Day ninety nine the completion of the No 157.

To complete the No 157 I returned on foot to where I had disembarked on the ninety eighth trip of the series and had to wait a good ten minutes for Arriva's T90 to arrive at the Waddon Leisure Centre stop to take me via Croydon and South Norwood to Crystal Palace.

So had I continued my journey last week it would have taken me another 40 minutes and then at least that home meaning an 8 hour day of bus riding!

Arriva's T90 arriving from the direction of Wallington

The bus arrived at 1157 and took Epsom Road, which had been closed for most of this year for Thames Water roadworks. After the bus had climbed past the Centrale tram stop the top of Tamworth Road was reached,the bus drivers are exchanged.

Our replacement bus driver waiting for us atop Tamworth Road.
 In the last week the No 407 has been converted to double deck using the same buses I had used on the No 45 route.
The tram is heading for East Croydon where it will terminate as no trams are able, this week to head east from there.

There were eight drivers waiting under a tree sheltering from the strong sunshine and the bus dwelt here for three minutes from 1207-1210. Once through the bus station the bus headed down Whitehorse Road and then turned right past Selhurst station and train depot.

Whitehorse Road just prior to junction where we will turn right to Selhurst;
Both Croydon and Crystal Palace transmitter masts visible 

 The road after this was adorned with banners supporting Crystal Palace Football Club before arriving at South Norwood at 1225.

The road into South Norwood with Selhurst Park to our left

 From South Norwood the bus continued for a while towards Penge before turning left at Elmers End Road and passing through Anerley towards Crystal Palace.

Who knows which buses stop here or what the stop is called! (Answers on an e postcard please!)

Closing on the transmitter mast at Crystal Palace as we pass Anerley railway station

As the bus climbed up past Anerley station the only pair waiting at the next stop waved the bus on for which the driver must have been grateful, as to stop on the hill would make the climb much slower.

A No 410 heading down Anerley Hill

Climbing up Anerley Hill

 Nevertheless the bus did stop on Anerley Hill at Crystal Palace 'low level' station and then ground slowly to the top before swinging right to terminate on Crystal Palace Parade at 1238.

The final stop on Crystal Palace Parade: a place I had visited on day one and now again on day ninety nine!

To return home I boarded a No 410 which departed about 1250 but took almost an hour to return me close to my home, the 410 route being rather less direct than the 157!

Day 98 the No's 154,155,156 and a large proportion of the No 157.

I tried for a bumper trip today given the first and last are two local buses and the 155 and 156 nicely fit together in the middle. It has been a long time since I was able to do more than 3 routes in a day. Thus I walked to the Waddon public house to catch a No 157 at 1141 to West Croydon bus station where I caught the first of my quarries the No 154. It actually started to move from layover to the bus stop before I was ready with the camera and thus my first shot was rather blurry.

Unfortunately blurred image of DOE24

West Croydon bus station sign

Looking towards the west from West Croydon bus station

I boarded DOE24 of London General garage at Sutton and we departed at 1152.

Fairfield Halls being renovated for opening
in September

 It took eight minutes to reach the west end of the Croydon flyover and once down Duppas Hill we reached what is currently Fiveways but if highways plans are realised may have become four way(s) before I reach the No 289 which traverses Fiveways on the Purley Way (A23).

Our first house together in Stafford Road

Fiveways junction

We entered the parish of South Beddington and Roundshaw at Merebank Lane where 128 Stafford Road Waddon is next to 328 Stafford Road Wallington.

Passing from LB Croydon into LB Sutton at Merebank Lane

When we lived on Stafford Road in the 1980s we used to get post for the Wallington end of the road and no doubt they received our post, too.

Passing St Paul's church Roundshaw

Turning left we travelled along Mollison Drive and on into Rounshaw estate where I snapped St Paul's church as we passed by. I was ready to take a picture of St Michael's too, but it was too awkward as I was sitting in the front seat. Onward then through roadworks to the top of Woodcote Road to reach Boundary Road, the original Carshalton/ Wallington boundary at 1220.

Park Hill Road passing a similar No 154 heading for W Croydon

Descending from Beeches Avenue through Carshalton Beeches into Park Hill Road to the Windsor Castle pub we join the direct route into Sutton the A232 for a short period. This doesn't last though, as we turn right down Ringstead Road to reach Westmead and Lower Roads which takes us past the original tram depot whose trams predated this bus service route. By 1235 the bus was at the north end of Sutton High Street where we waited at Victoria Park at which there were a large number of London General staff waiting to take over as various bus routes stopped; this park being close to Sutton bus garage.

