INTRODUCTION and EDITORIAL

GENERAL and INDUSTRY NEWS

GREATER LONDON AREA Route Developments

COUNTRY AREAS Route Developments

VEHICLE NEWS

PUBLICITY, FARES & TICKETING

RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICES

CURRENT VEHICLE NEWS

This section covers the current vehicle news pertaining to bus operators within the "TLB" area, roughly comprising the old LT/LCBS areas. It is a combined effort between Colin Lloyd and David Stewart, so should you wish to mix news in one letter or e-mail, it can easily be switched around. Colin, at 43 Ferndale Road, Enfield, EN3 6DH (e-mail to colin.lloyd@blueyonder.co.uk) deals with the main (former LBL) companies while David at 5 Kathleen Avenue, Wembley, HAO 4JH (e-mail to dave.stewart@tesco.net) deals with the other operators.

General news:
New vehicle orders:
Arriva the Shires: 1 x VDL DB250/Wrightbus Pulsar Gemini for TfL route 142.
First in Berkshire: 7 x MB. Citaros for Slough (due in the Spring).
Metrobus: 3 x MAN 14.240 (check chassis and length) with ADL Enviro200 bodies for route T32.
Transdev London United: 10 x E200 Dart 8.9m for route K1 and 21 x E200 Dart 10,2m for the 285 (all due in June), plus another 4 x Scania OmniCity double-decks (for extra pvr on the 267).Further to last month's notes about the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden, one exhibit that missed a mention is ‘MRL 242’. Unlike VWL 5, which is the surviving part of a real bus, this is not a real bus (London Buses' MRL numbers only reached 241). It is an assembly of parts that Optare and London Central had in stock and consists of the cab and door area only and is open for use mostly by children (and adults) to sit in the cab.

ARRIVA LONDON
ARRIVA LONDON NORTH - AD,AE,AR,CT,DX,E,EC,LV,SF and WN.
ARRIVA LONDON SOUTH - BA,BN,BS,CN,N,TC and TH.
None of the new Enviro 200s (EN 1-13) had been certified by the start of the AD factory Christmas shutdown, so obviously there were none in London in 2007. However, they are now due to start arriving around the 18th. These buses are some of the first E200s to be built at Scarborough. The first of the new E400s should start to arrive around the end of February.
All the Wood Green single-deck fleet went through the I-Bus installation process at Clapton in December, as did a few of the double-deckers. Note that all the VLWs were due to be treated first followed by the DLAs then finally the DLPs. Bear in mind that that these will be the first DLPs to be fitted. Back to the plot, Siemens’ engineers then closed the operation down from 20th December and were not due to restart until 7th January. The four DWLs loaned from Edmonton to cover the fitment programme at WN were returned within a week. And staying on the DWL topic, pressure of commitments has necessitated the conversion of a further three examples to the driver training fleet. Therefore, with DWL 36 now at Beddington Farm undergoing conversion, 37 and 38 are due to follow. All three will also gain repaints there rather than at Enfield. Coincidently, drivers will not need to be trained on the use of I-Bus equipment on a service bus as this trio are already fitted with I-Bus equipment. Clever move that! These buses will be replaced at WN by the current I-Bus DWL float at EC who in turn will receive surplus PDLs from Lea Valley upon arrival of new ENs on route 192.
As befits the time of year, even though we have yet to see any snow or indeed proper icy roads, the guys in the Enfield Accident Centre have had their hands full. Firstly, refurbishments carry on at a great rate with the following seen to in December; - DLA 211, 295, 304, 310, DLP 67, DWL 29 plus PDL 66. Also refurbished, but at Beddington Farm, was DWL 26. Repaired and returned to service in December were ADL 12, DLA 21, 31, DLP 83, ENS 9 and 13 and VLW 91 all with varying degrees of frontal damage now rectified. The following buses have gained full repaints during the month; - ADL 12, 18, 20, DLA 169, 329, DWS 8 and VLWs 105, 106, 109 and 111. Currently in for repair are DLA 36 with frontal damage and DLP 17 for lower saloon floor replacement.
Also at Enfield for repair is DWL 15. This bus sustained severe frontal damage after the driver swerved to avoid a car in Potters Road, Barnet on Boxing Day morning when on route 184. The bus ended up in a garden and part of the fence penetrated the drivers’ cab, so the driver was very lucky to get out without very serious leg injuries.
Odd workings: DWL 12 on the 397 on 30th November, and ADL 973 on the 275 on 4th January. Transfers: DLA 137, 147 AR/WN. DLA 139 EC/WN. DLA 141, 144, 146, 148 SF/WN.
DWL 15 WN/Eu. DWL 36 WN/CN. (For conversion to driver test bus).

ARRIVA the Shires group, Luton
ARRIVA the Shires Ltd (AY,GR,HH,HI,LD,SV,WB garages) and
ARRIVA East Herts & Essex Ltd (HA,WE garages)
Further to the brief note in TLB520 about the Sprinter/ Sorocco vehicles, it is now known that the Gatwick operation will be operated by Arriva Southern Counties.
One new double-decker is said to be due shortly, being the additional bus to cover the pvr increase on TfL routes 142/642 from 5th January. Although the VDL DB250 has been out of production for nearly two years, it is believed to be one of the last few Euro-3 engined DB250 chassis that were known to have been built ‘for stock’. In any case, it should have a Wrightbus Pulsar Gemini body and would presumably take number 6038. We await news of its delivery.
Volvo B7RLEs 3856-60 (HA) have had a repaint (to normal Arriva colours) but have surprisingly lost their route 510 branding. However, new Volvo 3874 has gained a newer style of 510 branding, and presumably the older ones will follow suit in due course. The two new Volvos 3873/4 have got digital tachographs to act as spares (if necessary) to the 724's Citaros. Route 724 is worked under EU driver's hours rules and from 1/1/08 the vehicles used thereon (i.e. the Citaros 3901-09) have to be so fitted - and indeed have been.
Staying at Harlow, older Volvos 3255/6/7 have lost their maroon 'Metro 4' branding in favour of blue 'Blue line 4' branding; it's still the same route, though! Green Line DAF coach 4057 is another to go into the new-style Green Line colours. In TLB520 we said that 3158 was formerly a Lakes Audio advert. Apparently that was applied in December 2004 but only lasted a few months as it went to Arriva national colours during 2005. Thus, the TLB520 entry presumably refers to a second (2007) repaint. DAF 3446 is finally back at AY after its refurbishment and repaint into route 100 livery, but had still not re-entered service by early January.
A Trident (5451) from Ware Garage suffered severe rear end fire damage in London Road, Ware, on the morning of 27th December. The eight passengers and the driver were not injured and the bus was recovered to Ware Garage. From press photos, repair looks fairly unlikely.
Volvo B6 3115, although reported to be both at Stevenage in store and again at Milton Keynes, was in service at High Wycombe again on 12th December at least. Garston’s staff ‘meal bus’ No.5380, which tended to be parked at Watford Junction for drivers’ rest purposes, suffered a seized engine and has been replaced by 5853. The latter had been stood down at Aylesbury for some time and in early January was having the tables and fitments transferred to it from 5380. Cadet 4519 has gained external adverts for recruitment.
Odd workings: Olympian 5148 (HH) was unusual on Hemel town routes 4/5 on 3rd January.

