**             The annual Notting Hill Carnival  on 30th/31st August was served once again by numerous normal and extra buses, route details were listed fully in TLB 540 pages 12 & 13. There were many extra buses (of normal types) as usual on the 18, 28, 31 and 328 plus, on the Monday only, the six ON buses between Sudbury and Prince of Wales or Scrubs Lane and X buses Euston to Prince of Wales. The pvr on the 27 increased from 15 to 25 and on the 148 from 17 to 33.  Numerous extras on the 390 running from HT with all types including TEs (for the second time, the first being at last year’s Carnival). Extras on the 15 between Aldwych and Paddington, this year with 11 Tridents from WH (WH501+). Route 316 was again double-deck (TA and TP), as on both days the route was diverted avoiding the contentious roads where d/ds are “not allowed due to objections.”

                  Route 52 was, as usual, split into two sections: Victoria to Notting Hill Gate via Kensington (AC271+) with some buses showing green slipboards [All stops to Notting Hill Gate ONLY], and Victoria to Willesden via Marble Arch (AC251+) with some buses showing red slipboards [via Marble Arch and Edgware Road]. These slipboards, together with separate ‘via point’ displays, were meant to make it easier for passengers to know which route the bus was taking. However, many buses displayed the wrong via points and most of them seemed to ‘forget’ their slipboards. A good idea, but….. ?!

Once again this year, Stockwell ran extras (all WVLs as SW281-293) on the 36 which is otherwise an NX operation, while NX ran the special 36X (NX31-45) with PVLs as well as some extra ‘normal’ 436s with MALs. The special 436X though, which has been operated by Citaro artics for the past six years, was with new MECs (‘rigid’ Citaros). It was run with 14 MECs (#RA1+) and, although the buses came from RA, some of the drivers were from MW. Thus, in some cases, brand new buses just delivered a day or two earlier were used on the 436X before going into service on the 521 on 1st September! Arriva joined in for the first time this year with the special route 2X. In the event, it was run entirely by Norwood using 14 DLAs (N115-128).

One rather unexpected thing though was the effect on iBus. Extra buses on routes such as the 15, 18, 27, 36 and 52 were described with route numbers Y15, Y18, Y27, Y36 and Y52. This may well have been an internal TfL designation, like a D suffix for some school buses for example, but would merely confuse passengers who would have no idea what it meant.

** RT 1, unveiled at Wisley on 5th April (TLB 536 page 28 and pictures in TLB 537 and LBM 148), visited central London on Monday 13th July. It was posed outside the Waldorf Hotel on Aldwych exactly 70 years since it first appeared there when it was ‘launched’ by LT on 13th July 1939. It first went into service on 9th August 1939 on route 22 from Putney (Chelverton Road) Garage (AF). To commemorate the latter event, a private enthusiasts’ excursion on Sunday 23rd August 2009 visited Putney where RT 1 was posed for photographs with route 22 blinds in AF Garage and at the Putney Common terminus of the 22.

** “The Winton Train” on 1st to 4th September was a steam-hauled train journey from Prague to London to commemorate a series of eight epic trips just prior to the outbreak of World War Two 70 years ago. The man who facilitated the journeys, Nicholas (now Lord) Winton and now 100 years of age, welcomed the passengers to London. During the summer of 1939, he managed to get 669 children out of Czechoslovakia by train to Britain, although on the last journey on 1st September 1939, that train was detained by the Germans and the 250 children on board did not make it out of the country. Some of the survivors who did reach Britain, together with family members, took part in the re-created journey. To transport the passengers from Liverpool Street Station to the Czech Embassy in Kensington, four suitably vintage buses were used. RT 1, together with Cobham’s STL 2377 plus Ensignbus’ Cravens RT 1431 and standard RT 4421.

** The Upminster rail depot open day on 29/30th August saw a special service on route 248 using RT 3871 (LBC), RLH 62 (Ensign Bus), RM 1 (LT Museum) and, on the Saturday RM 2060 (East London) or Sunday RML 2760 (East London). The RLH also performed several journeys as 248A under the Cranham low bridge. Privately owned RT 1702 and RML 2589 visited on the Saturday.

** Routemasters to Imber: Where is Imber you might ask? It is a very remote ‘lost’ village on Salisbury Plain near Warminster in Wiltshire which was requisitioned during WW2.  Residents were all evicted and, although they were promised that they could return, that never happened. Ever since, it has been used for army training purposes. However, every now and again, the MoD allows restricted access to part of the village. One such occasion was Saturday 5th September 2009 and a special bus service (23A), the first bus to serve the village for 66 years, was registered by the Bath Bus Company between Warminster and Tilshead. RM 25, RML 2344, 2665 and 2735 operated!

