Day seventy nine, a local bus and one almost as far away as can be

I arrived at Purley station just as a No 127 left for Tooting at 1132 so had to wait until 1143 for London General E223 to depart.

E223 of London General resting before heading to Tooting

The No 127 approaching Purley Station

The bus traverses routes I have used frequently since moving to places west of Croydon in 1986. Thus we went up Foxley Lane and then right at the roundabout to pass Wallington girls school and down Woodcote Road, Wallington's high street.

The top of Woodcote Road ostensibly Wallington high street

A bus we use very frequently the No 410 with class 377 at Wallington station

From Wallington the bus goes to Carshalton where the bus had to skip the Bucklers' Way stop owing to road works at 1212. Turning north when we reached Hackbridge we passed the famed Bedzed development.

BEDZED development

The famous BEDZED development

However once past Mitcham Junction station the bus was on diversion and carried straight on into Mitcham turning right into Mitcham Fair Green.

The usual route past the closed Wilson Hospital

The route past Cannons Leisure I thought we
would take was also blocked and we carried onwards

Remains of tree branches brought down
by storm Gareth yesterday next to the pond

Diversion sign at Mitcham Fair Green

Once past Mitcham library the bus heads northeast rather than the direct route to Tooting choosing to head for Streatham until it reaches Southcroft Road.

The original boundary plates between Surrey County Council
and London County Council over the river Graveney.

Plates zoomed in, the LCC one is almost too corroded to read.

Tooting library

Final stop for the No 127

Here the bus turns left to Amen Corner and on to Tooting Broadway Underground station where we arrived at 1246.

From Tooting I had to get to the start of the No 128, this meant either going to Romford or to Clayhill Broadway. I decided to go to the latter as it would be easier to get back once the traffic and public transport got busier.
Initially I caught the Northern Line northbound to Clapham North where I was able to walk to Clapham High Street overground station, a distance of 175 M. This I am sure is the first time I have ever been stood on the platforms at this station.

The opposite platform at Clapham High Street

I arrived at 1300 and at 1308 a London Overground train picked me up and took me to Canada Water where I changed at 1328 to the Jubilee line again for a trip to Stratford. At Stratford I made the decision to catch a Central line train to Gants Hill at 1343. This station is underneath a roundabout so I took exit one where I was able to board a No 123 which took me within ten minutes to Roding Lane South. The No 128 starts from the opposite side of the dual carriageway here through a width restriction.

The Arriva bus hiding on the left beyond the width restriction

As with many of Barking's buses there are coloured
bars indicating a dedicated bus to the route

Arriva VLA135 awaiting departure

At 1419 the No 128 VLA135 of Arriva London departed due east towards Barkingside. Once at Barkingside the bus route turns right into Cranbrook Lane and follows this back to the large roundabout at Gants Hill which was reached at 1432. From here we followed the route of the No 123 back to Ilford and reached the railway station at 1439.

Passing Ilford railway station

Travelling east from here we slowly encountered more and more school kids such that by the time we reached the driver exchange at Becontree Heath at 1513 the children streaming over each zebra crossing caused us to make really slow progress. Finally we reached Romford station at 1536.

Final stop around the corner from Romford station

To get home required a train to Stratford and I caught the fast train at 1550 which was first stop Stratford arriving there at 1603. From here I took the usual route Jubilee line to Canada Water and London Overground from there to West Croydon. Thankfully the broken down train which had caused considerable chaos through Sydenham didn't affect my journey but there were plenty of cancellations from London Bridge through Norwood Junction.

Day 78 one in the north and one in the south

I mostly do these trips on a weekday so to do one on a Saturday was a nice change. No danger of buses being full to the brim at school closing time today! So my first destination was Finchley Central for the No 125 and I left home at 0918 to catch the 0930 to Balham which was actually 4 minutes late arriving but with an almost on time arrival at Balham. From Balham I took the Northern line Bank branch to Finchley Central where I arrived at 1047, exactly 47 minutes since leaving Balham. On arrival I found the start point of the bus route was not Finchley Central but down the road to the left by the now closed Church End library.

Photo taken with mobile phone of layover point of the No 125

At 1107 I boarded Metroline's VWH2033 based at Potters Bar and headed north along Ballards Lane towards the Finchley North bus station.

Ballards Lane which is effectively Finchley High Street

At the bus station at Tally Ho corner we didn't enter it, as the reverse direction does, but drove by to the west and waited for a short while here whilst drivers were exchanged. The bus from here continued north towards Whetstone where it turned east along Oakleigh Road North as far as Russell Lane and then we descended into Osidge, the valley of the Pymmes brook at 1132. Climbing back up to the east of the valley we ran up to another No 125 with its hazard warning lights going. Had it come to grief climbing the steep hill one wondered?

Metroline's TE892 on Osidge Lane

Once atop this hill the bus headed towards Southgate where I had recently been when aboard the No 121. However, from here the bus follows a different route down Winchmore Hill Road as far as the pub of that name.

I had thought I had arrived when we stopped here but its still quite a 'hike'.

