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Post by M1199 on Dec 11, 2021 23:11:38 GMT
The U7 started it’s life running out of Wings depot in Waterloo Road in Uxbridge, alongside their fleet of minibuses. When I worked down Uxbridge industrial estate, I quite often used to see them dead running along Cowley Mill Road. A random bit of useless info, a Facebook friend used to drive the U7, I’d often see his yellow Dart parked outside his house along Appletree Avenue when he was on his meal break! After the Waterloo base closed, I’m pretty sure they used a base down Springfield Road in Hayes before finally using the current base in North Hyde Gardens. What I can’t remember though is whether the code WS was used for all 3 bases, excluding the period under TGM ownership, where I’m pretty sure they used the TM code. Cheers for correcting. I guess I could rephrase my post to say paying homage to Wings not just the garage! I wouldn’t mind betting this new base along Dawley Road will use the WS code. Quite nice if Abellio kept this as a nod to Wings.
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Post by redexpress on Dec 12, 2021 6:58:29 GMT
With all the excitement/interest of the launch of London Transit, the closure of Hayes Bus Garage went rather under the radar, but just wanted to pay homage to it. The site has operated TFL work consistently since 1999, operating route U7 since its renumbering, the longest route tenure at the garage. They've previously operated routes like the 112 and E6, and at time of closure operated 6 TFL routes and housed 47 buses. This page gives a pretty good overview of the early history of the garage, with a focus on the vehicles it operated. www.countrybus.org/Dart_SLF/Wings/Wings.htmThe U7 started it’s life running out of Wings depot in Waterloo Road in Uxbridge, alongside their fleet of minibuses. When I worked down Uxbridge industrial estate, I quite often used to see them dead running along Cowley Mill Road. A random bit of useless info, a Facebook friend used to drive the U7, I’d often see his yellow Dart parked outside his house along Appletree Avenue when he was on his meal break! After the Waterloo base closed, I’m pretty sure they used a base down Springfield Road in Hayes before finally using the current base in North Hyde Gardens. What I can’t remember though is whether the code WS was used for all 3 bases, excluding the period under TGM ownership, where I’m pretty sure they used the TM code. Do you remember by any chance when the operation moved from Waterloo Road to Hayes? I was looking through archived versions of londonbusroutes.net; the earliest snapshot is from Dec 2001 which shows the Wings routes operating out of North Hyde Gardens.
According to the countrybus.org page linked above, the operations moved from North Hyde Gardens to Springfield Road in April 2005, then back to North Hyde Gardens in Sep 2006. Not entirely sure of the circumstances of these moves, but must have been linked to the various ownership changes (Wings to TGM in 2004, TGM to NatEx in 2005).
I believe the TfL code has always been WS, at least for the two Hayes bases. The TM code was used internally by the operator.
Your story of the bus parked outside the driver's house reminded me of the 232 Dart that would often park up on Alexandra Road, off Turnpike Lane, instead of the bus station. Pretty sure the driver - or their friend - lived round there!
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Post by M1199 on Dec 12, 2021 9:36:26 GMT
The U7 started it’s life running out of Wings depot in Waterloo Road in Uxbridge, alongside their fleet of minibuses. When I worked down Uxbridge industrial estate, I quite often used to see them dead running along Cowley Mill Road. A random bit of useless info, a Facebook friend used to drive the U7, I’d often see his yellow Dart parked outside his house along Appletree Avenue when he was on his meal break! After the Waterloo base closed, I’m pretty sure they used a base down Springfield Road in Hayes before finally using the current base in North Hyde Gardens. What I can’t remember though is whether the code WS was used for all 3 bases, excluding the period under TGM ownership, where I’m pretty sure they used the TM code. Do you remember by any chance when the operation moved from Waterloo Road to Hayes? I was looking through archived versions of londonbusroutes.net; the earliest snapshot is from Dec 2001 which shows the Wings routes operating out of North Hyde Gardens. According to the countrybus.org page linked above, the operations moved from North Hyde Gardens to Springfield Road in April 2005, then back to North Hyde Gardens in Sep 2006. Not entirely sure of the circumstances of these moves, but must have been linked to the various ownership changes (Wings to TGM in 2004, TGM to NatEx in 2005). I believe the TfL code has always been WS, at least for the two Hayes bases. The TM code was used internally by the operator. Your story of the bus parked outside the driver's house reminded me of the 232 Dart that would often park up on Alexandra Road, off Turnpike Lane, instead of the bus station. Pretty sure the driver - or their friend - lived round there!
