Last Day of 19 with Arriva By George

Today commenced the last day of operation of route 19 with Arriva as it is due to change hands from Arriva to Go ahead London using B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 and B5LH Wright Eclipse Gemini 2s from London General's Stockwell Garage

19 Arriva London South (BN) DW123 LJ05 BND Hyde Park Corner

UPDATED: Last day of First Capital North Operating NP Garage By George & Naeem

................Today commenced the last day of Northumberland Park Garage (NP) under Firstgroup.
London General were sold the rights to the whole garage and team, due to First Group PLC announcing losses in the company.On the 29th of February 2012 NP staff were informed that the garage was to be sold to  Go-ahead London General and a long and painful process to complete the Transaction was completed earlier today. Tomorrow (31/3/2012) Go Ahead (London General) will have full control over the operation of the Garage. Routes that will be operated by GAL are: 67, 191, 231, 259, 299, 357, 389, 399, 476, W4, W10, W16 and School services 616, 692 and 699. The Buses will be recoded into new GAL codes. These will be the similar to the  GAL numbering system but with an N added. e.g VN's will now be WVN's instead of saying WVLs.
We Naeem & I have Put together a Post of most of the NP's routes with pictures of the buses as  today and some info on  the routes at NP.
Northumberland Park Garage commenced operation in 1991 as part of the Walthamstow Buses operation but it soon expanded as an offshoot of Capital Citybus (First London) and then soon in 1995 it became a Capital Citybus operation.then in 1998 it was rebranded to the Firstgroup subsequently becoming first capital North. All the routes that have been taken over by London General are listed below.

Northumberland Park Placard

Route 67  

 Runs between Wood Green and Aldgate using 10.6m Volvo B7TL Presidents renamed from VNLs to PVNs similar to PVL codes used by existing Presidents with GA-L

67 First Capital North (NP) VNL32327 LK03 NKA Turnpike Lane

Route 191

This route runs between Edmonton Green and Brimsdown taking a very long way using 10.1m Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s. These will change from DN's to EN's similar to the GA-L E prefix for Enviro400s

191 First Capital North (NP) DN33540 SN58 CFE Edmonton Green
About to start the return journey to Brimsdown.

Route 231

This Route runs between Turnpike Lane and Enfield Chase Using again the 10.1m Alexander Dennis Enviro 400's.  These will change from DN's to EN's similar to the GA-L E prefix for Enviro400s

231 First Capital North (NP) DN33536 SN58 CEX Turnpike Lane
Seen just before it changed it's blinds to Enfield Chase.

Route 259
This route runs between Edmonton Green and Kings Cross Using 10.4m Wright Pulsar Gemini 2 buses coded by First as VNs but soon to become WVNs related to the current Gemini coding which is WVL.

259 First Capital North (NP) VN37818 LK59 FDF Edmonton Green

Route 476
This Route runsbBetween Northumberland Park and Euston Bus Station. Using 10.4m Wright Gemini 2 buses coded by First as VNs but soon to become WVNs related to the current Gemini coding which is WVL.

476 First Capital North (NP) VN37812 LK59 FEG Northumberland park

Route W4

This route Runs Between Oakthorpe Park (near Great Cambridge) and Ferry Lane, Tottenham Hale using 8.9m Alexander Dennis E200s altough longer ones from 299 & W16 make regular appearances.  The code for the W4's E200's is DM.But will change to SEN under GAL. Related to the GAL E200 prefix SE.

W4 First Capital North (NP) DMS44427 YX60 FUH Turnpike Lane

Route W16
This Route Runs between Chingford Mount and Leytonstone using 9.3m Alexander Dennis E20Ds classed as DMs soon to be classed SENs similar to the GAL E200 Prefix SE.

W16 First Capital North (NP) DM44293 YX61 FYT Leytonstone (C) Rhys Daniel Photography
Note: this route was recently won of Arriva London North.

Route W10
 This route runs between Enfield and Crewes Hill Using the one and only  8.8m Marshal Capital Dart left at NP Coded DMV but soon to be coded DMN

W10 First Capital North (NP) DM41788 X788 HLR Enfield Town (C) Peter Horrex 24th June 2010

Route:299
This Route runs between Muswell Hill and Cockfosters using 9.3m Alexander Dennis E200's


Route: 399
 Circuit route serving  Barnet via Hadleywood. Uses 9.3m Alexander Dennis E200s.

