Go Ahead London Silvertown Garage [SI]..New WVLs for the D7

Today I visited Dockland's Buses Silvertown Garage (SI) with the permission of the Go Ahead London staff as I had received some information that some WVLs for the D7 and SEs for the 276 had been delivered to the Garage. When I got to the garage there were half a dozen SEs all 10.8m and registered with LX11 plates and there were about 8 WVLs, most of them blinded for the D8 and only one blinded for the D7!

Docklands Buses WVL430 LX11 FJF and WVL431 LX11 FJJ

The new WVLs are the first ever Go Ahead WVLs not to have the skirt, they are finished in allover red as part of TFLs new vehicle requirements which becomes effective as of October 2011. The WVLs weigh 12,360Kgs and are part of a batch of vehicles for the route D7 that consists of 13 Buses. I must admit they do look very smart and appealing. The new Buses will officially take to the road on the 17 of September 2011 when Go Ahead London take over duties on the D7 from First. Other Buses at the garage such as the new SEs are also finished in allover red as early pictures have shown and they will also take to the road on the 17th of September 2011 when Go Ahead London take over duties on the 276 from Stagecoach. Interestingly these 10.8m SEs weigh 8,100Kgs making them the heaviest long wheelbase Dennis Dart E200s in London. I must add they do feel quite solid which gives the question; have Alexander Dennis finally stepped up their game. VM1 BJ11 XGZ, the unique MCV B9TL Double Decker has been deemed unfit by the engineers so will not be on the road for another few days. But credit goes out to the Go Ahead London staff for allowing me on their premises to take photos of their Buses! Pictures from the visit are below.

Docklands Buses SE129

Docklands Buses WVL422 LX11 FHV

Docklands Buses
WVL424 LX11 FHY, WVL 426 LX11 FJA
and WVL425 LX11 FHZ

Docklands Buses VM1 BJ11 XGZ

Docklands Buses SO2 BV55 UCU