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Post by rm1422 on Oct 5, 2019 15:02:42 GMT
Abellio, Metroline, CT Plus & Sullivans Buses all on the District Line job (the branch from Wimbledon) On a Metroline DL4. Driver came to a halt in Ram Street, Wandsworth, worried he'd taken the wrong route. I appeared to be the only passenger able to direct him safely onwards. Made me realise how hard it can be to follow the signs, especially when it isn't the obvious route East Putney - Southfields.
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Post by richard on Oct 5, 2019 19:28:56 GMT
SW6 T221 working LO-J
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 6, 2019 11:02:52 GMT
I recently drove the Lewisham to Dartford via Sidcup the other weekend. I rode the route on ex-WVL271 a few months ago and was surprised by the use of North Park instead of the high street. During my trip the road seemed a bit busy and not quite wide enough. The houses are indeed very pretty. My dad says he's going to live in one some day. No comments about the bus(es) you drove? I like reading those. Not this time - that will be returning with the next review on New Cross Gate to West Croydon . I liked Lewisham to Dartford so I am back on it today - 15:12 and 19:12 from Dartford, 16:50 and 20:50 from Lewisham. If all goes to plan should have a nice bus with a ZF Ecomat gearbox and a bit of kick - should be alright on the bit between Lee and Mottingham! Yes, I also love looking at houses when riding routes - in amongst all the media hysteria about being "generation rent" and really having no headstart with getting a property, I find inspiration in seeing what I could have if I work right! That feeling of your Dad's you describe - I got the same feeling when driving through Walden Road in the Elmstead Woods/Chislehurst area. In a network hole for buses but it looks idyllic to me. North Park is wide enough so long as there isn't any double parking! N.B. I will no longer be driving the 22:15 Stratford to Richmond replacement service that runs every 2 or 3 months. It runs this Sunday but not with Abellio, so no more escapes for the P13's MMCs. Was glad to have the opportunity to drive London's longest rail replacement route it and will sorely miss it Who will be taking over just out of interest i am guessing Metroline? The route is now operated by Tower Transit, although there was no data in Countdown so no easy way of tracking down what went out.
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Post by beaver14uk on Oct 6, 2019 17:59:35 GMT
It's a route I enjoy driving. I recently drove the Lewisham to Dartford via Sidcup the other weekend. I've now done all three of the Dartford Loop routes - one being via Bexleyheath and the other via Woolwich Arsenal. The routeThe service was scheduled to run every 30 minutes during the day, calling at Lewisham, Hither Green, Lee, Mottingham, New Eltham, Sidcup, Albany Park, Bexley, Crayford and Dartford. Lewisham to Hither Green was easy enough. Via Molesworth Street and the 225 to Hither Green Lane, then down Ennersdale Road, turning immediately in front of the 13'0" bridge to Nightingale Grove. As luck would have it, oncoming Citaros made running on this road an interesting experience. The station was served by the junction with Maythorne Cottages, a stone's throw from the station entrance. Hither Green to Lee was an unexpectedly convoluted routing. Via Springbank Road to the South Circular. Then left onto Manor Lane, right onto Southbrook Road and right again onto Burnt Ash Road to serve Lee station. That 13'0" bridge on Ennersdale Road was the cause of this meandering detour. Lee to Mottingham - via the South Circular and the A20 Sidcup Road. Mottingham to New Eltham - another meander via Court Road, the unserved North Park which was flanked by some very pretty houses and Footscray Road. New Eltham to Sidcup - via Footscray Road, Longlands Road and Hatherley Crescent, then into the station forecourt on Jubilee Way. Albany Park is served from Hurst Road, a bit of a distance from the station. Officially the stop is by the junction of Hurst Road and Carisbrooke Avenue but there was an instruction to stop again on Foots Cray Lane. Hurst Road/the A222 took us through Bexley and the A223 then London Road led us to Crayford town centre. Crayford station was situated on a loop served in both directions - Station Road, Royston Road, Heathview Avenue and Lower Station Road. Finally, Dartford was reached via the A207 and A226. Lots of left turns, right turns, back streets and dead ends to serve. Nowhere near as linear as the route via Woolwich Arsenal. I had to run at a reduced speed the first rounder as I was following the map and heavily relying on road signs being present to reduce the chances of missing any turns. Fortunately I didn't miss any. LoadingsModerately light, not too surprising for a Sunday evening. I did cop some flak from a fair number of irritated passengers who said they had been waiting for a long time. All the buses were running, but not all of them necessarily made it to the right place to serve the stations. Cue Twitter lighting up. There were two rail replacement bus services at Lewisham - this one and the Lewisham to Orpington