Know Your Routes; Knock Out the DLA's: Route 142

A brief summary:

Today's post of the day is based on a half-London, half-Hertfordshire route. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's the 142. It runs between Brent Cross, Shopping Centre and Watford Junction station which is out of the London boundaries near to where it's operated from, Arriva Shires & Essex's Garston Base.

The contract of the 142 was retained by Arriva The Shires from there Garston Base, however instead of using ALX400's on a DB250LF chassis, instead they were renewed with slightly more mordern B7TL's but still with ALX400 bodywork. 

History of the 142

In January 1950 the route started between Watford Junction and Kilburn Park via Edgware run from Hendon (AE), Edgware (EW) and Cricklewood (W) garages. After a few garage changes, the route was withdrawn between Kilburn Park and Edgware in 1970 apart from a Mon-Fri Peak Hour service to Colindale, now using single decker buses.
In early 1976, the route was extended to Brent Cross Station via Colindale & West Hendon. Peak Hour services terminated at Brent Cross, Shopping Centre whilst other times all services terminated at the station. In May 1976, the short leg to the station was withdrawn, and all services terminated at the Shopping Centre.
In 1986, the route was reverted back to double deck operation now operated from London County in Garston and in 1990 the route was diverted to serve Edgware Bus Station.
In 2003, the route was slightly rerouted between Edgware and Stanmore following the loss of route 251 in that area, and received new Low Floor buses in the form of DAF DB250LF Alexander ALX400s. The contract was renewed in 2008, and again now in 2013. The route is now getting new buses in the form of 55-reg Volvo B7TL Alexander ALX400s, from Garston Garage.

Why were the buses replaced?

The buses couldn't stick around for any longer as they were aging. It wasn't accepted by TfL if Arriva Shires & Essex were going to use the buses again.

What is happening to the current buses?

The current "KL52 Cxx" buses are to slowly starting to be refurbished, the amount that took up the allocation of 142 will be moved elsewhere in the company on outer-london routes where some high-floor vehicles are still being used. Some will stay at Garston to fill up 340's allocation although the ex-159 buses tend to appear alot on the 340 and 258! 

Where did the buses come from?

The buses shifted over from Arriva London when the 159 got a few newer buses releasing the VLA's to come to Garston. These VLA's have been recoded into ASE coding and have "LJ55 Bxx" reg plates.

And of course, no "Know Your Routes" that involves newer buses would go by without a fleetlist, so here is the fleet list of the new VLAs:

6109 - LJ05 BLV
6123 - LJ05 BKX
6164 - LJ55 BVS
6165 - LJ55 BVT
6166 - LJ55 BVU
6167 - LJ55 BVV
6168 - LJ55 BVW
6171 - LJ55 BVZ
6173 - LJ55 BVE
6174 - LJ55 BVF
6175 - LJ55 BVG
6176 - LJ55 BVH
6177 - LJ55 BVK
6178 - LJ55 BVL
6179 - LJ55 BVM

Here is the fleetlist of all the other double deckerbuses that might appear on the 142:

5448 - SN08 AAE
6000 - KL52 CWN
6001 - KL52 CWO
6002 - KL52 CWP
6003 - KL52 CWR
6004 - KL52 CWT
6005 - KL52 CWU
6006 - KL52 CWV
6007 - KL52 CWW
6008 - KL52 CWZ
6009 - KL52 CXA
6010 - KL52 CXB
6011 - KL52 CXC
6012 - KL52 CXD
6013 - KL52 CXE
6014 - KL52 CXF
6015 - KL52 CXG
6016 - KL52 CXH
6017 - KL52 CXJ
6018 - KL52 CXK
6019 - KL52 CXM
6020 - KL52 CXN
6021 - KL52 CXO
6022 - KL52 CXP
6023 - KL52 CXR
6024 - KL52 CXS
6025 - YJ54 CFG
6026 - YJ55 WPO
6027 - YJ55 WOA
6028 - YJ55 WOB
6029 - YJ55 WOC
6030 - YJ55 WOD
6031 - YJ55 WOH
6032 - YJ55 WOM
6033 - YJ55 WOR
6034 - YJ55 WOU
6035 - YJ55 WOV
6036 - YJ55 WOX
6039 - Y531UGC
6041 - LJ05 GLY
6100 - KX59 AEE
6101 - KX59 AEF

Information correct at February 2nd 2013

Thanks to Lewis for helping me out and we hope you enjoyed this post!