** FirstGroup recently launched its ‘Greyhound’ brand, initially to be used on two services from 14th September running non-stop between Victoria (Bulleid Way) and Portsmouth and Southampton. To this end, eleven coaches have been prepared, the ‘launch’ vehicle being Scania/ Irizar 23315 (YN55 PXF). They will operate under a new O’Licence under the Truronian name from a base near Fareham.

** Stagecoach’s Oxford Tube service is now in the process of being re-equipped with twenty-six new VanHool TD927 Astromega double-deck coaches. These are numbered 50201-226 and are 14.2m long 87-seaters. They are replacing 25 x 13.7m Neoplan coaches (Nos. 50101-125).

** EasyBus is expected to take its franchised bus operations (currently worked by Arriva for easyBus) back in-house. A base for thirty vehicles has been secured at Park Royal off the North Circular Road.

** The MCV-bodied double-deck bus (TLB 538 page 6 refers) is to be mounted on a Volvo B9TL chassis. When ready, it is said that Go-Ahead London will trial it.

** Plaxton Primos YX07 HNO and YX55 DSB noted doing a “Brentford- Northfields” shuttle.It seems to be a private shuttle from a firm at the junction of Boston Manor Road and Great West Road.

** Buzzlines of Lympne (Kent) seems to be running an ‘office shuttle’ on M-F between Leatherhead Station and Unilever House 0700-1900.

** Seen in Kingston in mid-July was an all-red Enviro200H hybrid, full of computers and on trade plates, presumably from Alexander Dennis at Guildford. It was also noted in LU’s Fulwell Garage.

** The TfL-spec dual-doored Optare Versa YJ58 BZY that had been on loan in London (TLB 533 page 21 refers) earlier this year is now with Countywide Travel, Basingstoke, still red and dual-doored.

Following the report last month about DLA 134’s accident, I’m informed that the bus was impounded by the Police and was subsequently towed to a storage site in Dagenham. This necessitated the tow truck passing through the Dartford Tunnel. Thankfully (I guess), what remained of the damaged roof needed to be cut off to release it from its embedment in the tree, therefore the Police allowed the somewhat “low height” bus to pass through the Tunnel. Further news reaches me that the bus has been judged a write-off and is currently being stripped of useful parts in Norwood Garage. Finally on the subject, the car driver is still recovering in hospital and furthermore, the bus driver has been told that the Police will not be taking any action against him.

ADL 1-8 EC/ECw.        DDL 1, 2, 3, 4 CNu/CNt.   DDL 5, 6, 9 CNw/CNt.
DLA 11 AtS (GR)/DX.     DLA 56 CNt/DX.   DLA 134 TC/Nw.    DLP 65 WN/AD.
DW 202 --/Millbrook/CTu.     DW 203 CTu/CTt    . DW 204-221 --/CTu.
DWL 11, 21, 22 WN/TH.     DWL 13 E/Eu.

Detail Changes;-

And from last month, confirmation that DLA 120 is confirmed as still being H45/18D.

Disposals

ARRIVA SOUTHERN COUNTIES group, Maidstone

Arriva Kent Thameside Ltd: (DT,NF), also including reference where appropriate to the associated
Arriva Kent & Sussex,  Arriva Medway Towns, New Enterprise. (MD,TW,GL,NE).

NF’s new E200s 4036-43 did enter service on route 499 on Saturday 8th August, one day before the formal rerouteing via Ebbsfleet. The two Mini Pointer Darts 1606/7 also entered service on route 455 by that time, leading to the withdrawal of two (of the three) Varios at Northfleet.  Vario 1186 remains as a spare for the two MPDs and the Solos SRs on ‘small bus routes’ 414, 453 and 455.

The award of two school bus contracts in the Godalming area of Surrey resulted in two aged Darts from Milton Keynes, and new to Limebourne, arriving on 24th August at Guildford.  They are in ‘inter urban’ livery. Perhaps the old MK yellow might have been more appropriate!  Staying at Guildford, two Volvo B7TLs from Gillingham released the two Dominators to join their solitary sister at Maidstone, after the B7TLs had been replaced by new E200s right at the end of August.

Odd workings:  Volvo B7TL 6439(TW) on the 402 into Bromley on 11th August. Tunbridge Wells-based Dart 3593 (GJ52 HDZ) which had been in yellow and then white, lost its route branding for route 401 (Sevenoaks- Westerham); it is said that it will be treated to more branding.

