The Circle of London

Posted by Jay 10 Comments

Metroline CELF Centre 37...New DEMs for PB

It's been a while since the last update, with Jack and I both being busy in securing our entry into university which was successful, we had to put aside the less important things such as blogging and focus on the period which could shape the rest of our lives so things on the blog had to be put aside for a while, but thank you loyal viewers who according to the hit counter still tuned in during our long absence.

I visited Metroline's CELF Centre yesterday for the first time in over 4 months which is somewhat out of the norm for me, however the purpose of today's visit was to obtain pictures of the new Alexander Dennis E200s for routes 234 and W9 which commence later on in the year and also to obtain pictures of the many Olympic buses that have been released by LOGOC passing through the centre today. For those who are not familiar, Metroline had a contract for 91 buses to operate on the Olympics, these consisted of DEs, DLDs, TAs, TEs, VPLs and VWs. Before I go into further detail, I will explain the allocations of these buses and where they are headed to.

The former 266 TAs (TA638 - 659) will be heading back to Cricklewood to operate on the 32 and part 210 in order to allow the release more TE9xx to the 189. DLD693 - 711 amid rumours will be heading back to Kings Cross Garage to operate on the Route 214. VPL629 - 637 will be heading back to HT to operate as logistical spares on the routes there. TE1307 - 1317 will be heading to Cricklewood to operate on the 32 although they will probably appear more on the 189 and 332. The VWs as we know will be heading to Holloway to operate the W7.

Above we can see new and old together for what may be the first and last time. To the left we have DEM1340 LK62 DCE and DP1014 to the right, which looks looks like a victim of a bad crash, it will most likely be repaired and withdrawn before returning off lease. These brand new 9.6M ADL E200s are part of a 23 strong batch of vehicles that have been ordered for the routes 234 and W9 contracts which will see off the DP1001 - 1014 and DSD208 - 217 which were originally ordered for the Route 206 back in 2002. Just to make things easier for you, I have included a small fleet list of these DEMs.

DEM1337 - LK62DAA - body no. C208/1

DEM1338 - LK62DAO - body no. C208/2

DEM1339 - LK62DBZ - body no. C208/3

DEM1340 - LK62DCE - body no. C208/4

DEM1341 - LK62DCF - body no. C208/5

DEM1342 - LK62DCY - body no. C208/6

DEM1343 - LK62DDU - body no. C208/7

DEM1344 - LK62DDY - body no. C208/8

DEM1345 - LK62DDZ - body no. C208/9

DEM1346 - LK62DEU - body no. C208/10

DEM1347 - LK62DFF - body no. C208/11

DEM1348 - LK62DFJ - body no. C208/12

DEM1349 - LK62DFP - body no. C208/13

DEM1350 - LK62DFY - body no. C208/14

DEM1351 - LK62DGF - body no. C208/15

DEM1352 - LK62DGO - body no. C208/16

DEM1353 - LK62DHC - body no. C208/17

DEM1354 - LK62DHD - body no. C208/18

DEM1355 - LK62DHE - body no. C208/19

DEM1356 - LK62DHG - body no. C208/20

DEM1357 - LK62DHP - body no. C208/21

DEM1358 - LK62DHU - body no. C208/22

DEM1359 - LK62DHV - body no. C208/23

Notice anything different in comparison to other E200s? Have you noticed now? I'll tell you anyway. The brand of seats being used in this bus are a derivative of the Fainsa Metropolis seats deliberately ordered as they are tougher than the normal Civic Esteban seats and the routes theses buses are set operate on, go past many schools which if you put 2 and 2 together you will understand.

Above we can see TA654 which was formerly part of a batch of vehicles that formerly made up 88% of the route 266's allocation before it respectively passed to First on the 19th of May 2012. These buses will continue to operate out of Cricklewood Garage on the 32 and 210 once they pass their M.O.T tests and are commissioned into service.

Here we can see DLD702 LK55 KLV awaiting entry into service at Kings Cross garage, interestingly this batch of Darts have been upgraded to Euro4 for whatever reason and only feature one exhaust pipe as opposed to the two they used to have. I can promise more quality posts in the coming weeks, but you know as they say 'a picture paints a thousand words' so in a smart move that will see me save 1000 words, more photos from the day's visit are placed below.

Former Harrow Weald VP484 LK03 GMF

DE1324 LK12 AXH and TA653 LK05 GGZ

DE1131 LK10 BYX

VPL633 LK54 FWN

DEM1340 LK62 DCE

The long lasting DP274 P674 MLE

MM783 LK57 EHT

Trainer Bus MM777 LK07 AYH

Posted by Jack 4 Comments

Sullivan Buses South Mimms Garage [SM]

Around two weeks ago, I visited Sullivan's South Mimms Garage in Hertfordshire, just north of the M25. Since the company began operating just over a decade ago, they have become renowned for their diligent work for LUL when services are suspended.

The Garage located in South Mimm's opened in 1999 when former LUL Manager Dean Sullivan decided to start up a bus company. This derived from his earlier career within London Underground which saw him directly take responsibility for providing LUL with replacement bus services during times of engineering work or network downfall. However outside of his work responsibilities, Dean was also an enthusiast which made him excellent at his job, he independently owned three preserved ex London Buses and with the help of a very large bus operator, Dean managed to certify one of these for PSV License to make it eligible to carry passengers whilst in operation.

