Know Your Routes: Route 111

SP25 returns from the stands bound for Kingston on route 111.

Every now and then at the team, we receive post requests like this one. This post is dedicated to Au Morandarte, A WLTM blogger, who is a great contributor as well as the head of West London Time Masters (WLTM). We hope you enjoy the post Au!

And yes, it's our 75th post.

The 111, another interesting route in the London Bus Network which runs between Kingston and Heathrow Central providing a 24-hour bus service in between. The route (Towards Kingston) starts at Heathrow Bus Station for terminals 1,2 and 3 before going into the Tunnels at Heathrow as there is a runway above it. The route mainly follows the 105 until Cranford past Harlington Corner. At Cranford, the bus heads down Cranford Lane now bound for Hounslow Bus Station passing the outskirts of Norwood Green (Interchange for 482/ H32). Now coming to Hounslow East, the route sprints through one stop - now arriving at Hounslow, Bus Station. After going past 'Home' (Hounslow Bus Garage), the route starts to go to Hanworth and Nurserylands prior to arriving at Hampton. Passing the well-known
Hampton Court Palace, the route crosses the River Thames to find itself at the end of the route, Kingston.

The route is operated from London United's Hounslow (AV) garage using Scania Omnicities 10.6m (SP) that are mounted on a N230UD chassis.

YT10 UWB arrives at Heathrow finishing the long trip from Kingston.

The route used to run with VA's (Alexander Dennis ALX400 on a Volvo B7TL chassis) and VP's (Plaxton Presidents on a Volvo B7TL chassis) until 2010 when these vehicles were mainly displaced on to 120 which has capacity problems within Southall. The buses were replaced by the existing buses on 111, the SP's which were numbered SP165-190.

A few more pictures, supplied from our fantastic co-worker, Lewis:

In my opinion, one of Lewis's best pictures. Here shows YT10 XCB swinging out of Central Bus Station.

YT09 BMZ leaves Heathrow bound for the tunnel.

YT09 BMU// SP43 is bound for the Heathrow Tunnels.

YT10 XBX leaves Heathrow bound for the tunnels.

At Hounslow (AV), the SP's are mixed around - as you can see, there was 08, 09 and 10reg buses on the 111. Here is the fleetlist:

YT10 UWA - SP165

YT10 UWB - SP166

YT10 UWD - SP167

YT10 UWF - SP168

YT10 UWG - SP169

YT10 UWH - SP170

YT10 XBU - SP171

YT10 XBV - SP172

YT10 XBW - SP173

YT10 XBX - SP174

YT10 XBY - SP175

YT10 XBZ - SP176

YT10 XCA - SP177

YT10 XCB - SP178

YT10 XCC - SP179

YT10 XCD - SP180

YT10 XCE - SP181

YT10 XCF - SP182

YT10 XCG - SP183

YT10 XCH - SP184

YT10 XCJ - SP185

YT10 XCK - SP186

YT10 XCL - SP187

YT10 XCM - SP188

YT10 XCN - SP189

YT10 XCO - SP190

Thanks to Lewis for supplying me these wonderful photos!

Hope you've enjoyed the post and remember to stay safe!