via Grove Park service. Only some of the passengers asked me if I was going to their stop, which I happily answered. Other passengers just got on without saying anything - only when it became clear I was not going to Grove Park or Orpington did they ask where I was going. Running timesVirtually spot on during the day in both directions. I lost a little bit of time from Lee to Hither Green due to traffic on the South Circular and conflicts in the Hither Green area but other than that it was easy to remain on time. I was running at a reduced speed due to inspecting the map but didn't lose time. The times aren't reduced in the evening so there were some waits of up to 3 minutes in places, less in others where there's generally no traffic delays at any time. However I don't leave a second early on these kind of routes - it's not fair on the passengers. SummaryA winding route with a lot of turns and surprises, it's not the easiest of routes to navigate. However it is quite pleasant with no real traffic delays and a nice length, if a little quiet. My favourite route out of the three is via Woolwich Arsenal, then this one, then via Bexleyheath. Via Woolwich was a drag between Lewisham and Woolwich Dockyard, but busy and tightly timed east of there. Via Bexleyheath was a very interesting route, but passengers don't like using it because the meandering and double running borders on the extreme, to the point where it's significantly quicker to use local routes. Unusually for a NR rail replacement, tickets are accepted on local routes when that line is shut. Route difficulty rating - 2.5/3 (fairly difficult) Enjoyability - 3/5 (moderate) Next route review - New Cross Gate to West Croydon via Forest Hill N.B. I will no longer be driving the 22:15 Stratford to Richmond replacement service that runs every 2 or 3 months. It runs this Sunday but not with Abellio, so no more escapes for the P13's MMCs. Was glad to have the opportunity to drive London's longest rail replacement route it and will sorely miss it
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 7, 2019 1:10:26 GMT
It's a route I enjoy driving. It's a nice run! It was a nice, anti-climatic shift. From what I saw, all of the buses ran, and on time too. No SOS messages on Twitter, Go-Ahead had a real A-team out - quite a few buses from BX out along with 1st Bus Stop and Abbey Travel. A good job well organised and operated.
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 13, 2019 2:18:02 GMT
I drove the New Cross Gate to West Croydon route the Sunday before last. The routeThe service was scheduled to run every 10 minutes all day, calling at New Cross Gate, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Crystal Palace, Anerley, Norwood Junction, Selhurst and West Croydon. No changeover point as buses were taken out of the garage for all shifts. I only saw Go-Ahead buses out with assistance from Abellio. Once upon a time this route ran from London Bridge. I quite enjoyed doing the London Bridge - New Cross Gate section but it has been decided that people should use the Underground and Overground via Canada Water to complete their journeys - not sure what the stance was on ticket acceptance. The route is a moderate length, if a little short. Stand was in New Cross Gate Sainsburys, following the 171/172 through Brockley, then the P4 through Honor Oak Park to the South Circular at Forest Hill. After serving the station on London Road, the 122 was followed through Sydenham to Crystal Palace, then the 157 past Crystal Palace station, Anerley, Norwood Junction and Selhurst to terminate at West Croydon Bus Station. Buses stood our of harm's way in Sydenham Road for 2 hour meal reliefs. I like the way Go Ahead do the duties - two duties per operating number per day and long meal reliefs to make the shift length worth the driver's while. The painful roadworks which went on forever on Dartmouth Road, Forest Hill have yielded a nice result. An attractive, clear roadway with off-highway parking. No more bottlenecks to hold up progress. Asides from the risk of tipping the bus over on Honor Oak Park Road if driving in an irresponsible manner, I thought the route was perfectly passable with care and attention at all points. Not everyone out driving shared that view however and indeed the TfL variant of the route a few years back bypassed Honor Oak Park, going via Stanstead Road instead. There are some sharp corners and high traffic islands in places but certainly nowhere near as hairy as routes elsewhere, particularly some over in the south west side of town! LoadingsThis is a busy route. People were struggling to find the pickup stop at New Cross Gate. Roadworks have taken out the inside lane from the station to the Marquis of Granby so the stop had been relocated to stop M outside the Sainsburys. However, people were desperately flagging the bus down from gaps in the roadworks all the way to the next stop. Running timesAround 42 minutes were given. This was optimistic during the day - I lost around 11 minutes towards West Croydon during shopping hours. The first rounder I managed to overtake my leader in both directions which is probably why I didn't pick up many people. In the evening it took about 26 minutes. With