Day 74 another trip to Hounslow

I took the daughter's car to Purley to have the clutch cable checked and then caught the 1139 train from Purley to London Bridge. So since this train didn't go to Clapham Junction where I could have taken the main line to Hounslow, I decided to start the journey from Northolt. This required catching the Jubilee line to Bond Street and then the Central line to Northolt where I arrived at 1255. The No 90 brought me here and at the time I saw the No 120 so now knew where to wait for it. However, one bus left just as I emerged from the Underground station.

A No 90 quickly followed by a No 120; both services
 provided by Metroline opposite Northolt tube station 

The No 120 I had to wait for was Metroline VWH2276 which arrived at 1310. Once I had crossed the A40 road the bus reaches another roundabout at Yeading whereupon the route heads east towards Ealing. At a different roundabout the bus swung south toward Southall which is a road only served by the No 120 but eventually we joined with other bus routes just before Southall town hall at 1330.

Remnants of overnight snow opposite Northolt library

Once across the Great Western mainline the bus turns east along Norwood Road and here the buses had difficulty passing each other owing to the quantity of parked cars. Once through this squeeze the bus reached Norwood Green at 1345.

The second road which the No 120 provides the only service along

From a little way beyond this there was a considerable hold up because of roadworks just beyond St Leonard's Church Heston which held us up at least 10 minutes. Beyond this hold up we again encountered a part of the route only served by the No 120 through Lampton but this soon gave way to Hounslow. After wriggling around Hounslow for a while the bus finally came to a halt at Hounslow bus station at 1405.

Once again outside Hounslow bus station

Snow falling outside Crofton roman villa

From here I caught a No 237 to Isleworth station and then a Southwest train to Waterloo. Across at Waterloo East I caught a Hastings train to Orpington where I arrived in the middle of a snow shower in order to visit my mum now in the Princess Royal University Hospital.

Day seventy three I finally do the entire route of a bus I have used since primary school, the No 119.

The No 119 is a bus I have used frequently since living near Croydon and used it even when I was a kid living in Orpington to get me to West Wickham swimming baths. The bus service was very irregular when my wife and I were children. I well remember waiting at Bromley South for an hour for a Regent Three to take me to West Wickham. The route has, however been swapped with the 194B which became the 198 beyond Croydon since then.
My wife and I had ventured to Bromley to meet up with Bromley library colleagues for lunch and having done this took the opportunity to walk to Bromley North railway station and catch the 1430 No 119 to Purley Way Colonades.

Charmaine checking when the next No 119 was due

Charmaine boarding London General WHV61 at Bromley North station

London General's Hybrid WHV61 arrived within two minutes of our arrival and left at 1430 down Kentish Way with the first stop at Bromley Civic Centre. The bus route then turns right to regain the High Street for the run down to Bromley South station.

Passing from Kentish Way to Bromley High Street one turns
 left after a view of the Ravensbourne Valley

The No 261 route has recently gained new stagecoach buses in the 11060-11075 number range and one of these is here seen having come down Mason's Hill and shortly to head up Bromley High Street

Once the bus had got to the end of Hayes Lane at 1442 we stopped to pick up a large number of school kids from what was Ravensbourne Boys School in the 1970s. From here the bus goes through Hayes and on to West Wickham via Corkscrew Hill. However at the stop at Glebe Way/Addington Road the bus stop was closed with a cover over the stop stating this, but the bus still stopped at 1453.

Roadworks at the Croydon/ Bromley borough
boundary where West Wickham becomes Shirley

From West Wickham the bus continues along the A232 through Shirley (borough boundary reached at 1500)  and on towards Croydon. After East Croydon the bus diverges from its 1960,1970 route and heads south nearly reaching the Swan and Sugarloaf before it turns right up Warham Road and on to the Waddon estate.

Fiveways, the bus is on Denning Avenue about to turn left, but there are plans to close this part of the junction and make it 4 ways, so not sure how that will affect the No 119 in the future.

 Once at Fiveways the bus turns up the A23 to reach 'Croydon airport' which was the destination on the 194 and subsequently the 119 until the water palace was built in the 1980s. At 1539 the bus stopped at the Colonades and then I walked home which took just over twenty minutes. Its all the way back to Hounslow again for the 120 next!

De Havilland DH114 Heron, the last aircraft type to
depart from the airport when it closed in 1959

The Heron about to effectively fly straight across
the A23 with airport house behind, the original terminal building

Journeys end Purley Way Colonades reached at 1539

Day 72 I caught the No 118 to Brixton on the way to visit my mum in Northwick Park Hospital

I walked to Wandle Park and took the tram to Morden Road where I arrived at 1157. From here it was a half a mile walk to Morden Underground station where the No 118 departs from.

