

Abellio 9534 beside Westfield White City on Route 207 towards Hayes By-Pass.
 Abellio's 9534 was a Battersea (QB) C2 bus, transferred after the withdrawal of the route.

© Tommy Cooling

Other buses which were not affected by the C2 withdrawal also made their way to Hayes from their eastern counterparts, with some Enviro 400H MMCs from the 415, as LTs replaced part of the allocation for the route. Also, other non-C2 buses were also transferred to the route from QB, albeit temporarily.


2467 from the batch intended for the 49 was transferred over to Southall for a few days from the initial contract change. This bus is now back at QB for the 49.
© Aubrey Morandarte

Abellio 2532 in Ealing Common on Route 207 towards White City.
This is one of three different E400 MMC batches that can appear on the route, this batch having transferred from the 415.

© Tommy Cooling

Abellio's MMC batches from 2015, 2017 and 2019 all appear in this one view, and any of these vehicles can be allocated to the routes. Note how the rear of the body type has changed between the 2015 model and the latest 2019 version.

© Tommy Cooling

Although the 207 now shares the 427 allocation, it is infrequent for the 427 branded buses to stray onto the 207/N207, although this has happened in the past as the N207 mainly draws its allocation from the 427 due to the Central London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and that the 427 is the allocated hybrid route out of WS.

Two classic E400s pass close to Ealing Common Station.

© Tommy Cooling

2004 heads along Oxford Street close to the end of its journey to Holborn.
© Aubrey Morandarte

The N207 was also converted from diesel operation under Metroline West to full Euro VI hybrid operation under Abellio to comply with the Central London ULEZ. It was one convenient sweep to help one of the last few diesel night routes within Central London to convert to hybrid. Other routes that were also still diesel were converted to hybrid through re-allocation of garage.


2401 is an outlier to the rest of the decker fleet transferred for the 207, as it was not refurbished at all since introduction on the 188. It was transferred from WL to QB at some point, and since went to AB (Southall) for the E1 for a week prior to the 207 gain. It is seen on the N207, starting a journey to Uxbridge.
© Aubrey Morandarte


2532 on Oxford Street on the first night of Abellio on the N207
© Aubrey Morandarte

The N207 is the first Abellio London West night service, with the closest prior being the early morning airport journeys on the 350 and 490. As with usual with current TfL policy, the night route has had an element of reduction, with the last few journeys being cut back or withdrawn. The route retains its half and half approach to the western termini, with Hayes By-Pass alternating with Uxbridge between buses.

Unlike the rest of the Uxbridge Road corridor, the 607 retained its operator and new Volvo B5LH/MCV EvoSeti buses were ordered for the route, although due to circumstances regarding electric buses and the Central London ULEZ, not all of the new buses are currently on the route.

Metroline VW1820 beside Westfield White City on Route 607 towards Uxbridge.
A number of these former 427 then 207 VWs continue to ply their trade along the Uxbridge Road, now on the 607. Their time is limited like the route. The remainder of the 607s new VMH allocation can be found on the 43 and 134 because of the Central London ULEZ. They will all be united at Greenford on the route once Metroline's electric buses arrive during summer 2019.

© Tommy Cooling

The blinds in these former Hayes 427 VWs have not been altered since the introduction of these vehicles by First London in 2010, at a time before the 207 and 607 routes were extended to serve the Westfield White City bus station. When these VWs were reused on the 207 after Metroline lost the 427 in 2017, a dayglo "White City" was added for the 207.  These vehicles have been reused again on the Uxbridge Road for the 607 this time, and a clever bit of coding was to also reuse the 207s dayglo White City as a temporary measure until the remained of the 607s VMHs are released.

When the blinds were order for these former First London Hayes VNs for the 427, a conjoined Hayes-Greenford set was designed to give the engineers flexibility if they wished to swap buses. The 607 was not at either garage at the time and was never planned to be moved to either so its inclusion on this [still original First London] blind was a chance encounter as the blind order was hurried and the base for the blinds was taken from an older version from First's Acton Tram depot blinds.

© Tommy Cooling

Metroline VMH2591 showcases the 607s official allocation in Ealing Common, sporting an appropriate yet traditional blue "limited stop" bus blind to distinguish the route from the slower 207 and 427 counterparts. This is still the only TfL route which has blue on white blinds.

© Tommy Cooling

Up to 13 VWs at Greenford can still be found on the 607; VW1818 is one of those seen nearby to Ealing Common Station.

© Tommy Cooling

This significant tender has notably shifted a lot of work to Abellio London West. The sector started out as Tellings Golden-Miller, with not a large amount changing under Travel London duress. Abellio has managed to grow this sector from a relatively medium-scale operation to a large scale operation including trunk routes which were the stronghold of Metroline West. With the new garage in Southall (GW) replacing both WS and AB, this is clearly a time of growth for the company. Adding the gains of Routes 24, 27, 267, E10 and E11 to the repertoire, as well as the retention of most of their work shows a period of growth for this operator.

Post by Aubrey Morandarte and Tommy Cooling

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