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Post by thelondonthing on Jul 19, 2020 0:06:59 GMT
I travelled on the 555 from Heathrow Central to Walton-on-Thames many times back in the London United days, but my knowledge of the route and its subsequent operators lapsed when I moved away from near the airport in my teens. As with most 'country' routes, I recall the 555 (and its 556/557 sister routes) operating a low-frequency service with no late-night service to speak of. So I was rather surprised to stumble across an image while browsing the Leyland National Wikipedia page from the Alton Bus Rally 2019, in which a bus in the background can be seen with "N555" blinded for Heathrow Terminal 5. I've cropped the image below, but the full image can be seen here.  As I eventually learned, the bus in question was formerly 8474 in the Abellio London fleet, and is now DP474 at Cardinal Buses - a clearer image of the bus at the same event can be seen here on Flickr. But was there ever a night service on the 555? I vaguely recall there being some early morning services (maybe around 5am?) on the 555, but I was never aware of an all-night N555 service. Was it perhaps operated during the TGM or Abellio days? Was it a plan that never came to fruition? Or is this just Cardinal having a bit of fun with some fanciful blinds for the enthusiasts? Many thanks in advance for any info.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2020 6:04:26 GMT
As far as I know, no there was never a N555.
The original timetable LU took over was the basic SCC one, so hourly 555 to Walton via Sunbury Village and Shepperton, , hourly 556 via Upper Haliford.
Furthermore the 555 at Stanwell ran via the WPM to Heathrow Central whereas the 556 went via T4 and Hatton X.
The evening 557 was a hybrid of the day 555/6 , running Walton to Heathrow via Upper Haliford, and direct to CBS via WPM.
In later years, BAA funded the route and all the buses went via Hatton X and T4. It was then when early am trips were started from Sunbury Village to start with before being back projected to Walton for a while. Upon retender and loss to TGM, the early am jnys were capped once again to Sunbury Village. The buses were downgraded and the service has sadly deteriorated ever since. Shame really, because I remember it from Armchair days,
Armchair got good press for the 65 and TfL work, but their service on the original 555 contract was an utter shambles, famed locally for not turning up at all.
London United put much effort into these routes only for SCC to award them to cheaper operators and all the progress was lost.
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Post by redexpress on Jul 19, 2020 8:29:07 GMT
But was there ever a night service on the 555? I vaguely recall there being some early morning services (maybe around 5am?) on the 555, but I was never aware of an all-night N555 service. Was it perhaps operated during the TGM or Abellio days? Was it a plan that never came to fruition? Or is this just Cardinal having a bit of fun with some fanciful blinds for the enthusiasts? There certainly wasn't an N555 during TGM / Travel Surrey / Abellio days. I've looked through all the old timetables that I can find from that period and there's no trace of the N555 number being used. In any case this is a much more modern blind in the current TfL style. Either it was a proposal by Cardinal for an unsuccessful bid for the 555, or as you say, just a bit of fun. |
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Post by hangerlane on Jul 19, 2020 13:21:25 GMT
As far as I know, no there was never a N555. The original timetable LU took over was the basic SCC one, so hourly 555 to Walton via Sunbury Village and Shepperton, , hourly 556 via Upper Haliford. Furthermore the 555 at Stanwell ran via the WPM to Heathrow Central whereas the 556 went via T4 and Hatton X. The evening 557 was a hybrid of the day 555/6 , running Walton to Heathrow via Upper Haliford, and direct to CBS via WPM. In later years, BAA funded the route and all the buses went via Hatton X and T4. It was then when early am trips were started from Sunbury Village to start with before being back projected to Walton for a while. Upon retender and loss to TGM, the early am jnys were capped once again to Sunbury Village. The buses were downgraded and the service has sadly deteriorated ever since. Shame really, because I remember it from Armchair days, Armchair got good press for the 65 and TfL work, but their service on the original 555 contract was an utter shambles, famed locally for not turning up at all. London United put much effort into these routes only for SCC to award them to cheaper operators and all the progress was lost. Could someone enlighten me what the acronyms WPM and CBS are short for? |
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Post by mark on Jul 19, 2020 13:39:38 GMT
WPM - Western Perimeter Road, CBS - Central Bus Station.