Route: 389 
Circuit route serving Barnet  via Western Way  Uses 9.3m Alexander Dennis E200s.
Thanks for viewing our post and soon we'll see if GA-L run NP better.


UPDATE:


As of Sunday nothing has changed logo's and fleetcodes are intact altough Naeem noticed the 476 has been run alot better since GA-L took over.

Route: 34 Missing the DLAs are we? By George

The route 34 recently moved garages from the now Mothballed Edomonton (EC) to Palmers Green (AD).
Now either the buses at AD had the 34 on the blindset already or they have recived new blinds when the 34 moved to AD. Either one of those theories is correct one otherwise the Enviro400 and Daf Presidents would not be in service today. Yes you heard right Ts and DLPs are in service on the 34 from the 125/102/329 only two days after it moved to the garage.
As to the DLAs allocated to the route there have been reports from reliable sources that they have been working on the 102 and possibly the 125/329 today.
It also seems that other buses will be used on the 34 mainly on weekends. but we will just have to wait and see.

34 Arriva London Nort (AD) T5 205 CLT Arnos Grove

34 Arriva London North (AD) T39 LJ08 CUK Betstyle Circus 

Route:20 The New Begining By George

After Arriva London have finished their last stint with the 20 I ventured out into Essex to see how Blue Triangle ran the route so here it goes.

 If you would like to view the information about this route please visit my earlier post (Link Here)

This route was taken over by Blue Triangle on the 24/3/12 using B9TL Wright Gemini 2 10.5m buses from Rainham (BE) here are some shots of the route today.

20 Blue Triangle (BE) WVL466 LJ61 NVB Buckhurst Hill

20 Blue Triangle (BE) WVL465 LJ61 NVA Buckhurst Hill

20 Blue Triangle (BE) WVL465 LJ61 NVA Walthamstow Central

Thanks for reading be sure to comment and rate

Blinds from a General Double Decker at Barking (BK) By Lhuan

As a second installment from Georges Potter Bar Blindset(Link Here). I have made the Blindset for a new E40D for the 101.Do not hesistate to request for another garage blindset.

Blinds from a General Double Decker at Potters Bar (PB) By George

I have been working on an image over the past few days of the blinds of a general Trident at Metroline's Potters Bar Garage if you would like to see more rate or comment below of what garage you would like me to have a go at next.

Thanks for reading

Route C2 Obs 18/03/2012 By Naeem & George

Today we and Rhys (alloverlondonbusblog)  visited Parliament Hill Fields to have some final observations of  the C2 before the route changes hands to Abellio in the next few weeks. They will run it from their Battersea garage (QB) just across the Thames from Victoria. Route C2 runs from Victoria to Parliment Hill Fields via Oxford Street, Camden town and Kentish Town. In 2009 the C2 was extended from Oxford Street to Victoria via Berkeley Square to replace route 8 which was cut back to Oxford circus.

 Note: Due to the St Patricks day event in central London all the buses we saw were terminating at Berkeley Square which is in the middle of Green Park and Oxford circus.

C2 Metroline (HT) TP414 LK03 CFJ Parliment Hill Fields

C2 Metroline (HT) TE924 LK58 KGA Parliment Hill Fields

C2 Metroline (HT) TP25 T125 CLO Parliment Hill Fields

C2 Metroline (HT) TP20 T120 KLD Parliment Hill Fields

Please, rate & comment below

Just a Picture Part 4 By Lhuan

Today In stratford coming back from the Westfield Shopping Complex I caught a picture of DMV44258(YX12 ABK) on 308. The 308's whole allocation today was DMV's not a Marshall or Caetano in sight.
These buses are the second 12reg buses on the streets of  London since the Dual Door Solos.

Just a Picture Part 3 By Naeem

Here  is a TPL on Route 134 heading for North Finchley via Highgate & Muswell Hill. Sorry for the bad quality as this picture was taken with my iPod. I have a new camera now so most other pictures will be taken with that. Anyways here the picture.

Route:20 last week with Arriva By George

Today ( 17th March 2012) saw Arriva start their last stint with route 20 that runs between Debden and Walthamstow Central
The 20 is due to be taken over by blue triangle next week so Dave ( from alloverlondonbusblog) and Caleb ( From Planemadblog) met to have a sort of final ride on the 20 with Arriva.

The 20 was created on 7 September 1968 as a replacement for route 38A from Loughton to Leyton with an extension to Walthamstow Central station. 

