Day 173 A short trip around SW London on the No 265

 After all the long journeys recently to get to the start point of a route the trip to Putney Bridge for the No 265 was fairly quick and straightforward. I walked to Wandle Park tram stop and caught a tram to Wimbledon and then crossed to platform 3 for a District line train to Putney Bridge. So having departed Wandle Park at 1127, I was at Putney Bridge at 1205.

Bus layover point around the corner from Putney Bridge station forecourt

London United's DLE30139

Descending for the platform high on a viaduct I found the bus stop directly outside the station with a No 265 waiting  just around the corner. This arrived at 1208 and was London United's 30139, now 7 years old, but had a different number originally before the company was taken over by RATP. The bus turned left onto Putney Bridge itself and then turned right along the riverbank toward Barnes. The Tames water's super sewer was being worked on here.

Work on the 'Super Sewer' adjacent to the river Thames

It had been dry up to this point during the morning but outbreaks of rain started to occur as we crossed Putney Heath and on to Barnes Common where we turned left and went over the bridge at Barnes railway station.

Barnes Common starting to come to life
with light green shoots everywhere

At the South Circular the bus crossed straight over passing Roehampton University and Queen Mary's Hospital as it climbed the hill towards Wimbledon Common reaching the shops at 1230. At Alton Road the bus turned right and then did a complete circuit of an estate before emerging back onto the road it started from. 

Awaiting exit from Alton Road where we turned
 left so we could travel right

Then presumably because of the habitual large traffic density the bus turned initially left then soon right to do a 180 degree turn around the fountain to return again to be heading in the direction of the A3 and Wimbledon Common. At the A3 the bus turned right and soon sped up stopping briefly at the Roehampton Vale ASDA, sometimes thereafter it left the A3 onto a parallel road to service a bus stop but then returned to the A3 until we had reached Shannon Corner where the bus left the vicinity of the A3 and turned into New Malden.

Here we have left the A3 in order to access
Shannon Corner so as to enter New Malden

 We turned right at The Fountain Pub though, and so returned back to the A3 and turned right along this road in the direction of Tolworth again using parallel roads to allow passengers to board or alight. At the Tolworth roundabout the bus did a 180 degree turn and then took the first left up Ewell Road. It turned left at the end of this road and soon terminated. This was not where the TFL website said the bus route finished but the driver told me it had been doing so for the last year owing to roadworks on Tolworth Broadway. I thus finished the journey at 1308 exactly an hour after leaving Putney Bridge Underground station. 

Arrival at current termination point just around corner from
Tolworth Broadway in  Ewell Road

From here I walked to Tolworth station and caught the 1339 train to Wimbledon and then a tram to Wandle Park and a No 410 bus home.

Inside Southwest Trains Class 455 5911 on my way from Tolworth to Wimbledon. How much longer will these Electric Multiple units survive; Southern having already sent all of theirs for scrap.

Day 172 two buses at opposite ends of London, the No 263 starting in Barnet and the No 264 ending in Croydon

 The opportunity arose to go to North London when my wife was filming in Rayners Lane. So having taken her to the student housing where the filming was taking place I had to get to Barnet Hospital. At 1102 I boarded a No H10 which took me to Harrow and Wealdstone station where I arrived at 1118. I changed here for a No 186 to take me to Edgware at 1125 which duly arrived at 1148. There were two buses here I could catch to Barnet Hospital but it was the No 292 to Borehamwood which arrived first at 1155 which required me to change finally at Stirling Corner onto a No 107. This transfer went very well taking only from 1207 to 1209 and I finally reached Barnet Hospital at 1217.

Barnet Hospital bus terminus

As always a No 263 left as I approached the bus terminus but there were two already waiting. Metroline's TE1441 was the first one in line and I boarded this at 1224 for the trip to Highbury Barn. There were roadworks almost as soon as we left the hospital and turned into Wood Street, but these were not too difficult to negotiate.

Barnet church

A No 34 laying over in Barnet High Street

Barnet church was passed and we reached the place where I caught the No 34 to Walthamstow five years ago. The route took the bus straight down the hill past the High Barnet Underground station to the Everyman theatre and onwards to Whetstone. The bus continued on to North Finchley but a rain shower was then encountered with water streaming down the windows of the bus. It was 1256 when we reached Tally Ho corner after some slow moving traffic retarded progress into Finchley. Straight over at this junction we descended to cross over the North Circular Road. 

