Yup, it was that time of the year again: the Notting Hill Carnival, where many transport networks were disrupted and diverted to make way for top quality excitement and joy on the streets of Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill and Westbourne Park.

It is not unusual to see buses allocated to unallocated routes during the Notting Hill Carnival and this always deems to be an exciting prospect with speculations rising as to what bus model would make its first appearance on which unfamiliar route. And this year did not disappoint.

VLA69 (LJ04 YWY), an Alexander ALX400 with Volvo B7TL chassis
allocated to route 2. It served route 2X on both days of the Notting Hill Carnival.
©Mark Collins

T115 (LJ59 LXR), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 allocated
to route 133. A small number of Enviro400 buses were allocated
to route 2X on both days of the Notting Hill Carnival.
Marylebone Station, ©London Bus Breh.

Arriva London route 2 is allocated with the Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TL (VLA) model. Its evening service from 20:00 to 00:00 includes a maximum of five Alexander Dennis Enviro400s to serve the route. During the Notting Hill Carnival, route 2 is given an extra service which is also allocated to VLAs, and a couple Enviro400s. So it was not much of a surprise to see Enviro400s serve the route this year, although they are always a pleasant sight.

DN33787 (SN12 EHC), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 allocated
to route 23. It served route 28 on Notting Hill Carnival Monday.
Kensington Church Street, Kensington, ©Aubrey Morandarte.

Route 28, a successful First London route, was involved in the selling of First London to new operator Tower Transit from the Australian transportation company Transit Systems. For a decade, it has been allocated with the Wright Eclipse Gemini model on the Volvo B7TL chassis (VNW and VNZ), with Plaxton President bodied Dennis Trident 2 (TNs) making many appearances during this time and a couple recent Wright Gemini 2 DL (WN) odd-workings.

So, to many enthusiasts and photographers' astonishment, 12-reg Alexander Dennis Enviro400s (DN) from route 23 started making appearances on route 28 during the Notting Hill Carnival, leaving one to question how many Volvo B7TLs were being used for route 31 (route 328 also operating with a few extreme odd-workings - more later) for Enviro400s to fill in the missing slots on route 28.



E266 (SN62 DGF), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 alloacted
to route 36. It served route 36X on Notting Hill Carnival Monday.
Wilton Street, Hyde Park Corner, ©Aubrey Morandarte

Route 36 is operated by Go-Ahead London subsidiary London Central. It was, until last year, allocated with Plaxton Presidents on the Volvo B7TL chassis (PVL). Now, 12- and 62-reg buses of the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 serve the route, with unallocated debendifying hybrids of route 436 becoming a regular working as well. During the Notting Hill Carnival, a 36X route is in service to and from Notting Hill Carnival (Harrow Road Elgin Avenue / Prince of Wales) and Peckham Bus Station.

WVL150 (LX53 BJO), a Wright Eclipse Gemini with Volvo B7TL chassis
allocated to route 11. It served route 36 during Notting Hill Carnival Sunday.
Chippenham, Maida Vale, ©London Bus Breh.

This year saw the 36X service using 62-reg Enviro400s whilst Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs (WVLs) were used to fill the missing slots made by the Enviro400s on the 36X service. This WVL service on the 36X route is quite common during the Notting Hill Carnival - not on the 36, however.



12148 (LX61 DCO), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrid allocated
to route 15. It served route 205X on both days of the Notting Hill Carnival.
Harrow Road W2, ©London Bus Breh.

Another usual working includes Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrids from route 15 on the route 205 extra service. Although the 205 is a fully allocated Scania OmniCity route, its extra service is a fully allocated hybrid route running to and from Notting Hill Carnival (Harrow Road Elgin Avenue / Prince of Wales) and Aldgate Station.

 

TE1093 (LK60 AGZ), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 allocated
to route 332. It served route 316 on both days of the Notting Hill Carnival.
Kilburn Park Road, Maida Vale, ©London Bus Breh.

Being used to seeing one or two double-deckers on single-decker Cricklewood (W) allocated Metroline route 316, double-deckers of the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 model was to be expected during carnival. However, it was not just one or two double-deckers on route 316 - it was as if route 316 had been fully allocated to Enviro400 service; not a single single-decker had been allocated to its usual 316 service during the carnival.

TE1311 (LK12 AVU), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 allocated
to route 32 (but is commonly seen more on more popular routes such
as the 16, 139, 189 and 332. It served route 316 on Notting Hill Carnival Monday.
Kilburn Park Road, Maida Vale, ©London Bus Breh.


