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Post by vjaska on May 27, 2021 23:15:46 GMT
North London especially around Tottenham and Wood Green was filled with Metrobuses. My fondest memory on one was on the 41 going to Hornsey through West Green Road in the late 90s. I grew up in West London, which was MCW central back in the 80’s. Unfortunately we didn’t see many Titans on our side of the capital. The first bus ride I ever remember was on a Metrobus on the 92. I quite liked them, until they replaced the routemasters on the 207. I grew up in West London, which was MCW central back in the 80’s. Unfortunately we didn’t see many Titans on our side of the capital. The first bus ride I ever remember was on a Metrobus on the 92. I quite liked them, until they replaced the routemasters on the 207. From my side of London (East London) we had all sorts around there. In Newham that borough was dominated by Stagecoach, particularly in East Ham. Barking and Dagenham was a mix between Stagecoach, Capital Citybus (Before it became first), Docklands Transit (for the 287, 366 and 368) and Grey Green, same thing with Redbridge. We had Titans, Leyland and Volvo Olympians, Scanias, Dennis Lances and Arrows, DAF SB220s, DB250s and the Darts. When visiting family in North London that's where I saw the Metrobuses the most. Havering had some there on the 165 and 365. Growing up in South London, I had a good mix of M's, L's, T's as well as the RM's & lovely VC's. The M journeys I had were South London/Cowie & London General examples mainly on the 37, 109, 118, 196 & 250 with one lucky ride on the 468 (the rare step entrance workings would usually escape me on my way to school). The 37 was the best route for them where drivers would cane them especially when it had it's diversion through Dulwich Village & West Dulwich in the late 90's. The L's & T's were my earlier journeys I can remember such as mesmerised by the Titans rear window mirror and how hot the Olympians engine shelf was not to mention the roar of the Gardener engine as it made it's way up the steep Central Hill climbing up to Palace.
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Post by mkay315 on May 28, 2021 10:42:26 GMT
I grew up in West London, which was MCW central back in the 80’s. Unfortunately we didn’t see many Titans on our side of the capital. The first bus ride I ever remember was on a Metrobus on the 92. I quite liked them, until they replaced the routemasters on the 207. From my side of London (East London) we had all sorts around there. In Newham that borough was dominated by Stagecoach, particularly in East Ham. Barking and Dagenham was a mix between Stagecoach, Capital Citybus (Before it became first), Docklands Transit (for the 287, 366 and 368) and Grey Green, same thing with Redbridge. We had Titans, Leyland and Volvo Olympians, Scanias, Dennis Lances and Arrows, DAF SB220s, DB250s and the Darts. When visiting family in North London that's where I saw the Metrobuses the most. Havering had some there on the 165 and 365. Growing up in South London, I had a good mix of M's, L's, T's as well as the RM's & lovely VC's. The M journeys I had were South London/Cowie & London General examples mainly on the 37, 109, 118, 196 & 250 with one lucky ride on the 468 (the rare step entrance workings would usually escape me on my way to school). The 37 was the best route for them where drivers would cane them especially when it had it's diversion through Dulwich Village & West Dulwich in the late 90's. The L's & T's were my earlier journeys I can remember such as mesmerised by the Titans rear window mirror and how hot the Olympians engine shelf was not to mention the roar of the Gardener engine as it made it's way up the steep Central Hill climbing up to Palace. It's a shame they don't make buses like that anymore. If the Bromley bus preservation group has it's annual day this year then I'm going to definitely head there to see those vintage buses. Also how could I forget about the Volvo Citybus on the 275 thrashing it down Forest Road and Hoe Street. It's a shame I wasn't able to get on one when it was on the 24.
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Post by bottomless on May 28, 2021 10:59:53 GMT
I used to enjoy th RF and BL types around the Kingston area, and even the occasional SMS on the 211 (Walton to Tolworth back in the day). LS were not quite the same after these.
