Day Seventeen the conveniently juxtaposed 36 and 37

This day started a little later than most recently, but having caught the 1132 towards Clapham Junction, admittedly running 6 minutes late, I followed that train with the 1216 to Stratford which dropped me at Willesden Junction at 1235. Very unusually there was an overground train in platform 2 which was not in service and left for the nearby depot before my Bakerloo line train arrived on platform 3 to take me to Queen's Park.

London Overground class 378 located in platform 2 at Willesden Junction Station

E264 forming my mount to New Cross at Queen's Park Station

I didn't have to walk far to the right from the station exit to the bus stop where the No 36 arrived at 1254 to take me diagonally across London towards New Cross. The bus provided was a double decker Enduro 400 E264 of London General. The route runs past Paddington station and then down the Edgware Road to Marble Arch where it heads south down Park Lane so avoids the crawl along Oxford Street. In fact even the roadworks around Victoria didn't seem to hold the bus up that much as it was soon travelling down Vauxhall Bridge Road and into the bus station at Vauxhall. From here we passed the Oval and on to Camberwell, Peckham and finally ceasing at New Cross bus garage. On alighting at 1418 I queried with the bus driver that I thought the bus went to New Cross Gate but the lady informed me it hasn't done so for the last five years.

Despite display on bus stating New Cross Gate bus terminates at New Cross bus garage

Aboard the No 36 ready to head back to Peckham

To access the No 37 I needed to return to Peckham so having crossed the road I boarded a No 36 in the opposite direction. As we approached the bus station we had a message that the bus was on diversion and would not stop until it reached the school. This was ideal for my purposes as I was sorry I hadn't taken a photograph of the yellow Trotters three wheeler outside the Best Western Peckham. This is also on the corner of Lyndhurst Road! So I tried to get both in shot and failed miserably owing to the quantity of the railings.

Bus stop 'E' where the No 37 starts

London General E34, my No 37

So on to the No 37 with a brief comfort stop in Burger King as I passed back to the bus station. I just missed one bus as I walked into the station but the 'countdown' display suggested only 7 minutes until the next one. At 1450 I duly boarded a much earlier Enduro E400 double decker E34 headed for Putney Heath. This was a place I had already experienced on the No 14 but on that occasion from Warren Street. The No 37 took me to parts of Dulwich I hadn't seen on any other bus so far but eventually having reached Herne Hill we joined the No 3 route into Brixton. From Brixton we followed the No 35 all the way to Clapham Junction before turning left up the hill to Wandsworth and eventually Putney. We arrived at Putney Heath at 1623 which meant that both bus journeys today had taken one and a half hours.

E34 after arrival reposing at Putney Heath

To get home I caught the No 93 to Wimbledon and then caught a tram to Sainsbury's in Purley Way.

Day16 another long journey before work could start on the 34 and then the 35

I left home at 0945 to get the 1002 to Clapham Junction. This meant I saw the 1031 London Overground train leaving as I climbed the stairs on platform 14. Thus it was the 1046 train I caught, intending to to go to Gospel Oak. However, as we left Willesden Junction I noticed a large quantity of the class 172 units that provide the train service from Gospel Oak to Barking. It was therefore obvious bus substitution was in place: as has been the case at times for the last year as this line is electrified. Since I needed to get to High Barnet I looked at my bus map and saw that if I stayed on the train to Kentish Town West I could walk to Kentish Town Northern line underground station and thereby reach High Barnet. The entire journey took until midday, much as my wife's journey to work takes, two hours plus, to get to Kingsbury from home.

Two No 34s waiting their return to Walthamstow, in Barnet.

VWH2052 The Metroline Volvo Hybrid bus that I would be catching at the stop below

Barnet Church which is the nominal destination on the bus in the background on the first photo

My departure was at 1208 and we began by heading downhill towards London with a wide panorama of the London skyline in front of me. Very soon though we turned to the left and lost the long distance views within suburbia. It is very similar to my original home town of Orpington with similar size and types of housing and associated parades of shops. Gradually the bus works further in towards Central London but gets no further than the North Circular Road for a good while, sometimes even running along it. We transited a huge industrial complex around Edmonton before finally heading in towards the centre of Walthamstow where I reached the bus station at 1318.

