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Post by bigbusdutz on Apr 11, 2016 9:58:34 GMT
I am coming down to London soon and want to do a bit of bus spotting.
I am after some advice on best places to go. I have done Marble arch, Hammersmith Bus Station, Liverpool Street etc.
I was thinking heading north on the Victoria Line and doing Walthamstow Central, Tottenham Hale and Finsbury Park? What are your opinions on doing this?
Many Thanks
BigbusDutz
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Post by vjaska on Apr 11, 2016 10:32:01 GMT
I am coming down to London soon and want to do a bit of bus spotting. I am after some advice on best places to go. I have done Marble arch, Hammersmith Bus Station, Liverpool Street etc. I was thinking heading north on the Victoria Line and doing Walthamstow Central, Tottenham Hale and Finsbury Park? What are your opinions on doing this? Many Thanks BigbusDutz All depends if your after anything in particular?
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Post by bigbusdutz on Apr 11, 2016 10:46:24 GMT
Not after anything particular - just looking for a nice day out lol
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Post by M1104 on Apr 11, 2016 10:55:38 GMT
For Borisbuses you can get an abundance of them at Westminister, Whitehall and Trafalgar Square as the majority of the routes now use those buses (the 91 is the next route to be converted followed by the 211, which already gets isolated appearances from the evening). The Waterloo area (507/521) is ideal for heavy duty Mercedes single deckers as well as a few purely electric variants, can also catch them at Victoria (507).
For MMC E40Hs Brixton would be ideal as they are spec'd on the 109 and 415....and with the 35 gaining them from April 30th. B7TL chassied Plaxton Presidents are also present there, mostly on the 45 but can get rare occasions on the 37 and 118. Plaxton Presidents are also seen on route 6 along Oxford Street.
If you fancy DB250 chassis buses (Wright bodywork) catch them while you can as their numbers have reduced significantly over the last year. The breed are still seen regularly in the Croydon area on routes 50, 60, 197 and 264, usually running alongside the newer DB300s and E400s (though 50 don't use E400s as it's based from Brixton garage which don't have any). If Croydon is a bit too far out you should be able to catch them at Streatham Station on route 60 or the 264 at Tooting Broadway.
If you like the B9TLs I would try searching for the three uniquely spect examples (VE1-3) which can be seen along Putney High Street, usually on route 85. These are unique as they are the only ones in London with the Enviro400 bodywork, the others on the Wright bodywork. These were orders for trials when Transport for London were evaluating them for issues on noise pollution, which as you probably know are the case with the fans on B7TLs. The buses are likely to be transferring to another garage by July 2nd, until then it's likely a sure thing you will catch at least one of the three buses along Putney High Street.
ALX400 Tridents are also diminishing but you can still catch them in the Waterloo area with route 381. The best place to click on one is by County Hall South of Westminster Bridge as that's where the driver takes their stand time.
Basically if you want to experience maximum variety throughout the capital I would suggest getting to London as early as possible and taking example of the tube so as to also cover some outer London areas for certain variants (basically the older stuff tend to be away from Central London).
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Post by LX09FBJ on Apr 11, 2016 10:55:48 GMT
The suburbs are often where the most variety is, given that Central London is mostly New Bus for London (some have advert wraps but they mostly look identical bar the operator logos) plus newer double deckers that are mostly hybrid plus a number of older types (mainly B7TLs on routes 14, 22, 74 and 98)
Croydon, Hounslow, Kingston, Romford, Tooting, Walthamstow and Wood Green/Turnpike Lane have the most variety in my opinion.
It ultimately comes down to taste. If you like winding routes, then Orpington's R network is very good. If you want a fairly straight route then the 85 is good.
londonbusroutes.net has a wealth of information, such as where routes run and the operational details of the majority of routes.
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Post by Green Kitten on Apr 11, 2016 11:13:59 GMT
Go to Hounslow where there's a lot of OmniCitys
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Post by Connor on Apr 11, 2016 11:29:05 GMT
For Borisbuses you can get an abundance of them at Westminister, Whitehall and Trafalgar Square as the majority of the routes now use those buses (the 91 is the next route to be converted followed by the 211, which already gets isolated appearances from the evening). The Waterloo area (507/521) is ideal for heavy duty Mercedes single deckers as well as a few purely electric variants, can also catch them at Victoria (507). For MMC E40Hs Brixton would be ideal as they are spec'd on the 109 and 415....and with the 35 gaining them from April 30th. B7TL chassied Plaxton Presidents are also present there, mostly on the 45 but can get rare occasions on the 37 and 118. Plaxton Presidents are also seen on route 6 along Oxford Street. If you fancy DB250 chassis buses (Wright bodywork) catch them while you can as their numbers have reduced significantly over the last year. The breed are still seen regularly in the Croydon area on routes 50, 60, 197 and 264, usually running alongside the newer DB300s and E400s (though 50 don't use E400s as it's based from Brixton garage which don't have any). If Croydon is a bit too far out you should be able to catch them at Streatham Station* on route 60 or the 264 at Tooting Broadway. If you like the B9TLs I would try searching for the three uniquely spect examples (VE1-3) which can be seen along Putney High Street, usually on route 85. These are unique as they are the only ones in London with the Enviro400 bodywork, the others on the Wright bodywork. These were orders for trials when Transport for London were evaluating them for issues on noise pollution, which as you probably know are the case with the fans on B7TLs. The buses are likely to be transferring to another garage by July 2nd, until then it's likely a sure thing you will catch at least one of the three buses along Putney High Street. ALX400 Tridents are also diminishing but you can still catch them in the Waterloo area with route 381. The best place to click on one is by County Hall South of Westminster Bridge as that's where the driver takes their stand time. Basically if you want to experience maximum variety throughout the capital I would suggest getting to London as early as possible and taking example of the tube so as to also cover some outer London areas for certain variants (basically the older stuff tend to be away from Central London). The 50 doesn't see any DB250s anymore. The 194, 258 and 466 are quite reliable if you want to catch the old DWs.
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Post by snoggle on Apr 11, 2016 11:47:43 GMT
Depends what you want to see but these days the suburbs offer more variety unless you want to be enveloped in NB4Ls in Central London.
I'd consider places like Vauxhall, Walthamstow Central, Stratford, Harrow (the bus station is outside Harrow on the Hill tube), Edgware, Wood Green / Turnpike Lane, Hammersmith, Putney (Putney Bridge). There are lots of bus movements, different types, different operators and there are frequent tube services from Central London and decent bus services to skip between centres. It'd be pretty easy to do Vauxhall, Wood Green / Turnpike Lane, Walthamstow and Stratford in a day assuming about an hour or so in each place and 30-40 mins travel time between each.
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Post by snowman on Apr 11, 2016 12:02:06 GMT
If you are keeping travel simple, probably want to use the tube to a station with attached bus station.
London Bridge Canning Town, Canada Water, Statford on Jubilee line, then along Central line Oxford Circus, then to Shephards Bush and Ealing Broadway (no bus station, but plenty of routes and stands), back via District to Hammersmith (if you have time, take branch to Richmond as outside Richmond station will add variety), Victoria, then Victoria line to Vauxhall. Adding places like Elephant and Castle and the Aldwych (north end of Waterloo bridge) should cover most things.
To get some of the more obscure types will need to go to places like Kingston, Bromley, Harrow, but won't be easy in a day trip.
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