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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2021 21:55:51 GMT
Today I decided to ride the 724 quite a lot but more so for sightseeing purposes
U1 home - Uxbridge (I got some Gregg's first) 724 Uxbridge - St Albans Abbey station (09.34 - 10.45) (went through Verulamium Park and past the Cathedral, very nice there, and then onto the old and new towns) 724 St Albans Peter Street - Hatfield Town Centre (11.58 - 12.24) (town centre not that interesting though did have a wander inside the University of Hertfordshire campus, quite a walk from the town centre though) 724 The Galleria - Welwyn Garden City bus station (13.34 - approx 14.00) (nearest bus stop was the one before Hatfield town centre, so I went through it again. The bus was 13 minutes late in Hatfield, made up some time by Welwyn but was still late) 724 New QE2 Hospital - Hertford Bus Garage (15.46 - 16.13) (I spent a long time in Welwyn browsing the town centre and got myself a victoria sponge cake too. Then I went to Stanborough Park which actually took me some way from Welwyn so I missed the bus and had to wait for the next one. In fact I was so far I was going back towards Hatfield. Lovely fields though, and nice views where the GNR passes by. The walk from there to the nearest stop was painful though, I spent almost 1 hour trying to find the nearest stop. This one was 13 minutes late but made up time by the time I got to Hertford) 724 Hertford Bus Garage - Harlow Bus Garage (17.13 - 17.39) (Hertford was nice too, nice pedestrianised town centre and the walk by the River Lea was nice too. I would have stayed longer had it not got dark. Bought dinner at Tesco and had a hot chocolate. Bus was on time at Hertford but was 4 minutes late at Harlow. I skipped Ware because it was dark and I didn't have much time)
There wasn't much to see in Harlow but I felt it isn't that pleasant there. The shopping centre was okay but I didn't want to go to some parks near the town in the dark.
Liked the 724 very much, it has lots of good countryside views along the way, there's a nice section between Welwyn and Hertford. It also has quite a lot of fast sections too.
Greater Anglia Harlow - Tottenham Hale (19.00 - 19.17) (Nice fast journey, though would be better in daylight. The train was fast up until Brimsdown, but driver must have been ahead of time (it was a non stop journey) Victoria line Tottenham Hale - King's Cross Metropolitan line King's Cross - Uxbridge (i pre booked the Greater Anglia so couldn't travel to Liverpool Street anyway, even though Google Maps said that was the quickest route (then via the Met line), though taking the Victoria line meant that I could catch the previous met line) U4 Uxbridge - home
All in all a very good day out, nice to see lots of places I haven't been to before and the Arriva 1 day travel card is decently priced if you take multiple buses.
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Post by LK65EBO on Nov 13, 2021 22:08:46 GMT
Wanted to ride a 111 LT before they go forever so thought today would be a good chance to do it. Also saw a chance to ride some of TFs YY64 E200s for the first time. 235: DEL2263 - quite a nice MMC (generally I think all the 235s DELs are decent in terms of performance) 285: 2044 - I do like the interior layout of these and thought these were very spacious and very well presented by TF. The seats were probably some of the most comfortable I've ever sat in on a TFL bus. Bus rattled quite a lot for a 1 year old bus. 490: 8840 - by far the best E200 I've been on - managed to get good speed down Uxbridge Road. 111: LT93 - I noticed this bus still retains it's QB code from Abellio and also has Abellio sticker's on the floor which is something I've never seen before. The LTs take the bumps in the road really well compared to the SPs they replaced. 111: LT135 - quite a slow ride due to traffic in Hanworth area so not much to talk about here. 490: 8837 - not as good as 8840 but nevertheless still in my opinion the best bunch of E200s I've been on. H26: 8169 - decent bus in general not much to say here. I’m shocked to hear your remarks about the ex 407 E200’s you had. They were horrendous at BC! I think you’re also the first person to say that about that batch I rarely use Enviro 200s to be honest. The last time I rode an Abellio E200 (excluding the one time I used the H25) was way back in December 2016 when the 235 was still with Abellio and when the H26 used those LJ56s. I don't remember many being that fast but I distinctively remember the Caetano's being much faster. The other E200s I used were on the 117 but all of them were awful and also since the 117 is so infrequent it's more likely I'll end up on a 235. I've heard UXs 65 plate DELs are quite good so maybe those are better? Maybe I thought the YY64s were good because it was the first time I've used a decent E200 in a while (age after 2011).