And that was not just it: due to the fact there are now over fifty hybrids at the Cricklewood Bus Garage all allocated to routes 16, 139 and recently 189 with Enviro400s still being used on all three routes (meaning spare hybrids), I highly anticipated seeing a hybrid service on route 316 - much to the disbelief of other speculative enthusiasts.

TEH1111 (LK60 AJV), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrid allocated
to route 139. It served route 316 on Notting Hill Carnival Sunday.
Kilburn Park Road, Maida Vale, ©London Bus Breh.

TEH1453 (LK13 BGV), an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrid
allocated to route 189. It served route 316 on Notting Hill Carnival Monday.
Kilburn Park Road, Maida Vale, ©London Bus Breh.

Route 328, a successful First London route, was involved in the selling of First London to new operator Tower Transit from the Australian transportation company Transit Systems. For a decade, it has been allocated with the Wright Eclipse Gemini model on the Volvo B7TL chassis. However, ever since the withdrawal of the route's five 2008 Wright Gemini 2 HEV prototypes and the garage transfer move of route 295 from Westbourne Park (X), the 328 has been given allocation to Wright Gemini 2 DLs - an allocation in which I predicted in October last year when odd appearances were made on the route for testing.

The Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 model on the Volvo B9TL chassis has made a couple of odd-working appearances in the past on separate occasions. During this year's carnival, however, even though the route has no extra service, extra buses must have been used for route 31 for Tower Transit to feel the need to borrow five buses of the model from a different garage for service on the 328, as is the guessed reason for route 28 using Alexander Dennis Enviro400s.

VN37977 (BN61 MYB), a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 with Volvo B9TL chassis allocated
to route 266. It served route 28 on Notting Hill Carnival Sunday and
route 328 on Notting Hill Carnival Monday.
Kilburn Park, ©London Bus Breh.



VN37980 (BG61 SXL), a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 with Volvo B9TL chassis
allocated to route 266. It served route 328 on Notting Hill Carnival Monday.
Kilburn Park Road, Maida Vale, ©London Bus Breh.

It gets better. Go-Ahead London routes 507 and 521 were named the Red Arrow routes when they became London's first ever articulated service in early June 2002, using the controversial Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530G. Route 436 became the newest of Go-Ahead London routes in February 2003 and became the operator's third articulated route.

The bendy-buses were withdrawn from the Red Arrow routes in September 2009 and remain the only routes to continue Citaro operation, purchasing fifty rigid versions to the bendy-bus. Route 436 continued articulated operation until November 2011 when it became the antepenultimate debendification, Alexander Dennis Enviro400 diesel and hybrids introduced in their place.

Like its parallel route 36, the 436 has its own extra service. The 436X, running to and from Notting Hill and Peckham Bus Station, had been seen using a rigid Citaro or two during the Notting Hill Carnival last year, but this year saw a whole allocated of rigid Citaros from Red Arrow routes 507 and 521 serve the 436X. Why Go-Ahead London decided to go for this allocation, I don't know - but no complaints can be said by enthusiasts and photographers alike!

MEC34 (BD09 ZVZ), a rigid Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530G allocated to the Red Arrow
routes 507 and 521. It served route 436X on Notting Hill Carnival Sunday.
Peckham Bus Station, ©London Bus Breh.

And on that note, that's the end of Unallocated Allocations that the 2013 Notting Hill Carnival had to offer. One wonders if next year's unallocated allocations of Notting Hill Carnival services could be even more as exciting and stunning as this year's!

YX61 EKZ/ DM44208 on route 223 to Harrow.
(C) LondonBuses72

It is the first Know Your Routes post in a long time, and we have a few more coming up to compensate for this.

Today's KYR takes us to a relatively younger, shorter and more infrequent route in North-West London,  the route 223. It runs between Harrow Bus Station and Wembley Central Station. The route started in 1995, running between Harrow & Wembley Central via Northwick Park Hospital, Kenton Station, Woodcock Hill, South Kenton Station/ Windemere Avenue, Preston Road Station, The Avenue, Wembley Park Station, Park Lane/ Wembley Hill Road and Wembley Central Station.


The route was created to replace part of route 224 (KYR post on 224 coming soon) between Wembley Central and Preston Road, Preston Hotel. Although that wasn't the main reason for creating the route, the actual reason for this was because at the time, a large section of Woodcock Hill and South Kenton was not served by bus. This made the 223 the first bus to ever (?) serve South Kenton. 

Residents of South Kenton had to go to Wembley Central by the Bakerloo Line which is alot more expensive than the bus network. 