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Post by mkay315 on May 31, 2021 0:17:44 GMT
I used to enjoy th RF and BL types around the Kingston area, and even the occasional SMS on the 211 (Walton to Tolworth back in the day). LS were not quite the same after these. Oh nice. A good variety.
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Post by ServerKing on May 31, 2021 9:56:32 GMT
Atlanteans on the 65 were something different back in the day, and I missed the DLAs on the 370 (but not the ones that were on the W3 ) Present day Streetlites on the 232 are rapid, and something different from the ubiquitous E200
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Post by mkay315 on Jun 1, 2021 12:42:16 GMT
Atlanteans on the 65 were something different back in the day, and I missed the DLAs on the 370 (but not the ones that were on the W3 ) Present day Streetlites on the 232 are rapid, and something different from the ubiquitous E200 Between AR and WN DLAs I don't know which was worse. In AR the DLAs were slow on the 243 especially around Stokey but my goodness I was holding on for dear life on the 221 especially around Bittacy Hill and Alexandra Park on the W3. At some points I thought we'd roll back.
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Post by vjaska on Jun 1, 2021 13:29:18 GMT
Atlanteans on the 65 were something different back in the day, and I missed the DLAs on the 370 (but not the ones that were on the W3 ) Present day Streetlites on the 232 are rapid, and something different from the ubiquitous E200 Between AR and WN DLAs I don't know which was worse. In AR the DLAs were slow on the 243 especially around Stokey but my goodness I was holding on for dear life on the 221 especially around Bittacy Hill and Alexandra Park on the W3. At some points I thought we'd roll back. The only one from North London I remember is DLA18 which was decent when I had it on the W3 - at TH, the S regs were a mixed bag but there was some quick examples like DLA9-10 & 58 but no one beats DLA63 for the title of slow.
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Post by mkay315 on Jun 1, 2021 15:55:49 GMT
Between AR and WN DLAs I don't know which was worse. In AR the DLAs were slow on the 243 especially around Stokey but my goodness I was holding on for dear life on the 221 especially around Bittacy Hill and Alexandra Park on the W3. At some points I thought we'd roll back. The only one from North London I remember is DLA18 which was decent when I had it on the W3 - at TH, the S regs were a mixed bag but there was some quick examples like DLA9-10 & 58 but no one beats DLA63 for the title of slow. Do you by any chance know which original DLAs batch numbers started life in TH (The low height ones)
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Post by vjaska on Jun 1, 2021 16:30:01 GMT
The only one from North London I remember is DLA18 which was decent when I had it on the W3 - at TH, the S regs were a mixed bag but there was some quick examples like DLA9-10 & 58 but no one beats DLA63 for the title of slow. Do you by any chance know which original DLAs batch numbers started life in TH (The low height ones) DLA48-64 were new to TH, everything else R, S & T reg related started off with North London. At some point, DLA2-10, 38-47 (possibly minus 45 or 46) moved down south and then the odd trainer moved back into the fleet and ended up down here like DLA62 for example.
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Post by mkay315 on Jun 1, 2021 17:08:23 GMT
Do you by any chance know which original DLAs batch numbers started life in TH (The low height ones) DLA48-64 were new to TH, everything else R, S & T reg related started off with North London. At some point, DLA2-10, 38-47 (possibly minus 45 or 46) moved down south and then the odd trainer moved back into the fleet and ended up down here like DLA62 for example. Cheers for that. I do remember the early S-Reg examples being on the 242 which I believe was the first bus that was converted to DLA buses back in 1998. SF and CT were always sending buses back and forth with each other those days so I'm not 100% sure where the 242 operated from those times. The two routes I loved getting the DLAs were 20 and 34. On the NCR those buses used to fly on the 34 especially going towards Barnet.