the route running at such a high frequency, there wasn't much point in running on time as it'd just create gaps and bunching - I didn't overtake or get overtaken when running after shopping hours. With National Rail routes, running times tend to be the same all day. What's interesting is there's no apparent precedent on what time of day those times should apply to. For some routes they're timed for Saturday lunchtimes, others it's timed for the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning. This particular route was timed for shopping centre kick out times. Vehicle ChoiceDue to the hilly nature of the route and wet weather, I wanted a bus with good brakes and power to climb those hills. In the end I took 2432, a Euro 5 E400H. The generator was spinning at full revs both accelerating and braking all day but the bus put in a stellar performance without breaking too much of a sweat. SummaryForest Hill was my local station for a good 20 years, it's always good fun to drive services where one has grown up. It was a nice route, not too much traffic and a reasonable length. Was also good to see some familiar faces, DLA 365 and TangyRoute difficulty rating - 2/3 (intermediate) Enjoyability - 4/5 (fairly enjoyable) Next route review - Enfield Town to Liverpool Street
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Post by T.R. on Oct 13, 2019 15:41:30 GMT
A couple of ex-Go Ahead PVLs and one ex-Stagecoach TA are out today on SWR Rail Replacement (Ascot— Hounslow).
Edit: PVL286 and 294
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 13, 2019 17:07:34 GMT
I drove the Enfield Town to Liverpool Street route. The routeThis particular service was a sole trip to cover the last train of the day from Enfield Town, calling at Bush Hill Park, Edmonton Green, Silver Street, Bruce Grove, Seven Sisters, Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington, Rectory Road, Hackney Downs, London Fields, Cambridge Heath, Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street. No changeover point as buses were taken out of the garage for all shifts. A mix of MMCs and LTs were allocated. The route is fairly long and the dead run from Walworth to Enfield was eventful. I saw things I wish I didn't see on the stretch of road between Bruce Grove and Edmonton Green. What is it they say - see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? Anyway, the route follows the 231 from Enfield Town to the junction with the Enfield Retail Park, then straight down the A10 (from which Bush Hill Park is "served"). A left turn onto Church Street leads to Edmonton Green, then following the 279 through Silver Street, Bruce Grove and Seven Sisters through to the Woodberry Down area. A near hairpin left turn onto Amhurst Park was tight but perfectably doable in a bus with a standard wheelbase like a MMC. The jury is out on whether a LT can get around that corner without either end going over a kerb, but I guess it has been managed before else the type wouldn't be passed to do the route. There isn't really any room to take it wide. From Stamford Hill, it was back onto the A10 to pass Stoke Newington station then around the one way system, soon to be two way, through Stoke Newington Common to Rectory Road. A left turn onto Amhurst Road took us past the stops for Hackney Downs, then continuing around Hackney Central to Mare Street. The 388 route is followed through London Fields, Cambridge Heath, Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street. LoadingsPenny figures. The LT did attract passengers who wanted additional stops made for them. I declined and advise them to use the 279. The buses heading out of town towards Enfield and Cheshunt were mixed - some well patronised, others empty. Running times72 minutes were given. It felt like shopping hours running times. Edmonton Green to Stamford Hill was slow going - it was either drive at 20mph and wait at each bus stop for 2-3 minutes, or drive at 10mph and wait for 1-2 minutes. Stamford Hill to Hackney Downs had about 3 minutes slack. I don't know about the rest as I just drove at 20mph from Hackney Downs to Liverpool Street. 27 minutes were given to do this when it takes 12-15 minutes. One bus from Cheshunt supposedly stops in at Enfield Town on the way to Liverpool Street. This was advertised though I wouldn't stake my life on it happening in practice. Vehicle ChoiceMMC by choice, LT if there is no choice. SummaryNot my cup of tea. Too much running time and barely anybody using it! I much prefer the Hackney Downs to Chingford route. Route difficulty rating - 1/3 (easy) Enjoyability - 2/5 (fairly unenjoyable) Next route review - TBA
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 20, 2019 17:41:06 GMT
P13 E400 8344 is out on rail replacement between Canning Town and City Airport!
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Post by richard on Oct 20, 2019 18:32:30 GMT
2521 passing through Kentish Town doung Theamslink replacement
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 20, 2019 19:08:53 GMT
I rode the St Pancras to West Hamstead route today. This seemingly short route is notorious for buses getting hopelessly lost and running adrift from the timetable and I was curious to find out why.