On 1st September it was announced that Arriva had agreed to sell the small Horsham operation based at Warnham Station to the Go-Ahead Group.  It will be operated by Metrobus from their Crawley Depot, initially without any substantive change to timetables.  Currently Horsham has nineteen buses:   12 x Dart SLFs (3032/68/69/74/80/81/82/83/85, 3103, 3179, 3248) for Horsham town routes and route 93, 6 x E200s (3976-81) for TfL 465 and 1 x Volvo Olympian (5925) for a school service.  Dart 3179 in red livery acts as a spare for the 465 as well as the town routes.   The Olympian will be retained by Arriva SC, the E200s will transfer to Metrobus, but it seems unlikely that many (or any?) of the Dart SLFs will be used by Metrobus in the long term.

Acquired vehicles    from MK Metro, Milton Keynes (August)  Nos. 3531/3533 respectively.
3112 (NDZ 7926, ex T422 LGP),  3113  (NDZ 7918, ex T404 LGP)  Dennis Dart SLF – Caetano Compass 10.7m B42F – new 1999.

And from Arriva Medway Towns, Gillingham  (31st August)
6402, 6403 (GN04 UDP, UDS) Volvo B7TL – Alexander ALX400 10.6m H45/27F- 2004.

Transfers: (August)

1182, 1183 NF/NFw.    3030 HM/CL.        3112, 3113 --/GF.      3122, 3123 NF/SEw.    
3186, 3289 NF/SE.       3271, 3287 NF/TW.      5214/15 GF/MD.       6402/03 GL/GF.

Disposals (including moves to ‘other parts’ of A-SC)  during August:

Varios 1182, 1183 to Wealden PSV.
MetroRiders 1809, 1810, 1814 to  Mr S.Morris, and 1812 (most recently to Arriva K&S) joined them. 
Mr  Morris also trades as ‘RML2418 Ltd’ and ‘Shropshire Bus & Coach’.
Darts 3122, 3123  Arriva Southend (at Southend) - likely to be disposed of soon. 
Darts 3186, 3289 to Arriva Southend (at Southend).
Darts 3271, 3287 to Arriva K&S at Tunbridge Wells.
Dominators 5214 and 5215 to Arriva K&S at Maidstone
Olympians 5557, 5558 to store at Southend pending disposal.
Training bus Volvo B6  T603 (L603 EKM) to J Hunt, Maidstone (dealer)  during July.

The four outstanding new vehicles all turned up on 1st and 2nd September, having been previously allocated 09-registrations.  The two Scanias are for Luton and have nominally replaced the last Volvo B6s.  The two ‘DB300s’ are at Garston for the company’s pvr increase on TfL work from 7th September.  In fact, the pvr increase is of three buses but only two new buses were ordered – this may cause even more pressure on the ‘TfL double-deck fleet there.  We have reported plenty of times on how many odd workings (and vehicle loans) there has had to be to cover the run-out.

DAF 3270, 3272 and Volvo B10Bs 3850/51/52 to inter-urban colours. All three of Aylesbury’s Tridents with route 500 branding, 5421, 5422 and 5432 were suddenly freshly repainted into inter-urban style by mid-August, now minus the branding.   DAFs 3441 and 3449 have also lost their 500 branding (both are at Luton now!). DAF 3274 (GR) suffered a fairly minor engine fire on 29th August.

Coaches 4362/63/68 visited A-SC Maidstone during August for repainting into school-bus yellow for use at Stevenage.  4367 followed, but re-emerged in ‘inter-urban’ livery; all returned to SV. 4363 rather surprised several passengers when, in gaudy yellow, it turned out on Stevenage town service SB8 on 24th August.  Coach 4047 to new-style Green Line livery.

The once-huge fleet of Mercedes-Benz minibuses of 709/711/811 and Vario models has been considerably reduced over recent years.  Leaving aside the three withdrawn buses (2196, 2244 and 2248) awaiting disposal, those left licensed for service are these:  MB709Ds 2128/31/33 (LD) and Varios 2173 (AY), 2177 and 2374 (HA), 2179, 2180, 2249 and 2373 (HH). The Aylesbury bus was used on the Chesham rural services which passed to other operators from 7th September.    Also the large fleet of step-entrance Volvo B6s has been rapidly reduced lately, and we just have four (3117, 3128, 3133 and 3137) left shown as licensed, all at High Wycombe, whilst 3122 had been the last B6 in use at Luton – once the home to plenty of the breed. The two Optare Aleros (0443/4) at Harlow for the Sawbridgeworth town service also seem to have gone or at least been stood down, as a Vario has been the normal bus through August.  In any case, the routes have been deregistered from the end of October.

Odd workings:  Coach 4055 (HH) on the 6 on 15th August and 4047 on the 4/5 town services on 4th September;  HH Varios on the 52 on 26th August (2180) and 27th (2179).  At GR, Citaro 3917 on the 5 on 10th August.   More Garston (TfL) buses have been retro-fitted with blinds for the TfL double-deck routes 142/258/340, with Darts 3218/20/21 and Cadets 3704-28  now duly fitted out.