New deliveries: (November)
2493-94 YJ57 EJD/E Optare Solo M880 B28F. Initially, these were delivered in November to Milton Keynes but were never used there. In mid-December they were transferred to the Shires.

(December): 0303-11 YX57 CCV/Y, CAA/E/O/U/V, CBF/O/U
Mercedes-Benz 515CDi - Optare Sorocco C19F (in easyBus orange livery).

Loans: Trainer Darts KX04 HRE/F/G actually carry Fleet Nos 0011, 0022, 0003.
Detail changes: 5146 (GR) from allover advert for TGI-Fridays to standard Arriva livery.
Correction to SUP36W: 3386 should be shown at SV not HI (which was closed!)

Transfers: (December)
0303-11 --/LD. 2493/94 --/MKu/SV. 3102 AYu/GRu. 3115 SVu/WB (again).
3121 LDu/LD. 3137 WB/WBu. 3216 HH/WB. 4426 GR/AY. 4428 AY/GR.
5153 WB/WBw. 5172 AY/AYw. 5380 GRs/GRw. 5451 WE/WEu (fire). 5853 AY/GRs

.Disposals:
3099 (K447 XPA), 3358/59 (K408/9 FHJ) , 3818 (H368 XGC) Darts -
all sold to Hardwicks for scrap (December).
3364 (K414 FHJ) and 3385 (M951 LYR) Darts - to Ensign Bus, Purfleet (December).
5172 (D197 FYM) Olympian - to Red Kite, Tilsworth, Beds (December).
5379 (C437 BUV) Metrobus - to Hardwicks (December).

ARRIVA SOUTHERN COUNTIES group, Maidstone
Arriva Kent Thameside Ltd: (DT,NF), also where appropriate the associated Arriva Kent & Sussex, Arriva Medway Towns, New Enterprise. (MD,TW,GL,NE garages).
Arriva Guildford & West Surrey Ltd(CL,GF,HM garages)
Arriva Southend Ltd (Thurrock area operations from Grays) (SE and GY garages).
The three Enviro200s ordered for the take-up of route 499 on 26th January arrived during the first week of December. These were on time, as the initial contract date would have been in December and then on 26th January. However, problems over the extensions of routes 498 (to go to First) and 499 (to come from First) have meant that the switch has been deferred until June. In the meantime, one of the new buses is helping out at Horsham and the other two at Grays.
Guildford- based Dart SLFs 3095-3102, 3109-10, 3304-06 have all undergone refurbishment in recent times, spread from November 2006 to December 2007. Darts in the batch 3291-99, 3301-03 are in the process of being refurbished prior to the renewal of the TfL contract on route 126 (Eltham & Bromley) in March. From this batch, 3303 has been working at Grays on route 370 in November and December. It appears that all single-deck service buses at Northfleet except the MetroRiders have now gained electronic destination displays.
The hybrid Solo GX55 LNF actually ran at last on the Horsham park-and-ride on 11th December - but appearances since have been very intermittent and it is said locally that “it is not too reliable!”. A-SC have allocated fleet number 1450. Thus far, it has only been used during daylight hours (about 9am – 4pm) on Mon-Fri. It is kept each night back at Traction Technology’s premises.
The note under Arriva the Shires in TLB520 about the new easyBus operation between Victoria and Gatwick Airport, due to begin on 18th March, can now be expanded. It is to be operated by Arriva Southern Counties, through their New Enterprise subsidiary. Indeed, during December they were advertising in the Gatwick area papers for drivers for their 'Gatwick based team.' Of course, this marks - in an oblique way - a return by Arriva to the area after nearly seven years.
Somewhat mysteriously, Dart 3388 (P258 FPK) from Dartford was reported as in service with Arriva the Shires at Stevenage on Christmas Eve. A Kent Santa on an exchange visit?

New deliveries: (December)
3997-99 GN57 BOU, BOV, BPE AD E200Dart - AD Enviro200 10.2m B29D.
Transfer in to our area : 3325 (T826 NMJ) Dart SLF/ Pointer B39F/ 1998.
Transfers: (December) 3181, 3263 DT/GY. 3325 Southend/DT. 3997/98 --/GY. 3999 --/HM.
Disposal: T160 (M160 RBH) Iveco training minibus - to Erith Commercials (December).

BIG BUS COMPANY, Earlsfield
Four Tridents surplus from Metrobus have been bought. Only four (418, 422/5/6, LV51 YCD/H/L/M) were otherwise unsold, so they must be those. Two are being altered to partial open-top, two others closed top. On 23rd December, 426 was first noted in use in London in Big Bus livery, that one being closed top; it has retained the same seat layout it had with Metrobus. 425 was being painted at an outside location in late December.
A typo in TLB520:- Titan CRMs - should read A638 THV (not THX).
Acquired: DA 3 (LV51 YCM) Dennis Trident – East Lancs Lolyne 10.0m H45/23D - 2001.

BLUE TRIANGLE, Rainham and DOCKLANDS BUSES, Silvertown
(Garages BE and SI) (part of the Go-Ahead Group)
During December, most of the buses based at Rainham gained BE garage codes, although those at Silvertown have none at all. Enviro200s in the SE class have become very common indeed on routes 66 and 248. The NVs appear on rail replacement services, including several on Victoria Line work.

Allocations: Officially, TL 910 is now listed at SI, although it has not been seen at either BE or SI during November and December. PDL 1, which had been at SI for a while, was back at BE and used on route 248 by 14th December.
Loans: After PVL 311 (Q) came on loan in November, in mid-December PVL 357 came from London Central (Q) to replace it, followed by PVL 296 (Q) in early January. Each were used on route 474 from SI. Although we have already listed London General Olympians NV 116 and 139, additional vehicles at BE include NV 117, 127 and 162, all of which are listed officially in December, plus NV 134 and 142 noted at SI in late December. It is presumed that these vehicles will change over as necessary.
Detail change: DP 192 from B37F to B**D. This is the first of the batch of four (189-192) that had meant to be done a year or so ago. Seating capacity needed please – possibly 36?
Disposals: M 271,468,693,801,809,981,1200 and T 1101 had not been used since at least last August and were all no longer on the Go-Ahead company fleet lists by 1st December. We listed some of these in TLB517 p27 as having likely gone to Roger Wright again and I presume that all did, for re-sale or spares. Certainly T 1101 turned up again over Christmas on the rail replacement services in Essex, apparently belonging to a private owner in Crewe, Cheshire.

