Latest Update:  26 October 2021

Society news

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. Each issue of TLB 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.

If you need to contact us with anything to do with membership, subscriptions to TLB or LBM and queries over postal sales, email to lotsmemsec@gmail.com and it will be passed to the correct person. Reports for TLB/LBM or queries to other society officers can go via the TLB Editor davestewart297@gmail.com and it will passed to the correct person.

For queries about Postal Sales, please email lotspostalsales@gmail.com.This E mail address may also be used for ordering from Postal Sales if wishing to pay by direct debit bank transfer - for details see Page 1 of the Sales Bulletin.

LOTS meetings and events

Conway Hall meetings

The next meeting is on Monday 29 November, "A photographic presentation "Halfcab Heaven" by Eamonn Kentell, in the usual hall.  Visitors to Conway Hall are encouraged to wear face masks and those feeling they could have Covid symptoms are asked not to attend. There is no meeting in December, the next meetings will be in February, May, September and November 2022.

Conway Hall is located at Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Nearest Underground station: Holborn (Central and Piccadilly Lines) Buses: 1, 8, 19, 38, 55, 59, 68, 91, 168, 188, 243 & 521 stop nearby. Doors  open from 6pm. Sales stand from 6.30pm, event begins at 7.30pm 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. In normal times, meetings are held monthly (except January, July & August).

The London Bus (TLB)

TLB 686 was posted on Tuesday 19th October. The closing date for reports for TLB 687 is Wednesday 3 November and it is due for posting on Tuesday 16 November.

New and Recent LOTS publications:

For queries about Postal Sales, please email lotspostalsales@gmail.com This E mail address may also be used for ordering from Postal Sales if wishing to pay by direct debit bank transfer - for details see Page 1 of the Sales Bulletin.

Please address your orders to LOTS Postal Sales, Unit G16 Lombard Business Park. 8 Lombard Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3TZ. Orders are processed weekly. Make sure that the 'Postal Sales' name is included prominently, so we can give the order the best attention. An updated Sales List was included with TLB670. You can use this list to order, or a letter is perfectly acceptable, and so is the Sales List printed off from our website.  In each case, please don’t staple cheques to the form – they really won’t get lost by us but might be when the banks try to process them electronically!
          
LOTS’ latest publications, available now:

NEW LOTS London Bus Magazine LBM 197 Autumn 2021. Main items are 'The last years of step entrance buses Part 2 which

focuses on non-TfL and Country area operations and 'an imaginary journey by tram 90 years ago. (£5.00)

LOTS London Bus Magazine 196, Summer 2021. Main items are, Step entrance buses in and around London Part 1, a Woodford

walk about in 2020 and The Last Regular Routemaster operation.

LOTS London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2021:   Updated to TLB681.   (£7.00).

TLB Extra 1956  The last of the series although there is a difference. 1956 was a fairly slack year for vehicle changes so this

book has been expanded from 60 to 80 pages to include a summary of all the updates to all the other issues 1948 to 1955 and

1957-1984. Fully illustrated in B&W but with original 1956 colour cover pictures. (£7.00).   

 LOTS Review 2020:  An A4-size 80-page book detailing all the London region events of last year, with over 100 colour pictures.  £13.00. 

LOTS SUP-39B TfL Bus Operators Fleet Allocations and PVRs (£4.50) 

LOTS London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2020. The 32nd edition of our 128-page pocket size Fleetbook,  updated to June 2020. Orders can be taken by Postal Sales ( £7.00 post free to members, add +15% for postage to UK non-members  or +30% for all overseas orders.   

TLB EXTRA 1955 is now available, same prices as Fleetbook.  An updated full sales list can be printed out by going to the ‘Sales’ tab on this website. Extra 1954 and Extra 1953  (£7.00 each) also recent issues.

LOTS Review 2019 (£13.00) As ever, this is the original and definitive story of buses in London and the country areas during the last year, fully illustrated with informative captions.

LOTS SUP-24I: (£4.50)   The latest LT Service Vehicles Current fleet. Current at September 2019

TLB Extra – Vehicle news of 1948 to the 1980s:  (£6.50/£7 each year) (80-pages illustrated)

Sales List in TLB670:  Please note on page 2 that Capital Transport books attributed to Mick Webber are incorrect.  ‘London’s 70s Buses’ is by Matt Wharmby and ‘London’s Country Buses’ is by Kevin McCormack.