New deliveries:

All four below arrived in the first days of September, so there is the possibility that the registrations may need to be changed to 59 marks.  
3640, 3641 (KX09 MJF, MJJ)  Scania N94UB- Wrightbus Solar B44F  (38 fixed plus 6 tip-ups).  They are to the ‘old’ body design, thus a Solar rather than a Solar 2.  
6100, 6101 (KX09 KDZ, KEJ)  Wrightbus Integral Gemini 2 DL 10.4m H41/24D.  These are referred to by Arriva as the Wright/VDL DB300.

Transfers:

(July):   2196 AY/AYu.   2248 HA/HAu.   3122 LD/LDu.   3151, 3159 AY/HHu.    3332 WB/WBw.
(August):  3127 WB/WBu.     3155 HH/AY.      3162 HH/WB.     3179 AY/MK.
3357 HAu/LDw.     3444 LD/HH.     3850, 3851, 3852  SV/WB.      5094 WB/LD.      5165 LD/LDu.

(September):   3640/41 --/LD.   6100/01 --/GR.

Off loan:  DLA 11 returned on 31st August from GR to Arriva London.

Detail changes:  

Scania 3162 from standard to dark blue (for route 32 in Wycombe).
DAF coach 4362/68 from Green Line and 4363 from easyBus orange to schoolbus yellow.
DAF coach 4367 from Green Line to ‘inter urban’ bus livery.
TfL DAF d/d 6022 is the latest refurb, and down-seated from H45/20D to H45/19D.

Disposals:

MB.115  1258 (KS05 JJE), the little minibus used on the ‘ZIP’ service in Harlow passed, with the ‘ZIP’ service to its new operator LCB Travel, who took over the route from 1st September.
Varios 2176 and 2240, also Volvo B6 3132  gone for scrap  (August).
Vario 2185  gone from fleet (May)
Volvo B6 3346 (M846 DDS) to Pointmost, Ivybridge, Devon (May).
Olympian 5381 (MUH 281X) to Hardwicks for scrap (June).

MK  Metro fleet notes: 

One typo in TLB537 p15, the E200s 0351-55 of course have reg prefix MX09 (not LX09)!.    Dart 3531 (TLB540) is in inter-urban (not normal) livery.   Darts 3531 and 3533 then passed to Arriva SC at Guildford.   Dart 3521 to lime green.  It seems that Darts 3179 and 3294 (both from AY) and 3212 (from GR) are formal transfers to MK, rather than mere loans.  The recent Enviro300s have now gained route branding,  3570-75 in all-red for route 4 and 3576-78 in orange for route 5.

COUNTRYLINER, Guildford

P726, P727 RYL   Dart SLF – Plaxton Pointer 10.0m B36F – 1996.

And via Ensignbus, formerly  Arriva Midlands (No.4169)

M169 GRY  Scania N113DRB – East Lancs H47/33F – 1995.

EAST LONDON BUS GROUP
EAST LONDON - BK, BW, NS, RM, T, U and WH and SELKENT - PD, TB and TL.

                  More and more Scanias arrived at Bow in advance of the take-up of route 205 on 29th August. They were widely used during August on routes 26 and 30, and occasionally on the 8. Bow duly took over route 205 on the appointed date. Meanwhile, older Tridents continue to depart to Ensignbus with, at the beginning of September, just three (17083 at BK and 17084/086 at U) left in service [leaving aside ‘heritage’ Trident 17001 of course].   The twenty Tridents converted to trainers are all now re-allocated to garages (see below) and many Scania trainers have departed.

The batch of seventeen Enviro200s started to arrive a bit early when the first three got to Rainham (RM) by 21st August, others following. They are due to enter convert route D3 at West Ham  by its tender renewal date of 19th September. More repaints into all red include 17157, 17297 and 17852. However, despite there being very few that have yet to gain all red livery, my ever vigilant SE25 reporter informs me that 17189, 18487 and 34317 have now received second all red repaints.

Odd workings:  E400 18500 (WH) was on the 115 on 21st, 22nd and 24th August. On 3rd September 18500 was on the 277 (WH331) and on 4th as WH326.  The occasional (but still fairly rare) Scania on the 174 continues, with 15014 on 22nd August. From the first day of the 205 at Bow,  at least one Trident was observed on each day being pressed into service.

New deliveries:     (At least 36045-053 had been delivered in August, the rest due in September).

36045-061 LX59 ANF/P/R/U/V, AOA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/J/K/L/M

AD E200Dart – AD Enviro200 10.2m B29D.

