ANNOUNCEMENT

Occasionally, posts about rail will appear on this blog. The posts arriving on this blog will mean my extremely unpopular Railway Information Blog will be deleted on 17/04/14 17:16. Also, my blog will be shut for roughly a day as it will be redecorated.Thanks for reading.

188th Post!! Euro 2-6 Journey

Hello, hello!! I know you may think 188 is a random number to do a special post, but it's an awesome route and I have got a special post to share with you! But first, I'd like to apologise about the fact that I don't have any pictures of Euro 1 buses in London although I don't think there are any left. So, let's skip to.........

.........Euro 2: There are hardly any Euro 2 buses left in London meaning it was extremely hard to get pictures of them. Some types of Euro-2 buses in London are very old Dart Pointers and DAFDB250 ALX400s. I have a sole picture and here it is:

The reason this bus has white blinds is because it has recently been taken out of storage. It can mostly be found on route 235, but it will be withdrawn from service completely soon as all buses should have a Euro-4 engine in London by 2015. This means all buses with Euro-3 or 2 engines will either be withdrawn or fitted with Biodiesel.

Euro 3: All Euro-3 buses won't be Euro-3 for much longer, but there are quite a few left in London. I have two pictures this time as they aren't as rare as Euro-2 buses.

Believe it or not, these are Euro-3!!

In the single-deck market, Dart Caetano Nimbuses are Euro-3.

Euro 4: Now, there are many Euro-4 buses in London which means I have more than two pictures this time! From 2015, all buses have to be Euro-4 or above. Most Euro-4 buses are newer vehicles such as early Enviro 400s and MAN Evolutions.

Enviro 400s built before 2010 are Euro-4. TE941, allocated to Potters Bar, has recently been refurbished.

Early Enviro 400 Hybrids are Euro-4 too.

Apart from the 15 Lowheight SP's, all the others are Euro 4 or Euro 5.

MM772 is Euro-4, delivered in 2007. However, it is withdrawn now due to reliability problems.

 

 

 

Euro 5: Most buses in London are Euro 5 including some odd and different types of buses.

Yes, more E400s. But most of them are Euro 5 so I had to include another.

Rival to the E400: Wrightbus Gemini. There are Hybrid and Diesel versions of these, all are Euro 5 but three which are Euro 6.

Here is the Hybrid version of the Gemini.

Yes, all the current NB4Ls are Euro 5. Euro 6 prototypes are coming to London soon.

This is the first and without a doubt last E200 included in this post. They are all Euro 5.

BYD Electric Buses are Euro 5.

Finally, Euro 6: There are 12 Euro 6 buses in service, with another 62 being entered service soon. Two Euro 6 buses (Mercedes Citaro K 10.6m and Volvo B5TL Gemini V6) have been withdrawn, although more B5TLs are due soon. Since as the B5TL I have a picture of has been withdrawn, I will only include the pictures of the E40H buses which are allocated to routes 47 and 199. There is one E40D model working for Abellio London.

The first one to enter service was SN14 TVX. These are 10.3m in length.

Rear.

SN14TWE on route 47.

Thanks for reading my 188th post!!

Random Observations-29/03/14

Yes, this is another delayed post.... Expect the usual, you probably all know what these posts are like by now!

Hail my 2nd favourite SEL!!! SEL757 on stand at Ealing Broadway.

Rear of SEL757.

This bus gets on my nerves.........

 If you've read a lot of my posts, you will know how much I loathe the E10. It's always full, infrequent (I waited 60 minutes for one at Islip Manor once) and slow! At one point I decided to renumber it SB10 (Stupid Bus 10). I'm so glad that this bus isn't going to be extended to Chiswick Business Park, it's so unreliable. But if TGM make the E10 more reliable, maybe I will say yes to the extension. For the moment, I think the E1 should be extended to Chiswick Business Park. Its 10.2m double-deckers have more capacity then an 8.9m E200, the service itself is more frequent and the E1 will still be reliable if its extended as the route is so short at the moment.

I've loved having these EC spec VWs on my local route, they are so much better than the other Gemini 2s. The E2 is one of the dullest routes in the world and these buses at least make me a little happier about the route. Although I'm fed up of getting on it at least two or three times per week knowing I'm going to the same place! I hope the EC spec VWs stay at Brentford for a little while longer, although I'd much rather have an SEL, SP, TE, TEH or any other double-decker in the London fleet (excluding the NB4L).

iBus on SEL757.

