On Saturday April 13th, London bus route 242 (or 22, as it said on the front) had a running day with RTs. The route covered part of the old route 22, which was Putney Common-Homerton Hospital. The buses ran at a 10 minute frequency, running from Piccadilly Circus to Ash Grove garage in Homerton, although half the journeys were curtailed to Shoreditch Church. The buses started running at 11am and finished at about 4pm. The event was very popular, with massive queues at Piccadilly Circus and many pictures being taken of the heritage buses. There was also a wide range of people enjoying the event;enthusiasts with their cameras to locals taken pictures with their smart phones and apps. The service was free, apart from the rides on RT1.Overall, I think the event was a great success, and I'm sure the event at Brooklands the following day was also successful. Anyway, let's get on with the pics:
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| This RT stated it was going all the way to Leyton Green! |
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| Once this bus went, I realised that the queue for the service was so big that I would never get on! |
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| Another RT sets off bound for Homerton. |
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| By this time, I was nearing the front of the queue. |
After letting five RT's go, I figured out that the queue wasn't for riding the RT's, it was just for pictures. So, when a sixth bus appeared at the bus stop, I ran for it and managed to get pretty decent seats......
........which was at the front on the upper deck! I was shocked, purely because every other seat on the bus was full up. This stroke of luck meant that I could take pictures of Routemasters passing the other way too, which was a bonus.
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| One of the buses that started at Shoreditch. |
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| Near the normal 242 terminus, at Tottenham Court Road. |
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| An RT on the 22 (aka 242) followed by a DB300 working the normal route. Who would get a Gemini 2 integral over a routemaster? Anyone? |
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| After a big gap, I saw another RT on Bishopsgate. |
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| A special bus loads up at Shoreditch Church. |
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| The sofa-like seat at the back of the bus. |
I got off the bus at Shoreditch Church and waved it off as it went back west, to Piccadilly Circus.
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| The rear of my bus, |
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| Whilst I was walking back to Liverpool Street Station, I saw a Greenline RT. |
Thanks for reading!
