News

Forthcoming Conway Hall meetings

Meetings are held monthly (except July & August) and usually commence at 19:30. Doors open 18:00 with sales stands available from 18:30. Meetings usually finish by 22:00. There is no charge.

Monday 22nd September: Eamonn Kentell, a photographer of some distinction whose work featured in many past LOTS Reviews will present a digital bus picture show entitled "A digital look back at London over the past 35 years, 1973 to 2008". (see eamonnsphotos.fotopic.net).

Monday 20th October: Tony Wilson, also a photographer of some renown(!), presents a colour slide show entitled: "NOT IN (the usual) SERVICE - a look at some of the less run-of-the mill operations in and around London, interspersed with a few deviations and diversions along the way (so to speak).

Monday 24th November: Presentation by Simon Thomas, Contracts Tendering Manager London Buses: "Contracting Bus Services from the Private Sector", including a powerpoint show. Simon will answer general questions.

Monday 22nd December: A free Christmas Bus Rides evening in Central London.

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, 98, 168, 171, 188, 242, 243 & 521 stop nearby. The London Bus (TLB) TLB 525 was posted on 13 May. The closing date for reports for TLB 526 is 6 June and it is due fo posting on 18 June.

The London Bus (TLB)

The monthly newsletter for LOTS members. TLB 528 was posted on 13 August. The closing date for reports for TLB 529 is 5 September and it is due for posting by 17 September.

LBM 144 Summer 2008 edition of London Bus Magazine (£4.00). Main articles include: London Bus Garages, Then and Now - No.6 Romford, by David Kemp; London's Low Emission Zone (LEZ) - a photographic article mainly by Tony Wilson; A Trip through Suburbia by Michael Dryhurst; Escape from Rainham by David Bosher.

New sales items from LOTS

LOTS has several new publications now available from our Sales Department. London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2008 (£6.50), London Buses in 2007 (£7.00), SUP-44A London Bus Disposals (£10.00).

See the Sales Page for full list of sales items.

Forthcoming events (updated 3 Sept)

Note that all other events are publicised as a service to the readership, on behalf of organisers; LOTS has no involvement or responsibility for any event noted. We usually confine ourselves to those events with an expected London bus interest or within easy access from the London area. All special operations that may be listed below are subject to vehicle availability on the day and passenger carriage may be at the discretion of the vehicle owners and crews.

Sunday 7 September: Chingford Royal Forest Hotel, bus display (11am - 4pm) and local bus rides.

Sunday 7 September: Dorking, Country bus rally and running day at the Council Offices.

Sunday 14 September: Heritage Day on the Metropolitan Line. Electric locomotive Sarah Siddons and a 1938 Tube stock will run between Harrow or Watford and Amersham. Various buses from the 1950s will run a special service between Amersham Station and Amersham Old Town in connection with Amersham Heritage Day and Amersham Museum which will be free to Heritage ticket holders.

Heritage travel by special trains must be booked in advance by calling the London Transport Museum on 020 7565 7298 and costs £20 per person (plus up to two children), except the first 1938 stock journey (10:26) from Harrow to Amersham via Watford which costs £25. Full details on www.ltmuseum.co.uk.

Fri/Sat 26/27 September: Guided tour at LT Museum Depot at Acton Town. (Also on 24/25Oct)

Sunday 28 September Showbus at Duxford.

London General is to operate RM 9. From Lewisham High St stop E (0800), NX Garage (0810), Surrey Quays Stn (0820), Pevkham Bus Stn (0830), Camberwell Garage (0835), Oval Station (0840), Victoria Wilton Road (0850). Arrive Duxford 1030, depart 1630. Fares Adult single £8, adult return £10, Under 16s and Seniors, single £7, return £9. Admission fees to Duxford are not included.

Sullivan Buses are taking a number of buses, including RML 2428, to Duxford. Picking up points include Woodside Park Station at 8.23; New Barnet Station at 8.44; Stirling Corner/Barnet Lane 8.20; Borehamwood Town Centre/Station "Woods" pub at 8.33; Potters Bar Station at 9.14. Full details of all picking up points are available at www.sullivanbuses.co.uk or by phoning 0798 2234698. Return fares are £8 per person with a family ticket (2+2 or 1+3) costing £24. Fares exclude admission. Passengers wishing to travel to Duxford on RML 2428 will be able to transfer onto it at South Mimms or Potters Bar. Buses return from Duxford at approx 16.30.

Sunday 5 October: Oxford Bus Museum, Long Hanborough, open day (also on 25 Oct).

Sunday 5 October: Amersham Heritage running day.

Main event from the station car park, turn right out of Amersham Met.Station, 2 mins walk. Free bus departures all over South Bucks 0940-1740. Timetables in advance £5 incl. P&P (they are £6 on the day) from Peter Cartwright, 54 Guinions Road, High Wycombe, Bucks HP13 7NX (also from Peter at the LOTS 22nd Sept London meeting, on buses at the Amersham 'heritage day' on 14th Sept, and on RML2440 at Showbus 28th Sept). The route network is very extensive (pvr = 28), so a timetable is essential for your planning.