Having used the Wayback Machine on London Bus Routes, there was a save from 31/03/2001 stating they were still using Waterloo Road and another from 17/05/2001 and by that time, they'd moved to North Hyde Gardens. Interestingly, they appear to of used the WI garage code under Wings' operation. Did the move to North Hyde Gardens co-inside with them winning the E6? Or is that something I've convinced myself to be true, through overthinking! I know the Waterloo Road site was sold off for residential redevelopment, but I'm pretty sure that didn't happen till the mid/late 00's I've got 20 years worth of TLB's up in my loft, however, it'd take a month of Sundays to find out the correct information!
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Post by redexpress on Dec 12, 2021 10:43:24 GMT
Do you remember by any chance when the operation moved from Waterloo Road to Hayes? I was looking through archived versions of londonbusroutes.net; the earliest snapshot is from Dec 2001 which shows the Wings routes operating out of North Hyde Gardens. According to the countrybus.org page linked above, the operations moved from North Hyde Gardens to Springfield Road in April 2005, then back to North Hyde Gardens in Sep 2006. Not entirely sure of the circumstances of these moves, but must have been linked to the various ownership changes (Wings to TGM in 2004, TGM to NatEx in 2005). I believe the TfL code has always been WS, at least for the two Hayes bases. The TM code was used internally by the operator. Your story of the bus parked outside the driver's house reminded me of the 232 Dart that would often park up on Alexandra Road, off Turnpike Lane, instead of the bus station. Pretty sure the driver - or their friend - lived round there!
Having used the Wayback Machine on London Bus Routes, there was a save from 31/03/2001 stating they were still using Waterloo Road and another from 17/05/2001 and by that time, they'd moved to North Hyde Gardens. Interestingly, they appear to of used the WI garage code under Wings' operation. Did the move to North Hyde Gardens co-inside with them winning the E6? Or is that something I've convinced myself to be true, through overthinking! I know the Waterloo Road site was sold off for residential redevelopment, but I'm pretty sure that didn't happen till the mid/late 00's I've got 20 years worth of TLB's up in my loft, however, it'd take a month of Sundays to find out the correct information! Aha, I didn't look back far enough on the Wayback Machine! I saw the WI code, but in those days the codes on londonbusroutes.net were often unofficial codes used by operators and/or enthusiasts. After a few years he started listing the official LBSL/TfL codes separately, and that's always been shown as WS. I suppose WI might have been the official LBSL code for Waterloo Road though.
They won the E6 in May 2002 so that can't have been the reason.
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Post by vjaska on Dec 12, 2021 11:20:53 GMT
The U7 started it’s life running out of Wings depot in Waterloo Road in Uxbridge, alongside their fleet of minibuses. When I worked down Uxbridge industrial estate, I quite often used to see them dead running along Cowley Mill Road. A random bit of useless info, a Facebook friend used to drive the U7, I’d often see his yellow Dart parked outside his house along Appletree Avenue when he was on his meal break! After the Waterloo base closed, I’m pretty sure they used a base down Springfield Road in Hayes before finally using the current base in North Hyde Gardens. What I can’t remember though is whether the code WS was used for all 3 bases, excluding the period under TGM ownership, where I’m pretty sure they used the TM code. Do you remember by any chance when the operation moved from Waterloo Road to Hayes? I was looking through archived versions of londonbusroutes.net; the earliest snapshot is from Dec 2001 which shows the Wings routes operating out of North Hyde Gardens. According to the countrybus.org page linked above, the operations moved from North Hyde Gardens to Springfield Road in April 2005, then back to North Hyde Gardens in Sep 2006. Not entirely sure of the circumstances of these moves, but must have been linked to the various ownership changes (Wings to TGM in 2004, TGM to NatEx in 2005). I believe the TfL code has always been WS, at least for the two Hayes bases. The TM code was used internally by the operator. Your story of the bus parked outside the driver's house reminded me of the 232 Dart that would often park up on Alexandra Road, off Turnpike Lane, instead of the bus station. Pretty sure the driver - or their friend - lived round there!
