Day 120 to NE London for the Nos 191, 192 and 193.

Today was an earlier start than most as I hoped to do all three routes which were a fair way away. Thus I boarded the 1005 train to London Bridge which started off 3 minutes late but arrived early by 30 seconds. At London Bridge it was one stop on the Northern line and then one stop on the Central line to reach Liverpool Street. I had just missed the 1045 train to Edmonton when I arrived so had to wait almost a quarter of an hour for the 1100 to Enfield Town which deposited me at Edmonton at 1128.

Two London General EN's providing the route No 191 service in thrbus station

Thick traffic made getting to bus station a little difficult
as there was no crossing initially as I headed north.

The railway station is situated just across the roundabout and as I approached I could see there were two No 191s in the bus station. Within five minutes of arrival at Edmonton railway station I was leaving the bus station on London General's EN7 heading for Brimsdown. Although the main destination on this bus route is Enfield the bus does anything but go straight there. After turning right out of the bus station towards Enfield it soon turns right down Bounces Road to Nightingale Lane where the bus takes the left and becomes the only route servicing this road. The road takes us back to the Hertford Road A1010 but after a short return to the northerly heading road we again swing to the right and head down South Street to Ponders End railway station.

Ponders End railway station at the end of the road

Blocks of flats under demolition near Ponders End railway station

The road cannot cross the railway track here so the bus goes left around the corner which is notable for the blocks of flats being demolished and then goes under Nags Head Road which crosses the Lea valley to Chingford at this point. After the bridge the bus turned left into Durants Road and left again so we could reach Nags Head Road. From here the bus runs straight into Enfield.

About to cross the Hertford Road with bus garage and Tesco
before the climb over the railway line at Southbury station

Once across the Hertford Road again, the road to Enfield becomes Southbury Road and we passed the Arriva bus garage and Southbury railway station. All the housing stock flanking the roads around here seem to be turn of the twentieth century-a fact exemplified by the road names Mafeking Road and Ladysmith Road.

Enfield Town centre-a place I returned to once we had been to
the terminus of this route.

Finally I reached Enfield Town at 1212 having crossed the A10 where I saw two Sullivan buses on route No 217. This is a service provider I have yet to use on my odyssey. After passing the library, strangely marked 1912 to 2010, we saw the bus terminus for my next route the No 192 at Little Park Gardens and headed up Chaseside.  Once again there was a meeting with the W8 as we turned right into Lancaster Road, a route I had previously seen soon after leaving Edmonton Green near Pickett's Lock. At the end of Lancaster Road, an area which seemed surprisingly built up, given how far north from London we had come, the bus reached Baker Street and turned left to go even further northward.

Baker Street Enfield style

At the end of this road the route reaches its furthest north at Forty Hill and then heads east and southeast along Carterhatch Lane.

Reflection of my bus EN7 in the back window of a No 279
now in the Hertford Road again going to the utter north of Waltham Cross

Back at the Hertford Road, again, the bus turns north then right along Bell Lane and finally south down Brimsdown Avenue to reach Brimsdown station where we terminated at 1240.

My bus departing to layover.

The diversion sign indicating that my quicker bus
back to Enfield, the No 307, was on diversion

I then had to return to Enfield Little Park Gardens to catch a No 192 and the No 191 driver suggested catching a No 307 would be quicker. However, because the No 307 was on diversion owing to roadworks on the Hertford Road I actually passed EN7 coming the other way before I reached the town centre. Still we are only talking 4 or 5 minutes, so I would have been unable to catch the No 192 that passed us as we drove past Bryn y Mawr Road and Clydach Road, two places close to Ebbw Vale. I alighted at the town centre museum and cafe and walked to the park to find the No 192.