E149 of London General is the No 118 bus on the right

The bus lays over outside the station in a broad parking area where a number of other buses do the same. The No 118 route is provided by London General and it was their E149 that I boarded at 1210. The route headed southwest at first to intercept Bishopsford Road before swinging north to Mitcham where I arrived at 1224. Along this road is a road called Tramway Path which follows the original route of the Surrey Iron Railway of 1803.

Tramway Path on the right with the Tramlink under the adjacent bridge

At Mitcham the bus heads east towards Pollards Hill but before this settlement is reached it turns away northwest and we ended up at Streatham Vale which was an identical route from Northborough Road that I took when aboard the No 60. This route through Streatham Vale I used to take when I cycled to Holborn. At the bus stop called Braeside, a class of primary school children climbed aboard just prior to Streatham Common station. At 1243 the A23 was reached and headed north towards Central London. The bus stopped next at Streatham station where the children alighted presumably to visit the leisure centre or ice rink. Increasingly the drizzle was becoming thicker and it was becoming difficult to see out of the front of the bus. Just past Brixton bus garage we crossed the South Circular Road at 1256 and then ran down Brixton Hill to reach Brixton station at 1303.

Bus terminated outside Brixton Station; number not listed as it
is a final stop on the route

Brixton Underground station across the road from the stop

From here I proceeded on the tube network to Northwick Park Hospital where my mother was taken after possibly having a stroke the previous day.

Day Seventy One two buses in West London the No 116 and No 117 on 9th Jan 2019

On the 9th January I was once again on my way to Hounslow where the No 116 starts. I caught the 1150 train to Clapham Junction and then having arrived at 1220 was able to catch the 1225 to Hounslow from platform five.  The train arrived at 1257 and it's then quite a walk to Hounslow town centre which is much nearer the Piccadilly line Underground Stations.

Waiting in Hounslow High Street with Hounslow bus station in the background

I passed a No 116 bus as I was walking down the mainly pedestrianised part of the High Street but I wasn't concerned as the bus service is every 10-12 minutes.

Finally getting out of the cold and onto a warm London United 45141

However, it was not until 1339, when I had been waiting over twenty minutes that finally London United Hybrid 45141 arrived. After a short period underway we overtaken by another No 116, presumably the one that should have appeared during the gap!

Christmas decoration in Bedfont

However, as we reached Bedfont an announcement was made that the bus was terminating at Bedfont Green. At 1409 we therefore left that bus and joined the one that had overtaken our bus, the 2018 London United Hybrid 45300, which had been held for us so we could catch up.

London United 45300 awaiting our arrival at Bedfont Green

Shortly after this we encountered the reason for the poor regularity of the service. The A30 had roadworks and we took 20 minutes to go from the county boundary to Ashford Hospital at 1436, a distance of less than a mile.

Traffic, stationary on the A30

Ten minutes later and the bus is still creeping occasionally towards its destination

Final bus stop for the No 116 at Ashford Hospital

Bus stop from where I just missed the No 203 to get to Staines

At Ashford Hospital I needed to travel to Staines bus station to catch the No 117. The bus to Staines is the No 203 but it left just as I crossed the road. I checked the timetable to find it was only a twenty minute service  and given it would be joining the A30 to get to Staines I decided to walk to Ashford station to catch a No 117 from there to Staines. When I arrived at the bus stop it was another 15 minute wait for the bus. Therefore I started to walk to Staines, after a short walk west parallel with railway, the road and bus route headed south in the wrong direction so I took a footpath that continued west past Bronzefield prison. This footpath lifted up over the railway by means of a metal bridge and as I crossed a cyclist came the other way.

Pathway between a fishing lake and a school playing field heading west

Here I am crossing the Shortwood Nature Reserve

A Southwestern Railway class 707 heading towards Town from Staines

I asked him if the path continued to Staines as it was not obvious from where I was standing. He confirmed that after a short walk north I would encounter another path heading west. The path crossed a nature reserve to the east of the Staines Bypass and then after walking underneath the bypass I was able to walk into Staines town.

I reached the Bus station at 1532 almost an hour since leaving Ashford Hospital but it was a pleasant walk, much of it in countryside.

