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Wednesday 26 October 2011

London Sovereign [BT] & Metroline [EW] Edgware Garages

Today I visited Edgware Garage in North West London, this is one of a few shared garages in London, it is shared between two companies, these being London Sovereign and Metroline. On the London Sovereign half it houses 62 Buses which range from Dennis Enviro 200s to Polish built Scania Omnicitys and on the Metroline quarters it holds 66 Buses which range from just Volvo Plaxton Presidents to Trident E400s.

Metroline VPL202 Y202 NLK at Edgware Garage 
The Garage was officially opened in 1925 by the London General Omnibus Company and at the time only holding 30 Buses. However in 1984 a restoration program took place and the Garage was replaced with a new 100+ Base, that would have light maintenance facilities and a Bus wash. In spring of 1999 London Sovereign had won/retained routes 13,114,183 and 292. The 183 was respectively won of Metroline from Harrow Garage (SO). When these routes were won/retained, they saw Edgware Garage as a perfect opportunity to base their operations as it was closer to the routes which they ran and would ease dead mileages. Subsequently Sovereign's Borehamwood Garage ceased London operations. So Sovereign as they were known as at the time took out a 10 year lease on this garage and they became the sole operator of this garage right until summer of 2000 when Metroline moved back in. Metroline moved back into EW following the retention of the 107,113, 204 and 240. The Route 186 moved back into EW in October 2006 following a reallocation from Harrow Weald (HD). However this did not mean there were any capacity issues at the garage, but it now meant that there was now stiff competition for TFL contracts. However it seems strange that the only routes to be shift between operators is school route 605 which was lost by Metroline to London Sovereign who will commence running of the route in September 2012 in time for the start of the new academic year. Both companies at the Garage seem to be performing well however, with Metroline retaining Routes 113,186 and 204 and London Sovereign gaining the Route 251. There were a few oddities today in the Garage in the form of, DPS599 SN51 TBX which has now been decommissioned, DPS627 and Metroline VP486 LK03 GMU. Credit to both London Sovereign and Metroline staff for allowing me on their premises, more photos from the visit are displayed below.

London Buses Edgware Garage 


Metroline TE725 LK07 AZA 

London Sovereign SLE5 YN54 OAG
Metroline VPL201 Y201 NLK
Metroline VPL149 X659 LLX
London Sovereign SP69 YT59 RXS
London Sovereign SLE3 YN54 OAC
Metroline TE732 LK07 AZL
Metroline VPL189 Y189 NLK
London Sovereign DPS627 SK02 XGW
London Sovereign VLE34 PO54 ACJ and
London Sovereign DE69 YX11 GCY
Metroline VP486 LK03 GMU and
VPL167 Y657 NLK
London Sovereign VLP23 PJ53 OUW
London Sovereign SDE23 YX60 BZF
Metroline 720 LK56 FHP and
VPL147 Y647 LLX
Metroline VPL200 Y149 NLK
and TE718 LK56 FHN
London Sovereign DE67 YX11 GCU
London Sovereign Garage yard view
Metroline VPL216 LK51 XGL
Metroline VPL221 LK51 XGR

London Sovereign SLE32 YN55 NJV

16 Comments:

Tom Bowell
at: Thursday, October 27, 2011 9:18:00 am said...

Nice shots

Anonymous
at: Friday, October 28, 2011 12:33:00 pm said...

Hi, What is VP486 doing there(if you know any more info from yesterday), and aren night buses from Edgware run by HD.

Anonymous
at: Friday, October 28, 2011 4:14:00 pm said...

Is that an Olympian still in service in the picture by the garage entrance? Didn't think there were any left in London

COBO says:
at: Friday, October 28, 2011 8:06:00 pm said...

The Olympian is used as a trainer.

Neil says:
at: Friday, October 28, 2011 9:10:00 pm said...

Great shots keep up the good work Jamaal!

Tom Bowell
at: Friday, October 28, 2011 9:41:00 pm said...

Like Your Shot Of DE69

Anonymous
at: Saturday, October 29, 2011 2:32:00 pm said...

Is there any reason why new Transdev buses don't have the logo?

Neil says:
at: Saturday, October 29, 2011 3:59:00 pm said...

Either they are deciding on a logo (highly unlikely as it wouldn't take this long) or Transdev may be getting sold on to another company soon.

Jay says:
at: Saturday, October 29, 2011 9:46:00 pm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jay says:
at: Saturday, October 29, 2011 11:21:00 pm said...

VP486 is at EW for maintenance.

Mick
at: Thursday, November 03, 2011 11:55:00 am said...

The reason there are no logo's on the new buses is due to the recent merger of Veolia Transdev. I dont think they have decided on what to display

Anonymous
at: Thursday, November 03, 2011 11:31:00 pm said...

Great Photos of BT/EW, will you be going to SO? also the stored buses from SO are near NW.

Jay says:
at: Thursday, November 03, 2011 11:55:00 pm said...

I will be doing SO at later date.

See here: http://circleoflondon.blogspot.com/2011/10/out-with-old-and-in-with-new.html

Anonymous
at: Saturday, November 12, 2011 8:59:00 pm said...

Did you see the DPS 523

Anonymous
at: Monday, April 09, 2012 11:25:00 am said...

Nice pictures but just being a bit picky in picture 9 the bus shown is VPL199. In picture 12 it is VPL157 that is shown (X657LLX). This bus was involved in a rear end shunt and upon repair some time ago now was given a complete re-paint. In picture 15 the Volvo illustrateed is VPL147 (X647LLX). Additionally, there is a shot of VPL200 (Y149NLK). This bus is also known as "The Bathroom Blue"!!! The front of the bus sadly caught fire a long time ago and the entire cab and entrance area including the ceiling and bulk head was painted in a vivid gloss blue paint unlike any of the other VPLs and somewhat reminicent of a public toilet, hence the nickname "The Bathroom Blue"

Unknown says:
at: Monday, August 12, 2013 7:35:00 pm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.

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