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Post by M1199 on May 15, 2016 20:59:02 GMT
Bus types I've had on the U3:
London Buses, The U Line / Uxbridge Buses and First Centrewest
Midibuses:
MA's, F***XMS
MT7, G537GBD
MW17, LDZ9017
MM25/6, N625/6NAV
Dennis Darts:
D's, N6**ACF
L's, P4**MLA
DML179, R179TLM
Capital Logistics/Tellings Golden Miller
Optare Excels R985-992EWU
Dennis Darts:
R5**SJM (235 batch)
S515/6/7JJH (Kingston Uni batch)
P2**FPK (Green 465 batch)
V3**MDP (H20/26 batch)
W4**UGM (R68 batch)
W6**UGM (R70 batch)
X3**KRX (H28 batch)
First London:
Dennis Darts Marshall Capital
DMS
DM
DML
(far too many Marshall's to list!)
D's (Again)
L's/DMP's (Again)
V542/50JBH - Hired in from Thorpes/Mitchem Belle
Dennis Lance LLW31
Dennis Tridents:
TP's
(Too many to list)
Enviro200's:
DML
Enviro400's
DN
Metroline:
Enviro200's
DE
Enviro400's
TE
Dennis Trident
TP
Volvo B7TL's
VP
Think thats it!!! Have only missed out on 2 types so far, 1st was one of those Merc 709's that were used on the H26 and the 55reg VW's off the 607. Most unexpected bus to travel on was LLW31, couldn't believe it when I saw that come into view!
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Post by vjaska on May 15, 2016 23:18:09 GMT
Bus types I've had on the U3: London Buses, The U Line / Uxbridge Buses and First Centrewest Midibuses: MA's, F***XMS MT7, G537GBD MW17, LDZ9017 MM25/6, N625/6NAV Dennis Darts: D's, N6**ACF L's, P4**MLA DML179, R179TLM Capital Logistics/Tellings Golden Miller Optare Excels R985-992EWU Dennis Darts: R5**SJM (235 batch) S515/6/7JJH (Kingston Uni batch) P2**FPK (Green 465 batch) V3**MDP (H20/26 batch) W4**UGM (R68 batch) W6**UGM (R70 batch) X3**KRX (H28 batch) First London: Dennis Darts Marshall Capital DMS DM DML (far too many Marshall's to list!) D's (Again) L's/DMP's (Again) V542/50JBH - Hired in from Thorpes/Mitchem Belle Dennis Lance LLW31 Dennis Tridents: TP's (Too many to list) Enviro200's: DML Enviro400's DN Metroline: Enviro200's DE Enviro400's TE Dennis Trident TP Volvo B7TL's VP Think thats it!!! Have only missed out on 2 types so far, 1st was one of those Merc 709's that were used on the H26 and the 55reg VW's off the 607. Most unexpected bus to travel on was LLW31, couldn't believe it when I saw that come into view! With the 45, since the Titans, I've only missed out on three types - WHV's, WSD1 & the SP class Spectras. Most unexpected bus was a R reg single door LDP - saw it a few times and one day it actually turned up whilst off to King's College Hospital  |
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Post by l1group on May 16, 2016 0:00:28 GMT
For me, even though I'm pretty darn young, my most used routes were pretty varied. The H91 evolved from a small single decker route to a regional spoke route which is pretty important in West London nowadays as Brentford's Golden Mile evolved. Operators have changed severely, with NCP/NSL, First, Armchair, Travel London and Tellings Golden-Miller all biting the dust. My most used routes are as shown:
111: The route that started it all for me. MCW Metrobuses, B7TL with President or ALX400 bodies became the norm for many years. Trident chassis on ALX400 bodies were also there in the form of TA201-203 and TA312-316. Then newer VAs from the 148 came for a short while. Meanwhile, there were the odd workings of Darts and Olympians that did happen. iBus loans came in the form of TNs and PVLs. Scania Omnicity DDs are now the norm on the 111, with the odd Enviro 400 and Trident being added in.
