London United Stamford Brook Garage [V]...Revisit!

Today hosted a visit to London United's Stamford Brook Garage to bring back some home comforts as some of you may know, London United is in fact one of my favourite companies. The Garage is situated in the affluent area of Turnham Green.

The Garage opened in 1980 after a rather short two years construction for an elapsed fee of £2million. It was originally built as Chiswick Tram Depot however in the later years of its operation it was used to operate the British Airways Bus service that linked Heathrow Airport with the West London air terminal in Kensington. However this was not the plan for the garage.

The original plan was to create a temporary base for the buses and staff for the nearby riverside garage which was undergoing construction at the time with an indefinite view take on the workload from the Mortlake Garage and Turnham Green Garage which were due to close. However there was another twist as the idea was changed when Turnham Green Garage closed in 1980. In 1983 following a number of service reductions, Mortlake garage also closed with a small proportion of their routes moving to Stamford Brook. Following the withdrawal of British airways operated service, the garage took on the running of the airport routes A1 & A2 using that ever prestige and distinguishable Alexander Royale Bodywork.

However in 1994 the vehicles were transferred to West Ramp which coincidently became an outstation of V thus leaving the garage with Dennis Darts, MCW Metroriders, Leyland Olympians and MCW Metrobuses.

Two years later, following only 16 years of operation, the garage completely ceased operating and became a store for unlicensed vehicles within the company. However the closure of the base did not last long and in 1999 the company re-opened the garage due to the increase in demand in the area. Interestingly up until 2001 the allocation of the garage was entirely made up of Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Darts which was a very smart move as it allowed the company to standardise engineering.

Although when the 9 converted from Routemaster operation to OPO (One Person Operation) using East Lancs Mylenium bodied Volvo B7TLs on the 4th of September 2004, the allocation was transferred from Shepherd's Bush (S) and thus allowing double decks to reappear at the garage once again.Other types such as the comfortable Optare Versa have been introduced into the garage following the retaining of the 391 back in 2009.

Since the reopening of the garage back in 1996, it has enjoyed a wide range of success which is testament to how much the garage was needed when it was originally closed. On the 12th of November 2005, the company re-gained the 27 after a five year stint with First London, the operative type chosen was the Scania N94UD Chassis with the ELC Mylenium bodywork or Scania Omnidekka to you and me and on the 30th of January 2010 the company gained the Route 10 from this base using Polish built Scania Omnicitys to put an end to First's 7 year stint operating the route.

Today the Garage runs 77 Buses and also serves as a minor in-house refurbishment base for London United with TAs for the 57 being refurbished here and SLEs for the 267 being prepared for external refurbishment here, it also until recently stored a minor number of training buses. It currently runs routes; 9, 27 (day time service only), 391 and 24-hour route 10.

A huge thanks must go out to the London United Stamford Brook staff who ensured that we were safe whilst on site by complying with the Health & Safety Act and who's friendly nature ensured that we had an excellent time whilst on these premises. More photos of the garage are based below.

A warm welcome!

SP158 devoid of logos undergoes some maintenance.

DP10 S310 MKH one of two Dennis Dart training buses sits in the garage

The Bus wash

The fuel and adblue area

The MOT lane

The fully refurbished VA87 W117 EON was relieved of its service duties in early 2012 and has now been converted to a driver training bus.

SP159 YP59 OEU stand between duties at the garage

OV16 YJ58 VBV

A general view of the garage facing the rear

Three training buses stand side by side

Anyone for tires

The maintenance area

Long live the Optare Delta

 Key Facts to note about Stamford Brook Garage

• Opened in 1980 after two years construction
• Cost £2million to build
• Closed briefly for 3 years in 1996
• Holds 77 Buses
• Runs 4 London Bus routes