Angel Hill Sutton

After a five minute wait we were on our way again at 1240 up Angel Hill and on up to Rose Hill roundabout where we parted company with the Nos 157 and 164 routes heading North to St Helier railway station. At the A24 the bus turned right

A 164 bus and 157 which go straight on for Morden, whilst we turned left.
I would board this No 157  later in the day.

Stop for bus route termination with actual
bus station around the corner

DOE24 leaving to layover at bus station

and arrived at Morden tube station at 1250. I will be returning here later in the day.














To get to the start of the No 155 I needed to get to St George's Hospital Tooting. Very conveniently a No 470 bus appeared at 1256 which had the capacity to take me to Colliers Wood. On disembarkation at 1305 I found a sign stating 'St George's Hospital Tooting 13 minute walk'. I thought 'I can do better than that' and set of briskly and it took me only 9 minutes. This meant I was just in time to see WHV83 of London General leaving the bus stop.

The No 155 I just missed

The bus service level suggests a 6-9 minute frequency service but I actually had to wait 14 minutes until the next No 155 WHV84 of London General arrived. The bus had been sitting a little way up the road ever since I had arrived.

WHV84 approaching at 1325

It took from 1328 to 1343 to travel to Tooting Bec Underground station owing to the quantity of slow moving traffic on the A24.

Tooting Market, apparently the earliest indoor market, from 1930!

Once past this station the road widens though, and travel became brisker as we passed the Sewing Machine Museum and on to Balham and Clapham South which was reached at 1354.

Balham Station

The entrance to the deep air raid shelter, sheltering under the trees

At Clapham South the World War two air raid shelter was in evidence under a tree. This we had visited on a London Transport Museum visit last year where we were also told that the one that exists at Clapham North was used as a mushroom farm. This time I saw the entrance to this site as well as I passed and saw the advert for the company Growing-underground.com. It was 2PM as we passed Clapham North.

From Stockwell it appeared that the top of the Shard was attached to a block of flats with three wind turbines

 From here until we reached Elephant and Castle there was a racist person sitting behind who was constantly goading non-white passengers telling them to go home and leave this country etc etc. I felt it was best to keep a low profile as he was swearing about not needing Poles, Russias, Latvians or any other Europeans! I rather wanted the journey to end at this point as I wasn't sure there wouldn't be fistycuffs joined soon. We passed the Oval at 1409, Kennington at 1415 and after letting this 'scumbag' off just before we reached Lambeth Road we came to a halt at 1426.

London Road Bakerloo line depot only visible from the top deck of a passing bus

The final stop on the No 155 in Lambeth Road

From here I needed to get across to Vauxhall for the No 156. Walking across to the frontage of the Imperial War Museum I was able to board a No 344 bound for Clapham Junction which travels via Vauxhall.

Approaching Vauxhall bus station on the No 344

No 9454 resting as I arrived at Vauxhall bus station

Abellio 9454 arriving to take me to Wimbledon on the No 156

I arrived at Vauxhall bus station at the same time as a No 156 was leaving, at 1440, but at least according to the bus timetable this journey was shorter than the other two at only 52 minutes. This bus route is operated by Abellio and their No 9454 was already waiting when I arrived.

The new US Embassy at Nine Elms

Building work at Battersea Power Station

The bus departed at 1450 and headed through all the building works at Nine Elms which meant in the process we passed the new  US Embassy. After Battersea Park station the bus turned left to Queenstown Road to reach the Wandsworth Road at 1507. From here the bus followed the same route  as the Nos 77 and 87 to reach Clapham Junction station at 1513.

Crossing the River Wandle in Wandsworth

Wandsworth Town hall was reached at 1522, whilst after the town centre the bus swung left down Merton Road towards Southfields and after a short while the No 156 becomes the only route on this road as the No 39 turns away towards Putney.
We entered the London Borough of Merton at Wimbledon Park where roadworks led to a short holdup. The bus travels over the bridge that separates the two parts of Wimbledon train depot along Durnsford Road to Plough Lane. At this point the bus turns right up Gap Lane, whilst after a climb the bus turns left into Alexandra Road and on into Wimbledon where after turning right the bus terminated just past Wimbledon

Alexandra Road Wimbledon

Abellio 9454 departing after depositing me by Centre Court shops

station at 1544.