120: Practically all the types that the 111 had, with the Enviro 400 being the allocation instead nowadays.
237: Under Armchair, it was Olympians, Darts (yup), then moved to Tridents (DT) which were pretty good (but turned not so good later on). Metroline took over and TA/TPs were the norm for some time, then the odd TE working did happen. Now it's with Volvo B9TL/Gemini 2s under Metroline.
H28: Darts and now Enviro 200s. It's had three owners of practically the same operator (TGM > TLN > Abellio). I do remember under Travel London or TGM, a 555 Silver Dart ended up on the H28, displaying "28"!
H91: From everything at HH to, erm... Every type of double decker in HH. LLWs were probably the most memorable, followed by practically every non-AV 10.8m Dart batch. Remember the non-functioning air conditioning and the luggage racks. Yes, more ex-555 Darts. Olympians and Metrobuses popped round as well. Then SP1-15 became the allocation after progressively newer Darts came onto the route, including the batches from the 49 and 33. iBus loans were the DNs from Blue Triangle. Yes, I had a photo. Double decker conversion was solidified by the newer, current SPs. However, Tridents for the 635, and VHs for the 285/116 still run on the route. And there are always the odd Enviro 200 and, yes, more Darts. Some things still don't change. Like the morning Sunday service still being every half hour.
272: What comes around, goes around. DPK, DPS under London United. Then it was won by NCP Challenger, who put new Enviro 200s in 2007. Then it went NSL, then Transdev bought NSL Services (buses). Initially it was under Sovereign before it became under London United. Then the DPSs came back. And now it's mostly DPSs, again.
E3: Yup, even more Darts. Marshall bodied, though. Then, finally, a double decker conversion happened in 2002 with TNs. 2009 brought Enviro 400s. First seemed solid on the E3, then they sold that to Metroline West. My views on that are pretty strong, so it was a pretty relief that it's now under London United with SPs. It went from very frequent, through very erratic, back to fairly frequent.
N9: My usage of the N9 has only really increased in the past few years, but the N9 was the first night route I did use. It had VA/VPs when I had my earliest memory of it, and it now has SPs. A solid allocation of SPs. Yeah...
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Post by T.R. on May 16, 2016 8:24:04 GMT
Most routes I've grown up with are mostly stable:
41 - 18+ years with Cowie/Arriva Ms, the odd L, DLAs/VLWs, the odd DLP, and now DWs.
91 - 22+ years with MTL Ms, Capital Citybus Olympians, First TNs/VNLs, Metroline TEs, the odd VW, and now LTs...
210 - 22 +years with the Grey Green B10M/East Lancs things, then the dual door Thorpes/Metroline DLFs (shout out to former MLF122), and now with DDs, courtesy of Metroline TA/TE/TEH. Since double decker conversion in 2008 peak usage appears to have shot up.
263 - 18+ years with lovely Cowie DAFs, First's Olympian 'museum', Metroline TA/TP, and now the TEs.
Highlights of this route include the crazy First period and the extensions to Holloway and Highbury.
W5 - 18+ years with MTL/Metroline Metroriders, MPDs, and now CTP Solos (with the odd Caetano & E20D). While there are unpleasant memories of squeezing onto MRLs/DLMs en route to school, recently the same occurs from Archway in the evening -_-
W7 - 16 years with MTL/Metroline Ms, Vs, TP/TPL/VPL/VP/TE, and now VW.
I recently stopped using this route - one thing I don't miss were the morning queues at Crouch End.
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Post by Green Kitten on May 16, 2016 8:33:22 GMT
Proud 298er, but only since Sullivan's started operating the route, so since about 2012? I migrated to the 298 after Metroline stopped accepting Oyster cards on the 84. So yeah, pretty pathetic with my four years!  |
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Post by john on May 16, 2016 10:04:03 GMT
I used the 174 for 26 years of my life and seen it change alot. It used to be that and the old 87 running through Harold Hill and the 296 all using Titans. The 296 used to do a double run into the new Gallows Corner Tesco too!!