Windows now clearing as we cross over the A406

By this time the bus was too full to stop to pick up people at the next bus stop after the A406 as we climbed up to East Finchley shops where this is the only route on the road. At least the shower had started to clear away now and the windows were clearing as we descended past East Finchley station and after a while we were climbing up North Hill towards Highgate. 

Climbing up to Highgate on North Hill

Descending Highgate hill with Central London in distance

At 1317 we were breasting the hill at Highgate and soon then were descending the other side to Archway which was reached exactly an hour after leaving Barnet Hospital at 1324.

At the stop at Upper Holloway station there was a digital
billboard in front of a much older advert for Brymay

Here we joined with the bus routes No 17 and No 43 and then continued south to Upper Holloway station where the following No 263 overtook us at 1330. Beyond this the bus ran down the Holloway Road to Highbury and Islington statio;, reached at 1342. The bus turned left here and climbed up the road to Highbury Barn where the bus terminated at 1349 an 85 minute journey instead of the 57 minutes booked.

The No 21 now terminating at Nags Head Holloway
changed this February from Newington Green

TE1441 terminated at Highbury
Barn

Highbury Barn

I then walked back through Highbury Fields stopping at the Oasis cafe for a cup of tea and tuna sandwich.

Northern entrance to Highbury and
 Islington station from 1906

Boer War memorial for Islington

I carried on to Highbury and Islington station where I caught a Victoria line train at 1419 to Stockwell and changed here at 1439 to the Northern line to arrive at Tooting Broadway at 1451. From this Underground station I walked to St George's Hospital bus stop HM where the No 264 leaves for West Croydon. I arrived here at 1508 and at 1510 I was aboard London General's Ee84.

Arrival at St George's Hospital bus stop HM

4 minutes to wait on arrival

London General's Ee84 arriving

Thames Water were digging up the end of Blackshaw Road which restricted access to the A24 back to the Broadway. This bus was expected to take 47 minutes to reach Croydon but it took 13 minutes to reach Amen Corner. 

Heading north up the A24 to Tooting Broadway

Bank now a William Hill's bookies at Amen Corner

Beyond Amen Corner we ran past Tooting Police station (now closed and boarded up) and stopped at Tooting station where I had alighted from the No 77. Beyond this the road was new to the Odyssey as far as Figges Marsh where the bus was rejoined by the No 127, No 152 and No 201 as we entered the London Borough of Merton at Mitcham. At 1536 the bus arrived at Mitcham town centre and turned left where the No 270 and No 355 terminate which allows the No 264 to forge on alone down the Mitcham Road towards the Lombard roundabout and Croydon.

Mitcham, the fourth time I've stopped here

The bus is now the only route on the road

Ravensbury Pub Mitcham Road

Beyond the Beddington Lane junction the traffic was extremely slow, as there were two sets of roadworks between there and the A23.

The queues continue after passing the first set of traffic lights

 It was 1604 before we were finally clear of the traffic so it had taken 20 minutes at least to transit Mitcham Road. Once across the Lombard roundabout the bus continued in a straight line for the rest of Mitcham Road and on to Roman Way and still it was the only bus route on the road. We turned off the road at Reeves Corner and ran up Tamworth Road to terminate at West Croydon bus station at 1615. The bus therefore took 65 minutes, 18 minutes longer than booked.

Arriving at West Croydon bus station

Now disembarked from Ee84

I quickly caught a No 407 home and was in the house by 1635.

Day 171 A refreshing change from getting a train this time to using the bus to do the No 261 followed by the No 262

 So to get to the starting point of the No 261 required a tram and bus. I was going to get a bus to the tram but as usual I just missed the bus so walked to Wandle Park tram stop and caught a Beckenham Junction bound tram at 1032. My first bus would be meeting me at Addington Interchange so I had to change at Sandilands to meet the No 353 to Locksbottom. Thus it was 1119 before the brand new Ee106 electric bus arrived to take me to Locksbottom. These only started being used the previous Sunday on the route but had been utilised on the local No 119 and No 264 in the previous year.