CENTREBUS, Dunstable & St Albans
Darts 582/3 at St Albans have lost their 'Cottonmill Cruiser' branding. The swap of buses in mid-December with the East Midlands area of the company results in all eight Centros (601-608) now being in the Herts & Beds area.
Acquired from Centrebus North (at Grantham) (December):
606 (FJ56 YBW) VDL SB120 – Plaxton Centro 10.8m B40F.
Disposal: Dart 555 (SN55 DVC) to Centrebus North (December).

COUNTRYLINER, Guildford
Apparently, there are five former Centra/ Mitcham Belle Caetano-bodied Dart SLFs. All had been dual-door (B31D) but we presume that they have been altered to single door and the new capacity is required, please. Others of the batch that went to Cavalier became B33F and those to Rossendale became B34F. Known so far at Countryliner are DC37 (KU02 YBG), DC38 (KM51 BFN), DC** (HV52 WTJ) but none have had their new layouts reported.
According to the trade press, three AD E200Dart chassis with MCV Evolution bodies are apparently due here in February. Another 'new' type to the fleet was first noted on 20th December on the Sussex routes, being a Vario formerly with Stagecoach in Devon (No.42101). When seen in Lewes, it was in basic Stagecoach livery style but with a green skirt.
Acquired: (via Ensign): R101 NTA MB.0814D Vario - Alexander ALX100 B29F.

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

Stratford's Trident 17520 was the first to return (in mid-December) from repaint with a WH code applied thus presaging the move of the SD allocation to West Ham when practicable. Indeed, very soon several other SD buses gained WH codes. The transfer of the entire SD allocation to WH is due to take effect from 23rd February assuming all goes well with the site preparation. Stratford Trident 17515 has been retrofitted with a Euro-4 engine. The then Stagecoach Tridents up to 17508 were Euro-2 and from 17509 onwards were Euro-3. 17515 is being used as a test bed for future conversions.
A special event is expected to be held on Saturday 16th February whereby RML 2760 and 18500 would be used on an ‘excursion’ from Mile End to Stratford (SD) Garage. This is the Saturday prior to the closure. Buses will leave Mile End at 1000,1100,1200,1300 running via the 25/158/308 routes (no other en-route pick-ups, sorry) to visit SD Garage. Return buses at 1100,1200,1300,1400.
Other normal Trident repaints into all red include 17319, 17321, 17351, 17353, 17383, 17387, 17472, 17491, 17501, 17554, 17859, 17866, 17956, 17964, 18481, 18486, 18488, 18490, 18492 and 18498. Darts noted in new livery include 34245, 34315, 34322, 34327, 34373, 34389, 34393, 34552, 34555, 34559 and 34560. My man down south reckons that there are still around 100 former Selkent buses in need of repainting into all red livery. Regarding the report last month about the livery carried on Bromley buses was incorrect. (Not sure where the report came from, but at least we now have a correct version!). 17340 and 17357 are all red except at the rear while there are about 11 deckers and 10 single deckers yet to gain new livery.
RML 2760 was used on Tuesday 4th December to collect money for Bangladesh. It operated between Stratford and Aldgate all day via the 25 routeing. A very respectable £2,500 was collected that was then bolstered up to £3,000 from contributions from drivers at Bow & WA. The blinds showed SPECIAL SERVICE on the front and rear with 25 on all other blinds. Talking of blinds, 'Spirit of London’ 18500 has received another new blind set including all SD routes plus the 8 and 55.
Waterden Road (WA) Garage duly closed on the night of 28/29th December, all vehicles gradually moving out to Rainham (RM) except for the fire-damaged Citaro 23038. The latter was put into nearby SD as a temporary measure.
More damage to a Citaro occurred at 0630 hours on New Year’s Day when 23026 (PD) was in Charlton on its way from Plumstead to take up service on route 453. A car containing five teenage occupants was driven head-on into the bus resulting in two seriously injured plus three killed. Trident 18251 (T) apparently suffered frontal damage in Woodford Green when in an altercation with a car.
Continuing on the re-registration front mentioned last month, 17879 was still carrying 527 CLT on 27th December and 23077 VLT 240 on 24th December. Again, our plea for news on any changes to the registrations of 17099, 17101, 17879 and 23077 would be gratefully appreciated. Moreover, has anyone spotted WLT 491, 886 or 890 yet on anything?
Odd workings: route 147 is of course 'banned' to the long Tridents, but on 11th December 18265 (U138) did creep out, albeit briefly until it was noticed and was subbed. The extra short workings on route 8 over the Christmas period between Victoria and Green Park (TLB 520 page7 refers) saw Tridents with running nos. BW X501-X504.

Transfers:
T 1 (alias 10001) WA/RM. 17276 TB/NS. 17277 TB/SD. 17886 BWu/BW. 17910 WAu/BW.
23030-37/39-77 WA/RM. 23038 WAu/SDu.
26001/03/11/24, 28616/18/19/21/26/27/28/29/30 WAt/RMt.

ENSIGN BUS, Purfleet
Seven Spectras from Reading have been acquired for the service fleet, to replace an equal number of E-/F- registered former East Kent MCW Metrobuses. This will leave just two Metrobuses in stock, 167 (F767 EKM) and 192 (F292 NHJ), the former having coach seats. Also, two MCW Metroliners have entered the service fleet.
This is a convenient place to record the acquisition of the thirteen 12-metre Volvo B7L/ East Lancs double-deckers from Veolia Denmark. The fourteenth of the original batch was destroyed by fire some years ago. They arrived via the Esbjerg- Harwich ferry service in four batches at the end of November and are for re-sale outside the UK. They have three doors and two staircases. Danish registrations are RZ 92675/676/781/782/799, RZ 97043/044, SB 95593/594/709/711/712 and TC 88976.
The 'heritage fleet' came out to play once again on the special service on the X80 on 1st and 8th December. On the 1st, RT 624 (red), RT 1499 (green), RT3232 (blue/silver), RLH 61, RML 2405 (now red, ex gold), Bristol K HLJ 44 and PD2 KTJ 204C from Ensign, helped by RT 3871 and V3 from Roger Wright and RML 2760 from East London. On the 8th it was cold, wet and windy, one bus (RT 1431) broke down after part of one journey and two expected others didn't make it. Seven buses then worked the service, Ensign's RT 1499, RT 4421, RM 54, RLH 61 and Leeds PD3 5280 NW, plus Roger Wright's RM 298 and East Kent's AEC Regent V MFN 946F. RM 54 has been repainted to red but with gold fleet numbers and gold Ensignbus fleetnames. It is famous as having claimed its place in history as being the last Routemaster in passenger service on route 159 two years earlier (see TLB497 for full report). HLJ 44 and RT 1431 then worked in Southend on local services on 1st January alongside other ‘heritage’ vehicles on behalf of Stephenson’s, on a day when neither Arriva nor First operated any services at all in the town.