Then they cut the 87 back to Romford Market and introduced the 374 while leaving the 174 as was, still with Titans. It was only until 2001 that the route saw TAS operation and things started to change abit.
The biggest was when they cut the 374 completely and diverted the 174 from Noak Hill to Harold Hill with routes set up as they now are. If I remember rightly it was only every 12 minutes when I was little and now it could do with being every 6!!
I've now had to deal with the 370 for the past 4 years but have to say, GY have got better with their maintenance!!! The VLA's are in half decent state and, being GY, the drivers aren't afraid of flooring it. However the ex-CT DW's are being looked after very well. . . . .which makes a change
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Post by M1104 on May 16, 2016 10:11:17 GMT
Bus types I've had on the U3: London Buses, The U Line / Uxbridge Buses and First Centrewest Midibuses: MA's, F***XMS MT7, G537GBD MW17, LDZ9017 MM25/6, N625/6NAV Dennis Darts: D's, N6**ACF L's, P4**MLA DML179, R179TLM Capital Logistics/Tellings Golden Miller Optare Excels R985-992EWU Dennis Darts: R5**SJM (235 batch) S515/6/7JJH (Kingston Uni batch) P2**FPK (Green 465 batch) V3**MDP (H20/26 batch) W4**UGM (R68 batch) W6**UGM (R70 batch) X3**KRX (H28 batch) First London: Dennis Darts Marshall Capital DMS DM DML (far too many Marshall's to list!) D's (Again) L's/DMP's (Again) V542/50JBH - Hired in from Thorpes/Mitchem Belle Dennis Lance LLW31 Dennis Tridents: TP's (Too many to list) Enviro200's: DML Enviro400's DN Metroline: Enviro200's DE Enviro400's TE Dennis Trident TP Volvo B7TL's VP Think thats it!!! Have only missed out on 2 types so far, 1st was one of those Merc 709's that were used on the H26 and the 55reg VW's off the 607. Most unexpected bus to travel on was LLW31, couldn't believe it when I saw that come into view! With the 45, since the Titans, I've only missed out on three types - WHV's, WSD1 & the SP class Spectras. Do you remember if WDL1 was ever on the 45 when Q based? |
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Post by vjaska on May 16, 2016 10:16:12 GMT
With the 45, since the Titans, I've only missed out on three types - WHV's, WSD1 & the SP class Spectras. Do you remember if WDL1 was ever on the 45 when Q based? Don't think it was from memory? |
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Post by rmz19 on May 16, 2016 11:03:26 GMT
There are a few routes I regularly used but not exactly for decades as I haven't lived for that long In my teen ages I would regularly use the 6, 13, 18, 27, 28, 31, 36, 52, 82, 113, 187, 274, 316 and 328. Since my transition from College to Uni (and moving houses permanently) until now I've been using the 6 and 36 regularly for ~8 years. |
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Post by riverside on May 16, 2016 12:20:40 GMT
I remember the old 55, forerunner to the E8, with Daimler Fleetline deckers and popping 10p in the box as a kid (it was just 20p for an Adult), seen the E8 emerge after E1 was split at Ealing Broadway, seen the buses progress from Wrightbus Renault single deckers... to the TP class deckers, back for a while to single deckers and onwards to deckers and Hounslow extension  so quite a lot of changes since the early 80s... During that time I moved to North London, then back to West and am considering heading for the Shires as London is getting too costly rent wise  I think time might be playing tricks here. The 55 was not the forerunner to the E8. When the Ealing flat fare scheme was introduced on 30/11/68 the old 55 which was RM worked (with a few extra Turnham Green RTs on Saturdays) was replaced. The 55 had run between Chiswick(Swimming Pools)/Chiswick Station to Hayes(Bourne Avenue). It was replaced by the new E3 running between Chiswick (Swimming Pools) and Greenford (Red Lion) using MBSs. The new RT operated 274 ran from Ealing Broadway via the previously unserved southern part of Argyle Road to Greenford and then replacing the remainder of the 55 on to Hayes (Bourne Avenue). The first day of operation was very wet and cold. The new 36ft buses had problems negotiating the parked cars plus doors and turnstiles all gave problems. In those days there were no concessionary passes so even OAPs had to pay. The previous day they had fully seated RTs and RMs with hopefully helpful conductors.Now they were faced by turnstiles to negotiate and then once they got through they had to go either up another step towards the rear where the 25 seats were or stand in the front part of the bus designed for 48 standees. The present E8 covers part of the old E1. Prior to the introduction of the E1 the former 255 still ran along Boston Manor Road during Monday to Friday rush hours to reach Hanwell Broadway but it was cut back to Gunnersbury Roundabout as part of the Ealing Flat fare scheme. The 255 was RM operated out of Riverside. |
