Day 26 out by train and back by No 49 and No 50

This was a trip out to face the media's 'Beast from the East', which is actually a manifestation of a sudden stratospheric warming. As expected the travel did not start smoothly. On arrival at Waddon station at 1030 to get the 1032, this train was not even listed and the 1041 was going to be ten minutes late, at least. Thus I walked to East Croydon in an endeavour to get to London earlier. This walk, in the bright sunshine, took me until 1054 to arrive at East Croydon station. The brick setts in Crown Hill were most slippery but were overcome slowly and steadily. On platform 1 the 1034 was still in the platform, and the display just said delayed. In a quandry as to what to do next, I saw another Victoria train arriving on platform 4 so rushed to the stairs to change platforms only to find these stairs were cordoned off-was this for 'health and safety concerns', perhaps?  A train then came in on Platform 2 which was the 1042 and this left for London at 1100.  I arrived eventually at Clapham Junction at 1110 with the intention of catching a London Overground train to Shepherd's Bush.

Sidings at Clapham Junction
classes 444, 450 and 458

Sidings at Clapham Junction
with Classes 450 and 455

Class 707 amongst the earlier
 SW railway types but with a
class 56  creating smoke behind

The 1046 to Stratford and 1101 Willesdon Junction were both shown as delayed but a train arrived on platform 1 which was announced as the 1116 to Stratford.
It was at this time, 1115 and some seconds, but this train departed not too late at 1121 and reached Shepherd's Bush at 1135.

By the time I arrived at Shepherd's
Bush the snow was falling hard

Looking back the way we had come

The No 49 route starts from White City bus station so this necessitated catching a bus from Shepherd's Bush to this location and in order to do this I took a bus No C1. After burrowing under the works being done around the Westcroft shopping centre we reached the White City bus station at 1146.

Snow falling briskly with a No 316
behind the veil of snow

The original bus garage wall

A No 237 with appropriate destination White city, in the snow

Westfield shopping city

Westfield with bus turn in front of it

Within the No 49 leaving White City bus station

The No 49 arrived at 1156 and was formed of Abellio No 2473. The photo at the start of the journey is taken from within the bus as the supervisor at the bus station said I wasn't allowed to take photographs at the bus station. Throughout the early part of the journey the snow fell quickly, and with bus progressing into snow, the front window soon became caked in snow and hence it was difficult to see out. Before this happened though, I took a shot as we neared Shepherd's Bush interchange.

A No 316 heading for White City

The snow was settling quickly enough to overcome the effects of the pre-salting treatment done even on busy roads. As we attempted to turn off Kensington High Street we came up behind a two car collision with the police already in attendance. Gradually as we headed towards Gloucester Road tube station we emerged into the sunshine and the front window of the bus began to clear.

A No 49 heading to White City towards Kensington Palace Gates with snow and ice on window limiting the view forward

Room for some 'Boris Bikes' but a wicked day for cycling.

Gloucester Road tube station with exit
sign now above a cafe.

Another No 49 arriving from Battersea Bridge

From South Kensington to Clapham I have utilised the No 49 bus, or the almost parallel No 345, many times to take our twins to the museums at South Kensington as a means of reducing cost as this avoids travelling into Zone 1.

Snow lying in Battersea Park

 Progress was quite speedy from this point with little slush on the remaining roads and so I arrived at the terminal point at Bolingbroke Grove at 1257.

Climbing up from the Northbrook (PH) to the terminus of the No 49.

Alighting from Abellio No 2473

In order to reach the starting point of the No 50, I had to follow back the way the No 49 bus had travelled since passing the site of Arding and Hobbs and then walk up Lavender Hill to the Battersea Arts Centre to catch a No 345 to Stockwell.

Starting point of the No 50 just opposite
Stockwell underground station HV131.

A No 50 from Croydon crossing a picturesque Clapham Common

Alternative view of a snowy Clapham Common

The No 50 would take me almost home and the timetable told me it would be a 65 minute journey to the Croydon flyover. Indeed the journey had to be padded out by two stops in order to regulate the service! My steed was Arriva operated Hybrid Volvo HV131 which departed from Stockwell at 1332 and it occurred to me that despite living in the Croydon area since 1986, I had never previously caught a No 50. Even when there were rail strikes I always chose the No 109 or No 68 and when the latter was split the No 250.