Clean interior of very new London General Ee106

Very shiny exterior of the recently introduced
Ee106

I walked to the PRUH, the hospital totally rebuilt from the the time of my and my wife's birth at what was Farnborough Hospital. Here I boarded Stagecoach's No 11070 at 1147 which would take me on route No 261 to Lewisham station.

Stagecoach 11070

Princess Royal University Hospital

The bus stop indicated the journey should take 42 minutes and we departed at 1153 turning North along the A21 towards Bromley as we emerged from the hospital forecourt. At 1157 we stopped at Bromley garage to exchange drivers and were back underway just before 1200. Many years ago, the No 261 which replaced the No 47 bus, and the No 94 which was replaced by the No 208 swapped their routes north of Bromley. Thus on the No 261 I was taken past Sundridge Park and on to Burnt Ash which was reached half an hour after departure at 1223.

Debbie's workplace (Burnt Ash Library) for much
 of her
Bromley Libraries employment

Kynaston Road, the road leading to what was
Debbie and John's home.

The road then led on to Grove Park and I was finally on a road not previously used during the Odyssey- Baring Road, although I will be back soon on two other 200 routes. This road eventually took the bus to the South Circular where having been briefly the sole user of the road we joined the No 202 as it turns right then left and heads down Burnt Ash Hill towards Lee Station.

View of Docklands from Baring Road Lewisham

There was a delay with roadworks at this station and it was 1238 before the bus reached the A20 at Lee Green and could turn left and head finally in the direction of Lewisham.

The remains of a gas lamp on the A20 betwixt Lee Green and Lewisham

The bus terminated at Lewisham station at 1250, 57 minutes after departure or a fifteen minute longer journey than stated at the PRUH. 

Disembarkation with Southeastern
 train in platform at Lewisham

Stagecoach 11070 going
off to lay over

However, I was quickly aboard a Docklands Light Railway train at the platforms below and we departed towards Canary Wharf at 1253. In order to reach Stratford to catch a No 262 I had to change at Canary Wharf station but the wait was very short on the adjacent platform for the Stratford train to depart at 1311. 

Looking south from Canary Wharf station to Heron Quay

Stratford was achieved at 1325 and I was able to snap a No 262 laying over as I walked from the station to bus top D to board the next bus.

My No 262 which started moving to the bus stop before I had got there

The bus was a recently transferred Tower Transit machine now numbered 18918 in Stagecoach's number series. We left the bus station at 1332 and from the Broadway took the right turn down Tramway Avenue which morphs into West Ham Lane and then High Street E13 after crossing over the railway tracks at Plaistow Underground station. At Balaam Street the No 241 went right so from here on I was on new territory until we encountered the route of the No 147 just before crossing the Northern Outfall Sewer Greenway. We reached Newham University Hospital at 1345 and continued on towards the A13.

Approaching  theA13 with Excel Centre in distance

Just across the A13 the bus turned sharp left signposted Beckton instead of going straight over towards Prince Regent and the Excel Centre. This eventually meant we reached Beckton DLR station and the adjacent bus station which we didn't enter but pressed on to the Gallions Reach roundabout. There the bus turned right under the DLR at Gallions Station and then left into Armada Way.

Arrival at Gallions Reach  retail park

The bus followed quite a large loop around the Beckton DLR depot before running into the Gallions Reach shopping centre and terminated at 1406. 

Beckton Depot with red and blue trains in foreground but new units in white behind.

New unit No 203

New unit has interconnecting corridors

After a coffee and falafel I walked back to the DLR depot and on towards Gallions DLR station to catch a train. In the depot one of the next generation of DLR trains was evident. These appear to be four car with corridors unlike the current two or three car independent trains that run at present.

British Airways Embraer on BA4456 from Rotterdam
landing as viewed from Beckton depot

I caught a train from Gallions to Royal Albert to spend a little time surveying operations at London City Airport. Then after that I caught a train to Canning Town, the Jubilee line to Canada Water and London Overground back to Croydon arriving home at 1715.

EC-LYL Cessna 560XLS and VQ-BXD Falcon 8X

9H-JLK Falcon 7X

LX-LQB DHC-8 of Luxair arriving

CS-LTC Ce680 Netjet departing

9H-JFX Praetor 600

Emirates Airbus 380 A6-EEB inbound LHR

OO-AMR Cessna 525 arriving