Saturday 28th January 2012 saw some brand new Enviro400's hit the roads of Bexleyheath and Lewisham on route 89. These Enviro400's are bulit to the new 10.25m specification. Surprisingly, along with the 199's new Enviro400's, these were the first ever Enviro400's to be built at ADL Plaxton in Scarborough instead of where they are usually built- ADL Falkirk in Scotland. So lets take a flashback into the history of route 89
26th October 1949, a new route was born. Route 89. Originally running between Lewisham, Rennel Street and Welling, Guy of Warwick, the route was partially ran from Old Kent Road (P) Garage and Catford (TL) Garage with the average of 20RT's. The route remained as it were until 8th May 1963 where both of its partial allocations were transferred to New Cross (NX) Garage and Bexleyheath (BX) Garage. It was also extended from Welling to Eltham, Well Hall Station to partially replace route 195 which was withdrawn. The route once again remained as normal until the Sunday service saw a cut back to Bexleyheath.
The 22nd April 1978 saw the route be changed at each ends. The Lewisham Rennel St terminus to the new Lewisham Bus Station, and the Bexleyheath terminus extended to Slade Green. This is the current route we have today. The bus type conversion was converted from a RT operation to a DMS operation. Over the 80's and 90's the bus type varied from Titans to Olymipians. But on the 5th February 2000, the route was retained by London Central with 15 Plaxton Presidents. This retainment also saw the route have it's New Cross allocation axed. This meant that it was fully ran from Bexleyheath Garage. The New Cross allocation was brought back on the 23rd February 2002, but was once again axed on the 29th January 2005.On 30th January 2010. The route had its contract extended by 2 years... So on the 28th January 2012. The new contract for the 89 commenced with new Enviro400's.
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| Rear E231/YX61DSU seen at Slade Green Station |
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| E231 interior |
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| E233/YX61DSY seen at Slade Green |
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| E244/YX61DPY seen at Shooters Hill Road |
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| E231/YX61DSU seen at Slade Green |
The interior of these new go ahead buses have very bright and playful colours I genuinely like traveling on there new buses
ReplyDeleteStunning new buses.
ReplyDelete