Loaned vehicles:  Tridents 17577/579/581/584/589/590 returned from Metrobus to Selkent (TL) during August.  As at 5th September  just five (17481, 17571/574/582/585) remained at Metrobus.

Transfers:  (August)

15100/01/03/04/06/08/09/11-24 RMu/BW. (In practice, 15113/15 were still at RM on 29th August, but should have followed within a few days).

From trainer conversion at Cosham:    17099/100/101 to Ut.   17102/103 to NSt. 

17104/105/106 to BKt.  17107 to BWt.   17108 to RMt.  17109  to TBt.   17110 to RMt.  17111 to PDt.  17112, 17113 to TLt.   17395, 17396 to BWt.  17397 to WHt.  17398 to TLt.  17399 to PDt.

Now, normal transfers, some of which confirm our suggestions in TLB540:

17115 RMu/BK.  17123/125  PD/TL.   17126/127/128 RMu/PD.  17131/133/134 PD/BW.
17148/149/151 PD/BW.    17155 T/TB.   17179 BW/WH.   17185/186/187 T/BK.   17292 WH/BW.
17477 TLu/TBu (accident).  17480 Met/TL/RM.     17506, 17510 WH/T.     17558 WH/U.   
17563 WH/PD.   17578 Met/TL./WH. 17579 Met/TL//U.   17584, 17587/588/589/590/591  Met/TL/PD.
17745, 17746 WH/T.     17752/753/754/756, 17781/782/784, 17819 BW/WH.   17818 T/BW/WH.
17831 T/U.   17879, 17885 BW/WH.     17906 PD/T.   17912, 17917, 17919, 17927 BW/WH.
17944 PD/BW. 18464 BW/NS.
34255 TL/TLu/RMu/BK.   34371 TL/TLu.    34377/378/379/380  PD/TL.   36045-053 --/RMu.

The ‘extra observed’ transfers noted in TLB540 are included above except for these: 17238, 17519, 17932, 34269, 34312, 34356, 34357, 34386 - which should therefore be regarded as merely loans. In particular, there are numerous Dart loans from PD and TB to TL on almost a daily basis, often in the evenings!   Those (34377-80) shown above, though, are official transfers. 

Registration changes:   

Trident 17879 from 527 CLT to LX03 NGN.  Scania OmniCity 15100 from LX09 FYV to 527 CLT.

Disposals; -  Dart  34158 to Ensignbus  in July.

Olympians 16122, 16123;    Tridents  17064/065/080/082/085/087/090/092/094/097;
Delta 26011;  Scanias  28619/620/621/622/624/626/627/628   all to Ensignbus in August.

EXCEL, Stansted  (within the T-GM Group, part of the ‘Arriva family’)

FIRST in BERKSHIRE  (First Beeline Buses Ltd)  (BL and SH garages)

FIRST LONDON incorporating

The batch of thirty-one Volvo B9TL/ Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 2 buses for Alperton route 83 was due to start being delivered as we closed for press. Referring to TLB 539, we recorded the arrival of the first one at the Volvo workshop at Brimsdown as long ago as 21st June. It had an early chassis and body number (body AD610) whereas the other thirty have much later numbers (AD718-AD747).  Nevertheless, the ‘early’ one joins the others with new 59-plates. So far, 37773-783 are LK59 CWN/O/P/R/T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z, and 37784-797 LK59 CXA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/J/L/M/N/O/P, with 37798-803 to complete the batch (but as yet with unallocated registrations).

On Saturday 22 August the annual V Festival at Chelmsford (Hylands Park) attracted a large contingent of double-decks from First Essex and Fourways, but they were aided by First London VDN 34215 and six Tridents. The damaged Wrightbus integral DL WN 35003 had recovered from its accident on 1st June by the end of August, as has the E400 DN 33519 from its 5th January incident (TLB 533 refers). However, I gather WNH 39002 was involved in an accident on 26th August and was last seen being unceremoniously towed down the Bayswater Road. 

            Odd workings: during August, numerous appearances of Alperton’s E200s on routes 92 and 224, an odd one or two on the 79, but on 10th to 13th August one turned out on the 223 each day! E200 DML 44125 (G) was most unusually on the 95 on 24th. During August, route 191 has seen two TNs, a TNL and VNL 32308 on 20th August. Route 385 has once again seen something other than stalwart DMS 41474. After DM 41785 on 20th June reported in TLB 539, 3rd August saw DM 41781 and subsequently numerous examples from the 41773-88 batch since then.

(DN 33601/02/07, DML 44127/28, DMS 44419 were STILL not in use at G by 1st September).

Disposals:  DB 67296 (TLB 539 p26 refers) – It is with St John Ambulance at their Southall premises.

