Routes Ahead: Route 62

Route 62 runs between Barking, Gascoigne Estate and Marks gate and is operated by Stagecoach London from Barking (BK) Garage.

It is allocated a variety of buses, which are ADL Enviro200 Darts, ADL Enviro400, and Optare Versa buses. I shall be convering each type in this post. But first let me tell you a bit of history about the route...

The Route originally began on the 2nd of January 1935. It ran between Little Heath and Barking with the journey taking around 20minutes. It was operated using LT class Double Deckers and operated from Barking Garage. For some weird reason it was later transferred to Upton Park garage, then it was transferred to even further Poplar Garage. Eventually the route returned home to Barking garage in 1938. As well as the re-allocation to Barking, the route was also extended to Chadwell Heath via Ripple Road, Lodge Avenue, Woodward Road, Gale Street and Valence Avenue. This made the route a really long C shaped route. This was made even worse when the route was extended from Chadwell Heath via Marks Gate to Ilford. This made the route a Spiral Shape.

In 1960 the route was withdrawn between Goodmayes and Barking, with that part of the route replaced by the 238. It was also diverted to run via Upney lane to reach Ripple Road. Then in 1972 it was extended the short distance to serve Gascoigne estate replacing Route 291.

Today the Route proceeds like this...

• Gascoigne Estate
• Barking Town Centre, Barking Station
• Barking Bus Garage, Fair Cross
• Upney Lane, Upney Station
• Ripple Road
• Lodge Avenue
• Woodward Road
• Gale Street, Becontree Station
• Porters Avenue
• Valence Avenue
• Station Road, Chadwell Heath Station
• High Road Chadwell Heath
• Whalebone Lane North
• Rose Lane Estate
• Billet Road
• Marks Gate, City Limits

The route mostly passes through residential areas, but also passes a lot of schools on its way and can exceed capacity during the rush hour. This means that it is allocated a few double deckers among its single deck allocation and this is usually found in the form of an ADL Enviro400. BK do have a lot of Enviro400s and there can be many on the route on any single day. The picture shows a 12reg bus, although 11reg buses are more common.

Tridents can also appear on the route every now and again, so I have included a picture of one. Prior to 2011 BK had many of these buses, and it was once the allocation. BK still have a few for route 5 and the 5 occasionally steals the 62s allocated Enviro400.

Upon Contract Renewal in 2011, the route gained Enviro200s and these are a common sight on the route. Here one is seen on stand at Barking, Gascoigne Estate. 









The route is also allocated some Optare Versas which transfered to BK from PD. This was done to condense all the Versas in the fleet into one garage so that engineers didn't have too much to worry about and these buses were very troublesome at Plumstead.





So what do you lot think of route 62? Would you like to ride it, or would you like to stay away from it? Please let us know in the comments section of this post. The Pictures in this post can always be viewed in better quality if you click on them.

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