Latest Update: 27 February 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
Due to the continuing
pandemic all LOTS meetings are CANCELLED
until further notice
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
7.30 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. In
normal times, meetings are held monthly (except January,
July & August).
The London Bus (TLB)
TLB677
was despatched on Tuesday 19 January.
The closing date for TLB 678 was Wednesday 3
February and it is due for posting on Tuesday 16
February. The closing date for TLB 679 is Wednesday
3 March.
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 SUP-39B TfL Bus
Operators Fleet Allocations and PVRs
(£4.50)
NEW LOTS
LBM194 Winter 2020/21 London Bus Magazine (£5) The main article
is 'A return to Hammersmith please - a history of
London bus routes 110 & 111 by Colin Stannard
and Peter Bradley. Also, 'A modern London
enthusiast' by Matthew Wharmby, mainly a
photographic item covering the years 1983-1989 but
including some photos of 1991. Plus 'Rail Air Links
to Feltham Station' by Philip Wallis.
LOTS LBM193 London Bus Magazine Autumn 2020:
(£5.00) Main
articles are 'In Memory of via points' by Colin
Fradd with 57 pictures; reminiscences of bus, tram and
trolleybus routes serving Clerkenwell in the early
1950s by Nigel Davis, plus 'All change at the London
Bus Museum'.
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-39A: (£4.50)
This 56-page booklet encompasses the TfL operators’ fleet
and garage allocations from SUP36 and a simplified PVR
table from SUP37. Some features are dropped from 36
(eg. Fleets of non-TfL operators – see Fleetbook and
occasional features in TLB) while items like LSP
operations from 37 are dropped. The PVR tables are now in
route order. It also removes much of the duplication of
vehicle type codes, garage codes, and which bit of each
group runs what. Current at September 2019
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.
Non-members may wish to look at a sample
issue of TLB.
Hopefully this will whet your appetite for joining
LOTS!
Latest news
Saturday 27 February
1)
Stagecoach London has repainted E400H No.12345 into a
red&cream special livery and named ‘Selkent
Ambassador’. It is to commemorate 40 years since
Plumstead (PD) Garage opened on 31 October 1981 when it
replaced the old Plumstead (AM) and Abbey Wood (AW)
Garages. It is the third to bear this livery and name
after Olympian L136 in 1990 and E40D 10136 in
2014.
2)
The introduction of more electric buses in London
continues to be bedevilled by lengthy delivery details.
However, delivery has recently speeded up of Stagecoach
E400EVs for Barking route 173 and they should enter
service imminently, most likely on Monday 1st March.
(check LVF for actuals!).
3)
As to the first 21-plate buses in our area,
Ensignbus has bought seven StreetDecks (Nos 161-167)
from a cancelled Arriva Yorkshire order. Licensed from 1st March with
21-plates, the intention is to have at least a couple
out on the first day. Talking of 21-plates,
there are bound to be some soon on London buses with
booked 70-plates that are still awaiting
delivery.
4)
The retraction of Centrebus in Hertfordshire continues
and, after already losing the 390 to Richmonds and
H1/H3/H4 to Central Connect, from 12th April
routes 308/380, 333, 378/379, M1-5 will go to Central
Connect, 18 to Richmonds, SB10 in Stevenage to A2B Buses
and the Hatfield area shoppers routes (215etc) to
Chiltern Automotive. These signal the removal of
Centrebus from the Hertford area.
5)
A reminder that the Greater London LEZ starts on Monday
1st March,
all buses and coaches (other than ‘historic exemptions’)
must meet Euro=VI emissions standard. Arriva route
477 (Bluewater & Orpington) being the very last to
have its stock replaced.
6) Following
the Government decision to re-open all
schools from 8th March,
it is intended that at least most of the
suspended 6** routes and ‘V’ route extras would be
reinstated.
Sunday 21 February
1)
After nearly two months, delivery to Tower Transit of
Optare MetroDeckers has at last resumed,
Meanwhile, still no entry into service yet of Stagecoach
E400EVs at Barking nor of the Metroline HFC StreetDecks.
2)
The swaps of buses at Arriva Southern Counties are
nearly completed. E200(MMC)s have gone from Kent
to Harlow, Citaros off the 724 from Harlow to Guildford
for bus work and elderly E200s from Guildford to Kent –
initially at Maidstone. Also E200(MMCs) from
Gillingham to Northfleet for route 477. Stagecoach
at Guildford has started to move E200(MMC)s in for route
715 to replace non-LEZ compliant Enviro300s.