Frozen duck pond on Clapham
Common

 So this was an adventure close to home, although I recognised some of the back roads it uses near Streatham from when I used to cycle home from Clerkenwell after night shifts. The route from Norbury to Thornton Heath was not a road I have ever used but from then onwards it was all familiar and the snow was a mere dusting, rather than what I had seen in Central London so didn't hamper progress at all.

As a result I arrived at Croydon flyover at 1442 and promptly caught a No 119 home.

Dusting of snow above the Croydon
underpass Wellesley Road

Not even complete snow cover
on grass Wellesley Road

Journey's end, the Croydon flyover

Day Twenty five Finishing the No 47 and the No 48

The previous trip necessitated my leaving the No 47 at Surrey Quays leisure park, as my wife's meeting had ended. Thus I caught the 1011 which was delayed a few minutes to Norwood Junction and then the London Overground to Canada Water. I then walked two stops to the appropriate stop and waited for the next No 47 to arrive.

Stagecoach London 13092 at Surrey Quays leisure centre

Display showing next bus should be the No 47

Bus stop where I disembarked on my last day's work

 This was as expected one of the 13xxx of Stagecoach based at Catford Garage which is the ultimate destination of the route. Many years previously it was one of two routes that used to terminate at the George in Farnborough and I'd catch it many times to go shopping in Bromley with my mum as a child. On Sundays we used to get many people from 'up the smoke' walking around Farnborough village and going down the fields by St Giles Church. We had a café at the end of the parade of shops, which did a roaring trade on these occasions and at least one of my colleagues in the 1st Farnborough Scout troop worked. Still I digress-nowadays the bus still links Shoreditch with Deptford and Lewisham but no longer reaches as far south as Bromley, let alone Farnborough. I boarded Stagecoach 13092 at 1112 and fairly soon whilst travelling towards Deptford a dark Range Rover with police motorcycle escort passed by going West. It wasn't possible to discern who was inside-were they royal or governmental? It took around 20 minutes to reach Lewisham station and after passing through Lewisham we terminated at Catford garage at 1154.

My No 47 turning into the bus garage at Catford

In front a London General 171 waiting to go
back to Holborn whilst behind is located Stagecoach 13092 at Catford garage

To get to the No 48 at London Bridge I intended to go around the corner and take one of the new class 700 Thameslink trains to Elephant and Castle and then a bus to London Bridge. However, when I got down onto the platform the 1209 service to West Hampstead had been cancelled and with the next train half an hour away it seemed a good idea to take another route. So, having walked back to the garage I find the stop outside states no boarding or alighting here. The stop is for crew change only and I have to walk on in the Lewisham direction to Newquay Road. Here I caught a 14 year old Dennis Trident Stagecoach 17877 on the route 199 to Canada Water at 1215 and alighted at Lewisham station. From platform 3, at 1249 I caught a class 465 (Networker) to London Bridge and after enquiring at the information booth by the Shard where the No 48 starts from, I headed down to Borough High Street. I had noted on the previous day aboard the No 47 that the No 48 lays over at the church on the east side of Borough High Street so endeavoured to find where it started from.

Waiting in the rain on
southern side of London Bridge

A No 47 arriving at stop M

 The bus route is what it says on the 'tin' -it does actually start on London Bridge at the stop M and my walk down Borough High Street in the cold rain was fruitless.

Arriva LT345 'Boris bus' arriving on London Bridge

The No 48 is an Arriva operated ' Boris' bus and my mount for this journey was LT 345 which departed at 1321. I had recently experienced very slow progress around the roadworks between London Bridge and Liverpool Street but it must have been down to the time of day and now it was fairly brisk. Indeed after passing through Hackney and beside Clapton Pond we arrived in the Lea Valley Park at 1410 and reached Walthamstow Central at 1432, so barely more than an hour all told.

LT345 having arrived at Walthamstow Central bus station

To get home I caught the Victoria Line back to Victoria and a direct train from there home to be having a cup of tea by 1615.

At Walthamstow bus station LT345 parked
 behind another with a Tower Transit Dart in foreground

Day 24 The No 46 and part of the No 47.

The wife's visit to the CILIP headquarters formerly called the Library association afforded me the opportunity catch the No 46. I used the Central Line to Lancaster Gate from Tottenham Court Road where the underground station is set in a triangle of roads and it took a little searching to find the correct bus stop. I was also a little tired after climbing the steps from the platforms as the lifts were not working at the station. This was only the second time in the sequence that the bus has been a single decker.