Arriva's almost new ENN59 at Little Park Gardens

I have used part of this route before betwixt Edmonton Green and Tottenham Hale but had never used the more northerly part. An almost new ENN59 of Arriva was waiting for me at Little Park Gardens and this I boarded at 1336. Initially the bus turns left and takes to Enfield High Street but just beyond the Boer War roads mentioned earlier it heads south down a small residential street with parked cars on both sides called Fotheringham Road. After a short while of winding through Victorian residential streets the bus announced we were on a hail and ride section: these are quite a feature of this bus route. Hail and ride briefly ceased as we reached Bush Hill Park station but soon resumed. Eventually the bus turned left into Bury Street West near Salisbury House, which I had visited with Charmaine for a craft fayre last year. This road crosses the A10 Great Cambridge Road and then becomes Bury Street all the way until the A1010 Hertford Road is reached and we here turned right and arrived at Edmonton Green bus station at 1400 exactly. This proved to be half way through my day and was also half way through this particular route.
From Edmonton Green the bus only travels briefly down the A1010 before deviating east then north along Plevna Road, where hail and ride was again initiated. The bus goes east along Town Road and then south on Montagu Road which brings the bus to the junction with the North Circular Road. Here the bus then hops over the railway track and under the A406 to reach the Angel Road superstores. However, Angel Road station closed a few months ago to be replaced by Meridian Water station which now allows for the extra platform for a shuttle service to Stratford.

New railway station

No 341 which I used to get to work
at Angel Road Tesco

     From here the bus moved swiftly south passing Northumberland Park London General bus garage and the Victoria line tube depot. We reached Tottenham Hale interchange at 1419.

A line of No 192s at Tottenham Hale awaiting return to Enfield.

My No 192 at Tottenham Hale

Next I needed to find the No 193 which starts at Queen's Hospital Romford. Therefore boarding a train at Tottenham Hale bound for Stratford was necessitated where I could swap to a train to Romford. It was quite a chilly day so I was pleased not to have to wait more than 7 minutes for my train for Stratford. I arrived at Stratford at 1435 and had to wait until 1446. However, I did see my first example of the new Greater Anglia 12 coach class 745 trains. This was introduced early in January apparently.

Class 745 at Stratford with some coaches articulated

My Crossrail class 345 took me to Romford where I arrived just after 3 PM and then had to walk to the hospital. By now it was getting increasingly bright as the cloud cleared which had meant some rather blurry photographs on the No 192. I found after walking through the Brewery Mall to the ring road that half of it was shut off and traffic was proceeding rather slowly from the hospital.

The previous No 193 caught in traffic by Brewery Mall

The No 193 approaching

I arrived at the bus stop just as Stagecoach 37520 was approaching from its resting place and I boarded the No 193 at 1523.

Stagecoach 37520 at Queens Hospital Romford providing my
No 193

The traffic was rather slow as previously seen and it took until 1532 to get to the other side of the ring road at Romford Market.

My bus at same location as earlier photograph looking through
back window at Freightliner class 86 running into Romford station

Thereafter though, the bus moved at a fair rate. Beyond Romford Station the bus took Brentwood Road as had the No 165. However, this bus took a right down Osborne Road, which was a hail and ride section. Here there were some really intense showers and we were also caught up by Stagecoach 37522 which then created a state of leapfrogging of the two buses all the way through Hornchurch which was reached at 1552. From this point the bus took a southerly route to Hornchurch station and after this roughly easterly down Vaughan Avenue. This area all seemed to be a post war estate and this was proved when two of the roads I passed were Bevan Way and Clement Way. There was now a slight hold up in order to cross the A124 where a sign said Romford 2 1/2 miles. The journey by this stage had taken 3/4 of an hour! Across the main road there was a narrow hump back bridge for the single track Romford to Upminster railway line where it was impossible to pass traffic coming the opposite way. This road had the lovely name of Wingletye Lane.

Country park reached!!

This took us into the Country Park Estate and the bus terminated at Essex Gardens at 1616. However, almost as soon as we arrived swarms of school children arrived and we were back returning to Romford at 1617 once again overtaking Stagecoach 37522 as we did so.

Approaching second stop of return journey after leaving Essex Gardens

I remained on the bus to Hornchurch station and then caught a District line service to Whitechapel and here changed for London Overground to West Croydon. I finally arrived home at 1815 after an eight hour hour jaunt.