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Monday 22 August 2011

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

13 Comments:

Anonymous
at: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 12:26:00 am said...

Silvertown will also be operating the D6 and D8 with Enviro200 Darts from 17th September. To make room route 300 will transfer to Blue Triangle at Rainham, also route 376 (taken over same day) will operate from Rainham.

Go-Ahead also takes over route 20 next Spring but its operating base is yet to be confirmed.

Anonymous
at: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 11:49:00 am said...

BV55 UCU looks so smart in its new livery. Shame its going all over red:(

Jay says:
at: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 1:09:00 pm said...

SO2 is not going allover red as it was repainted before the TFL rule comes into place.

Steve
at: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 8:37:00 pm said...

Thanks for some great photos as ever!

Maybe the E200s have heavier rear axles. Under Whole Vehicle Type Approval coming in around now the theoretical weight per passenger goes from 63kg to a more realistic 68kg per passenger. In order remain at 60+ capacity a heavier rear axle is probably required to bear the weight.

Rohan says:
at: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 8:47:00 pm said...

That could be true but single deckers can get away with being heavier more than double deckers, as when the rule comes in october double deckers have to be the best part of say even 400+ kgs lighter than now, especially b9tls and scanias.

As right now the new metroline and go ahead geminis are 12, 350/60 respectively. That will need to come down to about 11, 900 aleast to comply with the 87 minimum passenger capacity at a weight of 68 kgs per person and be under the 18 tonne limit when fully loaded including driver.

Jay says:
at: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 10:01:00 pm said...

Thanks for the complement Steve and that probably explains why the latest E200s in London are now much heavier than expected.

The new DEs for the 274 are 7,900Kgs and now these new SEs are 8,100Kgs.

COBO says:
at: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 11:22:00 am said...

Why don't SE129 have a number plate?

Jay says:
at: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 11:28:00 am said...

It is unregistered that's why.

Akhi says:
at: Friday, September 02, 2011 5:02:00 am said...

stagecoach should WVL424 MCV VM1 double decker
E200s E400s is so boring see it everway ...............

Akhi says:
at: Friday, September 02, 2011 5:03:00 am said...

route 86 need to change or go to difference company

Akhi says:
at: Friday, September 02, 2011 5:14:00 am said...

route 86 should get Volvo B9tl MCV VM1 double deckers
OmniCity double deckers it would be nice

Michael
at: Sunday, September 04, 2011 12:11:00 am said...

What's the seating on the SEs?

Jay says:
at: Sunday, September 04, 2011 1:36:00 am said...

The 10.8M E200s seat 32.

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