West London: Latest Observations

Firstly, I have to apologize for my lack of presence on the blog as of late. Uni has been hectic and I have had to prioritize! Anyone following me on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonbuses1/) will know that I have still been trying to upload photos as regularly as I can but taking the time to sit down and write a blog post hasn't been as easy! Anyways, being a West Londoner, I thought I would give an overview of some recent workings and changes that have taken place recently.

During February, the country was hit with some bad weather. This affected a lot of routes around the Surrey area. An oddity that appeared as a result of this was double deckers on the 203, something that otherwise is unheard off bar the odd occasion. They were primarily running shorts between Ashford Hospital and Staines although some did come in service to Hounslow Bus Station.

TA235, LG02FAU is pictured at The Bell in Hounslow

The first white on black blind dart finally arrived at Fulwell garage in the former of reinstated dart 8436, RX51FGK. It was first seen in serivce on the 28th February working on Route R70. Since then, 8435 has also re-entered service with WOB's too meaning there is now three RX51 darts at Fulwell (8435, 8435 & 8439).

8436 is pictured making the turn towards the stop at Richmond Bus Station

Recently, a new peak bus has been introduced on the H28 during the evenings to help aid the service. As the route only has one spare bus, that is often used on the 112 or U7, sightings of nimbuses on the route have started to happen again. The peak bus, running number 349, leaves Osterley Tesco on its first run at 15:20, and is the last bus of the day to leave Osterley at 23:30pm. As a result of the new timetable, the running number series has also changed. 611 - 618 has been replaced by 341 - 349.

8466, GM03TGM is pictured loading up outside the Treaty Centre in Hounslow

Route 235 was recently extended to the new development in Brentford called Great West Quarter. To start off with, the route was converted to near fully E200 operation bar the power blinded nimbuses/darts as the 87## series nimbuses didn't have inserts for the extension. It has taken a long while from them to gain inserts but earlier this week, the majority of the nimbuses returned to the route with there new inserts.

8462, RL02FVM is seen on stand at Great West Quarter

SLE43 recently transferred over to Fulwell from Shepherds bush and received old style blinds (which I much prefer!). It is another SLE that has had a skirt only paint job but it is certainly looking considerably better than SLE45 which had the same treatment and is 50 shades of red!

SLE43, YN55NKM is seen passing West Middlesex Hospital

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Hopefully it will not be so long before I write another one! For the latest updates, check out my Flickr!