Throughout the life of bus route 223, it has been operated by First Centrewest from Alperton (ON) mainly using Marshall Capitals mounted on a Dennis Dart chassis. In 2011, First retained the 223 with 7 new Enviro 200's, which are 9.6m long.

Although 223 can take buses up to 10.8m in length, overall, 223 is not actually that much of a busy route.so shorter buses can be used. The route has a Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR) of 6 buses and takes 35 minutes to complete on average.

Here is a photo of bus route 223 with the new Enviro 200's whilst with First Centrewest:

YX61 EKV/ DM44205 on route 223 to Harrow.
(C) LondonBuses72

On the 15th October 2011, route 223 was re-routed AND extended around the Wembley end of the route. 223 was re-routed to go via Wembley Stadium mainly to serve the brand new Brent Civic Centre which had opened in June this year.

It was also extended to Montrose Crescent from Wembley Central Station although original plans that were scrapped involved 223 being extended to North Wembley Station via Harrowdene Avenue although TfL did not give it the green light to go ahead.

On the 9th April 2013, First announced they were pulling out of London for what may be for good. It was announced that Metroline would take 5 garages from First, Alperton (ON) being one of them which meant 223 was shifted over to Metroline on the 22nd June 2013.

However, the DM's on 223 didn't get the Metroline logos until July 2013, and I was lucky enough to be there to get a photo of them as early as possible:

YX61 EKT/ DEM1913 on route 223 to Harrow.
(C) Lewis JN

YX61 EKW/ DEM1916 on route 223 at Harrow.
(C) Lewis JN

YX61 EKT/ DEM1913 is seen about to turn into The Avenue on a frosty morning whilst on route 223 to Wembley Central, Montrose Crescent.
(C) LondonBuses72

YX61 EKU// DEM1914 on route 223 to Harrow.
(C) LondonBuses72

However, DEM's aren't the only bus that can turn up on 223 - DE's make frequent appearances every now and then. Here are a few photos of these on 223:

YX58 DWZ/ DE1619 on route 223 to Wembley Central.
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DUH/ DE1599 on route 223 to Wembley Central.
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DUA/ DML44022 on route 223 to Wembley Central.
(C) LondonBuses72

Before we wrap up this post, we need to finish off with the fleetlist, which is very short:

YX61 EKR - Ex DM44202 - DEM1912

YX61 EKT - Ex DM44203 - DEM1913

YX61 EKU - Ex DM44204 - DEM1914

YX61 EKV - Ex DM44205 - DEM1915

YX61 EKW - Ex DM44206 - DEM1916

YX61 EKY - Ex DM44207 - DEM1917

YX61 EKZ - Ex DM44208 - DEM1918

Hope you've enjoyed this post and please do stay safe!

YX62 FJV/ ADH32 at Chiswick, Business Park when new.
(C) LondonBuses72

One of my early photos, on the first day of service at Chiswick, Business Park is ADH32, which is allocated to route 27 (Chalk Farm - Chiswick, Business Park).  

To me, this bus is special. What's so special about it? It's my 2nd favourite bus in the whole of London after ADH45, which is part of the same batch of vehicles as ADH32. The seats are comfortable, the design of the bus is sleek, modern and fresh and also runs the 27 - My third favourite route. I also have a photo of ADH45, when pretty new:

YX62 FSS/ ADH45 on route 27 nearby Chiswick Business Park, at Turnham Green.
(C) LondonBuses72

Hope you enjoyed the post, remember to stay safe!

LJ61 LJK/ T264 is seen on stand at Brent Cross Shopping Centre.
(C) LondonBuses72

Last month, I took a trip down to Brent Cross and Golders Green during the so-called "Summer Heatwave" to photograph the H3/ 631 and the newer T's at Palmers Green (AD) on route 102 (Although they are intended for route 329).However, the Golders Green photos will be seen in various posts upcoming.

Luckily, I managed to complete all my objectives, however the photo for route 631 will not be in this post, and will feature in a special post coming out within the next fortnight.

These are just some of my photos from the Brent Cross/ Golders Green trip - To see more, please do look at my Flickr: Click here!

Enjoy!

LK05 GGA/ TA643 on route 210 heading to the stands at Brent Cross.
(C) LondonBuses72

GM03 TGM/ 8466 ready to start the short trip to Haven Green/ Ealing Broadway on route 112.
(C) LondonBuses72

Tower Transit - BG61 SXL/ VN37980 on stand at Brent Cross shopping centre whilst serving route 266.
(C) LondonBuses72

LJ61 LHX/ T277 on route 102 at Brent Cross Shopping Centre.
(C) LondonBuses72

The upper deck of Arriva's T277 at Golders Green/ Finchley Road.
(C) LondonBuses72

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

LK58 ECX/ WNH39003 on route 328 to Chelsea, World's End
(C) LondonBuses72

Another dig through the vast library of bus and train photos, I have decided to show a photograph of a recently decommissioned bus. 