The last few Es for SW (route 345) and SOEs for A (route 80) duly entered service by 14th August. After the nine refurbished PVLs had arrived at Sutton in late July (TLB 540 refers), the other seven of the batch were under conversion at Eastleigh as at 14th August. Thus, with their gradual return to Sutton, [just two have been reported as back by 31 August- Ed] all remaining EVLs at Sutton will be able to depart to the North-East. At least EVL 42 was still running at Sutton on 3rd September.

Additionally, and now that the ‘route 85’ WVL refurbs for Putney have been completed, most of the temporary EVL allocation at Putney was able to be dispersed, although EVL 5, 15 and 17 were all still in use on 74 between 20th-27th August at least.   Merton continues to uses its SOEs on the 219 and 355 in preference to the 164, even though Sutton uses theirs on the 164 on Sundays. Allegedly it is due to grounding but why does one garage have a problem and the other does not?

Route 521 was duly converted from artic to rigid Citaros from Tuesday 1st September and 34 of the remaining 35 Citaros that had been in store in the Midlands since mid-July were brought to London on 27th-29th August. MEC 27 was damaged on delivery and should come later. From Saturday 29th August the schedule on route 507 changed so that all Sat & Sun working was from Mandela Way (MW) rather than Waterloo (RA). Part of the 521 is worked by MW on Mon-Fri as well. Therefore seven MECs (pvr of 6) are working from MW. Indeed, seven (MEC 32, 37, 38, 40, 45, 48 and 49) were noted on MW workings to begin with on the first weekend, but we would assume that in practice vehicles will merely be outstationed from RA to MW as required. In theory, all of MAL 1-31 should have gone to storage prior to disposal, but details are as yet unknown.  That said, MAL 1, 12 and 30 (at least) have been seen on routes 12 and 453 during August and into early September. MAL 1 and 30 have lost their Red Arrow branding but MAL 12 still had the logos on 4th September.

I know we have mentioned it before, but with this company most of the PVL trainers are designated as ‘dual purpose’. This means they are in regular use as driver trainers but may be (and occasionally are) also available for passenger service if necessary. PVLs so designated are 7, 17, 25, 30, 37, 38, 40, 45, 51, 82, 129, 131, 133, 135, 136 and 139. All are home-based at Q. Note that PVLs 140/1/2/3 are also trainers at Q but are designated as ‘Class 5’ and are permanent trainers. This also applies to the remaining NV trainers- 72, 109, 131/2/7, 141/2/4/7 and 162. 

Enviro400H hybrid EH 2 (SW) was loaned to Brighton & Hove and used in service there on routes 1/1A (Whitehawk & Mile Oak) on 12th to 15th August. 

LDP 96 (BX), recently transferred from Merton, has the new logo and London Central name on the offside but still has its old London General name on the nearside!

The rail ‘blockade’ between Folkestone and Dover between 25 July and 30 August was covered by London General as the ‘lead operator’. PVLs 82, 252/3, 262/3/4/5 were outstationed in Kent for the duration. Kent Coach Travel (Travelmasters) and Poynters of Wye also provided vehicles.

Odd workings:  E 107 crept out onto route 196 on 29th August as SW202 and E 119 was on route 88 on 4th September as SW122.   Es remain fairly rare on both this routes these days. For our out-of-town readers, these new Es should be on route 345.

New deliveries (August)

MEC 1-3 (BG09 JJK/L/U); 5-10 (BG09 JJX/Y/Z, JKE/F/J); 11-19 (BD09 ZPR/S/T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z);
            21, 23, 26 (BD09 ZRC/F/K); 28, 32, 33 (BD09 ZVT/X/Y);
            35, 37, 38, 40, 41 (BD09 ZWA/C/E/G/H); 44, 45, 46, 48, 49 (BT09 GOK/P/U, GPE/F).
            Mercedes-Benz Citaro 12m B21D (plus 75 standing).

Note that MEC 27 (BD09 ZVS) was not delivered to London. It suffered an accident whilst on delivery and was sent back to Germany for repair. We would expect it to receive a new 59 mark.

