Know Your Routes: Route 140

VP319 whizzes to the stands at Heathrow. This bus has just gained new blinds.

My favourite "Know Your Routes" has to be this one, the 140. One of the best routes in London, in my opinion.

The route starts at Harrow Weald (HD) where it strikes past Wealdstone High Street to enter the ever so busy Harrow Bus Station. From here the 140 heads towards West Harrow going around the back streets of Harrow. The route then makes the appearance at South Harrow before heading down to Northolt Park. After sprinting down Northolt & Wood End, the bus goes around Yeading and Hayes before arriving at Harlington Corner. This is the area where the bus enters the "Heathrow Free Travel Zone" where the bus goes down Bath Road to enter Heathrow Bus Station. The bus then terminates here.

The route is older than a century and it has been through a lot of changes. It first ran from Hayes, Bourne Avenue to Mill Hill Broadway following today's U4 to Hayes and Harlington, then following the current 140 to Harrow before following the current 114 to Mill Hill Broadway.
The Harrow - Mill Hill Broadway section was then discontinued and replaced by the 114 (Ruislip - Mill Hill Broadway) and the 140 was re-routed along today's 340 to Edgware.

Today's 114 - VLE27.

However that extension didn't last long either as that was replaced by the 340 so at this point the route ran to Harrow Weald only. The route was then removed from Hayes, Bourne Avenue to serve Heathrow Airport with night equivalent N140.

Around 1999, a handful of Metroline's first Alexander Dennis ALX400 (TA) came in service for route 140 using a shared allocation with 182. These buses helped to turn the route into a low-floor allocation.

Bringing us to 2000, the 140 lost its N-Prefix route as part of the "24-Hour" scheme. Until today, the 140 is a 24-Hour bus route.

In 2001, long wheelbase Trident Presdients (TPL) came into service on the 140 releasing some TA's elsewhere in the company however many stayed at Harrow Welad (HD) to still run the 140 but to mainly run the 182.

An example of a Voith President. VP622 heads for the stands.

In 2004, the TPL's were sent off to other garages when brand new 04reg and 54reg VP's arrived at Harrow Weald (HD) being numbered VP604 - 628 with VP628 being the special one in the batch having powerblinds to the traditional manual ones. All of the buses were on a Voith gearbox.

In 2007, the remaining TA's at Harrow Weald were moved to Cricklewood allowing VP317-47, which were different to sister vehicles VP604-628 having the ZF gearbox instead, to transfer into the garage for route 182 however the buses are now mixed.

In 2010, the first bus at Harrow Weald was refurbished which was VP333. Some of the refurbishment included: A repaint, new seats (Rowan Telmac) and new stop buttons. At the same time, TPL238 had transferred from Perivale East.

In 2011, VPL207/8 and 209 were the spare longer buses at Harrow Weald but VPL208 moved to Willesden whilst VPL209 moved to Holloway leaving VPL207 on its own. At this time VP470/1/2 had transferred from Willesden (AC) to replace these buses.

Also, in the Harrow Town Centre area, the 140 along with a few other routes were re-routed in the area. Station Road had now become a two-way street opposed to the previous days were it was one way. This meant the 140 was no longer, towards Heathrow, serve Greenhill Way. It  would serve Station Road like it originally did on the way to Harrow Weald Bus Garage (HD) 

In 2012, the last bus at Harrow Weald, well - the last short wheelbase (VP) was refurbished in the form of VP628/ LK54 FWG (The one with the powerblinds) leaving VPL207 the sole bus at Harrow Weald which hasn't got the blue skirt removed.

In 2013, several buses went faulty due to the harsh conditions they were exposed to. VPL213, 218 and 222 have transferred to Harrow Weald(HD) although VPL213 and 218 have gone back to Edgware. Here are two photos of VPL222:

VPL222 at Stand 19, Heathrow.

VPL222 at stand 19, Heathrow.

The end of Euro 3 buses are to come soon so for the future of the 140, maybe new or existing buses may appear on the route later.

Here are a few more pictures of the 140, brought to you our good blogger, Lewis:

VP611 at the stands at Heathrow.

VP328 ready to go in the Heathrow Tunnel. A ZF President.

Ignore the A10, on the left is VP466/ LK03 GKE.

VP616 ready to go into the Heathrow Tunnels.

VP488 at South Harrow

VP320 at South Harrow

VP340 at South Harrow

VP470 at South Harrow

VP487 at Harrow Bus Stn

VP338 on route 140 at Hayes, The Grapes. 

VP613 on route 140 at Hayes, The Grapes.

VP606 on route 140 at Hayes, The Grapes.

VP331 on route 140 at Hayes, The Grapes.

Fleetlist:

LR52 BLK - VP317
LR52 BLN - VP318
LR52 BLV - VP319
LR52 BLX - VP320
LR52 BLZ - VP321
LR52 BMO - VP322
LR52 BMU - VP323
LR52 BMV - VP324
LR52 BMY - VP325
LR52 BMZ - VP326
LR52 BNA - VP327
LR52 BNB - VP328
LR52 BND - VP329
LR52 BNE - VP330
LR52 BNF - VP331
LR52 BNJ - VP332
LR52 BNK - VP333
LR52 BNL - VP334
LR52 BNN - VP335
LR52 BNO - VP336
LR52 BNU - VP337
LR52 BNV - VP338
LR52 BNX - VP339
LR52 BNY - VP340
LR52 BNZ - VP341
LR52 BOF - VP342
LR52 BOH - VP343
LR52 BOJ - VP344
LR52 BOU - VP345
LR52 BOV - VP346
LR52 BPE - VP347

LK03 GKE - VP466
LK03 GKF - VP467
LK03 GKG - VP468
LK03 GKJ - VP469
LK03 GKN - VP470
LK03 GKL - VP471
LK03 GKP - VP472

LK03 GMG - VP485
LK03 GMU  - VP486
LK03 GMV - VP487
LK03 GMX - VP488

LK04 UWJ - VP604
LK04 UWL - VP605
LK04 UWM - VP606
LK04 UWN - VP607
LK04 UWP - VP608
LK04 UWR - VP609
LK04 UWS - VP610
LK04 UWT - VP611
LK04 UWU - VP612
LK04 UWV - VP613
LK04 UWW - VP614
LK04 UWX - VP615
LK04 UWY - VP616
LK04 UWZ - VP617
LK04 UXA - VP618
LK04 UXB - VP619
LK04 UXC - VP620
LK04 UXD - VP621
LK04 UXE - VP622
LK04 UXF - VP623
LK04 UXG - VP624
LK04 UXH - VP625
LK54 FWE - VP626
LK54 FWF - VP627
LK54 FWG - VP628

Y207 NLK - VPL207

LK51 XGS - VPL222 

Thanks to Lewis for supplying me these wonderful photos!

Thanks for reading this spectacular post and we've hoped you enjoyed it. Remeber to stay safe.