In 1986, the route was tendered out to Eastern National and the contract with Eastern National lasted until 7th March 1992, when Grey-Green won the contract operating the route from Barking (DX). In the late 1990s, Cowie Group (which owned Grey-Green) renamed themselves Arriva. Between 1st June 1998 and 9th March 2002, Capital Citybus (later First London) operated the school journeys from Northumberland Park (NP) and later Hackney (H).

On 26th April 2003 ( Still with Arriva), the route was converted to low-floor bus operation, these were B7TL Wright Gemini Eclipses  When the contract was renewed on 24th March 2007, the route was moved to Edmonton (EC) depot. where Older W and Y Reg DAF DB250 ALX400s ( DLAs) were allocated to the route but 03 Reg examples can be found on the route. in my opinion the refurbished 03 reg DLAs actually look nice and I had the Pleasure of riding on them today along with a few Y reg buses.

Due to the constant traffic between Debden and Loughton stations the route 20's reliability has been cut quite significantly as it took almost 45 mins to get from Debden to Loughton ( which is one stop on the Central Line) and due to running late about 1/2 the buses towards Walthamstow Central being curtailed to Woodford Green and running light to Walthamstow to pick up waiting disgruntled passengers who probably did not look too pleased.

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA307 Y507 UGC Loughton Station

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA362 LJ03 MKG Loughton Station

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA36 LJ03 MKG Buckhurst Hill 

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA304 Y504 UGC Debden

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA304 Y504 UGC Buckhurst Hill

20 Arriva London (EC) DLA348 LJ03 MKU Loughton

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA307 Y507 UGC Buckhurst Hill

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA362 LJ03 MKG Debden

20 Arriva London (EC) DLA362 LJ03 MKG Buckhurst Hill

20 Arriva London North (EC) DLA362 LJ03 MKG Debden

thanks for reading please rate and comment

Just a Picture Part 2 By Jibran

Here is Part 2 of Just A Picture

Here, a DLR train pulls into Poplar DLR station bound for Stratford. The Units are either B90, B92 or B2K stock as these a very similar. One of the differences is the Number of the Unit and the Build Date. Here, B2K Stock unit 11 which is at the front of the train is about to stop at the mark.



The DLR Unit Numbers are below:



P86 Stock (Now Withdrawn and in Germany) 1 - 11 Built in 1986

P89 Stock (Now Withdrawn and in Germany) 12 - 21 Built in 1989 - 1990

Numbers 17-21 no Longer Exist on the Network and Numbers 1 - 16 were taken by the B2K stock

B90 Stock 22-44 Built in 1991

B92 Stock 45 - 91 Built in 1993 - 1995

B2K Stock 92 - 99 and 1 - 16 Built in 2001 - 2002

B07 Stock 101 - 155 Built in 2007 - 2009

The B07 Batch is also known as the Olympic Batch

The P86 Stock was Built By Alstom. Back then, the company was called Linke - Hofmann - Busch

The P89 Stock was Built By BREL

The B90, B92, B2K and B07 Stock were built by Bombardier

Thanks For Reading. Please Comment and rate Below

London Transport Museum Acton Depot Open Weekend 11/3/2012 By George & Naeem

Today we visited London Transport's Acton Depot Museum situated across the road from Acton Town station.

There was much to offer to the "Enthusiast" today with Die-cast models of both buses and trains, timetables, ect ect ect for everyone to buy and there were talks about engineering in the Victorian times and a guided tour through Ealing on a routemaster or a journey on a little tram or miniature 1038TS with 1973Ts sounds. overall it was an amazing expericence so I have taken a few shots for you the viewers to see.

RM1 (SLT 56) at the depot ready to report for

Old London underground signss and garage plates

Tottenham (AR) (mini bus depots)

Merton garage (Mini bus depots collections)

Another trolleybus

AYV 651

Trolleybus (HX2756)

Optare Citypacer (C526 DYT)

LU 1967TS (this was the last 1967 stock unit to work on the Victoria line)

Leyland National (KJD 401P)

ex - First London route 25 Fuel cell citaro

Inside of the "Cut in half" 1967TS

"Cut in half" 1967 stock (this was for a Cafe display)

RTL1076 (LUC253) at the depot reporting to the running day

route: 7 NXP 997

Croydon tramlink model

DN33380 on the E3

 I hope you enjoyed viewing this post!!