Waiting at Staines bus station with a First Berkshire bus No 8 for Windsor  and against the wall a Whitebus on route 446 to Woking

To the left a Hallmark bus on route 458 whilst my mount DE953, arrives for the No 117

At 1544 I boarded DE953 a Metroline operated Enduro Dart and settled in the back seat of this single decker for the duration. When we reached Challenge Road just by the county boundary the bus driver said he had been asked to wait for three minutes. So we waited here until 1605 before heading onward towards Feltham which was reached at 1615. Again we we were asked to wait and remained at the bus stop for two minutes before encountering the roadworks at the bridge over the railway line which meant a diversion to the Airman pub instead of the direct route onwards to Hounslow Heath. The normal route was regained at 1632 and Hounslow Bell Corner was reached again at 1643, 3 hours since I had passed it on the outward journey. This bus route goes past Hounslow bus garage and then on to Isleworth. Then just before the railway station the bus turned right and headed towards the river before turning left and finally right into the West Middlesex Hospital where I arrived at 1701.

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Journey's end where I will be when I catch the No 481 in 3 years time perhaps?

From here in the cold light showers of rain I walked to Syon Lane railway station; exactly the opposite journey which I made when I came here to catch the No 110. I changed at Clapham Junction to the 1744 to Sutton and achieved the warmth and comfort of home at 1830.

Day 70 the first trip of 2019 to combine the No 114 and No 115

After the Christmas break I thought I ought to get out and about as quickly as I could. Thus I boarded the 1153 train to Sutton and changed for a Thameslink train class 700 700044 at Platform one here which was heading for St Albans at 1216. The journey was  uneventful and perfectly to time and I arrived at Mill Hill Broadway at 1325. The No 114 operated by Metroline starts from a stop underneath the M1 just outside the exit from Mill Hill Broadway railway station.

Thameslink's 700044 leaving for Elstree and finally St Albans

VWH2183 of Metroline awaiting departure under M1 at Mill
Hill Broadway

Metroline's VWH2183 departed quite swiftly at 1327 and after turning left out of the bus station and then left again, the driver thought about turning right down Langley Park. This road was just before the remains of the Mill Hill the Vale railway line to Edgware. This road was indicated as a dead end and luckily the driver realised before we left the main road. We then crossed over the bridge and  turned right along the correct road which was Lyndhurst Avenue. From here we threaded our way through the estates to reach Burnt Oak library and the parade of shops.

A No 302 also of Metroline waiting outside Burnt Oak library to turn right

The bus crossed the A5 and started to follow Stag Lane  before turning right down Mollison Way and on to Queensbury station where we arrived at 1345.

The Underground symbol on the centre of the roundabout outside Queensbury station

From Queensbury we continued through streets of suburban semis from the 1920s and 1930s by way of Kenton and into Harrow arriving at Harrow bus station at 1408.

The shops of Harrow prior to turning right to reach
 Harrow bus station and Harrow on the Hill tube station

From Harrow bus station the bus went to West and then South Harrow and after this the bus headed west until it almost reached South Ruislip railway station.

Typical housing that I passed through on this journey led me to think
where did all these people live before 1920?

The 1930s semis continued through Harrow and Ruislip

 Next the bus went on to stop at Ruislip Manor station before finally arriving at Ruislip station at 1439.

Arrival at Ruislip station exactly at the time bus driver advised me when I boarded-well done!

The signal box at Ruislip station was the same as the Airfix model I had on my model railway in the 1960s and 1970s

There was a 9 minute wait at Ruislip station for a Metropolitan line train to Aldgate which arrived at 1448. The journey was uneventful except for a hold up accessing a platform to reach Aldgate terminus platforms at 1543.

The next No 115 bus awaiting departure at Aldgate bus station

I emerged from the tube station and immediately opposite was the Aldgate bus station where the No 115 begins its journey to East Ham. This bus follows the route of the No 15 along the Commercial Road to Docklands and crosses over the A102M just north of the Blackwall Tunnel. The service is provided by London General and was operated by Enviro Hybrid EH140 which left at 1548.

By this time it was starting to get dark and therefore it was difficult to take any photographs on board. Beyond the A102M the bus followed the A13 to reach Canning Town bus station which was achieved at 1615. Once the bus left Canning Town bus station it followed the No 5 bus route through Plaistow to Upton Park. At the bus stop just beyond the Boleyn Tavern the bus driver made an announcement that he had been asked to wait to regulate the service. So wait we did from 1629 to 1633. After this the bus continued on the same road to reach Newham town hall where the bus turned right and headed south to reach Central Park East Ham and here the bus terminated at 1645.

Arrival at Central Park East Ham with the Christmas lights in park to left 

From here I crossed the road and caught a No 474 to East Ham High Street and after visiting McDonalds I walked to East Ham station and caught the District tube to West Ham. At this station I changed from the District line to the Jubilee line and took this to Canada Water. From here the London Overground conveyed me to Sydenham where I waited for the 1811 to West Croydon. This train suffered many delays getting to West Croydon and it was almost 7 PM before I reached home.