Acquired: (December) from Reading Buses, via the sales fleet:
101-107 YJ51 ZVE/H/K/L/N/M/O (note uneven reg. order)
DAF DB250LF - Optare Spectra H47/27F - 2001 (101-4) or 2002 (105-7).

The Dart/Pointer P720 RYL acquired in October (see TLB519 p19) has been reregistered WLT 753 and has taken fleet number 753.
E99 MAK and E906 TOJ are two acquired MCW Metroliner 400GT vehicles. E906 TOJ has been reregistered 864 DYE and has taken fleet number 464.

Withdrawn for disposal: Metrobuses 149 152, 157 (E749, E752, E747 SKR), 161, 162 (F761, F762 EKM), 173, 175 (F773, F775 EKM).EXCEL, StanstedDisposals: Darts J226 HGY and K708 KGU (the last step entrance Darts) had gone by October.

FIRST in BERKSHIRE (First Beeline Buses Ltd) (BL and SH garages)
The very last SB, that is the NC Paladin bodied Scania L113CRL saloons, was finally withdrawn at the end of December. Another BMC yellow school bus was in the progress of delivery at the end of December. It is registered BG57 ZGJ but no fleet number is yet known. Meanwhile, a most unexpected odd working appeared on 4th January when red London Dart DMS 41262 (officially at the Hayes store) was on loan to Slough and seen on route 41.
Another seven Citaros are due during the Spring to further upgrade the fleet at Slough and to allow for expansion of the network to Heathrow Terminal Five.

Transfers (December): DMM 43835 SH/BL. DP 46926 BL/SH.
SCF 64796, 64798 HSw/BLt (all are now training vehicles). SB 64810 BL/BLw.
Correction to Fleetbooks and SUP-36s: Darts 42643/44 should be classified DMP not DPL.

FIRST LONDON incorporating
FIRST CAPITAL EAST - DM. FIRST CAPITAL NORTH - H and NP.
CENTREWEST LONDON BUSES - AT,G,HS,ON,UX,WJ,X and Y.
The first new buses to come to this operator for more than two years duly arrived in mid-December. The last was the batch of twelve VNWs for route 150 in October 2005. The two new DNs ordered for route 498 are now being utilised on the ELW route (Whitechapel-Wapping East) London Line replacement. These were ordered for two-bus double-deck allocation on route 498 initially due to be assumed from Arriva on 26th January but now deferred to June. The six-vehicle allocation for the ELW is made up with four TNs until more Enviro400s arrive in March or April.
Six single-deckers would have made up the intended main allocation on route 498 and are Enviro200s DML 44001-06. They arrived with class codes DM but are being altered to the correct DML (DM refers to the 9.3m model but these are 10.2m and thus should be DML to be compatible with First's class-code system). They all arrived between 14th and 18th December and, now that the take-up on the 498 has been deferred until June, are being allocated to Uxbridge instead of to Dagenham. Of course, Uxbridge is due to get E200s anyway by the summer for routes 331/A10/U10 and all that will happen is that when they turn up some may be diverted when or if necessary to the 498. Those at UX are expected to be primarily allocated to route A10 thus allowing the withdrawal of the oldest Dart SLFs in London (DMP 42401-06).
Orpington (Y) Garage duly closed on the night of 7/8th December and 35 Darts were sold to Metrobus, the residue of the Y allocation moved elsewhere within the London area. By Sunday 9th, the garage premises were empty of First vehicles. Most of Orpington’s Darts had been refurbished and repainted prior to the disposal, only eight of which had been reported in TLB. Now that we know which had been done, the full list is: DML 41411/2/3 and DMS 41450-57/62-73. That leaves DML 41373/4/5/80 (which will not be done), DMS 41355/58/60/61 (which should be done soon) and DMS 41458-61 (that are imminent for treatment). Note that the programme is still being handled by First although these buses are now Metrobus property.
More recent refurbishment/ repaints include TNL 32906, TNL 33085, DML 41363 and DMS 41475-79.
The allocation changes (see TLB 520 page 8) surrounding the closure of the Hackney (H) Garage in Waterden Road (note London E9) duly occurred. About forty Darts moved to Dagenham (DM) together with routes D6, D8, 309 and 323 while the rest of the H allocation transferred to the nearby premises at Temple Mills.
There is a little bit of an identity crisis here. The yard is at Temple Mills off Ruckholt Road to the east of the River Lea and actually within Leyton, London E10. London E9 is to the west of the Lea and is part of Hackney. Therefore, the new depot is no longer in Hackney although the garage codes H (in First parlance) or HO (= "Hackney Olympic", London Buses' shadow code) are specified. Added to this, they cannot call anything 'Olympic' publicly so as to avoid upsetting the Olympic Games people; cleverly, First have decided to christen it 'Lea Interchange Depot'. (Obviously keeping the ‘LID’ on that then!). For now, we shall just call it plain H - even though it is in Leyton! Mind you, we gather that it might soon get called L (L for Lea or L for Leyton, now that L for Loughton is vacant!). At least this would bring things to full circle. The 'new' site is the one used by Kentish Bus from January 1990 to house their Olympians on the then 22A/22B/55 LRT contracts and the code used was? You guessed it, it was L, even though some buses carried TM stencils at one time!.
Odd workings: numerous DM/DML on routes 79 and 92.

New deliveries: (December)
DN 33501-02 LK57 EJN, EJO AD Trident - AD Enviro400 10.1m H41/26D
DML 44001-06 LK57 EJD/E/F/G/J/L AD E200Dart - AD Enviro200 10.2m B**D

Returned off loan: TNL 32902/04 returned from Metroline to X (end of November) leaving 32905 still at Metroline at least as at 20th December. However, it was back at X on 21st.

Transfers;
(Prior to December, dates uncertain):
VNL 32220 NP/ON. DML 41235 UX/G. DMS 41257 G/Y (loan)/HSu.
DML 41371 Yu/ ***u. DML 41376/78 Y/***u. (Note that these three are "away for refurb" and are shown thus as they are no longer at Y. They are due to be allocated to G (371) or ON (376/8) in due course).
EV 50186 and EV 59991 gone from Y to an unknown location. LDN 90176 DMt/HSw.