3)
During the past week, Rotala’s Hallmark Connections has
been re-named Diamond Bus, thus agreeing with the
company’s other operations in the West Midlands and in
the North West. The two-tone blue livery of
Diamond Bus has started to appear in the Stanwell-based
fleet. The London LEZ will mean that the large
fleet of 2008-vintage E200s are non-compliant and they
should be replaced by StreetLites.
4)
Drivers at RATP are due to strike for varying
periods in the coming week 21/22/23 February.
Saturday 13 February
1)
As at this weekend, 50 TfL routes have had new Mon-Fri
schedules for reduced running time and many more should
follow in coming weeks with lots more non-schoolday
schedules adopted too. In the country areas every
operator has made service cuts over recent months, some
of them quite severe although some places are better
serviced than others. It is quite common for
Saturday services to be reduced greatly and with some
suspended altogether.
2)
New vehicle deliveries to London have been minimal with
plenty outstanding. As at today, Stagecoach
Barking route173 remains to start conversion to E400EVs
but Go-Ahead are now just two short of its 21 E200EVs
for route 184. Metroline now has just four
of its StreetDeck FCEVs and they are now starting to
appear out on training.
Monday 8th February
LBSL
intends to enter into new contracts for the following
routes with the operators listed below:
Route
|
Current
Operator
|
New Operator
|
PVR
|
Vehicles
|
125
|
Metroline
|
London
Sovereign
|
17
|
New electric
double deck*
|
234
|
Metroline
|
Metroline
|
9
|
Existing diesel
single deck
|
235
|
Metroline
|
London United
|
20
|
New electric
single deck
|
298
|
Sullivan Buses
|
Sullivan Buses
|
6
|
Existing diesel
single deck**
|
488
|
Tower Transit
|
Tower Transit
|
9
|
Existing diesel
single deck
|
696
|
London United
|
London
Sovereign
|
2
|
Existing diesel
double deck
|
W9
|
Sullivan Buses
|
Sullivan Buses
|
7
|
Existing diesel
single deck
|
* Certain journeys will be operated
by Euro VI hybrid double decks.
**
One vehicle is double deck.
All diesel vehicles detailed
above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.
The above contracts will commence on
the following dates:
8th
January 2022: Route 235.
22nd
January 2022: Route 696.
29th
January 2022: Routes 125 & 234.
5th February 2022: Routes 298 &
W9.
26th
February 2022: Route 488.
For earlier news read LOTS TLB
Coming
Events
(LSS) = LOTS Sales Stand booked to attend
These are publicised as a service to the readership;
LOTS has neither any involvement nor responsibility
for any event noted. Many events have admission fees,
I have included them where they have advised, you
should check with organisers or websites before
attending if costs worry you. We usually confine this
listing to events with an expected London bus interest
or within easy reach of London. Full national event
lists can be found in the April issue each year of
‘Buses’ magazine and at http://www.classicbuses.co.uk/events.html
Our website is regularly updated with other
events.
All
events are subject to any Covid-19 restrictions at
the time but the London Bus Museum Brooklands has
booked Sundays
11 April (see below), 27 June and 24 October for its
three main events.
Saturday 10 April: The South East
Bus Festival at Detling is postponed (no
date yet)
Sunday 11th April: The LBM
‘Spring Gathering’ is replaced by a Road Run over the
original route 65 Leatherhead (near old Bus
Garage) to Ealing Argyle
Road between 10am and 5pm. So, photographic
opportunities aplenty while it is intended that some
riding can
be allowed, by agreement with vehicle owners. These
will be free of charge, at the discretion of the crews
and ‘social distancing’ rules
must be observed, while sanitising of surfaces will
take place at termini.
Sunday 18th April: "LT
RLHs 50 Years Later" spectator event in East
London, running as near as possible
these days to old RLH route
178, Clapton Pond via Homerton and
Hackney Wick to Stratford, terminating at The
Grove (the old Maryland terminal is no longer
accessible). All the info is at https://timebus.co.uk/rlh/news/2021-04-18-lt-rlhs-50-years-later/
Saturday 24th April:
The open day at Ash Grove Garage has been postponed,
date t.b.a. but not before July.
You must check on the event websites or on the
full national event list at http://www.classicbuses.co.uk/events.html
Our website is regularly updated with other events.
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