Metroline's Transferring Shananigans

This post doesn't really cover any significant route changes, but instead focuses on some minor allocation adjustments Metroline have made to a few services in North-West London, with a chain of garage transfers starting at Holloway but eventually ending up at Harrow Weald. It's also a little on the technical side.

Infesting the suburbs too?

With Holloway (HT) garage being the recipient of electric technology, with routes 43, 46 and 134 converting fairly soon, some extra space is required at this base. Therefore, it makes sense to ship one of the heavy duty routes out to Cricklewood (W) garage, which is still nearby and is a site the route is already familiar with. The 168 is expected to change in October, bringing its allocation of New Routemasters along for the ride too, although conveniently there is also a common user arrangement of NRMs at the new base. Unfortunately however, despite being head office Cricklewood does not offer unlimited storage space, which means moving the 168 in comes at the expense of chucking something else out. As of Saturday 1st September 2018, the 32 service has migrated to Edgware (EW) garage, which is a few miles further North than its previous site. Its allocation at Cricklewood was arguably much more interesting - whilst ADL Enviro 400s were dominating the last remaining Trident ALX400s in the Metroline fleet were frequent visitors, whilst in the last year New Routemasters made redundant from a PVR cut on the 16 also worked the route on a daily basis. It is expected that these spare buses will work the 168 when it comes over, so perhaps a few of its current batch will remain at Holloway to sort out the very high number of conventionals which work the 91. The ALX400s are now found almost exclusively on the 210, which does theoretically make tracking them down a tad easier. At Edgware garage, the 32 uses ADL Enviro 400 hybrids (classic model) as well as some diesel versions as a top up, but the allocation is certainly more bland than previously. However, if you share a loathing of the New Routemaster, it at least ensures a decent bus will always turn up on the route. There has been one interesting stray since the route transferred - conveniently we move onto this topic now.

A brand new VMH2433 is seen on its first day in service.

 You may have wondered where the E400 hybrids now allocated to the 32 have come from. Your answer to this question is, indirectly speaking, the 43, which was supposed to receive a brand new batch of MCV/EvoSeti B5LH vehicles. However, with its forthcoming electric conversion next year, I believe its holding onto its existing allocation of ageing Volvo Presidents for now, whilst the shiny VMH-class buses have been sent to Edgware (EW) garage (I've also been told that the 43 will receive EvoSeti's temporarily through some means, but if someone could clarify through the comments that'd be great as I'm totally baffled on the distribution of these buses). They are officially allocated to the Central London 113 service which runs between the depot and Oxford Circus, which means the latest emissions standards are met. It also allows the E400 hybrids, which are exhausted after running up and down the dual carriageway with only one gear, to find a route with a slightly slower pace, so the 32 fits the bill perfectly. Although the first EvoSeti debuted at the end of August, only a few more have entered service since then and the 113/N113 remain largely ADL for now. Whether Edgware (EW) garage will be strict with their new kit is uncertain - only the 32 and 606 received strays for the first couple of weeks but a couple of rogue appearances on the 204 and 240 have happened since then. I have only sampled these vehicles for one stop along Oxford Street (the initial plan for a longer ride was abandoned after sighting a rare working across the road), but they seem to be of a high quality and hopefully cope with the demanding speeds a tad better than their predecessors.

The joys of a double run...

Another service which has been robbed of ADL Enviro 400s is the 186, which takes an infamously indirect route between Northwick Park Hospital and Brent Cross, via Edgware. Some of its former allocation has also been donated to the 32, as this service has taken up valuable space at the garage. Conveniently, on the same day that the 32 moved in, route H12 from Harrow Weald (HD) garage was lost to London Sovereign and this base is (almost) as close to the 186 as Edgware garage was, so the transfer was a no brainer. The only real operational differences are that the base is now a lot closer to the Western end of the route rather than being exactly in the middle, although this doesn't throw up too many issues if scheduled appropriately.

A new, Wright look. Sorry about the shadows, I'm really trying to avoid these for future photos!

To make sure the 32 still had an allocation after its transfer, the ADL machinery formerly allocated to the 186 didn't transfer with it. However, Metroline managed to scrape together a load of Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL vehicles, from various sources, to complement the total vehicle requirement for the 186. This type isn't completely new to Harrow Weald (HD) garage either, as the 140 had a partial allocation of Gemini 2s a few years ago. Most of the buses have come from Perivale West (PA) garage, although there are rogue examples from Brentford (AH), Perivale East (PV) and a couple of other bases too. A decent number sneaked out onto the 140, 182 and H12 before September 1st and since then these diesel vehicles have kept up regular appearances on the first two services. Bizarrely, some buses from Edgware (EW) garage, mostly diesel E400s, have appeared on the 186 for a rounder or two even after its transfer and unfortunately I don't really know what was going on there.

Amphibians on the 186 too?

Allocations are fully interchangeable at Harrow Weald (HD) garage now as the large pool of Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles for routes 140 and 182 have been reblinded and work the 186 regularly, bringing more variety and introducing Volvo hybrids to some areas for the first time. As this service does spend a decent amount of time on the dual carriageway, it'll be interesting to compare the performance of the hybrids compared to the B9TL Geminis, especially as I've had some very promising rides out of the VWHs on the arguably slower 140. Thankfully, there haven't been any examples of the branded vehicles straying onto the 186 and hopefully that remains the case for the foreseeable future. On day one the service was a little shoddy, but since then things seem to be improving and I'm sure Harrow Weald will welcome the 186 into their small but well-established set of bus routes.

No more ADL for the N5...

To prevent the compact base of Harrow Weald garage from overcrowding during the night, the allocation for route N5 also transferred over on September 1st. This means that it no longer terminates at its depot, although some careful crosslinks to the 140, 182 and 186 will make the dead runs worth it. This means that the N5 has also ditched the ADL products it has used for years on end, with Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TLs and Gemini 3 B5LHs becoming the regular diet. As photography at silly o'clock is not something I undertake frequently, I only have a photograph to showcase the old, but hopefully at some point within the next couple of years I'll be able to update the page with a representation of the new too.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!