Sadly, posts will now be reduced to once a month, due to me being VERY busy at the moment. For more regular updates, see my flickr photostream. A link is given on the side of the page.The monthly posts will give a picture or two of service changes and will also give other observations. Here is the October/September one (I know it's a tad late):
Part 1-changes:
Route 49:
The 49's contract was lost from London United to Abellio from Battersea (QB) garage on 6th September 2014. The old 49's allocation consisted of Vyking's and Scania OmniCity's. Two of the Scania's transferred to Stamford Brook (V) garage, for use on the E3.
 |
| SP36 travels down Northfield Avenue. |
The new buses, which were Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 Hybrids, arrived early, and were the first buses in London with 64-reg plates.
 |
| This is not a bus from the 49's batch, it is from an earlier batch of E400Hs delivered for the C3 in June. Appearances of these are daily. |
|
2465 and 2466 were also part of the 49 batch, but they were delivered in August and carried '14' plates. They rarely appear on the 49, and here is 2465 on the 3:
The 49's '64' plate buses are having days out on other Battersea routes, like the 344:
Overall, the service has improved, and the buses are very bright inside and are as good as any other Abellio E400 Hybrid.
Route 112:
The old 112 consisted of Dart Nimbuses, and it was run poorly by Abellio, from Hayes (WS) garage.
The contract was awarded to Metroline from Cricklewood (W) garage, with new 10.8m E200s. But, these buses were extremely late on arrival (three months late, in fact) so double deckers were temporarily used on the route.
 |
| TA649 swings round the roundabout at Ealing Broadway on the first day of Metroline operation on this route. |
Despite many people stating that the 112 should remain a double decker, as the route gets very busy and is traffic prone. However, TFL didn't listen at the end of October, new buses started appearing on the 112 and 232.
They are the only two route changes I have at the moment, mostly because of late buses. Having said that, there are some very interesting odd workings and new buses that have caught my eye, and here they are:
 |
| The rear of a rare appearance on route 219. An Optare Esteem works the route rather than the dedicated batch of Wright StreetLites that normally run the route. |
 |
| Route 43 has received a temporary curtailment. The buses are now only going as far as Muswell Hill Broadway, but they would normally travel to Friern Barnet. I got this shot by pure coincidence, as I was catching the 43 to get to Archway. |
 |
| Since the sad conversion of route 7 to Gemini 3 operation, Gemini 2's have become very common on this route. I am hoping to ride one soon, as the Gemini 3's that run the route completely ruined it. |
 |
| London Vehicle Finder lied on Saturday 13th September 2014. It stated that a brand new bus (fleetnumber OC1) had entered service on route E11, which normally uses single door E200s. As the E11 is a local route, I decided to chase this bus, but I was fuming when I saw this. The bus wasn't OC1, it was SDE14, a reinstated E200 that was withdrawn from the E11 a few months ago. OC1 did enter service, but on route H98 in Hounslow. |
|
 |
| The Nimbuses from route 112 transferred to the 235, Here is one at Brentford. |
 |
| A very appearance sees a Dart Pointer from routes H18/19 have a day out on route 268. No one else has a picture of this, and I'm surprised I only have 4 faves for this on flickr, as this is extremely rare. |
 |
| Since route 110 transferred to Hounslow (AV) garage, it has been possible for low height Scania DDs to appear on the route. Here is one at Busch Corner. |
Thanks for reading, and sorry it's so late!
