We once again welcome Kieran Smith, author of Norwichbuses Blog, to write us a special guest post. This time he will be exploring the former London buses which have ended up in Norfolk. Norfolk operators have long been subject to acquiring former London buses. Dominant operator, First (and it's NBC predecessor Eastern Counties), is renowned for being possibly the bottom of the First cascade system. In this post I will be...

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Today we welcome Kieran Smith to the blog who will be writing two special guest features looking at the relations between the London and Norwich bus scene. Kieran already runs his own blog for his local area, Norwichbuses Blog. To head over and check it out, follow this link. Norwich – A parallel Universe? I never have been a regular visitor to London, however, this year I found myself the area twice within one month. From this,...

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Route 7 runs between East Acton and Oxford Circus, running parallel to the A404 (Westway), serving Hammersmith Hospital, Ladbroke Grove and Paddington in the process. The Route is operated by Metroline from Perivale West Bus Garage (PA) using Volvo Wright Gemini 3 Hybrids (VWH's). The route is 7 miles long and has a Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR) of 19. The Oxford Circus to Russell Square branch has now been removed, leaving...

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On a small estate in the Buckinghamshire countryside is a bus refurbishment centre owned by Metroline who opened the facility in 2013. It was adapted from the success of the company's CELF centre which opened 6 years prior in 2007. At present the centre is receiving an influx of buses, namely vehicles from the batch TE1715-1751 which are being prepped for their uptake on the retained 282 and newly won 482 which will operate from...

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Arriving at the Expo with about an hour to spare, it was all smiles at the Wright camp, who two weeks prior had unveiled their updated Gemini 3 design, a design I was most impressed with. The face-lifted model sees Wright move away from the rounded 'Nokia' design, to a more sleek and sharper looking vehicle, which simply looks fantastic. Other than the obvious, one of the more noticeable features of the vehicle is the smaller...

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Route H19 is an anticlockwise route which runs from Harrow, serving Northwick Park, Kenton, Belmont, Harrow Weald & North Harrow in the process. In 2006, Route H18, (then Harrow Weald to Harrow) was extended via the old 350 route (Watford to Harrow) through Headstone Lane and North Harrow. To help passengers distinguish between the new clockwise and anticlockwise routes, the anticlockwise route was re-numbered H19,...

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Route 32 runs between Kilburn Park and Edgware Bus Station via the A5 (Edgware Road), serving Colindale, Hendon and Cricklewood in the process. The route is operated by Metroline from Cricklewood Bus Garage (W) using the 9.9m ALX400 (TA's) and the Enviro400 (TE's). The route is 7 miles long and has a Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR) of 17. ...

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DEL2062 - LK64ECE is seen here at Metroline's CELF Centre awaiting its' transfer to Cricklewood Bus Garage. This bus is part of 10 E20D's (DEL2062 - 2071) ordered by Metroline for newly retained route 112. Two of these buses (DEL2062 and DEL2063) have been fitted with a start-stop technology system, which cuts out the engine whist stationary. You may be thinking why these buses aren't numbered DEL2024-2033. This is because...

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VW1245 - LK12AAF is seen in Harrow Weald operating on Route 140 to Heathrow Central on its first day of service VW1243-1248 have transferred from Brentford Bus Garage (AH) to Harrow Weald (HD) to help aid the PVR increase of the 140 to 28 and for the newly retained school Route 640, which was previously with Arriva the Shires. The buses were part of a larger batch with numbers running from 1243-1306  which were...

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Today's visit was Shepherd's Bush, home to an array of different things, a famous area it is, probably exaggerated by the fact it is home to the BBC television centre located on the Wood Lane, the area has a long history of affluence, which was given a further boost upon the opening of Westfield shopping centre in 2008. However despite all this excitement, we humbly visited the one bus garage in the area which is operated out...

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Another visit to the CELF Centre facility presented us with another opportunity to take some shots which otherwise would not be widely available to the general public. The facility for those who don't know was opened in 2007 after lying dormant for many moons storing Sir Alan Sugars Amstrad computers. 7 years later, it is now the central maintenance hub for Comfort Delgro subsidiary, Metroline Travel who are arguably one of London's...

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