Walthamstow bus station 

VWH2052 resting before its long journey back towards Barnet

In order to reach the next bus it necessitated two trains and  bus. The first train I caught from Walthamstow Central to Hackney Downs at 1335. Trains from Walthamstow don't stop where I needed to get off though, which was Cambridge Heath. Therefore I had to change platforms at this station to get a train, which had originated from Enfield Town and was headed for Liverpool Street. These trains are both now operated by London Overground. I didn't have to wait very long at all and as we left the station at Hackney I saw one of the Rail Head Treatment Trains on the Graham Road curve, the second engine of which, 66723 Chinook was extremely dirty from the spray mixture they put down to improve adhesion. As I alighted from Cambridge Heath I walked around the corner and caught a No 55 to Shoreditch Town Hall and from there I walked to stop N to catch my next bus the No 35 to Clapham Junction.  

The first stop for the route 35 at its NE end in Shoreditch, despite what it says on the sign it is actually between Shoreditch High Street station and the old North London Line station which closed in 1941

The No 35 (MHV62) resting before reaching the bus stop where I was waiting at 1408.

I waited here only a short time before the Volvo hybrid MCV EvoSeti MHV62 arrived to take me along Bishopsgate and then Gracechurch Street before crossing London Bridge at 1425. Progress was slow but steady and it continued in this vein as we headed for Elephant and Castle and the Walworth Road. I was taken aback by the abruptness of the left turn at Denmark Hill/Camberwell Green. This affords the bus the opportunity to turn right across the road it was previously using and so head west to Loughborough Junction and subsequently Brixton. At Brixton there is another complicated means of turning right at Lambeth own hall as one needs to go around the triangle with Brixton St Matthew's church in the middle in order to turn left into Acre Lane. This road leads to Clapham Common and as we crossed this the drizzly rain which I had encountered between Edmonton and Walthamstow returned; perhaps this was a waving cold front! The bus turned right away from the common and right again to go to the Falcon and once across Lavender Hill terminated just south of the maze of railway tracks at Clapham Junction railway station at 1538-a total journey therefore of 90 minutes.

The bus leaving the stop at Clapham Junction. Unfortunately it was by now gloomy owing to the rain so the photo is a little blurred.

After a short stop in the Halifax Building Society I then caught the 1552 to Caterham and got off at Selhurst to await a train from London Bridge which would take me to West Croydon and then onwards to home which |I reached at 17:15

Day fifteen the disparate 32 and 33

These two buses are not easy to combine and it was the catalyst of being asked to meet someone in Hounslow that made my resolve to do both in a day. To get to the start of the 32 necessitated taking the 1024 train to Clapham Junction. There I changed to the London Overground at 1101 to Willesden Junction, whereupon I then changed to the Bakerloo and Euston London Overground platforms at 1123. This was in order to travel towards Central London to the first station that is sub surface, if one travels along the Bakerloo line from the Northwest into Town, Kilburn Park, which was reached at 1133.

No 32 arriving from layover just around the corner near Kilburn Park underground station

The Bakerloo line station building at Kilburn Park

No 32 a Enduro hybrid TEH1461 of Metroline

So once at Kilburn Park underground station I waited for the No 32 at 1143 to take me to Edgware. This bus, Enduro Hybrid TEH1461, replicates my journey on the No 16 until Cricklewood depot and then continues along the A5 to Colindale, Burnt Oak and finally Edgware. Whilst I was heading north through Cricklewood an unmarked police car heading south on our side of the road very nearly hit two totally unaware pedestrians as they crossed a zebra crossing right in front of the car. The first person I could understand as she had earphones in but the second would have needed to be blind and deaf not to have noticed the oncoming vehicle. Luckily no blood was spilled owing to the excellent driving skills of the police car. There was quite a delay at Burnt Oak and in the distance I could discern a large red lorry parked facing the wrong way towards me with my binoculars. Eventually this lorry turned around and moved off and a 10 minute delay was the net result on my arrival at Edgware at 1255.