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Post by LK65EBO on Nov 14, 2021 17:41:13 GMT
Calling all west Londoners Next week I’m going to do some trips in Upper West/North West London as its my least frequently visited part of London with quite a lot of routes I haven’t yet tried. (Not talking south west/Kingston area as I’m very familiar with that part of London as I have family down there) Any recommendations of some good end to ends? In that area the only e2e’s I’ve ever done are: - 195, I can’t believe I put myself through it - 297, equally bad but not quite e2e, missed off the top section - 278, quite enjoyable - 440, but before it was rerouted with 218 etc - A10, fantastic route - E1, not exactly a difficult one lol So I’m very open to suggestions as I’d love to do some good ones This is in South West but when you come you should try the 203 with it's MCLs along Great S West Road.
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Post by rj131 on Nov 14, 2021 19:13:20 GMT
Calling all west Londoners Next week I’m going to do some trips in Upper West/North West London as its my least frequently visited part of London with quite a lot of routes I haven’t yet tried. (Not talking south west/Kingston area as I’m very familiar with that part of London as I have family down there) Any recommendations of some good end to ends? In that area the only e2e’s I’ve ever done are: - 195, I can’t believe I put myself through it - 297, equally bad but not quite e2e, missed off the top section - 278, quite enjoyable - 440, but before it was rerouted with 218 etc - A10, fantastic route - E1, not exactly a difficult one lol So I’m very open to suggestions as I’d love to do some good ones This is in South West but when you come you should try the 203 with it's MCLs along Great S West Road. Ive done one of those actually on the 203, MCL30302. The buses are indeed absolutely excellent, had a real quality feel to them like all Citaros, sadly couldn’t bare too long on the route though as it was just absolutely packed from the moment I got on to the moment I got fed up and got off which I understand is nothing unusual for the 203 lol
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Post by LK65EBO on Nov 14, 2021 19:19:46 GMT
This is in South West but when you come you should try the 203 with it's MCLs along Great S West Road. Ive done one of those actually on the 203, MCL30302. The buses are indeed absolutely excellent, had a real quality feel to them like all Citaros, sadly couldn’t bare too long on the route though as it was just absolutely packed from the moment I got on to the moment I got fed up and got off which I understand is nothing unusual for the 203 lol I sort of want them to throw out an MCM on the 203 as performance of these on the 117 is excellent, but knowing AV very unlikely...
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Post by Busboy105 on Nov 14, 2021 20:09:02 GMT
The second leg of my mission to complete the Tube map takes me to the Uxbridge and the Heathrow branches of the Piccadilly Line and TFL Rail. (Doesn't go to plan because I didn't realise that T4 was closed for over a year) WS135 (232)- Palmerston Road to Brent Cross Shopping Centre (love a good old thrash down the A406) ADH45039 (266)- Brent Cross Shopping Centre to King Street Walk to Acton Town Station Piccadilly Line- Acton Town to Uxbridge after a change at Rayners Lane (its kinda funny seeing deeplevel trains at above ground stations;they look almost like toy trains) DEL2065 (A10)- Uxbridge to Heatbrow Central Walk to Heathrow T2&3 Piccadilly Line- Heathrow T2&3 to T5 then to Hounslow West Back up to Hatton Cross where I found out that no trains will go to T4 then went Back to 2&3 Had to re top up because I've used all my money TFL Rail- Heathrow T2&3- Paddington H&C Line- Paddington to King's Cross St Pancras Piccadilly Line- King's Cross St Pancras to Wood Green Short walk home Ended up with -£5 because I thought TFL Rail and Underground shared fares. They don't. Next week should be less of a headache; I'm doing the Jubilee if it isn't scheduled for any closures next week EDIT: didn't put this in last week but anyone who's confused/or cares about what I've done/doing on the Tube Map here's a link that shows everything: tangytango.proboards.com/thread/11647/underground-end?page=1They're all slightly down the page so you might have to scroll.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2021 14:34:26 GMT
My U1 crashed into a car (or the other way round). Fortunately no one was hurt but the driver had to walk around the bus to check if there was any damages, which there was, so he drove to Uxbridge as normal and then the bus had to be taken out of service there. I just got the U4 home afterwards so it was fine.
