It's the 1st of April: A few photoshopped images to whet your appetite!

A short post here, but topical nonetheless.

I hope that everyone out there had the joy of pulling a sneaky April Fools' prank on one of their good friends for a laugh. It's always interesting to see people's reactions to something slightly preposterous which could or could not be true.

I, personally, remember an April Fools' prank from back when I was in year 4 and the headteacher walked into our classroom to announce that there was an escaped tiger in the playground. Being the pedantic little sod that I was, I thought it was a load of utter codswallop, and it was, but everyone else rushed to the window in the hope to see one of the Earth's finest and most dangerous beings; alas not.

Anyway, I digress.

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For those who follow my Flickr photostream (link here), you will know that I like to blind buses for other routes every so often, and I thought it would be interesting to post them all here for the blog's many viewers:

SN36054 / YR61RUC blinded for route 607 at Hayes By-Pass.
This working did actually happen, but only on Boxing Day 2012!

6100 / KX59AEE blinded for route 268 at South Harrow Station.
This is one of my personal favourites: as much as GR have a habit of intermixing double and single deckers, a decker will never go on route 268.

6175 / LJ55BVG blinded for 640 to Garston, Bus Garage at Harrow Weald, Clamp Hill.
Taken the day after I found out that route 640 had been lost to Metroline.

802 / C2WYC blinded for route 580 at Carousel's Bus Garage, High Wycombe.
If a Tempo did go on the 580, it would be sure to lose various panels and body parts, because it's about six feet too long for the route.

3814 / LJ58AVY blinded for route 640 at Harrow Weald, Bus Garage.
Just subbed from route 258, I was somewhat amused to find that it had 640 on the blinds!

44001 / LK57EJD blinded for route 252 at London Bus Museum, Brooklands.
This one had nothing to do with me personally - because 44001 is ex-Dagenham, someone had the good humour to put route 252 up on the blinds. The 252 is a double-decker route too, adding to the irony.

6101 / KX59AEF blinded for route 140 at South Harrow Station.
This was the most complicated and involved fake blinding that I've ever done: I used Aubrey's blind and had my friend from GR place it in the area of the number blind. Unfortunately, the sizes weren't the same and as a result it came out nowhere near what I was hoping for. D'oh!

DE60 / YX11GBU blinded for route 114 at Edgware Bus Garage.
Taken admittedly during a blindroll, this is something that apparently happened during the tube strike last year, but I was in school so can't verify that. Either way, it would be interesting to see an Enviro on the 114!

VWH2010 / LK14FBO blinded for route N7 to Rayners Lane Station at East Acton, Brunel Rd.
This could become the norm, but I think it's unlikely now. There has long been a plan to extend the N7 to Rayners Lane but it has never come to fruition; I guess only time will tell.

Similarly, I also like to fake a few of my pictures from time-to-time, generally to change the livery from dull red to something more interesting. Here is my selection:

5448 / SN08AAE on route 640 at South Harrow Station.
No livery change here: all I've done is reblind the bus, change the branding and numberplate and place it on another image with South Harrow Stn in the background.

DLE26 / T426KAG on route 398 at Northwood Hills, St Vincent's Hospital.
The numberplate is reminiscent of DP26, which was the real vehicle to bear this plate. I added the grey skirt, put the old London Sovereign logos on and changed the destination to Greenford, where the 398 used to go before 2009; I don't think DLE26 would actually fit round Racecourse Estate and Castle Road to get there though!

VH7 / BD13OJA on route 114 at Harrow Bus Station.
My first proper fake here - a completely new livery and destination blind to replicate the original Sovereign livery from the '90s.

EH6 / YX15OWW on route H50 at Stockley Park.
My latest fake from today shows a return of the trainlink livery and the H50 route which was replaced by the 350 after being extended to Heathrow Terminal 5.

Many thanks for reading; if you've any further fake or confusing pictures, please post them below.

Alternatively, tell us of a great April Fools' which you've had the privilege to experience!

London General LT60 - YOTB Bus Liveries

The General livery has been worn by a multitude of buses over the years to commemorate the predecessor of London Transport (Buses) - London General Omnibus Company (LGOC), which was the largest operator in London by pre-nationalisation in 1933. This includes various Routemasters, a MCW Metrobus and now a Borismaster. Yeah... At least this is the red that later made London famous for its red buses.

London General LT60 on Route 11, Trafalgar Square

In late 2014, LT60 was repainted from original red to a modernised General livery, as shown. Athough the rear application is less than impressive:


Rear of London General LT60 on Route 11, Whitehall

In 1983, M57 was overhauled and repainted into General livery to commemorate the 50th year of London Transport. It adorned the name of "Aldenham Aristocrat" and was displayed in Chiswick Works Open Day in 1983, before moving to Cardinal District at Norbiton Garage. However, that bus was repainted to red in 1984 before moving to and being privatised under Metroline in 1994. In 1999, that bus was purchased by White Rose and restored to General livery by them. It was used on Route 461 before later being sold to Carousel Buses after the demise of White Rose. Carousel kept it in General livery as it was on various routes, including A40. It was later bought by Country Bus & Coach in 2006 and was repainted to green by 2009.