Disembarkation at Edgware underground station 

I visited the Nat West bank to pay in a cheque and Greggs for a meal deal before resuming my journey which required me to get to Hammersmith bus station. I decided that the quickest way might be to take the No 221 to Mill Hill Broadway station, which I reached at 1335. From there I caught the 1338 Thameslink to Sutton as far as West Hampstead. As I walked to the London Overground West Hampstead station I could see a train approaching so I ran and caught that train, the 1356 towards Richmond. In order to get to Hammersmith it was then necessary to alight at Gunnersbury to catch a District line train to Hammersmith.

District Line train arriving at Gunnersbury

Optare Versa OV30106 laying over at Hammersmth Lower Bus Station

I thus arrived at Hammersmith after a most non direct method, but in a little over an hour as I was ready to board the No 33 to Fulwell. The 1437 departure was the first time that I had encountered a bus in this numerical order quest that was not a double decker being an Optare Versa OV30106 of London United. The bus crossed the river by way of Hammersmith bridge into Barnes, then turned right along the South Circular road through Sheen and then onwards to Richmond. Twickenham was next and then via a large dog-leg through Strawberry Hill and Teddington to end at Fulwell depot,  albeit the old Twickenham Tramway depot rather than the Fulwell bus depot.

Arrival at Fulwell depot

Bus turning into the depot where it rests before its return to Hammersmith

To get to Hounslow I initially boarded a No 281 but after one stop it was announced that there would be a change of bus driver. Now, given the very tortuous trip ahead through the streets I had already seen were very busy, I thought I'd walk on and try and catch the No 290 for a couple of stops and then to change to the No 110 to reach Hanwell Road Hounslow. However, the 290 took off before I could get to it so I walked on to where the 110 joins the road from the East. As I approached a No 110 sped away ahead of me so I continued walking and eventually I reached Hounslow Heath where it joins Hanwell Road. This walk was of about 40 minutes duration, so probably about 2 miles before a No 110 arrived and I caught that to my destination. After the meeting I caught the train from Hounslow to Clapham Junction and then arrived home at 1850.

Day 14 the 29, 30 and 31

I crunched the numbers earlier this week and realised it could possibly be costing me more to avoid travelling by train in Zone one, because it was taking me a long time to get started on any one route which then impacted on my ability to do three or four routes in a day.

Arriva London HV129 barding in Wood Green

Therefore  today  I resolved to get the train to Zone 1 (Victoria) and then onwards by the Victoria Line to Finsbury Park and then changing onto the Piccadilly line to Wood Green. I caught the 0941 which arrived at Victoria at 1030 and it took until 1106 before I was aboard Arriva London  HV129 providing the No 29 service to Trafalgar Square. The journey was relatively slow but steady going  and after an uneventful 1 hr and 11 minutes we arrived at Trafalgar Square.

The Morgan Hotel in Gower street

Approaching Trafalgar Square

At final lights by St Martins in the Fields

Where on previous days I would have got a bus to minimise cost I caught a Bakerloo line train to Oxford Circus and then Central Line to Marble Arch. Thus I was able to catch at 1245 a No 30 bus towards Hackney Wick, which

It was rather frantic to catch the first No30 that came as it stops around the corner.

was Tower Transit 33790. Given when I get off the No 26 at Hackney Wick I had felt rather unsafe I put more money on my oyster card at Marble Arch rather than get my wallet out in Hackney. After the crawl along the Marylebone Road the only other significant hold up was the roadworks around Highbury Corner which were reducing 3 lanes to just one. Hackney Wick was achieved after 1 hr and 11 mins, exactly the same duration as the journey on the No 29.

My conveyance the Tower Transit 33790 at Hackney Wick

The bus terminus for No 30 and 236 but not the 26

A rather large number of No 30s waiting to return to Marble Arch

After a brisk walk to Hackney Wick railway station I boarded a westbound London Overground train for which I only had to wait 4 minutes to Camden Road.

