Aviation Specials – June 2018

Celebrating a British icon 65

Atlas Bus, from 7 November

1989 using new white liveried

Northern Counties-bodied

Leyland Olympians from the

start. It replaced London Buses’

London Northern subsidiary,

which ran ex-West Midlands

Volvo Ailsa double-deckers —

with front engines — on route

107 from Potters Bar garage.

Apart from route 142 which

remained relatively constant

throughout this period out

of Garston garage, the other

three routes chopped and

changed back and forth between

companies either by contract

change or operator takeovers.

After 30-plus years though,

operation of the 142 returned

inside the Greater London area

in January 2018 when a new

contract was awarded to RATP-

owned London Sovereign’s

side of the Edgware garage in

January.

London Buses’ low cost Harrow

Buses operation based at Harrow

Weald Garage added variety with

new MCW Metrobuses on route

340 from Harrow.

DT-class Dennis Darts with

Carlyle bodies brought smaller

vehicles to Edgware from

November 1990 when Metroline

introduced them on routes

251 and 288. Plaxton Pointer-

bodied versions followed, later

successive generations of low-

floor Darts and their Alexander

Dennis Enviro200 successors.

January 1992 saw the

introduction of new route 303

between Edgware and Colindale,

followed a while later by a new

305 that was later re-routed from

Colindale to Kingsbury. Both

routes were introduced with new

but smaller SR-class Mercedes-

Benz midibuses with Optare

StarRider bodies. Larger vehicles

have since taken their place.

Route 186 linking Northwick

Park and Brent Cross via

Edgware was one of the first

routes in London to be operated

with low-floor buses, when

Metroline introduced Wright

Pathfinder-bodied bodied Dennis

Lances on 26 June 1994. By the

end of 2005, every London route

had low-floor buses, designed to

be accessible by all.

Transport for London now

insists on all its operators’ buses

being painted 100% red, so the

colourful variety of the 1980s and

1990s has gone. However, Uno

Buses — based at the University

of Hertfordshire in Hatfield —

runs its pink and lilac buses

through Edgware on a regular

basis on its routes 614 and 644

linking Hatfield and Queensbury.

These run on London Service

Permits granted by Transport

for London to provide cross-

boundary routes. ● TW

Suburban London

ABOVE: Metroline

TAL134, a Dennis

Trident with

Alexander ALX400

body based at

Cricklewood

garage, in Edgware

High Street in

February 2010.

BELOW: Uno

205, a Scania

OmniDekka

with East Lancs

bodywork,

operating route

614 on Station

Road, Edgware.