Transfers

(Correction to TLB 540)  LDP 1, 7, 8 A/BXw should read LDP 1, 8, 9 A/BXw.  (LDP 7 still at BX).
(July):  PDL 28, 41 SW/BXw.     PVL 135, 136 PM/Qt.  RML 887 AFc/ALc.
RML 2305 SWc/ALc.   RML 2472 NXc/Qc.    DRM 2516 Ac/PLc.   RML 2520 SWc/Qc.
(August) E 125-128 MWu/SW.     EVL 3, 4, 6, 21, 23 AF/wdn.    
LDP 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 71, 74 A/BXw.    LDP 56 BXw/BX.    LDP 60, 78, 85 AL/BXw.  
LDP 64 PLu/BE.    LDP 67 Q/BXw.      NV 109, 131 MWt/BXw.   
PVL 60 SW/AL.    PVL 65, 73, 266 SW/BX.   PVL 273, 274 BX/A.   PVL 278 SW/AF.  
PVL 279 PM/AF.   PVL 286, 295 refurb/A. SOE 35-40 PLu/A.
(August 31st): MAL 1-31 RA/ most to store or disposal, details to follow once we find out ourselves!
MEC 1-3, 5-19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49 --/RA.
(There are seven MECs working from MW – see notes above. At present, we will assume that these will be outstationed from RA and changed over as required).

Disposals:

EVL 3, 4, 6, 21, 23 gone from fleet by August.
EVL 43-52 to Go-Ahead North East (nos. 3974-83) in July.  (Note that earlier disposals EVL 20 and 27 have been numbered 3966/67).
NV 110, 113, 124, 134, 145, 152 to Beestons, Hadleigh, Suffolk (June). These are likely to be at Beestons in a dealer capacity, so should move on.
NV 112, 128 – gone from fleet (July).  In late August, NV 112 was being used in an advert by Ripley’s (dealer) for sale, so perhaps both went there?
PDL 1, 6, 9, 10, 11, 21, 24 – gone from fleet (probably April/May).

Inward Loan:  contrary to the note in TLB 540 page 31 that the hired Solo had gone, it has not.  Although the shuttle service between Stratford and the Olympic Park operated for Bovis did indeed cease, the Solo OS 1 (MX09 HHW) remains. It is used by Bovis to take their sponsors and VIPs on personalised tours of the Olympic site. It is now based at New Cross (NX) and operated by LG’s Commercial Dept.

METROBUS, Crawley (within the Go-Ahead Group) (C,CY,LR,MB depots)

 Scania/Olympus deliveries continued into early August with 889-893 but were then suspended until mid-September.   894-899 will now be re-registered PN59 KFW/X/Y/Z, KGA/E.

Once the ‘route 64’ Scania OmniCitys arrive in September, more red OmniDekkas will be repainted blue and cascaded to Crawley.  By the end of this year, therefore, the intention is that all remaining Olympians at CY will be withdrawn.  There has been a late change to the order of some of the ‘route 64’ batch.  962-965 are now YT59 DYF/G/H/N. The whole batch had arrived in the UK by the first few days of September and were then moving to Scania’s Lingfield depot, prior to delivery to Metrobus.  I shall show them as in stock in September.

Metrobus is to assume operation of the Arriva services based at Horsham from Saturday 3rd October.  However, it will all be worked from Crawley. In theory, the nineteen Arriva buses will transfer, but it seems likely that Metrobus may use its own vehicles on the Horsham local routes.

Odd workings:  Scania OmniCity 955 (C203) on route 127 on 20th August.  Examples of assorted Scanias from the newest batch for the 75 noted elsewhere:  884 (C143) on 119 on 4th August, 875 (C263) on 405 on 7th,  877 on 405 on 17th,  871 on 127 on 19th, 877 on 64 on 27th. . 

New deliveries: 

(August):  889-893  (PN09 ENH/K/L/M/O)   Scania N230UD – Optare Olympus 10.8m H45/23D.

(September):   958-973 (YT59 DYA/B/C/D/F/G/H/N/J/M/O/P/S/U/V/W)
                  Scania N230UD OmniCity 10.8m H41/22D.

Transfers (August):   129 C/CYw.   505 Qt/CYw.   836 CY/CYw.    889-893 --/MB.

Off loan:   Tridents 17577/579/581/584/589/590 returned to Selkent in August.   These went back once Scania/ Olympus up to 893 had entered service.  894-899 remained outstanding, so five Tridents remained on loan as at late August:   17481, 17571/574/582/585.

Disposals:

Darts 125, 126  to  Mike De Courcey Travel, Coventry  (August).
Darts 226, 227  to Countryliner, Guildford (August)
Citaros 501, 503 and 505 to Wealden PSV  (August).   

 (Within the Comfort Delgro group of Singapore)

The six E200s (DE 993-998) at Brentford started to enter service on route E8 from 15th August.   These were the first new buses to be delivered to Metroline in the all-red livery without the familiar blue skirt. They have white roof pods for the cab air-conditioning. This adds another Dart class at the garage to the DA/DP/DM mix of types. We now have them scheduled on 117 (DP), 190 (DM), 209 (DA) and E8 (DE). Recently, it has been increasingly common to see DMs on the E8 (and even the E2, e.g. on 11th August DM 962 and 963) and DPs on the 209 (in particular). The occasional DA does wander, e.g. on 8th August DA 145 was on the E8 and DA 149 on the 190. The DEs were soon out and about, but hardly at all on the E8 to begin with. On 18th August new DE 998 was AH66 on the newly-double-deck route E2; on 19th DE 996 and 998 followed on the E2 with DE 997 on the 190 (AH60) and on 20th DE 993 and 996 on the E2.

