Arriva London Edmonton Garage [EC]...Welcome back

I think I'm being really generous, today's visit caps off four garage visits in as many weeks. As the title suggests, today's visit was one to Arriva London's Edmonton garage which is strangely not even located in the area of Edmonton. The garage itself is situated just a short walk from the Lea Valley Garage on a piece of land adjacent to the river Lea. The area has a somewhat industrialised feel to it, which is exaggerated by the Pylons towering over and almost makes you feel out of place if you don't work in that sort of industry, and although I vowed to never come back to this area any time soon, I couldn't refuse to opportunity to add to this year's already promising looking portfolio.

Opened in 1993 by the now defunct operator, London Suburban bus, Edmonton Garage was the base chosen to house the recently won 4 and 271 routes, with the 41 being won at a latter date. The obstruction of the River Lea and Pymme Brook, means that drivers would have to cautiously drive alongside the canal for quite some distance before joining the main road, which was interesting to see.
The chosen buses for the two routes were Titans for the former and Olympians for the latter, with the latter being painted in a very prestigious red, brown and cream livery. Today, due to the 100% red rule we are declined of seeing such privileges.

In April 1996, prior to the start of the new financial year, MTL a Merseyside based transport company purchased the small outfit, Suburban bus, which subsequently saw the reallocations of the 4 and 271 transfer back to Holloway Garage. The operation of the 41 was deemed not viable and was sold along with the garage Cowie Leaside on the 10 of the June 1996, initially from Wood Green before being reallocated to Tottenham two years later in 1998.

Not even a year had passed and it was re-opened, this time utilised by local operator Arriva, who had a few existing garages nearby. A year later the garage was merged with the former Leaside travel unit a company whom they purchased in 1998, which allowed for an expansion of the operating premises.

The awkward positioning of the garage acted as a barrier to expansion as the garage is Sandwiched between Pymme's Brook and the River Lea. Arriva managed to expand the base in 2003 by purchasing a timber yard which was adjoined to the premises at the time. The expansion came just in time as additional parking spaces were required for the pending arrival of the bendybuses due for April the following year. Following this adaptation, the 149 was transferred into the base in 2004 along with the route 29 in January 2006.

Succeeding this, the garage underwent another adaptation which upgraded the engineering hubs to become a VOSA certified, complete with improved facilities brandishing the garage as a "state of the art facility."

After a disappointing string of tender announcements,  Arriva decided to part with their day-to-day operations from here and the garage was closed on the 24th of March 2012, with the remaining routes moving to the nearby Lea Valley Garage. Although closed, the garage did see quite a lot of movement with many withdrawn buses being parked here along with the Olympic contracted buses.

In late 2013, it was announced that after a brief two year closure, the garage would be set to open again in March 2014 as neighbouring Lea Valley garage is to be handed over to the National Grid who require the site. The re-opening of this garage will bring forth a few changes to route allocations, however until confirmed I am being reduced to only these words.

At present, the garage is in the process of preparation for the reintroduction of bus routes which has seen a general clean up of the premises. My gratitude is extended to all the Arriva London staff, who helped to make this visit possible and ensuring I was safe at all times from the time I arrived till I departed. More photos are available below and I hope you have enjoyed this post.

Birds-eye-view

The indoor maintenance area

Arriva London PDL38 LF52 USH

Arriva London PDL121 LJ05 GPK

Arriva London DLA366 LJ03 MWF seen with White on Black blinds intact 

A view of the garage maintenance area from the rear entrance 

An overhead view of the maintenance area 

A view of the yard from the rear

Yard View - 1

Pymme's Brook

Yard view - 2

Yard View - 3

The engineering shed -1

The engineering shed - 2

Edmonton Garage seen from the main entrance

Arriva London DLA143 V343 DGT
leads a squadron of withdrawn DLAs

Arriva London DLP68 LJ51 DLF and DLP87 LF02 PKC

Withdrawn DLAs

More withdrawn DLAs

Even more withdrawn buses, this time with a
Pylon in the background

Arriva London DLA157 V357 DGT stands
next to former Arriva London VLW21 LJ51 DGX

Garage Fact File

• Originally opened in 1993 with London Suburban
• Closed in 1996 when London Suburban lost were purchased by MTL
• Re-opened in 1998 with Arriva
• Expanded in 2003 for forthcoming arrival of bendybuses on route 29
• Upgraded to a state of the art facility in 2006
• Closed in March 2012
• Due to open again in March 2014