In 2008, Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, decided to start trials of hybrid buses across London. One of the chosen routes was West London route 328, which runs between Golders Green Station and Chelsea, World's End. The trials involved several different types of Single deckers and double deckers, which were all Hybrids. The fleetlist for route 328's WNH's is here:

LK58 ECV - WNH39001

LK58 ECW - WNH39002

LK58 ECX - WNH39003

LK58 ECY - WNH39004

LK58 ECZ - WNH39005

Route 328 was given 5 Wright Gemini 2 HEV's, with the fleetnumbers of WNH39001-39005. They first and only Gemini 2 HEV's in First London's fleet. They had Esteban Civic V2 seating and were maintained at Westbourne Park (X). When Crossrail began, Westbourne Park (X) had to close parts of the garage down permanently and this resulted in late 2011 for Atlas Road (AS) garage to open and routes 28, 31, N28, N31 and 328 to transfer to Atlas Road (AS) garage. 

328 was given 4 diesel equivalents (WN) from flagship route 23. These still continue to remain in service today.

The last WNH left around 2 months ago, and were moved to North England division of First. I'm not sure what part though.... 


Anyways, that's all for today - Please do stay safe and remember the next Picture of the Week post is on 25th August 2013.

LJ62 BWF/ HV75 on route 73 to Victoria Bus Station whilst travelling along Oxford Street outside Urban Outfitters.
(C) LondonBuses72

Most of you may be familiar with Picture of the Day, from earlier in the blog, which has died out over time, but it was decided to keep "traditions", we would continue this, but in a weekly format. So every week, we will dig through a vast library of photos, where train or bus and bring it to you.

Anyways, the picture of the week is my favourite photo, best one I have ever taken which was HV75 travelling along Oxford Street whilst brand new. I was covering the brand new TEH's at Cricklewood (W) bus garage, but what makes me love this photo is the fact that on this beautiful afternoon, it was raining. Rather dark, damp and murky until around 17:00hrs the rain started to clear away.

The sun started to throw specks of it's rays onto the bus with a mixture of raindrops pouring down the bus. Good lighting and colour contrast were featured.

"The wall of red buses" that Boris Johnson, Mayor of London has been trying to tackle is also shown here pretty well, with a bunch of cars switching lanes and the tourists scattering about.

The next Picture of the Week post will be on the Sunday 18th August 2013. Until, then stay safe!

YX09 AFA/ DE1670 on route 245 to Alperton, Sainsbury's.
(C) LondonBuses72

Many of you are highly aware that since Metroline took over most of First's West London operations, changes are going to take place around the "Metroline West" division. Now as seen in the 100th post, 24 was the first London route to be converted to LT operation. 

We all know that Metroline scooped the award for 24 last November back from Go-Ahead London using brand new buses. This consisted of around 27 VW's and 5 VWH's + approx. 5 top up VW's. 

Since 24 was converted to LT operation, the nearly-new vehicles were made redundant. The VWH have since been on route 390 mainly and some VW's remain in service at Holloway (HT). It was originally decided that the VW's moved onto route 91 and the VWH onto route 4, but at last minute it was chosen that the VW's and VWH's helped two routes convert to Double-Deck operation: The 245 and E8.

Today we focus on the VW half of the story, where the buses move onto 245.

YX58 DWV/ DE1617 on route 245 to Golders Green.
(C) LondonBuses72

So as stated above, 245 get's "new" VW's. The fleetlist is below for all the buses transferring to Alperton (ON):

LK62 DKN - VW1365 - In Transfer

LK62 DKV - VW1366 - In Transfer

LK62 DLJ - VW1367 - In Service

LK62 DLO - VW1368 - In Transfer

LK62 DLV - VW1369 - In Transfer

LK62 DLX - VW1370 - In Transfer

LK62 DMV - VW1371 - In Transfer

LK62 DND - VW1372 - In Service

LK62 DNE - VW1373 - In Transfer

LK62 DNU - VW1374 - In Transfer

LK62 DNO - VW1375 - In Transfer

LK62 DNX - VW1376 - In Service

LK62 DOH - VW1377 - In Service

LK62 DPE - VW1378 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DPU - VW1379 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DPY - VW1380 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DRV - VW1381 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DRZ - VW1382 - In Transfer

LK62 DSE - VW1383 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DSU - VW1384 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DSV - VW1385 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DTN - VW1386 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DTU - VW1387 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DTV - VW1388 - Still at Holloway (HT)

LK62 DTZ - VW1389 - In Service

LK62 DUA - VW1390 - In Transfer

LK62 DUH - VW1391 - In Transfer

LK62 DUJ - VW1392 - In Transfer

List correct at 11:19, 29/07/2013

To be honest, I don't actually think all of the buses are going to transfer - 245 has a PVR of 21, and there are approximately 30 buses - So I'm probably guessing VW1378-81 will transfer to ON and VW1383-8 will stay at HT, but I'm not sure, only time can tell......

Anyways, three VW's are in service at Alperton (ON) in the form of VW1372, 1376 and 1377. They have mainly stuck themselves onto the 83 for now although VW1377 has been spotted on the 245. (Correct at 29/07/2013)

The buses have been giving white-on-black blinds as part of the new TfL regulations that buses now have to have white-on-black instead of the traditional dayglow yellow.

I've managed to catch up with VW1376, which was the first bus to enter service at Alperton (ON) at Golders Green. This bus still has it's Holloway (HT) codes on the side.

LK62 DNX/ VW1376 on stand at Golders Green Station whilst serving route 83.
(C) LondonBuses72

LK62 DNX/ VW1376 on stand at Golders Green Station whilst serving route 83.
(C) LondonBuses72

The rear of LK62 DNX/ VW1376.
(C) LondonBuses72

LK62 DNX/ VW1376 on stand at Alperton, Sainsbury's whilst serving route 245 awaiting it's next trip to Golders Green.
(C) Lewis JN

LK62 DNX/ VW1376 and LK11 CYF/ VW1192 at Alperton, Sainsbury's
(C) Lewis JN

LK62 DLJ/ VW1367 on route 83 to Golders Green.
(C) Lewis JN

LK62 DLJ/ VW1367 on route 83 to Golders Green whilst on stand at Ealing Hospital.
(C) Lewis JN

VW1206 and VW1375 are illustrated standing at Alperton, Sainsbury's whilst serving routes 79 and 245.
(C) Lewis JN

LK62 DND/ VW1372 on route 245 to Golders Green.
(C) Lewis JN

So let this be the face of route 245 for the next couple of years. The 245 has been with Metroline before. I remember the route used Plaxton Pointer 1's (?) and I'd always see them running up and down Forty Avenue by Brent Town Hall. Ah, good days. 

The route used to be operated by Metroline from their North Wembley (NW) base which is now defunct after losing a massive number of routes. In 2008, First Centrewest won the contract from their Alperton (ON) garage where the route is operated from today. First had opted for the Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 (DML) which were 10.2m long. 

Now if I'm correct, I'm pretty sure these buses were late because I recall seeing a number of Marshall Capitals (DML) on the 245 for quite some time.

A while later, a double deck journey off the 83 was introduced to help the overcrowding on the route, although this didn't help that much.

LK59 CXM/ VN37944 on route 245 to Alperton, Sainsbury's.
(C) LondonBuses72

Tuesday 9th April 2013 called the end of First Centrewest and all contracts were shifted over to Metroline, including the 245. Although 245 didn't go back into Metroline completely, it was sucked into Metroline West. 

It was announced that 245 was going to be converted to Double-Deck operation - Using VW's from 24. This will allow the Enviro 200's on the 245 to move to Perivale West (PA) to allow Metroline to get rid of some of the MM's and the elderly DLD's which I think is wrong because in all ways MM's are BETTER than DE's. Especially the 245's DE's as they are worn out buses. But we will see how the changes go when they transfer, which is part 2 of this series.

For now, let's say farewell to the DE's/ ex-DML's:

YX58 DUA/ DML44022 on route 223 to Wembley Central, Montrose Crescent.
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DWF/ DE1608 on route 245 to Alperton, Sainsbury's
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DWJ/ DE1610 on route 245 to Golders Green
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DWA/ DE1604 on route 245 to Alperton, Sainsbury's
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DWG/ DE1609 on route 245 to Alperton, Sainsbury's
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DWV/ DE1617 on route 245 to Golders Green
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DUH/ DE1599 on route 223 to Wembley Central, Montrose Crescent
(C) LondonBuses72

YX58 DWZ/ DE1619 on route 223 to Wembley Central, Montrose Crescent
(C) LondonBuses72

Well, we hope you have enjoyed the post as much as we have. Stay safe all!