Metroline DE1336 at Lancaster Gate

DE1336 at Lancaster Gate bus stop

This was an AD Enviro200 of Metroline DE1336  which left towards Paddington at 1239.
The No 27 and the No 36 both took me along the side of Paddington station but neither took me over the tracks at Bishops Bridge and then over the Grand Union Canal Paddington arm. The bus route is a sort of north circular similar to the No 31 which runs from Camden to White City which I did a while back but it is a little further out. It took until 1301 to reach Swiss Cottage and then we headed up hill towards Hampstead Heath. We turned right down towards the Royal Free Hospital and then followed the route of the No 24 before turning left to the Kentish Town West Overground station. The bus turned right at Kentish Town we travelled through Camden to St Pancras station where the drivers were changed at 1340. From here we followed the No 45 route until Holborn Circus whereupon we transited the Holborn Viaduct and turned left to terminate at St Barthlome'ws Hospital at 1402.

After arrival at Bart's Hospital with a  No 56 on layover in front of it 

To get from Bart's to the start of the No 47 at Shoreditch Church required me to walk through Smithfield Market and up St John street where I purchased a pasty at the Sainsbury's local. The price of the sandwiches at Bart's hospital cafe proved to be prohibitive. I subsequently walked along Clerkenwell Road and caught a No 55 to Shoreditch Town Hall. I was then ready to board the No 47 at 1441, once again this was a double decker, operated on this occasion by Stagecoach, their  No 13091, a Volvo B5LH AD Enviro400 H based at Catford.

Stagecoach 13091 at the first stop in Shoreditch High Street

This route exactly mirrored the No 35 to Borough High Street which took twenty minutes to achieve. Before all the road works near London Bridge the No 47 used to go along Tooley Street but now we headed down the Borough High Street, then turned left to the Bricklayers Arms roundabout. We then turned left up Tower Bridge Road to reach Tooley Street then turned right into the Jamaica Road, on to Bermonsey and then to Canada Water bus interchange. My wife rang as we reached Canada Water but I couldn't get off the bus and with the next stop closed I had to travel on to the Surrey Quays leisure centre where I arrived at 1535. I then caught the Jubilee Line to meet my wife at Piccadilly Circus changing at Waterloo for the Bakerloo Line. We then visited the combined flats of Handel and Jimi Hendrix. I will thus have to return in due course to complete the No 47 route to Catford bus garage next.

Day twenty three finally I get John's widow and my wife onto the odyssey with the No 45 outside St Pancras Station

After a visit to the Abba Super Trooper immersive exhibition at the Southbank, a walk to both the Vaudeville and Noel Coward theatres to get tickets followed by 140 years of recorded sound exhibition at the British Library we arrived at the start of the No 45 at 1458. This was a useful opportunity to not only do this route but enable Debbie to join with me and my wife on a bus in numerical order.

Charmaine and Debbie about to board Abellio's new 2590

Another view of Debbie excited at the
prospect of taking part

The bus was Alexander Dennis Enviro 400MMC No 2590 which was delivered last Autumn, one of the 23 delivered when Abellio won the route No 45 I presume, which they have operated since the 11th of November 2017. The route runs down Grays Inn road from King's Cross past where the London Weather Centre was from 1991-2006 a route I used to use to go trainspotting in my lunch break at St Pancras or King's Cross. Once we had crossed the river I realised that it would be quite convenient for Debbie to alight at Southwark station as she could get a train home from Waterloo East, whereas Elephant and Castle, Brixton or indeed Clapham Park would have been difficult for her to get home from. Charmaine and I continued on past Elephant and Castle and up the Walworth Road to Camberwell Green. We reached this point at 1547 and were told that drivers would be exchanged. However, the new driver announced we had to get off and join the bus ahead of us.

Abellio 2594 which we changed onto by the Walworth bus garage
at Camberwell Green

The second Abellio bus that constituted our journey was No 2594  but otherwise  it was identical to the bus we had disembarked from. The journey took an hour to reach Loughborough Junction and having turned up Brixton High Street we headed up Brixton Hill to turn right at the South Circular Road, just past the old Brixton Hill tramway garage. The final stop was Atkins Road with Clapham Park in the distance, where we arrived at 1625.

No 2594 heading off to its stand at Clapham Park before returning later towards King's Cross