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Post by redexpress on Jun 1, 2021 20:14:23 GMT
DLA48-64 were new to TH, everything else R, S & T reg related started off with North London. At some point, DLA2-10, 38-47 (possibly minus 45 or 46) moved down south and then the odd trainer moved back into the fleet and ended up down here like DLA62 for example. Cheers for that. I do remember the early S-Reg examples being on the 242 which I believe was the first bus that was converted to DLA buses back in 1998. SF and CT were always sending buses back and forth with each other those days so I'm not 100% sure where the 242 operated from those times. The two routes I loved getting the DLAs were 20 and 34. On the NCR those buses used to fly on the 34 especially going towards Barnet. At the time when the first DLAs were being introduced, SF was an Arriva London North East garage, so was completely separate from CT. The 242 ran from CT whereas SF mostly ran ex-Grey Green routes. SF did have a share of S/T-reg DLAs for the 168 and 188.
The 242's buses were based at SF for a while but that was much later, during the bendybus era, when CT was downgraded and was not housing any vehicles (the space was used for iBus installations). Apart from that 3-year period the 242 has always been a CT route (although AR did operate the night service for a short while).
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Post by mkay315 on Jun 1, 2021 20:54:07 GMT
Cheers for that. I do remember the early S-Reg examples being on the 242 which I believe was the first bus that was converted to DLA buses back in 1998. SF and CT were always sending buses back and forth with each other those days so I'm not 100% sure where the 242 operated from those times. The two routes I loved getting the DLAs were 20 and 34. On the NCR those buses used to fly on the 34 especially going towards Barnet. At the time when the first DLAs were being introduced, SF was an Arriva London North East garage, so was completely separate from CT. The 242 ran from CT whereas SF mostly ran ex-Grey Green routes. SF did have a share of S/T-reg DLAs for the 168 and 188.
The 242's buses were based at SF for a while but that was much later, during the bendybus era, when CT was downgraded and was not housing any vehicles (the space was used for iBus installations). Apart from that 3-year period the 242 has always been a CT route (although AR did operate the night service for a short while).
I do remember the 242 night service being based at AR in 2008 for a short while before coming back in 2009 when the 38 got converted back to double deckers. Thank you for explaining that to me. I appreciate it.
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Post by bottomless on Jun 3, 2021 19:11:33 GMT
Atlanteans on the 65 were something different back in the day, and I missed the DLAs on the 370 (but not the ones that were on the W3 ) Present day Streetlites on the 232 are rapid, and something different from the ubiquitous E200 I must confess I enjoyed driving the atlanteans on the 65, light runs could be interesting. Although going through a puddle in Chessington running light to Kingston is probably not the best way to find out the near side front wheel arch is holed, lower deck completely soaked!!
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Post by ServerKing on Jun 3, 2021 19:37:52 GMT
Atlanteans on the 65 were something different back in the day, and I missed the DLAs on the 370 (but not the ones that were on the W3 ) Present day Streetlites on the 232 are rapid, and something different from the ubiquitous E200 I must confess I enjoyed driving the atlanteans on the 65, light runs could be interesting. Although going through a puddle in Chessington running light to Kingston is probably not the best way to find out the near side front wheel arch is holed, lower deck completely soaked!! When they used to race each other it was a bit daunting Armchair, predecessors to Metroline Brentford, had a couple of ECW bodied ones with Northern Ireland registration which seemed louder than anything else I have heard. I used to work in Richmond and waiting for one near Manor Circus took an age in rush hour, then two turn up (you hear them before seeing them ) but the narrow car lined streets of Kew weren't the best for thrash with a driver running late The H reg Olympians that replaced them were silent compared with those Present day thrash machines are anything out of Grays nowadays, especially on the 370 or 66. The drivers on the 141 put their foot down on the long diversion up the A10 after Thames Water turned Wood Green into a small lake this week
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Post by danorak on Jun 3, 2021 21:52:59 GMT
I make no apology for my all time favourite bus being an RM, but my more esoteric choice would be the Alexander bodied Scanias Kentish Bus ran on the 51. Comfortable and powerful, and in a great livery too.
I am also very fond of the first batch of DTs out of Bromley. A stylish little bus that has dated very well judging by my trip on one a year or two back. Only the lack of a low floor stopped it passing for new.
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