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Post by thelondonthing on Jul 20, 2020 17:42:30 GMT
As far as I know, no there was never a N555. The original timetable LU took over was the basic SCC one, so hourly 555 to Walton via Sunbury Village and Shepperton, , hourly 556 via Upper Haliford. Furthermore the 555 at Stanwell ran via the WPM to Heathrow Central whereas the 556 went via T4 and Hatton X. The evening 557 was a hybrid of the day 555/6 , running Walton to Heathrow via Upper Haliford, and direct to CBS via WPM. In later years, BAA funded the route and all the buses went via Hatton X and T4. It was then when early am trips were started from Sunbury Village to start with before being back projected to Walton for a while. Upon retender and loss to TGM, the early am jnys were capped once again to Sunbury Village. The buses were downgraded and the service has sadly deteriorated ever since. Shame really, because I remember it from Armchair days, Armchair got good press for the 65 and TfL work, but their service on the original 555 contract was an utter shambles, famed locally for not turning up at all. London United put much effort into these routes only for SCC to award them to cheaper operators and all the progress was lost. Indeed, London United showed a considerable commitment to those routes, including route branding and a half-hourly service along various sections by inter-operating the hourly 555 and 556. (I think there were two sets of route branding under LU - the red-to-maroon 'Heathrow Connection' livery; and a '555|6|7' blue livery?) The LU service was a huge improvement over the dreadful Armchair operation that came before it. From my limited knowledge of the routes since the LU days, I believe you're right to state that the quality of the operation suffered a considerable decline after LU was dumped. But my recollection of the 557 is slightly different - didn't it run instead to Chertsey and/or Addlestone, rather than to Walton? Thanks for confirming details of the early morning journeys - and for reaffirming my belief that there was never an N555! |
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Post by thelondonthing on Jul 20, 2020 18:37:13 GMT
But was there ever a night service on the 555? I vaguely recall there being some early morning services (maybe around 5am?) on the 555, but I was never aware of an all-night N555 service. Was it perhaps operated during the TGM or Abellio days? Was it a plan that never came to fruition? Or is this just Cardinal having a bit of fun with some fanciful blinds for the enthusiasts? There certainly wasn't an N555 during TGM / Travel Surrey / Abellio days. I've looked through all the old timetables that I can find from that period and there's no trace of the N555 number being used. In any case this is a much more modern blind in the current TfL style. Either it was a proposal by Cardinal for an unsuccessful bid for the 555, or as you say, just a bit of fun. That makes sense. I don't really know anything about Cardinal Buses, but as an idle observation, they seem to enjoy emulating the look of an 'official' London Buses company, from their general branding to the application of the New Johnston (or Johnston 100) typeface on their blinds - I get the impression that they have a few London bus fans among their staff! I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were indeed having a bit of fun with the N555 blinds for that very reason. And you're quite right - the small superscript N in the N555 blind is indeed a modern detail that was introduced sometime after this bus would likely have been in service on the route. I really should have spotted that!   |
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Post by redexpress on Jul 20, 2020 22:09:57 GMT
As far as I know, no there was never a N555. The original timetable LU took over was the basic SCC one, so hourly 555 to Walton via Sunbury Village and Shepperton, , hourly 556 via Upper Haliford. Furthermore the 555 at Stanwell ran via the WPM to Heathrow Central whereas the 556 went via T4 and Hatton X. The evening 557 was a hybrid of the day 555/6 , running Walton to Heathrow via Upper Haliford, and direct to CBS via WPM. In later years, BAA funded the route and all the buses went via Hatton X and T4. It was then when early am trips were started from Sunbury Village to start with before being back projected to Walton for a while. Upon retender and loss to TGM, the early am jnys were capped once again to Sunbury Village. The buses were downgraded and the service has sadly deteriorated ever since. Shame really, because I remember it from Armchair days, Armchair got good press for the 65 and TfL work, but their service on the original 555 contract was an utter shambles, famed locally for not turning up at all. London United put much effort into these routes only for SCC to award them to cheaper operators and all the progress was lost. Indeed, London United showed a considerable commitment to those routes, including route branding and a half-hourly service along various sections by inter-operating the hourly 555 and 556. (I think there were two sets of route branding under LU - the red-to-maroon 'Heathrow Connection' livery; and a '555|6|7' blue livery?) The LU service was a huge improvement over the dreadful Armchair operation that came before it. From my limited knowledge of the routes since the LU days, I believe you're right to state that the quality of the operation suffered a considerable decline after LU was dumped. But my recollection of the 557 is slightly different - didn't it run instead to Chertsey and/or Addlestone, rather than to Walton? Thanks for confirming details of the early morning journeys - and for reaffirming my belief that there was never an N555! 557 has a complicated history. As far as I can tell, it started out as an evening service running Addlestone - Weybridge - Walton, then on to Heathrow as described. When LU took over in 1993 it was cut back to Walton. Then in 1995 the evening 557 was withdrawn, with the 555/556 gaining an evening service instead. A new daytime 557 was then introduced, running St Peter's Hospital - Chertsey - Shepperton (replacing the withdrawn 575) and on to Heathrow via the 556. The route was subsequently extended to Addlestone.