The route is complicated and remarkably illogical geographically - to go north, you pick up the bus at south facing bus stops at St Pancras and Kentish Town. Between St Pancras and Chalk Farm station the given routes are almost completely different in each direction thanks to a series of one way systems and banned turns. There are a lot of left and right turns, some of which are easy to miss like the turn off to spin around Chalk Farm Morrisons.
The running time is also insufficient. There was no disruption on the road but an extra 3 minutes was needed from St Pancras to Kentish Town and quite a bit more from Kentish Town to West Hampstead. 15 minutes is given between each station. However there was 30 minutes stand time per rounder. Even so, some of the buses were running up to 30 minutes late and sat at various points on the route with hazard lights on. It's more likely those delays were caused by buses getting lost than anything else.
If I ever get to drive the route I will do a full review. In the meantime I'm having a ball driving airport express rail replacement in East London!
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Post by redexpress on Oct 20, 2019 20:42:40 GMT
I rode the St Pancras to West Hamstead route today. This seemingly short route is notorious for buses getting hopelessly lost and running adrift from the timetable and I was curious to find out why. The route is complicated and remarkably illogical geographically - to go north, you pick up the bus at south facing bus stops at St Pancras and Kentish Town. Between St Pancras and Chalk Farm station the given routes are almost completely different in each direction thanks to a series of one way systems and banned turns. There are a lot of left and right turns, some of which are easy to miss like the turn off to spin around Chalk Farm Morrisons. The running time is also insufficient. There was no disruption on the road but an extra 3 minutes was needed from St Pancras to Kentish Town and quite a bit more from Kentish Town to West Hampstead. 15 minutes is given between each station. However there was 30 minutes stand time per rounder. Even so, some of the buses were running up to 30 minutes late and sat at various points on the route with hazard lights on. It's more likely those delays were caused by buses getting lost than anything else. If I ever get to drive the route I will do a full review. In the meantime I'm having a ball driving airport express rail replacement in East London! What gets me about this route is that it doesn't need to go to St Pancras at all. The sole purpose of the route is to serve Kentish Town; trains are running between St Pancras and West Hampstead so there shouldn't be any through passengers (apart from random bus nuts of course). Surely passengers travelling between Kentish Town and St Pancras could be directed towards the Northern Line, leaving the replacement service to run only between Kentish Town and West Hampstead. And this is from the same operator that can't be bothered to run any replacement service between Wimbledon and Sutton when that line's closed.
Until recently it was possible to use Harmood Street to avoid the double-run via Chalk Farm Morrisons. Not sure if road layout changes have made Harmood Street unsuitable now. Strange to think that there used to be a bus garage (CF) down there.
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Post by rif153 on Oct 20, 2019 20:49:11 GMT
I rode the St Pancras to West Hamstead route today. This seemingly short route is notorious for buses getting hopelessly lost and running adrift from the timetable and I was curious to find out why. The route is complicated and remarkably illogical geographically - to go north, you pick up the bus at south facing bus stops at St Pancras and Kentish Town. Between St Pancras and Chalk Farm station the given routes are almost completely different in each direction thanks to a series of one way systems and banned turns. There are a lot of left and right turns, some of which are easy to miss like the turn off to spin around Chalk Farm Morrisons. The running time is also insufficient. There was no disruption on the road but an extra 3 minutes was needed from St Pancras to Kentish Town and quite a bit more from Kentish Town to West Hampstead. 15 minutes is given between each station. However there was 30 minutes stand time per rounder. Even so, some of the buses were running up to 30 minutes late and sat at various points on the route with hazard lights on. It's more likely those delays were caused by buses getting lost than anything else. If I ever get to drive the route I will do a full review. In the meantime I'm having a ball driving airport express rail replacement in East London! What gets me about this route is that it doesn't need to go to St Pancras at all. The sole purpose of the route is to serve Kentish Town; trains are running between St Pancras and West Hampstead so there shouldn't be any through passengers (apart from random bus nuts of course). Surely passengers travelling between Kentish Town and St Pancras could be directed towards the Northern Line, leaving the replacement service to run only between Kentish Town and West Hampstead. And this is from the same operator that can't be bothered to run any replacement service between Wimbledon and Sutton when that line's closed.
Until recently it was possible to use Harmood Street to avoid the double-run via Chalk Farm Morrisons. Not sure if road layout changes have made Harmood Street unsuitable now. Strange to think that there used to be a bus garage (CF) down there.