(December): TNL 32900 X/G. TN 33245-248 X/DM.
TNL 32902/04/05 Metroline (PV)/X (see notes above). DN 33501-02 --/DM.
DM 41229/30/32/33/34, 41265/66, 41269-85 H/DM. DMS 41258/60/61/62 Y/HSu.
DM 41264 Y/HSu. DML 41307-17/20-23 H/DM. DML 41324 Y/DM.
DML 41336 and 41772 DM/Y (loan 1-8 Dec)/DM. DMS 41350/54 Y/HSu.
DML 41402 H/DM. DML 41403-408 UX/WJ. DM 41433/34 WJ/DM.
DMC 41512/14, 42516/17 HSu/UX. DML 41770 H/DM.DM 41790 Y/ON. DM 41793 WJ/DM.
DML 44001-06 --/HSu (then 44006 to UXt). Vehicles from Hackney (H) to Lea Interchange (H or L, see notes above) from 15th December:
TN 32801/18. TNL 33006-28/33-35, 33090/96/97.
DM 41268, 41681-90/97-700, 41746-48. DMS 41356.
DML 41328/29, 41718-38/40-45/51-66. OOS 53701-06. ES 64001-11.

Disposals:
TNA 32939/51 to First Glasgow (December). [Note this was the last of the batch].
DMS 41355/58/60/61, 41450-73 and DML 41373/74/75/80, 41411-13 to Metrobus (8th Dec).
LB 62671 (Lynx). Although this bus came to London a few years ago and was intended for service, it never did get prepared and languished at Hayes. It was never officially transferred to First London ‘ownership’ and remained part of First Devon & Cornwall’s stock. F-D&C retrieved it “some time ago” so it can be deleted from London records.

HACKNEY COMMUNITY TRANSPORT (inc. CT PLUS), Dalston
Odd workings are rare here, but E200Dart/ East Lancs DE 6 escaped from route W13 to the 153 on 13th December. The East Lancs bodied Trident, overdue since last March, is now forecast by Darwen Group to be coming later this month. It remains to be seen if this latest forecast, after so many others, is achieved.

LINK LINE, Harlesden (part of T-GM)
Restored to stock: Although Solo Y295 PDN went to Burton's in September - and actually was at the Colchester operation, it soon passed on within the T-GM group to Classic at Newcastle. In December, it came back to London again to replace one of the Varios. This is essentially due to new TfL LSP conditions surrounding the Tesco contracts.
Disposal: Vario R763 DUB to Classic, Newcastle (December).

LONDON CENTRAL - BX,NX,PM and Q, and
LONDON GENERAL - A,AF,AL,MW,PL,RA and SW. (within the Go-Ahead Group)
The IBus conversion programme is due to be initiated in the spring. London Central garages are scheduled to be done between 26th March and 4th June, in the order NX, Q, PM and BX, whilst London General garages should follow between 30th April and 27th August, in the order RA, SW, MW, AF, PL, A and AL. Whether these dates are achieved remains to be seen.
The solitary Volvo B9TL (B 9) suddenly re-appeared in London when it was first noted in service on route 11 (SW) on 27th December. This bus had been with London General earlier in 2006/7 and was returned to Volvo in June 2007. After a short ride on the bus by your editor, any modifications they may have been made during its absence are not immediately evident. It is said that it may move to Putney in due course.
PVL 72 was seen being towed home on 6th December with severe frontal damage. Alas, no details known. Only one repaint reported in December, that of PVL 225. The WVLs recently transferred into Mandela Way for route 133 have been rapidly gaining MW codes.
The temporary allocation of PVLs to SW whilst the last few Es were commissioned were soon moved on elsewhere, as listed below. PVLs 82, 129 and 131 are allocated as passenger buses but have been used as trainers on occasions. As has already been documented, PVLs 140-143 are more 'permanent' training buses. Of the other trainer NVs moved on to Blue Triangle, these are used in service mostly on non-TfL railway or school contract work.
Odd workings: during December, the incidence of PVL workings on Merton Dart routes 163, 164 and 219 increased and there was a fairly rare appearance of one (PVL 117) on the 355 on 31st. Additionally and still at Merton, the SEs continue to pop up fairly often on the 163, 164, 219 and 355 in place of LDPs, whilst LDP 99 was AL52 on the 200 on 20th. In early December, odd Es appeared spasmodically on the 333, an example being E 90 as SW9 on 13th.

Reinstated (and acquired?) vehicle (December)
B 9 (BX06 BTF) Volvo B9TL - Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 10.1m H41/21D - new 2006.

Transfers: (c suffix = Commercial Services fleet) (December).
B 9 --/SW. E 79-81 --/SW. LDP 52 BX/A. LDP 57 BX/AL. LDP 70, 77 AL/Q. LDP 79 PL/BX.
LDP 150, 151 AF/A. LDP 152 PM/AL. NV 152 MWtu/MWt. NV 135 BXt/Qt.
PVL 71, 72, 73 SW/NX. PVL 75 SW/AL. PVL 79 SW/PM. PVL 82 NX/BX (see notes above).
PVL 129, 131 AL/Q (see notes above). PVL 279 SW/PM. PVL 330 Q/PM.

Loans: NV 117, 127 and 162 to Blue Triangle on the official list, while NV 134 and 142 were noted at Silvertown in late December. Also, after PVL 311 was on loan to Docklands Buses in November, PVL 357 was similarly loaned in December. All these loans tended to have been short-term.

Specification Changes: PVL 234 from H41/23D to H41/20D.

METROBUS, Crawley (within the Go-Ahead Group) (C,CY,LR,MB depots)
The company duly took over First's Orpington operation as planned from Saturday 8th December, and the 35 Darts with it (details were in TLB520). On the very first day of operation, three of Metrobus' indigenous Darts appeared on the ex-First routes, and this practice has continued - albeit in a fairly minor way. To provide space at Green Street Green (MB) Depot, Scania double-decks 468-485 moved from MB to C with the daytime (but not the night) route 119 allocation.
However, route T32 (now the only ex-First route at Croydon Garage) was initially home to Metrobus' own vehicles rather than those that were inherited. Presumably, surplus buses from the Metrobus fleet may eventually supplant those acquired from First. In any case, the T32 has been won on London Buses tender in Metrobus' own right from May. To service this award, three new single-deck buses were required and a new combination has been ordered: three MAN (14.240 presumably) with Alexander Dennis Enviro200 bodies.
Of the former First Darts, several had been refurbished and repainted all-red when with First. Only a few had been reported until now, but the full list that had been dealt with up to early December were 124-137 (ex 41450-57/68-73), 142-147 (ex 41462-67) and 380-382 (ex 41411-13). That leaves 138-141 (41458-61) currently under way, 120-123 (41360/61/55/58) which should be done in due course and 383-386 (41375/80/73/74) which will not be done. First continues to handle the remaining refurbishments even though the buses are now under Metrobus ownership.
The RTA in Crawley on 12th November referred to in TLB520 involved Dart 206.
Odd workings: Scania s/d 619 on the B99 on 19th December. Although plenty of Metrobus' own buses appeared on ex-First routes, the first report of an ex-First Dart on an 'original' Metrobus route was on 21st when Dart 127 was on the B14. At Crawley, Trident 428 made a very unusual appearance on town service 1 on 19th December. On Sunday 30th December, Scania d/d 917 was on the T33. Numerous Scania d/ds continue to appear on the X26, for example 920 (27th Nov), 443 (13th Dec) and 920 (20th Dec).