The route was then progressively cut back from Heathrow Central to Hatton Cross, and then to Sunbury, while at the other end it was at one point extended all the way to Woking, resulting in a route that had little in common with the parent 555.
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Post by thelondonthing on Jul 20, 2020 22:43:15 GMT
Indeed, London United showed a considerable commitment to those routes, including route branding and a half-hourly service along various sections by inter-operating the hourly 555 and 556. (I think there were two sets of route branding under LU - the red-to-maroon 'Heathrow Connection' livery; and a '555|6|7' blue livery?) The LU service was a huge improvement over the dreadful Armchair operation that came before it. From my limited knowledge of the routes since the LU days, I believe you're right to state that the quality of the operation suffered a considerable decline after LU was dumped. But my recollection of the 557 is slightly different - didn't it run instead to Chertsey and/or Addlestone, rather than to Walton? Thanks for confirming details of the early morning journeys - and for reaffirming my belief that there was never an N555! 557 has a complicated history. As far as I can tell, it started out as an evening service running Addlestone - Weybridge - Walton, then on to Heathrow as described. When LU took over in 1993 it was cut back to Walton. Then in 1995 the evening 557 was withdrawn, with the 555/556 gaining an evening service instead. A new daytime 557 was then introduced, running St Peter's Hospital - Chertsey - Shepperton (replacing the withdrawn 575) and on to Heathrow via the 556. The route was subsequently extended to Addlestone. The route was then progressively cut back from Heathrow Central to Hatton Cross, and then to Sunbury, while at the other end it was at one point extended all the way to Woking, resulting in a route that had little in common with the parent 555.
Ah yes, St Peter's Hospital... I had quite forgotten about that section of the 557! I didn't know about the other details of the route that you shared, though - many thanks for that! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2020 22:57:36 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2020 15:24:19 GMT
Sorry to dig up this old thread, but only just spotted it. I was the driver that took the Dart along to Alton last year and the choice of blind certainly seemed to create some intrigue at the time! An N555 was a plan in the company's early days that never went ahead in the end, but knows, maybe one day  |
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Post by mark on Nov 9, 2020 11:11:38 GMT
The Surrey CC contracts due to expire in August 2929 were all extended by 12 or 24 months. Mark |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2020 11:15:51 GMT
The Surrey CC contracts due to expire in August 2929 were all extended by 12 or 24 months. Mark That's some extension! |
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Post by mark on Nov 9, 2020 11:25:09 GMT
The Surrey CC contracts due to expire in August 2929 were all extended by 12 or 24 months. Mark That's some extension! Fat fingers I’m afraid! Should have been 2020! Mark |
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Post by thelondonthing on Nov 20, 2020 15:22:02 GMT
Sorry to dig up this old thread, but only just spotted it. I was the driver that took the Dart along to Alton last year and the choice of blind certainly seemed to create some intrigue at the time! An N555 was a plan in the company's early days that never went ahead in the end, but knows, maybe one day How marvellous! This is exactly what I enjoy so much about this forum - asking the community on the off-chance that they might know a bit of info on an obscure oddity, and then finding the very person who drove the bus Many thanks for digging the thread up, and for sharing that info. <3 |
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