In order to return to Morden Tube station to take the No 157 towards Crystal Palace the quickest way was likely to be to take the tram to Morden Road, so that is what I did with the tram departing at 1600 from platform 10a.

Buses resting outside Morden Tube station

Arriva's T106 approaching the pick up point

 I then walked around the corner into Morden High Street and after buying a loaf of bread caught Arriva's T106 heading towards Crystal Palace.

Climbing from Morden up to the Rose Hill
Roundabout

This being the same bus I had seen at the Rose Hill Roundabout earlier in the day from the No 154. The bus departed at 1618 and reached the Rose Hill Roundabout at 1627. Unlike the No 154 the No 157 doesn't run into Sutton but passes St Helier Hospital where we were obviously early as we waited from 1629 until 1632.

St Helier Hospital advertising the recent
funding achieved

Carshalton Ponds and Honeywood Museum

After this the bus ran down Wrythe Green Lane and on to Carshalton High Street which was reached at 1641.

Back on London Boroughs of Sutton/Croydon interface

Here again the drivers waited, this time for four minutes; presumably the lack of school traffic was making the bus run too fast. After this the bus did not linger at any more bus stops passing Wallington High Street at 1652 and Plough Lane at 1700 to reach and Five ways at 1707 where I disembarked.

Wallington Public Halls-the site of many
early pop music careers, now sadly closed

Stafford Road having left the T106

This is a good local spot to start the next day's journey.

Day ninety seven The No 153 from Finsbury Square to Finsbury Park

I was running a little late in the wet weather and luckily the 1135 hadn't arrived at 1142 when I needed to put more money on my Oystercard. Thus I was able to catch the fast train to London Bridge where I arrived at 1209. It was still quite wet and while standing under the Shard the winds were swirling about which meant even though I was under cover there was no where that I could stand in the dry. I didn't have to wait very long for a No 149 to come and this crawled across London Bridge owing to the building being built on the left side of the northern end of the bridge. I alighted at the stop after Liverpool Street called Primrose Street and crossed to Finsbury Square where I found a No 153 waiting for me. This bus is operated by London General and is an electric Alexander Dennis BYD E200MMC service, the first of these I have done the full route within.

Waiting in the pouring rain at Finsbury Square to board.

The 153 is one three buses that terminate at
Finsbury Square; the 271 and the 214 are the others

In order to remain dry I waited under some scaffolding and the bus driver was in no hurry to leave as I must have been waiting there at least 10 minutes. Eventually at 1254 I boarded SEe76 and we departed heading straight across Moorgate into Chiswell Street. From thence we travelled along Beech Street under the Barbican Centre to reach the Barbican Tube station where we turned right up Goswell Road. Briefly the bus turned into Clerkenwell Road before swinging north again up St John Street. Finally we started to pick up passengers as we reached the City University. Heading north we passed Sadler's Wells Theatre, away to the left down Rosebery Avenue and then the Old Red Lion theatre pub advertising its existence for 600 years. Here at the Angel Islington we swung up Liverpool Road past Sainsbury's and then turned left along Tolpuddle Street. This was the start of some really convoluted bus riding. After turning right into Barnsbury road we then headed left down Copenhagen Street to the junction with Hemmingford Road where we were located for rather longer before turning left just before we reached Caledonian Road and Barnsbury railway station. There had been a gradual shift from Regency and late Georgian properties to early Victorian as we traversed these roads. We turned right into Westbourne Road and passed one side of Arundel Square before running to the end and turning right into MacKenzie Road and then left onto Holloway Road. The bus then ran up Holloway past the Nags Head to turn right in Seven Sisters Road which runs straight to Finsbury Park railway, tube and bus interchange where we arrived at 1346.

The bus and railway interchange at Finsbury Park

A very grubby looking class 313 of 1976, soon to be replaced

The new replacement class 717 which has been very slow to be cleared for use

Having arrived at 1346 I walked up onto the mainline platforms with the intention of catching a Thameslink train to Norwood Junction, but there were none in evidence. I therefore waited for half an hour watching the comings and goings. In addition to those photographed above, I saw HSTs and their Adzuma replacements along with Class 91 with mark IV carriages which are also to be replaced by these Hitachi 'super trains'. Grand Central and Hull trains operated class 180s completed the long distance trains that sped through Finsbury Park station in just half an hour. I caught the next Thameslink train to London Bridge and changed there for a train to Norwood Junction, changing again there for a train home.