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Post by dlroper on Nov 17, 2021 19:45:34 GMT
N9 (LT681) Bush Corner Isleworth to Trafalgar Square .............. arriving 2 minutes BEFORE the departure of the next N551 (2525) which I gratefully boarded to Beckton DLR depot - no 29 minute wait for me today 👍 ................ fate attempted to lure me off at CAT Bus Station when 2600 was parked up on an N551 layover but I resisted as I'd photographed it crossing Ludgate Circus on the 26 yesterday PM ............... I do think after all that it is my favourite London Bus (ATM)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2021 17:42:57 GMT
So today I set out with all intentions to do a loop around London.
To cut a long story short I gave up at North Finchley.
X80 Greenhithe to Lakeside ( departed 0930) 372 to Rainham 287 to Barking 238 to Stratford 69 to Walthamstow (This is where it went wrong) 212 to Chingford 444 to Edmonton Angel 102 to AD 329 to Winchmore Hill 125 to North Finchley (arrived 1530)
13 to Finchley Central simply to get NL back to Kings X then home.
It went wrong probably because I didn’t go via Romford and because the 34 was screwed. And because i got tired.
Anyway I’ll give it another go on a Sunday !
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Post by dlroper on Nov 19, 2021 17:54:09 GMT
267 (LT988) Hammersmith to Busch Corner along Chiswick High Road ................ those fecking cycle path roadworks ............. Absolutely DIRE journey - also p*ssed off cos I just missed catching LT999 (Poppy OL) as the service in front by 30 seconds
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2021 18:47:21 GMT
So today I set out with all intentions to do a loop around London. To cut a long story short I gave up at North Finchley. X80 Greenhithe to Lakeside ( departed 0930) 372 to Rainham 287 to Barking 238 to Stratford 69 to Walthamstow (This is where it went wrong) 212 to Chingford 444 to Edmonton Angel 102 to AD 329 to Winchmore Hill 125 to North Finchley (arrived 1530) 13 to Finchley Central simply to get NL back to Kings X then home. It went wrong probably because I didn’t go via Romford and because the 34 was screwed. And because i got tired. Anyway I’ll give it another go on a Sunday ! If you want to do a loop around London I'd suggest leaving first thing in the morning (like 0530) to maximise any chances of completing the loop before the end of the day (ie 0130 the following morning, when most day routes have stopped).
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Post by BE37054 (quoll662) on Nov 19, 2021 21:41:05 GMT
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Post by southlondon413 on Nov 19, 2021 21:48:49 GMT
You could save time by changing at Sutton Grove Road for the X26 then change at Heathrow Central for the X140 and pick up the 114 in Harrow.
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Post by BE37054 (quoll662) on Nov 20, 2021 11:34:45 GMT
You could save time by changing at Sutton Grove Road for the X26 then change at Heathrow Central for the X140 and pick up the 114 in Harrow. Good idea. I hadn't thought of express routes. Could definitely save 2 hours.
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Post by twobellstogo on Nov 20, 2021 13:44:16 GMT
You could save time by changing at Sutton Grove Road for the X26 then change at Heathrow Central for the X140 and pick up the 114 in Harrow. Absolutely this : make use of the X26 and X140 for the western side - will save loads of time and would also probably allow you a decent lunch break somewhere too. Were it me, I’d also only use the X80 once - for me the X80 is the weak link in the loop, because if anything goes wrong on the Dartford Crossing, you’re stuck. Start maybe in Bexleyheath with the 96 to Bluewater, then pick up the X80 there.
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