Refurbished MM789 heads back to its garage.

VW1206 is one of the EC spec Gemini's found at Perivale.

This route bugs me too. Its extremely circuitous and never there when you want it.

The bus does a loop around Alperton Sainsbury's. That's definitely circuitous!!

Route 245 is double-deck now. The DE's have gone to the 90 and E6 whilst the MM's get refurbished. When the MM's are back in service, the DE's will go to Kings Cross and replace DLD's.

Ah, the ex-Holloway buses.

SEL761 braces itself for the evening peak.

Buses allocated to the 224 line up at Alperton Garage.

Now the 341 has moved to Palmers Green, with its buses receiving new blinds. The transfer also means DW's can appear on the 341 regularly. I do have a picture of one, it will come in one of the next editions of Random Observations.

TP's only appear on the E3 in the peak.

LU ADH1 pauses outside Stamford Brook Garage.

Hammersmith Bus Station...

Right behind OV14. The only word I can think of to describe the OV's is rubbish. Even E200s are better and you know how much I want to stop ADL making them. There are enough in London already!!

The LT has significantly grown on me, although it still remains my least favourite double-decker bus.

Aha, LT150!! This bus has been painted in a chrome livery to celebrate Year Of The Bus

 In two weeks, LT150 will transfer to route 10 when it receives its full allocation of LT's. However, the LT's for this route seem to be ready and are already at Stamford Brook and are on London Vehicle Finder. Some of the 38's new buses are already at Ash Grove and are on List New too, although that conversion is still a month away. My Auntie saw LT211 going down the M40 with its delivery plate on, bound for London. Sadly, she couldn't get a picture.

One of the few remaining TNL's in Tower's fleet. They continue to work on route 23 along with DB300 Gemini's, although the route is meant to be 100% Enviro.

Thanks for reading!! Sorry about having two Random Observations posts in a row-I'm playing catch up. I'm also embarrassed, if you look at my Upcoming Posts page, you will see one word repeated many times in red.

Random Observations-16/03/14

You can tell by the title that this post is 23 days late. I apologise again and I will keep doing so until my posts are on time again. Some people will already know this is a delayed post if you have looked at my upcoming posts page. Anyway, here are the random observations:

The DA's on route 153 have white blinds now because the route itself has been curtailed to Moorgate. I don't have any idea why this is happening, but it annoyingly is.

This bus should be withdrawn by now as all of the Arriva B5LH Gemini buses have entered service. However, this one still seems to be in service.

These are the buses that are supposed to replace buses like DLA371.

                                                                      

Hail the SEL!! SEL754 braces itself for the Wednesday afternoon traffic in Wembley. This route is due to have a full allocation of these SELs in June (yippee).

Weirdly, Emma Hignett said the 83 went to 'by-pass Ealing Hospital'. I think she's getting mixed with the 207 which runs from a completely different garage with a completely different bus type. The iBus could be faulty, I suppose.

Metroline DES1696 takes a rest in the Hoover Building.

VW1207 will migrate to Holloway soon, starting a new life on route 43.

Well, this is definitely not every 10 minutes...

Surely this should be withdrawn by now...

Metroline TE894 is meant to be at Potters Bar by now.

Oh Metroline, you lost the 635 to LU!

Ex-London DLA175 is now a driver trainer, apparently.

iBus of SEL746.

Arriva 37111 arrives at Finchley Road Station

The blinds could be a little clearer (no destination). This is rare too, so I think it's a good reason I took this picture.

Just for clarity, here's the rear.

Metroline DE1320 arrives at Swiss Cottage in peak rush hour.

A refurbished Enviro 400 pushes itself up the hill on Kensington Church Street. I, on a 27, was stuck in a bad traffic jam.

WN35002, a Tower Transit Gemini 2DL, dodges the traffic on its way to Golders Green. The story of First's WNs and WNHs would make a post of its own, so I'll only tell you a synopsis: In 2009, First ordered 4 Hybrid Gemini 2 HEV double-deckers along with four diesel 2DL buses, for comparative trials on route 328. However, an HEV working for Ensingbus, caughy fire in the garage. Then First withdrew all of the Hybrids, leaving just the WN's at the garage.

Thanks for reading!