From the Sales List, the following are now out of print:

LOTS  TLB Extra 1973.

Grey-Green and Contemporaries (1961 to Arriva years)

(SEC, John Allpress’s) The three Routes Handbooks for 2019 -  Brighton & Hove Buses; First Hampshire & Dorset and Stagecoach South

Recent items from other publishers: 

Young Routemasters (James Whiting) £16.95. A photograph and caption book covering each route conversion to Routemasters 1956 to 1965

London's Disused Railway Stations - Inner South East London (CT) £22

Wires above South East London (Robert Harley) £25

A London trolleybus reborn Q1 1812 (Dave Chick) £25

Vehicle History File - London DMS (Wooleybus) £22.50

Valliant Years (coaches in W & NW London) (£50)

London Country Vehicle Memories by Julian Bowden & Michael Dryhurst  £16.00 Bowden Publishing  (A4 format)

The London Feltham Tram The Evolution of a Classic Tramcar Design by Peter Waller £25.00 Pen & Sword Books

Croydon Tramlink A Definitive History by Gareth David £30.00 Pen & Sword Books

SEC’s 2020 Update to its 2019 Fleet List and Sussex Independents books, 32pp (£2.50).

Trolleybuses in East Central London. Published by Adam Gordon £30.00. 184 pages –details on ahgbooks.com website.

Wires above South East London.  (Robert Harley) £25.00 Heathfield Publishing (part of Capital Transport – more details on C/Ts website)

Regional Tramways: London Transport  (Waller) £25.00 Pen & Sword   (includes history, DLR and Croydon Tramlink)

From Mike Harris, the latest London bus maps:

Greater London Bus Map for 15 June 2019 (2) and a Night Bus Map for 15th June 2019 (£4)
From each edition of the series an amount of the price is donated to a charity.  In this case it is to the Firefighters Association.

Also, in the Historical series -
The 1976 Greater London Bus Map, 10th April 1976 - £4.00
The 1952 Greater London Bus Map, 6th July 1952 (Second Edition) - £4.00

 
See the Publications Page for details of LOTS publications or the Sales Bulletin for our current stocklist.

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, or you can print the one on the website.  Note that 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.

Latest news 

Sunday 24 October

1) Two major imminent events remain unresolved as of now.   The National Express/ Stagecoach ‘merger’ has until 16th November to make a decision.   The talks between Falcon Coaches and Arriva over the future of Arriva’s Guildford area routes are ongoing. 

2) Several more EA-class E400EVs have entered service over recent days on Arriva route 319. Meanwhile RATP are still waiting for electricity at Fulwell and Harrow Garages – but it is getting closer! 

Sunday 17 October

1) Further to item 1 on 10 October regarding the closure of Guildford garage, Arriva and Falcon Coaches have issued a joint statement that talks are in an advanced state for Falcon to take over Arriva's bus operations in Guildford later this year. The statement adds that discussions between the two operators remain ongoing, working closely with Surrey County Council, trades union partners and employees, looking to safeguard jobs and secure on-going bus services for the local community.

Wednesday 13 October

 LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

* 12 electric + 3 hybrid (TVR 15).

** 13 hybrid + 6 hydrogen (TVR 19).

All the diesel & hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards. New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date dependent on infrastructure and/ or vehicle delivery timescales. 

The above contracts will commence on the following dates:

25th June 2022: Route 245.

30th July 2022: Routes 662, 665 & 671.

27th August 2022: Routes 116, 119, 198, 264 & A10.

Sunday 10 October

1) On 5th October Arriva UK made it known that they were  to close down their Guildford operation, targeted  by the end of December.  It is too early to say what operator or operators may take over the routes.

2) In contrast, at the other end of the Arriva ‘country area’, Luton Garage is to get 14 new  Volvo B8RLE/  MCV EvoRa buses within the next couple of months.  They will be suitable to use on the Luton- Dunstable Busway.

3) Several TfL route ‘consultations’ have been announced, following from the Sutton/ Croydon scheme in TLB685,  TLB686 will have full details of those for routes 92, 233 and 101/241/325/366 as well as new proposals for 410 and 497.