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Post by ServerKing on May 16, 2016 13:35:00 GMT
I remember the old 55, forerunner to the E8, with Daimler Fleetline deckers and popping 10p in the box as a kid (it was just 20p for an Adult), seen the E8 emerge after E1 was split at Ealing Broadway, seen the buses progress from Wrightbus Renault single deckers... to the TP class deckers, back for a while to single deckers and onwards to deckers and Hounslow extension so quite a lot of changes since the early 80s... During that time I moved to North London, then back to West and am considering heading for the Shires as London is getting too costly rent wise I think time might be playing tricks here. The 55 was not the forerunner to the E8. When the Ealing flat fare scheme was introduced on 30/11/68 the old 55 which was RM worked (with a few extra Turnham Green RTs on Saturdays) was replaced. The 55 had run between Chiswick(Swimming Pools)/Chiswick Station to Hayes(Bourne Avenue). It was replaced by the new E3 running between Chiswick (Swimming Pools) and Greenford (Red Lion) using MBSs. The new RT operated 274 ran from Ealing Broadway via the previously unserved southern part of Argyle Road to Greenford and then replacing the remainder of the 55 on to Hayes (Bourne Avenue). The first day of operation was very wet and cold. The new 36ft buses had problems negotiating the parked cars plus doors and turnstiles all gave problems. In those days there were no concessionary passes so even OAPs had to pay. The previous day they had fully seated RTs and RMs with hopefully helpful conductors.Now they were faced by turnstiles to negotiate and then once they got through they had to go either up another step towards the rear where the 25 seats were or stand in the front part of the bus designed for 48 standees. The present E8 covers part of the old E1. Prior to the introduction of the E1 the former 255 still ran along Boston Manor Road during Monday to Friday rush hours to reach Hanwell Broadway but it was cut back to Gunnersbury Roundabout as part of the Ealing Flat fare scheme. The 255 was RM operated out of Riverside. I knew there was a '55' in there somewhere I was only 3 years old at the time, but I remember the coin box that would 'pop' when you put the fare in  thanks for clearing that up  |
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Post by riverside on May 16, 2016 16:43:35 GMT
I think time might be playing tricks here. The 55 was not the forerunner to the E8. When the Ealing flat fare scheme was introduced on 30/11/68 the old 55 which was RM worked (with a few extra Turnham Green RTs on Saturdays) was replaced. The 55 had run between Chiswick(Swimming Pools)/Chiswick Station to Hayes(Bourne Avenue). It was replaced by the new E3 running between Chiswick (Swimming Pools) and Greenford (Red Lion) using MBSs. The new RT operated 274 ran from Ealing Broadway via the previously unserved southern part of Argyle Road to Greenford and then replacing the remainder of the 55 on to Hayes (Bourne Avenue). The first day of operation was very wet and cold. The new 36ft buses had problems negotiating the parked cars plus doors and turnstiles all gave problems. In those days there were no concessionary passes so even OAPs had to pay. The previous day they had fully seated RTs and RMs with hopefully helpful conductors.Now they were faced by turnstiles to negotiate and then once they got through they had to go either up another step towards the rear where the 25 seats were or stand in the front part of the bus designed for 48 standees. The present E8 covers part of the old E1. Prior to the introduction of the E1 the former 255 still ran along Boston Manor Road during Monday to Friday rush hours to reach Hanwell Broadway but it was cut back to Gunnersbury Roundabout as part of the Ealing Flat fare scheme. The 255 was RM operated out of Riverside. I knew there was a '55' in there somewhere I was only 3 years old at the time, but I remember the coin box that would 'pop' when you put the fare in thanks for clearing that up Probably a good thing you were only three at the time otherwise you would probably still be scarred by the experience of using the original E1-3. I was 11 myself and clearly remember the horrific first day, especially the afternoon when it seemed to rain non stop. Luckily I lived in Hammersmith so although the routes were near at least I did not have to experience them everyday. The service provided by the E routes today is far superior to their original incarnation. |