That's the most sensible idea I've ever heard, there is no need for buses to continue to St Pancras as you say. I'd imainge the Northern line has enough spare capacity to pick up the slack but some extras on the 214 could also occur in place of the Thameslink service (although of course GTR/TfL coordination would be poor)
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 21, 2019 1:06:32 GMT
I drove the Canning Town to London City Airport route yesterday. The routeNot sure what the scheduled headway was on this one, think it was every 7-8 minutes during my late shift and the service finished around 10pm. The only calling points were Canning Town and London City Airport. The changeover point was at Canning Town. Single deckers were allocated, most likely because a lot of passengers would have bulky luggage and wouldn't want to go upstairs. The route was short and literally ran alongside the DLR line, on the 474 line of route from end to end. A lot, and I mean a lot of the people of West Silvertown and Pontoon Dock were really upset about the replacement bus arrangements. Some took to Twitter to make their views known, probably because there are no station staff on the DLR to complain to. I was subjected to expletives and rude/exasperated gestures from people waiting at those stations who were watching some lightly loaded rail replacement buses whizz past. At least 6 different people at Canning Town implored me to make extra stops at those stations, specifically citing poor reliability on the 474's evening service which is supposed to run every 15 minutes. No idea how true it was but the 474's stop at Canning Town seemed to be crowded all 7 times I drove past it, as well as most of the buses I saw leaving there. Somehow people at Canning Town were expecting to be taken to the Woolwich Free Ferry which doesn't actually run after 19:30 on Sundays. People were getting on the 474 and replacement service hoping to get closer to Woolwich Arsenal when the only river crossing for miles is actually the Jubilee Line at Canning Town. I decided to make announcements, welcoming people to the UK on leaving London City Airport and offering brief advice on onward connections. LoadingsMost of the buses were hammered. Some which left LCA in a bunch or between flight arrivals left lightly loaded, but this was the minority. Buses were filling up quickly at both ends until around 8pm. As flights were arriving, I picked up a full double deck load as late as 21:30 from City Airport. Abellio sent some long E200s and MMCs from the C10 but also quite a few shorter E200s from the 484 and one of the P13's legendary MMCs, 8344. It's not the first time that one has escaped onto a rail replacement route. The 474 was under severe pressure from Canning Town. Running timesThey were fine, well matched to actual running times. Vehicle ChoiceDue to the predicted heavy loads and risk of suitcases rolling around, I wanted a bus with extra smooth braking and acceleration. I initially had C10 MMC 8844 but failed it after one rounder. The spare bus happened to be a double deck MMC, 2618 which fit the bill perfectly. SummaryI quite liked the route as a one off. Busy and passengers didn't seem too put out at having to use a bus service to get to the Tube. Route difficulty rating - 1/3 (easy) Enjoyability - 3/5 (moderate) Next route review - Clapham Junction to Chessington South
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 21, 2019 8:11:04 GMT
What gets me about this route is that it doesn't need to go to St Pancras at all. The sole purpose of the route is to serve Kentish Town; trains are running between St Pancras and West Hampstead so there shouldn't be any through passengers (apart from random bus nuts of course). Surely passengers travelling between Kentish Town and St Pancras could be directed towards the Northern Line, leaving the replacement service to run only between Kentish Town and West Hampstead. And this is from the same operator that can't be bothered to run any replacement service between Wimbledon and Sutton when that line's closed. Until recently it was possible to use Harmood Street to avoid the double-run via Chalk Farm Morrisons. Not sure if road layout changes have made Harmood Street unsuitable now. Strange to think that there used to be a bus garage (CF) down there.
Resilience and maybe step free journeys? Not that Kentish Town is wheelchair accessible but it saves passengers having to circulate via St Pancras and take a bus back to Kentish Town. I was on the route mid-afternoon and you may not be surprised to hear that less than 10 people reportedly boarded at St Pancras that day! Harmood Street is, or was used in one direction Northern Line rail replacement services. On the face of it it would make more sense to use that route but that's without knowing if anything has changed. I suspect that on National Rail replacement services, there is no official route between station stops and it's left to each individual contractor to determine the route they want their drivers to take. Often nobody takes responsibility when there are planned or unplanned road closures! Wimbeldon - Sutton - I think the 164 is an adequate line of best fit for that one. A replacement bus would have little extra to offer and would probably be poorly used. Sometimes it makes more sense for an agreement to be reached between the TOC and TfL for passengers to be carried on local buses.
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