The remaining DEs were allocated to West Perivale for new route 395 starting on 5th September and to Cricklewood for route 251. By the third week of August though, it was discovered that some of the matches of chassis/ body/ fleet numbers with registrations was incorrect. Therefore DE 999-1003 already at PA took registrations allocated to DE 1010-1014. They soon went into service on PA’s routes prior to the start of the 395. DE 1004-1006 had already arrived at W at the end of July and others duly followed. The first sighting of one on the 251 was DE 1006 on 24th August.

Another nineteen DEs are due, perhaps as soon as later this month. These are for Cricklewood to replace older DLDs on route 316. Sadly, although the route really needs double-deckers and it was proposed that it should have them, the familiar NIMBY problem on part of the route has dictated single-decks.   The will be DE 1015-1033 (LK59 AUW/Y, AVB/C/D/F/G/J/L/M/N/O/P/R/T/U/V/W/X).

The seventeen Trident/ Enviro400s (TE 976-992) for Brentford route E2 were late arriving, with just three, TE 978/979/980 coming by 30th August.  Although these three carried their booked registrations LK09 EKX/Y/Z, the whole batch is being re-plated with 59 marks, thus:  TE 976-992  (LK59 DYY, DZA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/J/L/M/N/O/P/R/S). 

The unique Marshall-bodied Dart SLF MLF 122, one of those inherited from Thorpe’s, caught fire and was completely destroyed while on route C11 (as PA107) in Claremont Road, Cricklewood on the morning of 20th August. TE 937 (PB) suffered an accident but was soon back in use at Potters Bar by 17th August.   TP 457 (PB) (TLB539 p30 refers) is also back in use at PB.

Can anyone explain why TP 3 has been fitted with a replacement nearside destination display? Instead of having the display carrying both route and via point in the upper section of the first nearside window, it is now fitted with an example that shows just the route number in the bottom left hand side. Apparently looks very odd.   Repaints noted in the last month have been very few:  DLD 193, TA 658 and TE 839.   It is expected that some of the TPs redundant after the loss of route 205 from 29th August will gradually move from Perivale (PV) to Brentford (AH) to replace other TPs that can be eventually returned to Dawson Rentals.   Meanwhile, numerous redundant Darts remain stored, mosty now in all-white, awaiting return to Dawson Rentals.  The handful of SELs at PV that had been a top-up to route 205 are now being used on route 460.

New deliveries (August)

Some of the buses from DE 999 upwards, (which arrived on delivery from late July onwards) had the incorrect match of fleet, registration and chassis numbers applied.  Buses classified DE 999-1003 now have regs originally allocated to DE 1010-1014. In turn, DE 1010-1014 have now been given the registrations originally earmarked to 999-1003! To reprise the list, therefore, tthe July deliveries were:

Transfers:   VPL 220 HT/EW.   TPL 272 W/HT.    TP 411, 415. 417 PV/HT.  DE 1007-1014 --/W.
(thus DE 999-1003 at PA, 1004-1014 at W). DP 1018-1028, 1030, 1041/42/43  AH/NWu.

Disposals:     MLF 122 destroyed by fire (20th August).

NATIONAL EXPRESS

A few vehicles appeared from late July with new NSL logos. By the end of August, only a small minority of buses in the fleet had actually received them.   These are in white with an upward pointing yellow arrow.   They are quite small and are applied on the fronts and above the driver’s cab and front entrance door. 

Grant PALMER, Dunstable

Varios usually appear on the Hemel evening service contracts, although on 9th June the green Primo MX56 ABV appeared. Several extra vehicles have been acquired to allow for the expansion of services in Buckinghamshire; the Enviro300 is in school bus yellow.

N414 MBW, N424 MBW  Dennis Dart 9.8 SDL – Plaxton Pointer B40F – 1996.

SOUTHDOWN PSV, Crawley Down

         With the extension of the 410 to Holland, regular double-deck working, using the two DAF/Presidents and the Volvo B7TL, on the 410 has been replaced by a new pattern. One each on school routes 606 and 657 and one on Mon-Fri peak hour short workings on the 410 between Redhill and Oxted plus the M-F offpeak 494 between Oxted and Caterham.

STANSTED TRANSIT, Stansted and Braintree