Acquired: Confirmation of the 35 Darts from First as listed in TLB520.
Transfers: (December) 120-147, 380-383 First/MB. 384-386 First/C. 468-485 MB/C.
Disposals: 418, 422, 425, 426 off lease to Wealden PSV (approx. September 2007).
(See Big Bus Co. notes above).

METROLINE TRAVEL - AC,AH,BD,EW,HD,HT,KX,NW,PA,PB,PV,W garages.
(Within the Comfort Delgro group of Singapore)
Tridents from the batch TA 81-101 have been gradually stood down as noted in the past two TLBs. Five of them went on loan to Travel London from 31st December to provide standby cover for their work on the East London line replacement buses. The majority of the batch is due to convert route 210 (Brent Cross- Golders Green - Finsbury Park) from Dart to double-deck from 16th February. Although the 210 has seen very occasional double-deck appearances, notably during the tenure of Grey-Green on the route, it has always been scheduled for single-deck throughout its long existence.
Although technically surplus, the six ETs (Trident/ East Lancs) at Harrow Weald are being retained for a little longer after all, we gather until at least June.
The loan of First Tridents dragged on through December until the last one was returned to First on 21st. They were to help cover the late delivery of new SEL class Scanias – the first two of which finally arrived right at the turn of the year. Registrations allocated to the last Scanias are SEL 764 (LK57 KAU) and 803-809 (LK57 KAX, KBE/F/J/N/O/P). The loss of the TNLs caused a resurgence of Dart appearances on route 297, typically two or three per day through December. Even though some of the DLD batch 187-197 moved on to Potters Bar during December, some remain at Perivale and are used as spare covers for both the MMs on route 90 and for TP/TPL on the 297.
Further full repaints seen on Dart DLD 35, Tridents TA 74, 75, 100, 102, 104, 105 and 116 plus former Mary Poppins allover advert VP 330. Meanwhile, repainted DP 1014, 1019 and 1041 now sport blue skirts. DLF 33 and 37 have dark blue rather than light blue skirts, probably done since October.
The last few DMLs are hanging on for dear life with five (1,2,3,18,41) at Perivale West usually on the C11 and 326, five (33,40,42,44,47) at Cricklewood on route 316 and DML 43 still recorded at Brentford. All should go soon as DLD/DLF Darts become available. The remaining sixteen DMSs, all at Potters Bar, must also be in the firing line for disposal, too. Of course, there are many DLDs than before on the DML and DMS routes.New deliveries:
(MM 825/6 30th Nov, 822/3/4/7 between 5th-14th Dec, SEL 803 31Dec, SEL 764 on 3rd Jan)
MM 822-827 (LK57 AYT/U/V/W/X/Y) MAN 12.240 - MCV Evolution 10.4m B26D.
SEL 764 (LK57 KAU) Scania N230UD – East Lancs Olympus 10.8m H45/23D.
SEL 803 (LK57 KAX) Scania N230UD – Darwen East Lancs Olympus 10.8m H45/23D.

Note that SEL 764 was actually completed at East Lancs by last July before the change of ownership, hence is a wholly East Lancs Coachbuilders product. It was originally allocated registration LK07 BDF but that has been cancelled. It was held back at Blackburn whilst changes to its weight distribution were done, including being fitted with lighter seats. Although it has the same number of seats, the standing limit has been increased from 14 (as on SEL 739-763) to 21 (or 19 if a wheelchair is carried), thus achieving the TfL/LBSL contracted capacity. SEL 803 is the first of the second batch of seven, the others are due during January. This batch has been built entirely by Darwen Group products since the change of ownership and is therefore officially nothing to do with East Lancs as such. However, they will continue to carry “E” (for East Lancs) in their code.

Changes of identity: MM 787-790 that were delivered last September (TLB 518 page 25 refers) have had the order of their registrations changed. They had carried LK57 EHX/Y/Z, EJA in that order, but are now in the order LK57 EJA (787), EHX/Y/Z (788/9/90). We have photographic evidence that in late October they carried the original registration plates as reported. The subsequent change date is not known, although the revised marks were first noticed on 19th December. The reason is not known.

Inward loans: TNL 32902/04 went back to First (at X) by the end of November. 32905 was still at PV when noted on route 297 on 20th December but was back at First on 21st.
Outward loans: TA 82, 83, 84, 86 and 99 out on loan to Travel London at Walworth (31st December) but should return to Metroline by mid-February.
Detail change: VP 330 lost its Mary Poppins advert during December. This presumably coincides with the show closing down in mid-January. This bus has since received a full repaint. Note that VP 319 continues to carry its NSPCC advert.Transfers
Correction to TLB 520 November transfers: TPL 258 and 259 went from W (not HT) to PB.
(December): DLD 187, 188 NW/PV. DLD 189, 190, 191, 192 PV/PB. DLD 203 NW/NWt.
MM 822-827 --/PV. TA 86, 88, 94 HD/NWu. TA 85, 99 PAt/NWu.
Then TA 82, 83, 84, 86, 99 NWu/T.London.Disposals: DML 16, DMS 10, 17, 19 to Ensign Bus, Purfleet (December).

SAFEGUARD, Guildford
An Optare Versa demonstrator YJ57 EHU was in use from 19th December and was still there on 5th January. It is in a silver livery.

S M COACHES, Harlow
Enviro200Dart demonstrator SN56 AYA was here in November. It was also looked at by fellow Harlow operator Olympus.

SOUTHDOWN PSV, Crawley Down
The double-deck buses (e.g. T130 and T132 AUA and GX06 AOE) used on route 410 now have the 'scrolling' LED displays. The company has won routes 526/527 (Crawley/ Horley circulars) from 12th January and two Enviro200s have been acquired to work it.