London General LT60 on Route 11, Trafalgar Square (at night)

In 1989, two Routemasters from GM (Victoria) Garage were repainted to General Livery. They were RM89 and RM1590. Both were used on various Central London routes, which included the 9 and 11. RM89 also had early RT hub covers and was later withdrawn in 1994, before being exported to Argentina after a spell in Scotland. RM1590 also was withdrawn in 1994, before going around various firms in the UK, including Ashford Hospital and Pinpoint Training in Leicester.

Later on, in 2005, as the Routemasters were dying in normal London service, Putney Garage of London General (named after LGOC) repainted RML887 to General livery. It later performed the last crewed and Routemaster journey on the 14, with DDA compliant blinds. It then had a spell in the Go-Ahead London commercial fleet, before it was later sold up to Blackpool and was repainted red.

Other Routemasters were also painted in this livery after their public service life:
RMF2809 (former Northern General 2133/3117) was also painted in General livery in 1991 and did the H23 in 1992. After a spell with Big Bus Sightseeing, it is at Wealden PSV as of 2011 not in General livery.
Ex-London United RML881/ER881, was bought in 2005 by Gray Line for sightseeing operations in Halifax,  Nova Scotia, Canada where it was painted into General livery in 2006.


London General LT60 on Route 11, Victoria Station

This leaves to deal with the "modernised" General livery on LT60. This bus also has gold fleetnames and roundels. It has had an unimpressive life, starting out and still on the 11 from Stockwell Garage.

Now Year of the Bus has finished, so far, none of the buses in YOTB liveries has been repainted back to red yet.

Stagecoach Selkent Liveries - YOTB Bus Liveries

Stagecoach Selkent 36343, 10136, Brooklands Museum

Unveiled during the Brooklands event on the 13th April 2014, these buses were painted in heritage liveries that were previously used for buses from Selkent for the Year of the Bus celebrations.


Stagecoach Selkent 36343 blinded for Route 227
This bus is liveried with the Dennis Lance livery used in the 1990s by Selkent. They were used on the 36B (Alexander-bodied examples) (now 136) and the 208 (Plaxton-bodied examples). After Kentish Bus decided to move the 227 to Stagecoach as part of a rationalisation deal, the Plaxton ones went to the 227 (and ended up in red). 36343 is liveried in this, appropriately blinded here for the 227!


Rear/Nearside view of Stagecoach Selkent 36343
The moquette inside it is spare Routemaster moquette, similar to the ones worn on the Dennis Lances.

Here are photos of it in service:


Stagecoach Selkent 36343 on Route P4, Brixton


Stagecoach Selkent 36343 on Route P4, Lewisham

Also, 10136 was painted in the livery of L136 worn between 1990 and 1994

Stagecoach Selkent 10136 blinded for Route N47, Brooklands Museum
The original T136 was initially based at Plumstead, and throughout the time it wore the Tramway Centenary Livery it was at that garage. Only in 1995 did L136 end up at Catford Garage. In contrast, 10136 is a Catford bus for most of its life so far already!


Rear/Offside of Stagecoach Selkent 10136, Brooklands Museum

Here it is in service:


Stagecoach Selkent 10136 on Route 199, Canada Water Bus Station (first day 15/04/14)


Interior of Stagecoach Selkent 10136


Stagecoach Selkent 10136 on Route 199, Bellingham (15/04/14)

Here it is during the Catford Garage Open Day:


Stagecoach Selkent 10136, Catford Garage Open Day (© GloriousWater/Jack)
The bus at this time got white blinds, just like the counterpart of L136 back in its day

Then back into service with white blinds:


Stagecoach Selkent 10136 on Route 199, Greenwich


Stagecoach Selkent 10136 on Route 199, Canada Water


Stagecoach Selkent 10136 on Route 199, Canada Water

London United SP102 - YOTB Bus Liveries

London United SP102 on Route 71, Chessington South

A regular Fulwell bus, SP102, was treated to the old 2000s livery of London United for Fulwell Garage Open Day:


London United VA86 on Route 281, Kingston Cromwell Road

Which leads to this result:


London United SP102 on Route 65, Kew Green


London United SP102 on Route 65, Ealing Broadway/Haven Green

The bus has been refurbished with extra padding as well as the light grey skirt, with a white roof leading to that effect.


The rear treatment also shows the small fleet number for the rear.

Then it went on the 281:

London United SP102 on Route 281, Fulwell

And the 71, and the 391:

London United SP102 on Route 391, Kew Gardens Station

And the Fulwell Garage Open Day:


Displaying Route 131 to Kingston (Fairfield Road)


Displaying Route 681 to Teddington, Broom Road


Displaying Route 691 to Hollyfield School

A great livery application onto SP102 does mean this bus looks smart wherever it goes, and a good refurbishment means most of its problems have gone. It is currently used most on Routes 65, 71 and 281 from Fulwell Garage.