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Post by redexpress on Oct 19, 2020 20:30:32 GMT
Just as we're on the topic, remember these! www.flickr.com/photos/michaelwadman/10428530846(not my link) For Travel London's first stint, these buses were transferred down from the West Midlands, fully blinded for the C1..until the Solos arrived. Did these also run the H30 at first? I remember the route had a temporary allocation of borrowed vehicles when it started, until new Darts arrived a few months later.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2020 14:10:37 GMT
9442 (LJ09CCE) seems to be the first DD on the 350 after a few years, albeit on the V350.
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Post by M1199 on Oct 20, 2020 16:20:51 GMT
The nearside view of that bus reminds me of the Optare Excel operated by Travel London (ironically now Abellio!) if anyone else remembers. The shape, window profile and shape, and probably the upward sloping livery: (Not my pic): www.flickr.com/photos/44483738@N05/5425799623/Not only do I remember them I drove them when Limebourne took over Out of interest, what were they like from a drivers perspective? Think I may of only went on 1 maybe 2 of those Travel London Excels, but had them on an almost daily basis when Capital Logistics/TGM ran the U3 - Remember these being pretty nippy when they weren’t off the road!!!
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Post by M1104 on Oct 20, 2020 19:04:22 GMT
Not only do I remember them I drove them when Limebourne took over Out of interest, what were they like from a drivers perspective? Think I may of only went on 1 maybe 2 of those Travel London Excels, but had them on an almost daily basis when Capital Logistics/TGM ran the U3 - Remember these being pretty nippy when they weren’t off the road!!! They were indeed very nippy with a good amount of torque. On the flip side the brakes were just as powerful, like on the VC class Volvo B10M deckers (as opposed to the Caetano Darts which required more foot pressure to slow down/stop). The cab posture took a bit of time to get use to as it initially felt quite a bit lower than the Caetanos and DRL class Dennis Darts. The gear hold was fun to use with the use of the digital selector but even without the override the torque-break fashion of the gear changes still made it a fun bus to drive. It's only a pity they had reliability issues, although i never experienced any. I did however often have the C1's Solos as my scheduled running number(s) on the 211, which in their own ways were also nippy. I would've loved to have driven the Excels on the 156 despite the type having lower capacity than the Caetanos.
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Post by ThinLizzy on Oct 20, 2020 19:18:14 GMT
Out of interest, what were they like from a drivers perspective? Think I may of only went on 1 maybe 2 of those Travel London Excels, but had them on an almost daily basis when Capital Logistics/TGM ran the U3 - Remember these being pretty nippy when they weren’t off the road!!! They were indeed very nippy with a good amount of torque. On the flip side the brakes were just as powerful, like on the VC class Volvo B10M deckers (as opposed to the Caetano Darts which required more foot pressure to slow down/stop). The cab posture took a bit of time to get use to as it initially felt quite a bit lower than the Caetanos and DRL class Dennis Darts. The gear hold was fun to use with the use of the digital selector but even without the override the torque-break fashion of the gear changes still made it a fun bus to drive. It's only a pity they had reliability issues, although i never experienced any. I did however often have the C1's Solos as my scheduled running number(s) on the 211, which in their own ways were also nippy. I would've loved to have driven the Excels on the 156 despite the type having lower capacity than the Caetanos. The Excels were great lite things, totally unsuited to the 211 but their interiors and pink (I think) handrails were quite nice. I managed to allocate an Excel out on the 156 one late evening. The Caetanos were blinded for the C1 and 211 before Limebourne took over Travel London- I only ever saw one Caetano out on the 211 being driven by one of the owners, which became an interesting handover at Victoria with the new (ex Travel London driver) refusing to take over a bus from one of the owners because they hadn't been type trained
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Post by M1104 on Oct 20, 2020 20:39:43 GMT
