Hello readers!! On Sunday 23rd February I went out on a voyage to ride my 3rd night bus. This night bus is running until 10:00 in the morning because a section of the Northern Line is closed on Sundays until 16th March, which is the last day of the late morning night bus service. I walked out of my house, saw the paperboys on their bikes and caught a tube straightaway. I got off at Russell Square and walked to Euston Station. I had to wait 10 minutes, so I quickly used the bathroom facilities at Euston Station, and saw a massive queue for the 08:20 train service to Manchester Piccadilly.
I waited at the bus stop, and saw a TE come into the bus station that said N5 on the front. I stuck my hand out and boarded the empty bus. I was so happy!!!!! The N20 did this about a year ago when the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line was closed, it ran from Euston-Barnet Church. I rode the N5 all the way to Edgware, and here are the pictures:
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| Where I was waiting for the N5, bus stop C. |
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| iBus. It was weird hearing N5 because I've only heard N in front of a number on a bus three times before this. |
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| N5 passing by. |
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| Crossing North Circular Road, with the actual Rail Replacement of the Northern Line behind. |
There was actually no need for the late morning service on the N5 as there were official rail replacement services covering all stations on the Northern Line branch. The N5 does not serve Brent Cross which is on the closed branch of the Northern Line, so technically the night bus was not a proper Northern Line replacement. The Rail Replacements were busier and faster, because the night bus didn't just stop at stations, the N5 stopped everywhere on the normal route!!
The N5 got busier after Golders Green and at Hoop Lane another passenger actually joined me on the upper deck, 21 stops after I got on. By Colindale the bus was busy! It had over 10 people on it. Most of the seats were still vacant but for a night bus directly behind an official rail replacement for a long part of the journey I think it did pretty well. Mind you, all the N5's going the other way were actually busy. Clearly the passengers travelling into Central London knew more about the night bus. I'm not being sarcastic this time about the Southbound buses being busy, they were genuinely busy. Anyway, here are some more pictures:
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| Rear of my bus at Edgware. |
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| A night bus that left after mine. |
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| My bus at Euston, taken before I got on. |
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| Interior of my TE, empty. |
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| The Rail Replacement that overtook me arrived at Hendon Central way before the N5. |
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| According to the rear blind, the rail replacement was a 128. |
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| An N5 near Colindale. |
Thanks for reading and viewing the pictures in this quite special blog post!!