There was a driver at Travel London who used to bring a TA home with him and park it up on Brixton Water Lane but he stopped when a load of kids got on board and began messing about with the rear blind. More recently, there was also a Coaches Excetera driver who bring a vehicle home with him and park up on St Matthews Road - anything from a coach to a mini bus to even a Volvo Olympian once
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Post by YY13VKP on Dec 16, 2021 12:22:20 GMT
Have the ex C3 Enviro400H’s (2452-2466) got anything lined up for them after they finish on the 63, or will they be going off lease?
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Post by M1104 on Dec 16, 2021 12:33:53 GMT
Have the ex C3 Enviro400H’s (2452-2466) got anything lined up for them after they finish on the 63, or will they be going off lease? They'll likely go to their intended allocation on the 156/345 so as to finally free up the delayed withdrawal of E40Ds for pastures new.
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Post by snowman on Dec 16, 2021 12:49:33 GMT
Have the ex C3 Enviro400H’s (2452-2466) got anything lined up for them after they finish on the 63, or will they be going off lease? Depending on how electrification at TF and electric buses for 111 is coming along, might start the 111 service for Abellio in April
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Post by rj131 on Dec 16, 2021 12:51:01 GMT
Have the ex C3 Enviro400H’s (2452-2466) got anything lined up for them after they finish on the 63, or will they be going off lease? Depending on how electrification at TF and electric buses for 111 is coming along, might start the 111 service for Abellio in April Has an order even been confirmed for the 111 yet? Unless I’m late to the party 😂
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Post by vjaska on Dec 16, 2021 12:51:45 GMT
Have the ex C3 Enviro400H’s (2452-2466) got anything lined up for them after they finish on the 63, or will they be going off lease? Depending on how electrification at TF and electric buses for 111 is coming along, might start the 111 service for Abellio in April I would imagine the 111’s LT’s merely follow the route to Abellio on a temporary basis until the electrics arrive
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Post by TB123 on Dec 16, 2021 13:56:39 GMT
Depending on how electrification at TF and electric buses for 111 is coming along, might start the 111 service for Abellio in April Has an order even been confirmed for the 111 yet? Unless I’m late to the party 😂 Surprisingly not. I'd expect more E400EVs. The sheer scale of the duty cycles shouldn't warrant any specialised vehicles (ie Oppcharge etc) because of the 2 extra buses being put in the schedule presumably to build charge time in. Although wonder if the Beulas product might be considered based on its exceptional advertised range?
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Post by paulo on Dec 16, 2021 14:28:42 GMT
Has an order even been confirmed for the 111 yet? Unless I’m late to the party 😂 Surprisingly not. I'd expect more E400EVs. The sheer scale of the duty cycles shouldn't warrant any specialised vehicles (ie Oppcharge etc) because of the 2 extra buses being put in the schedule presumably to build charge time in. Although wonder if the Beulas product might be considered based on its exceptional advertised range? My prediction is that the LTs remain on the 111. Lack of (known) order and the fact that they are in place already leads me to suspect that may be the case.
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Post by TB123 on Dec 16, 2021 14:30:22 GMT
Surprisingly not. I'd expect more E400EVs. The sheer scale of the duty cycles shouldn't warrant any specialised vehicles (ie Oppcharge etc) because of the 2 extra buses being put in the schedule presumably to build charge time in. Although wonder if the Beulas product might be considered based on its exceptional advertised range? My prediction is that the LTs remain on the 111. Lack of (known) order and the fact that they are in place already leads me to suspect that may be the case. I too would not be especially surprised if that happened. Commonality of LT fleet at TF too.
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Post by portman227 on Dec 16, 2021 15:54:26 GMT
Is there anything in the 130 and 433 schedule to suggest a crosslink between them, the 130 bus that terminates at Parchmore road always then goes and starts on the 433 30 minutes later, and that’s been the case for over a month now.
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Post by BE37054 (quoll662) on Dec 16, 2021 16:13:46 GMT
Is there anything in the 130 and 433 schedule to suggest a crosslink between them, the 130 bus that terminates at Parchmore road always then goes and starts on the 433 30 minutes later, and that’s been the case for over a month now. Trip 93 on the 130 runs from Parchmore Road (exiting service 1542) and then goes to Addington Village to run trip 129 at 1622.
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