Instead of from this point going the quick way to Winchmore Hill the bus turns north along Eversley park road  then southeast along Green Dragon Lane before finally coming to a halt at Station Road roundabout having arrived from the northeast at 1152.

VWH2033 of Metroline awaiting its return to Finchley

Once arrived it was now necessary to get to Eltham so a brisk uphill walk took me to Winchmore Hill station where a most unexpected sight occurred. There was a slight commotion on the platform because just in front of the opposite platform was a large butterfly. Granted it was a sunny day but it was blustery with a chill wind and this was my first ever Camberwell Beauty!

The opposite northbound platform at Winchmore Hill station 

Previous photo zoomed in somewhat

Class 313 arriving bound for Moorgate; there was another 3 minutes later due on the other platform so hope the butterfly got out of its way

I then caught a class 313 to Moorgate at 1207 which should by now have been replaced by the class 717s at least 8 of which were at Hornsey depot or Ferme Park yard. At Moorgate I changed onto the Northern line to London Bridge arriving there in time at 1249 for the 1251 Bexleyheath line service to Slade Green as far as Eltham where I arrived at 1315. There are two buses that link the railway station with the start point of the No 126 but since one had only just drawn up and the other was not evident I decided it would be prudent to walk, as their services are at 15 or 20 minute intervals. Thus I walked up Well Hall Road to Eltham High Street and then walked the length of this to its junction with Southend Crescent.

The No 126 disgorges its passengers in the High Street and then lays over here

 Down this road was where I had alighted from the No 124 but the No 126 starts from the other side of the road.

From the layover point the bus runs down
Southend Crescent

The bus then turns around the roundabout
and heads back to start the journey from
bus stop FH

Aboard Metrobus No 755 awaiting the turn into Eltham High Street from Southend Crescent

Metrobus no 755 provided the No 126 service which departed bus stop FH at 1341 and turned left back down the High Street I had earlier walked. Unlike the No 124 the 126 turns left at the church and heads straight to Mottingham and indeed took only 14 minutes to reach the shops near the library. The route then follows identically that of the No 124 to Grove Park station, and therefore once again we had to negotiate the roadworks at the top of Chinbrook Lane.
The bus then heads for Bromley beyond this point down Burnt Ash Lane and I took a couple of photos here since this was where Debbie and John lived most recently.

Kynaston Road entrance to Sandringham Road a little further up.

Shops along Burnt Ash Lane

Final arrival at Bromley High Street was at 1429.

Metrobus No 755 having deposited me in Bromley High Street

I could from this location have caught the No 119 home but since I had reached 'The Wall' on my Oystercard I decided to catch a train up to Victoria and then change from platform 1 to platform 12 for my journey home where I arrived prior to 4 pm.

Day Seventy Seven, a trip first to Ilford for the No 123 and then back to Catford for the No 124

Two Class 315 units at Ilford

Class 315 unit leaving Ilford

This trip required another visit to Stratford, via London Overground and Jubilee line where I caught the TFL Rail train at 1227 to Ilford. This service was comprised of a couple of Class 315s. Once out of the station I had to walk a fair distance along the High Street to reach Hainault Street. On arrival at the bus stop a No 123 arrived immediately and I boarded the bus at 1246, which was DW494 of Arriva.

The Hainault Street bus stop at Ilford

The bus turned right past the station after exiting the High Street and headed towards Gants Hill.

Approaching the A12 Eastern Avenue at Gants Hill

Across the A12 we headed off to the Charlie Brown roundabout where the bus briefly joined the North Circular Road until Waterworks Corner.

The North Circular Road climbing from the River Roding

 From here the bus used Wadham Road, this being the only bus route utilising this road to Walthamstow and then on to Tottenham Hale which we reached at 1340. After leaving Tottenham Hale it was very slow going to turn right onto the A10 where the bus heads towards Bruce Grove.

Bruce Grove Museum

 From there the bus swung northwest and west to Wood Green via Turnpike Lane and it arrived outside Wood Green underground station  at 1412.

Wood Green Underground station in distance

To reach the No 124 from Wood Green necessitated catching the Piccadilly line to Finsbury Park, then Victoria line to Warren Street before switching to a Northern line to Charing Cross. From Charing Cross I quickly boarded the 1445 to Hastings as far as London Bridge and from there I crossed to platform 1 where I boarded the 1501 to Hayes alighting at Catford Bridge. I arrived at about 1520 and walked right after climbing out of the station and under the Catford Loop Line to St Dunstan's College.

Bus stop in middle of triangle

The No 124 bus starts from an island in a triangle outside St Dunstan's College and I had to wait ten minutes for a bus to arrive.

The initial No 124 that arrived

The first bus stopped and then almost immediately another Stagecoach Dart arrived and this was driven by an engineer who swapped with the driver with the other Dart. The second bus was a 2018 example No 37508 which departed at 1533.

The fairly new Stagecoach No 37508

The route was a very convoluted trip around southeast London suburbs of southern Lewisham. At one stage it was running around the last estate that had been comprised of pre-fabs before the bus then moved on to Downham and into Grove Park. From there the bus moved through Mottingham and finally reached Eltham via a large loop around the grounds of Eltham Palace.