Camden Road London Overground station with a No 29 approaching under the bridge

This railway station was reached at 1424 and having espied the starting point earlier in the day of the No 31 from the top deck of my No 29 I duly walked towards Camden town crossing Camden Road to walk to where the bus stand was located at bus stop U.

Two No31s laying over between trips

Tower Transit 32429 my home for and hour and a quarter across N and W London

 Tower Transit provide the buses for the No 31 which is a rather circuitous route which goes to Kilburn via Swiss Cottage and Chalk Farm but then turns south towards Westbourne Park and to Notting Hill Gate before finally west along the A40 to Shepherds Bush and onward to White City. This journey started at 1432 and ended 1548 thus spoiling the sequence since the journey took 1 hr and 16 minutes.

Journey's end the White City bus station with Tower Transit 32429 in the background turning to retrace its steps back to Camden Town

I needed to return home quickly to take my wife to drama so boarded a No 207 back to Shepherds Bush bus station. This made it just in time to get the 1553 London Overground train to Clapham Junction where I changed to the 1612 train to Sutton. It had been definitely easier not to miss out Zone one as it would have taken longer to get to Wood Green and it would also have been a much slower change from Trafalgar Square to Marble Arch.

Day Thirteen the 27 and 28

I took a week off in Yorkshire. The only bus we travelled on was J2007 the accessible bus used at the North of England Open Air Museum in Beamish County Durham. Now back and after a spot of invigilating GCSE English language resits, I was off on my travels again on the 1153 to Balham. I changed there onto the 1228 to Milton Keynes to alight at West Brompton. From there I took my 'time honoured' trip to Earls Court and then back west towards Heathrow but unlike when I was working I took the District line to Chiswick Park rather than the Piccadilly line to Hatton Cross which I did for the last five years. I had often looked down from my Piccadilly line train to Heathrow as it approached Acton Town to see buses lurking here amongst the foliage.

The 27 waiting at Chiswick Business Park

The No 27 begins in the Chiswick Business Park which was a walk around the Gunnersbury triangle nature reserve from Chiswick Park station where I had arrived at 1310. The bus, ADH45040 an AD E40H  Enduro 400H hybrid of London United or RATP, departed at 1325 along the Chiswick High Road towards Hammersmith. Here it went in and out at the bus station at 1350 having stopped for three minutes earlier outside Stamford Brook depot to change drivers. Progress was rather slower than billed, although this tardiness did not occur anywhere in particular. Arrival at Chalk Farm Morrisons was at 1456 so it was a journey of 91 minutes - the bus timetable at Chiswick had said 54 minutes! The sun angle meant the camera refused to capture my actual egress here. It was a useful toilet stop nevertheless, and I could see it was used by bus staff for this purpose, too.

Kentish Town West railway station

The get to the No 28 it was necessary to get to Kensal Rise station. To do this I walked to Kentish Town West railway station which was burnt down in the 1970s. From here I caught the 1516 to Richmond and alighted at Kensal Rise just as one of the new Adzuma high speed trains in Virgin livery passed by, presumably on a test run at 1532.

Tower Transit Volvo B9TL Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini2 37954

I had to wait ten minutes for the No 28 to arrive at the stop opposite the bus stand. This bus was Tower Transit Volvo B9TL Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini2 No 37954 and it proved to be an extremely protracted journey slowing progressively the further south we got. It was a real crawl along Wandsworth Bridge Road at 1710, but to cap it all the bus terminated at Wandsworth bridge south side at 1717. Given I have to do the whole route I then waited for the next No 28 which arrived at 1730 and finally reached the Mapleton Road terminal stop in Wandsworth town on Tower Transit No 37960 another Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 2 at 1740. A total  journey of two hours all but one minute.

Tower Transit 37960 having deposited me at Mapleton Road Wandsworth

To minimise further cost which would have been incurred if I had used the railways I caught the No 270 at 1745 to Mitcham, arriving at 1826. There the No 127 which came a minute later was used to reach Carshalton High Street arriving at 1854. As no No 407 was coming I caught an X26 one stop in the hope of catching a No 410, one of which pulled away just as we stopped.  I finally got home at 1915 utilising the same No 407 I would have caught if had not bothered to use the X26!