Route 425 passes to Tower Transit
Earlier this month - and not to long after the beginning of Tower Transit, Route 425 passed operation hands over to Tower Transit from Go-Ahead London.
The Route 425 itself, is only a 5 year old route. It was created in 2008 to replace the now defunct 'S2' service that ran from Stratford to Clapton via Bromley-By-Bow, Old Ford and Homerton.
The route was split into two. The existing section up to Bromley-By-Bow was renumbered the 488 and continued the TFL contract that commenced as the S2. Whereas a new route via Mile End and Lauriston Road was created in return of the loss of the service to Stratford, which we know as the 425 today.
New Scania Omnicities were ordered by Go-Ahead to cover the service, and these were numbered as follows:
SOC1 - LX08ECD
SOC2 - LX08ECE
SOC3 - LX08ECF
SOC4 - LX08ECJ
SOC5 - LX08ECN
SOC6 - LX08ECT
SOC7 - LX08ECV
SOC8 - LX08ECW
SOC9 - LX08ECY
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| SOC7 LX08ECV stands at Stratford Bus Station in 2012 (During the Time the Bus Station was getting refurbished). All rights to Mark Leonard |
So the route passed on to Tower Transit and new Enviro 400s were initally ordered by First London. These were logoless on delivery as First announced they would be pulling out of London.
First London ordered 10 new Enviro 400s. These are the fleet and registration details:
DN33789 - SN13CGY
DN33790 - SN13CGZ
DN33791 - SN13CHC
DN33792 - SN13CHD
DN33793 - SN13CHF
DN33794 - SN13CHG
DN33795 - SN13CHH
DN33796 - SN13CHJ
DN33797 - SN13CHK
DN33798 - SN13CHL
Here are some images of the buses at both ends of the route:
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| Copyright Mark Leonard - No unauthorised use permitted |
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| Copyright Mark Leonard - No unauthorised use permitted |
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| Copyright Mark Leonard - No unauthorised use permitted |
Over to you: Do you think the London Bus Scene is becoming too standardised with many orders of Gemini 2 and Enviro 400 bodied buses?
Thanks for reading, and have your say in the comments!
It would be nice to have more of a variety like VMs but it is still good that we have a familiar face in London which goes by the name of Gemini 2 and Enviro 400 or Enviro 200 and it seems like NB4L will be joining the club familiar faces very soon
ReplyDeleteI would prefer a just E400 london or a just omnicity london
ReplyDeleteI hate that all london buses have to be low-floor. It brings less of a variety and dull's london's streets, I used to love going on the MCW Metrobuses as a kid on the 266, but these were replaced more than 10 years ago now. Low floor buses, (although we did have some very nice TA's and VPL'S) are generally dull and have less of a character than the older ones, and the old TA's and most of the old VPL's have been replaced. How Boring!
ReplyDeleteyour pictures are really good but why do you say do not use without authorisation, im like no one will want to use them anyways, they are good but they arent important #Aint Nobody Got Time For That
ReplyDeleteWhat have happened to the SOC's?
ReplyDelete