709 West Croydon stop WN(0830) via Norbury, Streatham Odeon (0847), Brixton T/Hall (0856), Kennington, Trafalgar Sq/ Cockspur St(0914), Oxford Circus stop RD (0923), Baker St stop E (0930) then non-stop.

714/727 Dorking North Stn(0845) via Leatherhead Bull(0858), Surbiton Stn stop NB(0919), Kingston Wood St stop P1(0928), Teddington Clarence(0934), Heathrow North stop BP(0958), Uxbridge Belmont Rd stop E(1019).

Sunday 12 October: Canvey Island, Castle Point Musuem open day and rally at nearby Lapworth Rec.Ground.

Sunday 12 October: Warminster, Wilts, running day.

Sunday 19 October: Isle of Wight Museum, Newport, open day and running day.

1) The service change programme in south London all went ahead as planned on 30th August with the new buses in place on routes 293 and 466 but the E200s are not yet here for the 166 or 434 and existing fleet Darts operate instead.

2) New ADL E200 Darts and Trident/ E400s for Metroline have been flooding in in the past week or so, the E200s (DE 859-877 batch) initially on route E6 but will also work the 326, and the E400s (TE 878 upwards) for Cricklewood, mainly on route 16. Some of the latter are buses ordered initially for route 460 but are now on the 16 to be compared with the hybrid Trident/E400s when they arrive shortly.

1) At Metroline the iBus programme is proceeding apace, with Harrow Weald and North Wembley now being treated. At HD, the leased ET class of six East Lancs bodied Tridents has now been withdrawn, and the last couple of DMS class Darts at Potters Bar were withdrawn in the past week. The were last (but one, inherited from Thorpe's) of 79 Marshall boded Darts that operated with the company.

2) After the Metroline TPLs came back home from Docklands Buses, two (237/8) were loaned to CT Plus from 16th August to allow for the extra buses needed on the route 388 extension. Metroline still has a couple of TPs on loan to Docklands Buses even though all their nine SOC class Scanias are now in service - still temporarily on route 474 for the time being.

3) Now that London Central garages have been completed for iBus, London General garages are now under way with Stockwell the first. Thus, the float of PVLs has been continually on the move between LC and LG garages as required, most of them having now landed at Stockwell.

3) Another allover advert campaign has appeared in the past week in London. It is from "VISA- proud sponsors of the London Olympics 2012" and are blue-based. Thus far, two Metroline (Volvo B7TLs VP 494 and 496 from Holloway) and two East London (Tridents 18206 and 18232 from Bow) buses have been seen. Additionally, many of the RMs on the Heritage 9 and 15 have gained VISA adverts, although in the normal advert positions.

1) The seven Polish built Scania OmniCity single-decks intended for route 293 at the end of this month are now in the UK, as are the remainder of the OmniCity double-decks (SOC 1-9) for Docklands Buses. A few of the latter started going into service this past week, initially on route 474, as there is allegedly a restriction at present on the 425.

2) The first of ten Volvo B9TLs with Darwen East Lancs Visionaire open-toppers for Big Bus arrived in London in the past week, though not yet in service. The two Scania/ Darwen Olympus double-decks (206/7) at Universitybus are now in stock and should appear on route 614 shortly.

3) The influx of Metroline TPs to Brentford Garage during the iBus conversiion programme has meant a full temporary conversion of route E8 to double-deck with several on the 190 as well. HCT (CT Plus) is another operator who is likely to hire a couple of extra buses, to allow for iBus conversions on their own fleet and for an extension on 16th August of route 388 from Blackfriars to Temple Station (but having to proceed to Trafalgar Square to turn and stand).

4) Further to the recent order from London General to serve the recent tender wins at Sutton and Merton Garages, it comprises 54 x AD Trident/ Optare Olympus d/ds for routes 93/151/154 and 40 x AD E200Dart/ Optare Esteem s/ds for routes 80/163/164. This is the first landmark order for the new Optare (formerly including Darwen East Lancs) combine. Delivery is intended to start towards the end of this year and continue until March 2009.

1) Now that the summer shut-down at Alexander Dennis' at Falkirk is over, deliveries of Enviro400s to Arriva London (for Palmers Green and South Croydon) and Metroline have resumed. Metroline's new ones are going into service from Cricklewood Garage on route 16. The iBus programme at Metroline continues to provide odd allocations and currently eleven TP class Tridents are running from Brentford Garage alongside based TAs and have temporarily converted route E8 to double-deck.

2)The Docklands Buses' new Polish Scania OmniCity double-decks had still not been reported into service as at 1st August, although that remains imminent. The two at Metrobus are now working on Crawley local routes rather than the 409/411. On 1st August, Universitybus' two Scania d/ds, this time with Darwen Olympus bodies, had arrived with Scania in Hertfordshire and were awaiting delivery.