One of the the first jobs that Sullivan Buses was over a decade ago in 1998 and this was to provide replacement bus services for the DLR and London Underground following major engineering work on both networks. The success of this operation helped to build the backbone on what we now know as Sullivan Buses today. Later on that year the company purchased an Ex London Buses Leyland Titan numbered T85 from Leaside Buses (a subsidy of Arriva). From here on, work opportunities for the company began to grow and the first two buses were joined by T890 which is interestingly still owned by the company today!

Over the years, the company grew from strength to strength, winning many Hertfordshire County contracted routes, and becoming LUL's preferred replacement bus operator. From their humble beginnings with two Buses, the fleet grew to a respectable 50 vehicles, which were easily noticeable with their yellow doors and white roof tops. In addition to this the company's vehicles have been heavily used in over 30 Television productions, including BBC's Eastenders and 'The Bill'. The company have a smaller base located in Stained which is used to house their Thorpe Park Express services which run from Staines to Thorpe Park.

On the 27th of June 2003, the company gained their first London Buses tendered contract, in the form of the Route 383 which was respectively won off Metroline, operation smoothly commenced using 3 Ceatano Slimbus bodied Dennis Dart SLF Buses coded as 'DN'. However upon the re-tendering of this contract in June 2008, the route was respectively re-gained by Metroline and the DNs were absorbed into their commercial fleet.

Despite the set back in 2008, Sullivan's kept on pushing towards providing diligent bus services and their efforts were awarded when it was announced that the company had won the route 298 from Arriva, with a contract commencing on the 4th of February 2012. The company also gained four other school route contracts, placing them back within the London Buses tendered services operations.

We would like to thank Dean Sullivan for arranging and allowing us to visit his amazing garage and for ensuring that we were safe on his premises by following all codes from the Health and Safety at Work Act. More photos from our visit are available below.

Three Heritage Routemasters

Metrobus B69 WUL and Titan WYV 66T

Routemaster Interior

Routemaster RML889

Two Heritage Routemasters

Routemaster Interior

Sullivan Buses AE15 TW61 SUL

Sullivan Buses AE15 TW61 SUL dashboard

Former President B7TL Demonstrator X157 JOP and former
London General PDL26 PJ02 PZZ

TPL296 EY03 FNL and EL04 SUL

WVL1 GD52 SYC and former London United VP119 W466 BCW

President B7TL dashboard

Posted by Jack 7 Comments Labels: London United Hounslow Garage New E400 ADE Class

London United Hounslow Garage [AV]...New ADE's!

After a busy day at work, I took the short trip down to Hounslow garage to check out there new E40D's coded ADE's. Since the last time I visited the garage, some work has been completed within the shed to increase parking captivity space - although I didn't notice this until it was pointed out to me!!! I know we usually do this at the end of the post, but I would like to send a huge thanks out to the member of staff who took the time out of his busy day to take me around the depot this afternoon! Most appreciated!

ADE1, YX12FNG & ADE2, YX12FNH seen in the shed

This garage certainly holds a lot of history. Many people wonder why the layout of the garage is in such a weird shape, however there is a very good reason for this. The town of Hounslow was a very busy place during the coaching days. By the time the Metropolitan and District railway finally made it to West London, the coach and horse era was over. The railway finally made it to West London in 1883. An imposing terminus station once stood on the site of the present bus garage today. The original plan was to continue the railways southbound towards the nearby town of Twickenham however this was later withdrawn and the railways was extended westwards instead. Due to this decision, Hounslow East Station soon replaced the terminus station. Hounslow Town station, as it was know, was in use between1183 - 1886 and 1905 - 1909. This explains the layout of the garage as it is known today.

London General omnibus took over the site of Hounslow Town Station in 1912. The garage, along with many other in the local area, was requisitioned in the first world war. Hounslow became the first garage in 1925 and 1930 to house the first pneumatic tyre buses and the original Dennis dart allocated respectively. The original depot roof was to low and was raised around the mid 1930's. An interesting thing to note is that a survey was conducted by London Transport in 1947 where it discovered Hounslow garage was housing 92 buses when on paper only 72 were meant to fit! This was achieved by parking layover buses in a plot of land situated at the back of the garage, which remains in place today although used as a staff car park!

In the early 1950's Hounslow garage under went a rebuild which saw a new bus station introduced. Another unique feature about Hounslow garage is that is was one of the only garages in London not to operate the DMS double deck. Hounslow's first OPO (One-Person-Operation) buses did not arrived until early 1982 in the form of Metrobuses coded M for routes 111 and 120. In late 2007 the bus station on the garage forecourt was removed and the 8 bus boarding bays removed along with the roof. Nowadays there is only 2 bays on the forecourt for routes 120 and 281, although that doesn't stop people from walking across the forecourt and knocking on the doors asking to get on. People that stop 5 years ago!

Hounslow garage is now home to a very modern fleet. With the ADE's set to replace the old DPS's, VA's and VP's it is set to become the most modern garage across the whole of London United. The garage will soon be formed of five main buses types. E40D's for Routes 81,120 & 222, Scania Omnicites for Routes 27 (Night Element), 111, 120, 696, 697, H32 and N9, Optare Tempo's for Route H37, E20D's for Route H98 and Mercedes O530 Citaro's for Route 203. All in all a very nice mix of modern buses.

Once again a massive shout out has to go to the member of staff who waited around for me to finish work to take me on this garage tour! More photos from the visit can be seen below!