Eltham fire station

The bus came to the end of the route at Southend Crescent Eltham at 1637.

The final resting point of today's journeys

To get home I boarded the No 314 from the same bus stop which took nearly an hour to get to Hayes. I changed there for a No 119 but unfortunately had a fifteen minute wait before reaching home at 1900!

Day 76 a trip to Woolwich once more.

This trip started with a visit to my optician in Bromley to get a replacement side for my glasses. After this I caught a No 227 to Crystal Palace Parade, thereby reaching the starting point of the No 122, the first time I have been here since catching the No 3 on the first day of the odyssey.

Stagecoach 12391 AD E40H AD Eniviro400H

Crystal Palace Parade with 'Borismasters'
waiting to provide a No 3 service

Crystal Palace transmitter mast from first bus stop on route

Stagecoach 12391 approaching the bus stop from the layover point

Thus it was 1347 before I was boarding Stagecoach's 12391 in the direction of Sydenham. Whilst descending Westwood Hill towards Sydenham I noticed a blue plaque for Ernest Shackleton which is apparently where he moved to at age ten from Ireland. At Sydenham station the bus turns north for Forest Hill and after joining the South Circular for a while it again heads north up Brockley Rise. After passing Crofton Park station the bus turned east beyond Brockley and Ladywell cemetaries and finally down to reach Lewisham fire station at 1415. Once through Lewisham High Street the bus headed east along Lee High Road towards Eltham until it reached the South Circular and then the bus followed that to Woolwich. Through Woolwich the bus turned east and ran along to Plumstead bus garage or at least the bus stop before the garage as the garage is located within the centre of a large roundabout.

The final bus stop at Plumstead bus garage

Plumstead bus garage AD E40H and
 Volvo B5LH from service No 53

Two 15 year old TransBus Tridents
ALX400s used on route No 472

Crossrail industrial diesel No 2

Crossrail industrial diesel built by O and K of Dortmund No 26880
registered also as UIC 98-80 017 0012-5

This diesel seemed to be off the rails and looked at from
 a different angle I could see the rear was on two little bogies

Prior to going home I noticed the Plumstead railway yards where there were a few industrial diesel shunters. Three were painted yellow numbers 2, 3 and 5 whereas there was another obviously german looking shunter that was red.

Day seventy five to Enfield for the No 121

I left home at 1140 and changed at West Croydon for the 1201 to Highbury and Islington. At Canada Water I took the Jubilee line to Stratford with the entire journey taking less than an hour. From Stratford I needed to get to platform 11 in order to take a train to Enfield Lock and luckily there was only ten minutes until departure at 1300. The train was held at the junction south of Tottenham Hale whilst trains to Stansted airport and Hertford North ran across the junction ahead of us. This meant the train arrived at Enfield Lock at 1324, three minutes behind time. However, the biggest hold up was yet to come as in order to get to the start of the route at Enfield Island Village, I needed to catch the No 121 from just along the road from the railway station. This bus didn't come until 1339 despite the service being supposed to be every 7-11 minutes.

Barge advertising Royal Ordnance factory with converted
factory buildings behind

Factory building converted for accommodation

The Island Village is built on the site of the original Enfield Royal Ordnance Factory and some of the buildings have been nicely converted into living accommodation.

DW560 awaiting departure at Enfield Island Village

Bus stop at Enfield Island Village

The route is operated by Arriva and the Daf with Wright bodywork DW560 was waiting as my bus arrived. As I boarded at 1354 I asked the driver how long he expected the journey to Turnpike Lane to take and he said he anticipated to be there about 1527, so over an hour and a half. He did intimate he would get there quicker if he could and he certainly set off at a pace.





The level crossing at Enfield Lock station provided a considerable barrier to traffic as I waited earlier, but on our route west we only waited for one Stansted express to rush through and then we were on our way.

Ordnance Road

 The road we travelled along was called Ordnance road but at the 'T' junction at the end we turned left and headed south along Hertford Road through Enfield Wash until we reached Southbury Road where the bus turned west once more.

Awaiting the time to depart outside Enfield bus garage

Upon reaching Enfield bus garage the driver informed us we would need to wait three minutes to regulate the service so we lingered until 1417 before heading on through Enfield town and up the hill past Enfield Chase.

Semi rural route betwixt Enfield Chase and Oakwood

The route became increasingly rural as we passed the huge Trent Park country park to the north and rather waterlogged fields to the south.




At Oakwood Piccadilly line station we turned south towards London and left the country behind reaching Southgate at 1455. From Southgate the bus made its way to Palmers Green

Broomfield Park Palmers Green

and once we had turned left at the triangle we then headed along the A105 across the North Circular Road and on to Wood Green and finally reached Turnpike Lane at 1519, a full 8 minutes before the driver had expected to arrive. I complimented him on his time keeping as I left the bus.

Views of Alexandra Palace were frequent as we continued southwards.

Approaching Turnpike Lane tube station from the direction of Wood Green Shopping City.

From Turnpike Lane I caught the No 41 to Tottenham Hale and then the train to Stratford and returned the way I had come reaching home about 1730.