They were indeed very nippy with a good amount of torque. On the flip side the brakes were just as powerful, like on the VC class Volvo B10M deckers (as opposed to the Caetano Darts which required more foot pressure to slow down/stop). The cab posture took a bit of time to get use to as it initially felt quite a bit lower than the Caetanos and DRL class Dennis Darts. The gear hold was fun to use with the use of the digital selector but even without the override the torque-break fashion of the gear changes still made it a fun bus to drive. It's only a pity they had reliability issues, although i never experienced any. I did however often have the C1's Solos as my scheduled running number(s) on the 211, which in their own ways were also nippy. I would've loved to have driven the Excels on the 156 despite the type having lower capacity than the Caetanos. The Excels were great lite things, totally unsuited to the 211 but their interiors and pink (I think) handrails were quite nice. I managed to allocate an Excel out on the 156 one late evening. The Caetanos were blinded for the C1 and 211 before Limebourne took over Travel London- I only ever saw one Caetano out on the 211 being driven by one of the owners, which became an interesting handover at Victoria with the new (ex Travel London driver) refusing to take over a bus from one of the owners because they hadn't been type trained I almost forgot about the Caetanos already having 211/C1 on their blinds. Thankfully I was never allocated one as I was a bit concerned of that left turn from Beauford Street into Kings Road, the Waterloo-bound routing at the time. I remember one of the Travel London drivers complaining that the brakes didn't work all that well, him being used to the Excels. I can still relate to that as to me even the DRs then used on the G1 had better brakes over the Caetanos....and also better than the euro2 LDPs I later drove upon my return back to London General. I agree that the Excels weren't quite suited to the 211's capacity demands and should've been longer bodied...if it weren't for that said Beaufort Street routing. Such a pity the routing then wasn't via Sydney Street for the possible longer body. I envy your pleasure on the 156 with one. lol I do remember one on the 344 one time mind you, which was then my follower. If only the E20Ds today would've had the 6.7L engines that are optional by ADL, giving a bit of reminisant on the Excel performance.
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Post by M1104 on Oct 22, 2020 15:01:41 GMT
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Post by southlondonbus on Oct 22, 2020 18:44:12 GMT
Let's hope it proved a useful evaluation.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2020 19:30:10 GMT
Let's hope it proved a useful evaluation. A few of my colleagues in Surface rode the bus too and said they were impressed! Let's hope that this is the start of something great for London
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Post by TP1 on Oct 22, 2020 22:34:27 GMT
I'm curious, would this be the first Toyota chassis/engine bus in London?
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Post by M1104 on Oct 23, 2020 8:22:36 GMT
I'm curious, would this be the first Toyota chassis/engine bus in London? I believe so
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Post by COBO on Oct 25, 2020 13:08:46 GMT
What’s happening to the ex C3 Enviro 400Hs?
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Post by M1104 on Oct 25, 2020 14:26:05 GMT
What’s happening to the ex C3 Enviro 400Hs? There was a plan to move around three of them to partially deck the 350, however LVF history shows all but one¹ are presently working other QB routes. Once the outstanding tenders are announced there should be clarification on where they'll be more permanently allocated. ¹ - 2452 moved to BC
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Post by ilovelondonbuses on Oct 25, 2020 15:15:07 GMT
What’s happening to the ex C3 Enviro 400Hs? There was a plan to move around three of them to partially deck the 350, however LVF history shows all but one¹ are presently working other QB routes. Once the outstanding tenders are announced there should be clarification on where they'll be more permanently allocated. ¹ - 2452 moved to BC I assume they are part of the spares fleet right now. I guess Abellio are awaiting tender results to figure out what the future of the ex-route C3 E40Hs will be in the longer term.
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Post by southlondonbus on Oct 25, 2020 17:44:23 GMT
My guess would be the E9. Not quite enough for the 156 if the E9 was lost but could be topped up by some off the 427 once Crossrail opens. Even if the 427 doesnt shorten now I believe the freq was going to drop so would probably still free up four buses or so.
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