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Post by Nathan on May 16, 2016 22:46:58 GMT
I think it's about time I posted in this thread. I've only lived in Deptford (until I was 2) and Brockley (bordering New Cross). So the routes I've used the most include the 21, 36, 47, 53, 136, 171, 172, 225, 321, 436, 453. Even though I was very young, I still remember when the 36 used to operate all the way to Lewisham. And when the 321 was still a single decker. Heck, I even remember the old P3 route (now the 343). I remember all the bus types quite vividly too...well...to some degree. Can anyone tell be the bus types used on the 21, 171 and 172 before the PVLs came in? They sounded pretty nice. I remember there were buses with green handle bars and orange ones. The 4/5 year old me used to prefer the latter for some strange reason lol. I still remember the first PVL I boarded, which was on a 21 from Lewisham back home. It smelt like doughnuts . The older DPs (or was it LDPs?) on the 225 were awesome too! It was much better when a Marshall Dart strayed onto the route though haha. I still remember the 321 getting really crowded from Lewisham to New Cross when it had single deckers. Another bus type(s) I've forgotten were the ones used on the 47, 136 and P3. I remember there was one particular bus type that had the rear blind box located in the bottom corner of the rear window downstairs. I'd always love seeing these on the 136! Wow...am I old now?  |
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Post by vjaska on May 16, 2016 23:16:23 GMT
I think it's about time I posted in this thread. I've only lived in Deptford (until I was 2) and Brockley (bordering New Cross). So the routes I've used the most include the 21, 36, 47, 53, 136, 171, 172, 225, 321, 436, 453. Even though I was very young, I still remember when the 36 used to operate all the way to Lewisham. And when the 321 was still a single decker. Heck, I even remember the old P3 route (now the 343). I remember all the bus types quite vividly too...well...to some degree. Can anyone tell be the bus types used on the 21, 171 and 172 before the PVLs came in? They sounded pretty nice. I remember there were buses with green handle bars and orange ones. The 4/5 year old me used to prefer the latter for some strange reason lol. I still remember the first PVL I boarded, which was on a 21 from Lewisham back home. It smelt like doughnuts . The older DPs (or was it LDPs?) on the 225 were awesome too! It was much better when a Marshall Dart strayed onto the route though haha. I still remember the 321 getting really crowded from Lewisham to New Cross when it had single deckers. Another bus type(s) I've forgotten were the ones used on the 47, 136 and P3. I remember there was one particular bus type that had the rear blind box located in the bottom corner of the rear window downstairs. I'd always love seeing these on the 136! Wow...am I old now? NV class Northern Counties Volvo Olympians is what you saw on the 21, 171 & 172. I've even ride a Titan on the P3 myself as a kid lol. |
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Post by M1104 on May 16, 2016 23:26:06 GMT
Another bus type(s) I've forgotten were the ones used on the 47, 136 and P3. I remember there was one particular bus type that had the rear blind box located in the bottom corner of the rear window downstairs. I'd always love seeing these on the 136! Wow...am I old now? That sounds like the VNs, basically the Stagecoach version of the NVs. As well as the rear route number positioning other minor differences were that those Volvos had Voith gearboxes with the M reg examples having the Cummin L10 engines whilst the R reg had standard Volvo units. |
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so quite a lot of changes since the early 80s... During that time I moved to North London, then back to West and am considering heading for the Shires as London is getting too costly rent wise 
thanks for clearing that up 
