Latest Update: 20 August 2017

This page gives up-to-date major news items to supplement our monthly newsletter, •The London Bus• (TLB). Items noted here will be incorporated in the next issue of TLB in greater detail. News updates will usually be weekly, by Sunday evening, but if major stories arise we will attempt to announce them sooner. Reports more than a month old and already reported in TLB are deleted. Reports for the TLB Editors and communications to Society Officers can be sent by e-mail to "lotsed@tesco.net". TLB covers the operations and vehicles of around 120 companies working local bus services in Greater London and the Home Counties in the region roughly bounded by the old London Transport country-bus operating area. Each issue is typically 40 pages containing references to around 300 routes and 1000 vehicles, together with the business and political news, the publicity output of the companies, forthcoming exhibitions and rallies, and much more. To get the full picture, why not join now? Go to the Membership Page for details.

Forthcoming Conway Hall meetings

Doors  open  from 6pm. sales stand from 6.30pm, event begins at 7.30 and is finished by 10pm. There is no charge.  Visitors are welcome, especially from other societies or if you buy something or join as a new member. Meetings are held monthly (except January, July & August) 

Conway Hall is located at Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Nearest Underground station: Holborn (Central and Piccadilly Lines) Buses: 1, 8, 19, 25, 38, 55, 59, 68, 91, 168, 171, 188, 242, 243 & 521 stop nearby.

LOTS Meetings and Events

There s no next meeting in August so the next meeting is on Monday 25 September, then 23 October, 20 November and 18 December.

The London Bus (TLB)

TLB 636 was posted on Tuesday 15 August.  The closing date for reports for TLB 637 is Friday 8 September and it is due for posting on Tuesday 19th September.

New and Recent LOTS publications:

Also note that on the ‘membership’  page of this website is a new membership form. When you are due for renewal you should receive one of these, pr you can print the one on the website.  Note at the bottom of  the form that there is a new way of renewing.  It can be paid directly to our bank account and then you must send the MemSec an email to let him know you have done it.

NEW publications:
SUP-36JJ London’s Major Bus Operators, Fleet Allocations July 2017,  52 pages (£4.00),
SUP-37CC London’s Buses & Trams Route Working Index 1st July 2017, 40 pages  (£3.50).

LOTS LBM180 London Bus Magazine  Summer 2017:   (£5.00) (available from, 12th June) Principal features are ‘Three Stormy Years ‘(1956/7/8) by M.E.Papes about the lead-in to the Bus Strike; also ‘From north (and west) of Watford Gap by Tony Wilson, about the 1987-89 period of second-hand buses, mainly at HD and PB – so plenty of Ailsas!

TLB Extra – Vehicle news of 1948: (£6.50) (available from 12th June)  An 80-page illustrated book covering the vehicle events of LT in that very busy year!  We had previously dealt with Years 1957 to 1984, many of which are still available (see Sales List) but we are now commencing a new group of years covering the period that featured the mass replacement of pre-war and wartime buses. New information on some allocations has recently came to light and is included in ‘TEX48’. 
 
London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2017:  (£6.50)  To the usual A6 pocket size, 128 pages listing 12,800 vehicles, all major operators in London and Home Counties plus most smaller bus operators and sightseeing tour companies.
 
LOTS London Bus Review 2016 (Greater London and Beyond)   (£11.00)   The original London Bus Review, with all the news from last year in London and the Home Counties, with the routes, vehicles, events, adverts, politics, fully illustrated, all in one A4 size book.
 
Other recent issues from other publishers
 
NEW The latest London  bus maps from Mike Harris are due to be delivered to us in the coming week and we can now take orders.
Greater London Bus Map No.36  29th July 2017  - £2.00
Greater London Night Bus Map  29th July 2017  - £4.00
 

Routemaster Handbook (new 2017 edition) (Capital Transport), all 1,200 Routemasters worldwide are listed, 144 pages, 156 pictures (£16.50)
 
London Transport Buses in East London and Essex, 1960s and 1970s (David Christie, Amberley Publishing) an A5 picture album, 96 pages (£14.99)  
 
The Green Line Routemasters (Dryhurst & Bowden), an A5 picture album (£8.00)
Single Deck Bus Garage Allocations 1951-1981 (Country RF/Merlin/Swift types – (£25.00).
The companion = SD Allocations 1952-1981 (Central RF/Merlin/Swift types still available – (£25.00).
First Group Fleetbook 2017 (all UK) from Andrew Woolhouse  (£18.00).
The companion = Stagecoach Group Fleetbook 2017 (all UK) is still available  (£18.00).

Orders can be sent to LOTS Postal Sales at Unit N305 Vox Studios, 1-45 Durham Street, Vauxhall, London SE11 5JH.

See the Sales Page for full list of sales items.

Adverts

Latest news 

 
Sunday 20 August

1) Delivery continues of Go Ahead London’s EH 131-161 due to take over on routes 5 and 115 next Saturday 26th.  That date will also see the transfer to Go-Ahead of LT 391-416 from Stagecoach for route15.    Staying in the east, application of the East London Transit livery to LTs is well under way.

2) Arriva London North has started to take delivery of 56 x B5LH/Gemini 3s (batch HV324-379) to re-equip routes 243 and 341 at Tottenham. Over the next six weeks or so, DWs so released are due to displace older buses on routes 194 and 370 and to cover the take-up in October of routes 103 and 175 from Stagecoach.

3) Next Sunday 27th will see the move of Arriva’s blue buses from Garston to Hemel Hempstead and a revision to Hemel’s town services, in due course partly with new minibuses.  Also that date marks the removal of Regal Busways in Essex from all routes in the “LOTS area”,  services generally being covered by Arriva, EOS and Community minibuses.

Sunday 13 August

1) At Arriva the Shires Luton, the new E20Ds (3112-18 and 3129-35) are now in service, principally on town routes 12 and 27.  Also at Luton the first few of the 13 Mercedes Benz Tourismo coaches for route 757 (batch 7001-13) have commenced delivery and one or two are already in service.
 
2) In London, delivery has begun of Go-Ahead’s 31 x AD E40H(MMC)s (batch EH131-161) for River Road Garage. These are for routes 5 and 115 when they are taken over from Stagecoach on 26th August, the balance of buses for the 5 being WVLs.
 
3) Also from the 26th two more new batches for south London.  First of all, Arriva route 410 should have received StreetLites SLS 23-30, already being delivered as part of its allocation, and Abellio is taking 12 x AD E20D(MMC)s  (batch 8185-96) for its take over of route 130 from Go-Ahead Metrobus.

For earlier reports refer to TLB or join LOTS!

Forthcoming events

These events are provided as a service to readers, LOTS has no involvement nor responsibility for any event noted below: