Saxony Christmas & Lucky New Year

A handful of Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 buses have been sporting festive season advertisement wrappers this Christmas.

 

VW1399 (LK62 DVJ), a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL allocated to route 52.
Seen on route 6 at John Lewis, Oxford Street. ©London Bus Breh.

Five London buses have been sporting distinctively green designs advertising Germany's Saxony Christmas Wonderland celebrations, all on the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodywork.

WHV38 (LJ62 KGY), a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2
bodied Volvo B5L hybrid allocated to route 74.
Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly. ©London Bus Breh.

Allocated to mainly central London routes, Go-Ahead London have one bus, WHV12 (LJ61 GXL) wrapped with the Saxony design for their popular central London London Central route 12. Interestingly, this was the only Go-Ahead London bus to wear the Poppy designs.

For the operator's London General subsidiary, route 74 is allocated with two of these buses, WHV32 (LJ62 KFD) and WHV38 (LJ62 KGY), however recently the route's allocation has been dispersed frequently onto other routes such as the 14, 85 and 430, so don't be surprised to see some Saxony buses on those routes.

The remaining two Saxony buses can be found operating for Metroline Travel from their Willesden (AC) garage: VW1399 (LK62 DVJ) and VW1407 (LK13 BHY), allocated to route 52. These buses have made a couple appearances on routes 6 and 98, Metroline's more central London based routes from the garage.

WHV12 (LJ61 GXL), a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5L hybrid allocated to route 12.
Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, The West End. ©London Bus Breh.

 

DW291 (LJ59 LVW), a Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300 primarily allocated to route 137.
Also allocated to routes 59 and 159. Seen on route 137 curtailed to Marble Arch
Cumberland Gate, Marble Arch. ©London Bus Breh.

WHV37 (LJ62 KGM), a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2
bodied Volvo B5L hybrid allocated to route 74.
Seen on route 14 curtailed to Tottenham Court Road Station
at Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly. ©London Bus Breh.

As for the Lucky New Year designs, eight London buses have been provided with the celebratory advertisement, registered as "Dodo LNY". These include three Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300 from Arriva London: DW291 (LJ59 LVW), DW293 (LJ59 LVY) and DW297 (LJ10 CUK), allocated to route 137. These can also been seen on fellow Brixton (BN) routes 50, 59, 159 and 319.

Go-Ahead London's London General subsidiary are the only other operator to consist of "Dodo LNY" buses, all five being Volvo B5L hybrids on the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodywork. WHV20 (LJ61 NVF) and WHV23 (LJ61 NVK) are allocated to Stockwell (SW) route 19 whilst the rest can be found on Putney (AF) routes 14, 22, 74 and 85.

Now that I informed you the fleet codes and registrations of buses with festive liveries, why don't you go out and get them before they are replaced with new advertisements or return to the boring old 100% red rule? And on behalf of myself and the crew here on the blog, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!