TRANSDEV incorporating
LONDON UNITED - AV,FW,HH,S,TV and V and LONDON SOVEREIGN - BT and SO.

After a brief period at Tolworth beginning on 28th November, the hired First Tridents soon moved on once again, this time to Hounslow. Whilst at Tolworth they were of course used on route 57, the only main double-deck route at the garage. However, TN 32960 ventured onto route 467 on 4th December. First reports of use at Hounslow came on 10th December and within a few days they were all there, in use mainly on routes 111, 120 and H32 but also appearing occasionally on the 222, 697 and 698. The Darts covering for I-Bus fitments moved around as well, although DPK 618-620 from Tolworth were received at Hounslow but not used in practice. During January, the I-Bus programme moves on to London Sovereign’s Edgware and Harrow garages. As Edgware does not have any Tridents, the First TNs will stay at Hounslow for the duration and Hounslow will loan about half-a-dozen Volvos (which should be VPs) to Edgware.
More vehicle orders have been announced. Yet another four SPs have been added to the order noted last month for nine of them. The nine are for new route 482 in March and the four extras are for a pvr increase on route 267, also due in late March. The recent tender awards (TLB518 p9) means that ten Enviro200 8.9m are on order for route K1 and twenty-one 10.2m versions for the 285. All the E200s are due in June or July.
Odd workings: after a long period when SOs and SPs didn't wander from route 148, we reported one last month and more this time. On 18th December, both SP 8 and SO 9 were on route 94 while on Sat 15th SO 6 was S257 on route 220.
Just a reminder that London United continue to run the special link between Richmond Station and Twickenham Rugby Ground on the occasions of big matches. One such occurrence on 6th December saw VAs, TAs and SLEs (Run/Nos 701-715) plus two interlopers – AtBus’ Metrobuses M 975 and M 1272.
TA 271 has been returned from repair and has subsequently been noted in new all red livery. The Dart at Harrow which has carried the wrong fleet code DPS 523 for about three years has finally been corrected to SDP 523.
Route K50 runs for the last time on 12th January and the Darts thereon (DP 2-9) will be snapped up to help out. At least two will be needed for extra journeys in the 697/698 while the rest should go to HH as a float there for its I-Bus cover. The two hired East London Darts 34274/5 at AV and the three from London Bus Co (DN 184/5/7) at HH all remain on loan, and should continue to be so until the E200s are delivered in June or July.

Reinstated: M 1015 – we were assured that this bus went to Ripleys for scrap in September, and it listed thus in TLB518 p26. However, one of our reliable reporters espied it on driver training duties in the Fulwell area on 12th December. One presumes that the disposal was cancelled.

Transfers: (December)
Correction to TLB520: After all, DP 78 stayed at S (i.e. not to V).
DPK 618, 619, 620 TV/AV(loan)/TV (see notes above) . DPK 623 FW/SO (ex loan).
DPS 527, 529 FW/TV(loan)/AV. DPS 662, 671, 672 V/S.
Note that due to the I-Bus programme, numerous Darts are being swapped around and will therefore be seen on odd routes and indeed at strange garages. These are merely temporary loans and not necessarily transfers.Specification Changes; VP 123 from H41/21D to H41/19D.

TRAVEL LONDON (BC, BF, QB, TF, WL and WS garages) (within National Express Group)
We have already shown in TLB520 Tridents 9708/09/16/17 at Walworth, ultimately for the East London line bus services. The other nine are recorded below, 9707 having being recently in white livery. Thus a batch of thirteen - 9705/07/08/09/16/17/18/22/26/27/28/29/30 - have been repainted all red and have suitable branding for the services. They have also been refurbished internally, with ‘individual’ seats re-covered in the current blue and red moquette and with the three tip-up seats removed. A fourteenth Trident, 9724 currently based at Battersea (QB) Garage, is expected to join them by the time this is read, although it is being covered by a normal Trident from QB in the meantime, as required. Indeed and for example, 9790 (QB) was noted on the ELC in the first couple of weeks.
Now that most of the Tridents formerly on the Kingston University service have passed to East London line work, there remain four for University service, all in white; these are 9706/15/23/25 at Fulwell (TF) Garage. Yes, there had been five but the service requirement for the new term beginning in January has reduced to four.
Five Tridents were taken on loan from Metroline, arriving here on 31st December. These are for 'standby duties' in case of overloading on the ELC service and indeed four of them were in use on the ‘first normal weekday’ after the festive holidays on Wednesday 2nd January. However, they are needed back at Metroline by 16th February for route 210.
Dart 8466 had moved to Hayes (WS) by 11th December although the bus it was to replace, Volvo B7TL 9069, was still there as at 31st! Other intended transfers still not yet moved (but due soon) by Christmas included 9703 still at BC and 9739 (and possibly 9738) still at QB.
Two more Darts repainted from T-GM style to Travel Surrey red and white are 8078/80.

Training fleet: Most of these have already been mentioned, but there are now four Volvo B10L trainers in London, all from Travel West Midlands. P512/3/4 KOX are now numbered 9992/3/4 in the London fleet and are allocated to BCt. P502 KOX is loaned from TWM, retains TWM fleet number 1502 and is allocated to TFt.

Detail changes: 9705/07/08/09/16/17/18/22/26/27/28/29/30 from H45/20D to H45/17D.
Inward loans: TA 82, 83, 84, 86, 99 from Metroline (31st December to mid-February)

Transfers: (December)
8466 TF/WS. 8717 remained at BF (see notes below).
9705 WLu/WL. 9707/27/28/29 TF/WL. 9718 QB/WL. 9722/26/30 BC/WL.
TA 82, 83, 84, 86, 99 Metroline/WL.

Disposals:
21 of the 22 buses listed in TLB520 as auctioned on 1st December no longer appear on the company's listings, so we presume that all were sold as was intended. The one still in stock - for now anyway - is Dart 8717 (S517 JJH).Solo 8849 (YP02 LCA) - This was withdrawn in June 2007, and although its initial sale had been delayed or cancelled (TLB516 p32 and 518 p27 refer), it had left the fleet (to ?) ****

TRUSTLINE, Harlow (Galleon Travel t/a TrustLine Buses)
Several vehicles, including at least Darts J51EDM, L63 & L64 SFM already listed in TLBs, have had ‘Trustybus’ logos and route branding added, for use on new routes 22/33 in Harlow from 5th January.

Acquired: H764 PVW (ex 91-D-1075) Leyland Olympian - Alexander H47/31F- 1991.
Disposals: Correcting TLB520, the Lynx sold was H756 WWW (not WWX).
Three of the already withdrawn vehicles have been sold for scrap:-
Greenway GUW 505W, Dominator G665EKA, MetroRider P414 VRG.

UNIVERSITYBUS (t/a uno), Hatfield
Preparation of the three acquired ex-Dublin Olympians continued through December and into January. Just one (N431 FKK) had been repainted to uno colours by early January and a first outing on service of this vehicle occurred on Friday 4th January on the intended route 601. At that date, the other two were away in Essex being painted.Acquired vehicles: N429, N430, N431 FKK (ex Irish regs 96-D- 269, 277 and 276 respectively)
Volvo Olympian - Alexander RH H47/27D - 1996.

WHITE BUS, Winkfield
Two Optare Tempos arrived here in December, one of them (EGD) a former demonstrator and the other (EHV) a new machine. The 57-reg Tempo entered service on 12th December and the 07-reg one on 13th, although at that stage the expected purple 'Borough Bus' signwriting was not yet applied. Although they have replaced Optare Deltas on the front-line service between Windsor and Ascot, in practice the Deltas did not leave, but have replaced two of the Bedfords. The last of these in service in bus form was C668 WRT, a Duple Dominant bodied Bedford YMT. A second Bedford, JMJ 633V, also a YMT but with a Plaxton Supreme coach body, was still owned but stored in a withdrawn condition. Both were sold during December.
There are two other Bedford coaches left in stock and used only on contract work. These are B633 DDW a YNT with Plaxton Paramount II C53F body and E849 AAO a YNV, also a Paramount but a Mk.III C55F. The Bedford marque is now very rare indeed in our area and C668 WRT was the last bus bodied example to see service. Indeed, it was the sole Bedford vehicle listed in our 2007 Fleetbook. Four vehicles which have missed a mention in TLB are four former military Dennis Javelin buses, new in 1993; all are used solely on school contract services.

New deliveries (December): YJ57 EHV Optare Tempo X1260 - Optare B47F (44 + 3 tip-ups)
YJ07 EGD Optare Tempo X1260 - Optare B46F (40 + 6 tip-ups)

Acquired between August and October 2005 (561/606/523) or December 2006 (321):
L561 ASU, L606 ASU, L523 MJB, L321 XTC Dennis Javelin - Wadham Stringer B70F- new 1993.

Disposal: JMJ 633V to Reptons, Woking (December).
C668 WRT to Bob Vale Coach Sales (December).

WILTAX, New Haw (Within the T-GM Group)
On 20th December, Arriva announced that it intended to purchase the entire T-GM group but that it was unlikely to be completed until later in January. In any case, T-GM sources indicate that little change to visual identity is expected at Wiltax or elsewhere in the group at this stage.
Further to TLB519, it seems that H47 MJN, R382 GTW and G805 SMV were also used at times on the 3rd November Bonfire service, presumably at different times. The two DAF/Presidents moved to Colchester on 20th December where they will be used as part of the normal local fleet and are expected to be repainted to the white/blue/yellow T-GM style Network Colchester colours. During the One Railway disruption over the Christmas period, at least T133 was pressed into service, still with Wiltax names but by then under Colchester auspices. Confusingly, Wiltax' own vehicles (e.g. R382 GTW as illustrated in this TLB) were also operating thereon.Acquired: T47 BBW and T615 DWL (ex T44 UBE) MAN 24.350 - Jonckheere CH68Ft.
Disposals: DAF/Presidents T131 and T133 AUA to Burton's, Colchester (20th Dec).

The "Where are they now" column (or : Subsequent vehicle disposals)
Section Editor: Andrew Morgan (address change by next month, any reports via lotsed@tesco.net )

Routemasters:
RM 848 from Will’s Art Warehouse, Putney Common to Mr D Paskell, Hazlemere, Bucks. (July) for preservation.
RML 2393 from unknown owner to Mr K Hamilton, Wallington (November 2006).
RML 2409, updating TLB498 has been the Big Red Café at the Park & Ride side at South Way in Hatfield since September last year.
RML 2674 from TLM Coachassist, Rochford, Essex to Mr A Geisler, Enfield (by November).

Metrobuses and Titans:
M 31 from Bryans of Enfield to Wigley, Barnsley (December).
M 673, 1145 from Crown Line, South Mimms to Wigley, Barnsley (December).
M 171 (KGY 158V) from Ensign Bus to PVS, Barnsley (December).
M 1112 from Arriva Scotland West to End of Life Vehicles, Dagmarnock (December).
T 672 from Thomas, West Ewell to Griffin Bus, Polhill (November) for spares.

Olympians and Scanias:
L 190 from Arriva the Shires to Red Kite, Tilsworth (December).
S 2 (F422 GWG) was withdrawn by First West Yorkshire at the end of November. This was the last of the S class vehicles with First West Yorkshire that were acquired from Black Prince. Although allocated to Bramley depot, it operated for its last week from Kirkstall depot.

Miscellaneous Single deck types:
DML 37, 38, 39 (R867-869 MCE) from Ensign Bus to A2Z Travel, Wolverhampton (December).
DML 178 (R178 TLM) from First Devon & Cornwall to First Cymru (by December).
DT 6 from Turners, Devon to Mr S Morris, Shrewsbury (December).
LDP 20 has been re-registered to WLT 753 and numbered 753 in the Ensignbus fleet.
MB 641 from Mr B Nash, Enfield to Mr K Wright, Hitchin (December) where it joins MBA 444, LS 444 and GLS 443.
SMS 753 (JGF 753K) from Mr P Brophy, Bermondsey to Mike Nash, Cobham (July).Further to TLB518, the MDs with Cumfybus of Southport have now been re-registered as follows:
MD1, 2, 3, 6, 16 from V1, 2, 3, 6, 16GMT to C19, 12, 13, 18, 16 MFY respectively.
MD4, 15, 17 from V4, 15, 17 GMT to V116 LHG, V735 HEO, V117 LHG respectively.

SERVICE VEHICLES
A much curtailed section this month, I’m afraid, but normal service restored next time !
Arriva London’s fuel tanker S737 SLF was sold on 26th October to a Mr Melbourne of Enfield.
The new Arriva fuel tanker has arrived, in the form of Foden V352 DFA. It was collected from Pickering’s in late November following a full repaint into white/grey livery. Due to neither AtS nor ASC having a suitable LGV trained driver, the tanker is now going to be based at Tottenham on a “temporary basis” and will serve either AtS or ASC as well as Arriva London when required. And finally on the Arriva service vehicle front, the other (second) Wood Green stores lorry is due for disposal in late January as it will not be LEZ compliant.
Arriva SC’s V038 was stolen in October, later retrieved but then disposed of in December.
RCL 2221, which remains at Acton in red livery with Tube Lines posters, is also due to be sold shortly.

LOTS