The London Bus Blog goes flying

This post today isn't much to do with the form of Public Transport in Buses, but the form of public transport in aviation. This summer I went on Holiday using world famous Airline Emirates. They are known in London for sponsoring the construction of the "Emirates Air-Line" gondola lift in East London. They are also well known in London for sponsoring one of London's football clubs, Arsenal. 

The plane that I was due to take would be from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and would be an Airbus A380 "The Largest Airliner to take to the skies." Emirates flies 5 flights between London Heathrow and Dubai International (DXB). While I was waiting for my plane I saw another Airbus A380 next to us, this was one of Qantas' planes. Qantas is one of Emirates' key codeshare partners and both airliners fly to Dubai, with Qantas continuing to Sydney.

© EastLondoner 2014

I got quite a few good pictures of this plane. This was at 7:30 in the morning and the plane was leaving to go to a remote stand as it wasn't due to depart London for quite a long time. As you can see in the picture, the Airbus A380s have 4 engines, quite big as well. It's unusual for a pretty new model to have 4 engines as 2 engines are usually more economical. But Airbus seem to have sorted the issue out and these Giants of the sky fly some of the world's longest routes.

These Qantas ones are powered by Rolls Royce Trent engines. Although the Emirates ones are powered by Engine Alliance engines. Although I don't think that you will be noticing much of a difference in flight. Emirates and Qantas are some of the Worlds largest A380 operators with Emirates having a total of 140 of these once its deliveries are complete and Qantas having a total of 20. Both Emirates and Qantas only use Airbus A380s on their London flights

While waiting for boarding I also saw a British Airways Boeing 777 and a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747.

British Airways is the flag carrying airline of the United Kingdom and the biggest airline in the U.K by fleet size. It's parent company is the "International Airlines Group" who also operate Iberia Airlines. They form the fourth biggest airline in Europe. British Airways have their hub located at London Heathrow and Terminal 5 at the airport is dedicated exclusively for British Airways and Iberia planes.

Virgin Atlantic also have one of their Hubs located at London Heathrow airport, and in this picture you can see one parked at the other side of Terminal 3 along with a British Airway Airbus A319 heading to the Runway.

I then left for my Holiday abroad. One of the other planes that I took was an Emirates Boeing 777-200. Here it is seen at Chennai (MAA) Airport, international terminal. I took it to Dubai International Airport. In Dubai international airport there isn't much variety to take pictures of. Once we landed we started making our way to Terminal 3, which is one of the World's largest Airport terminals. Terminal 3 at Dubai is used only by Emirates and Qantas planes. We arrived at Concourse A and we needed to board a mini underground metro which would take us to the main terminal building, where we would collect out baggage. 

Here we can see the newest Concourse at Terminal 3. Concourse A

Here we can see some Emirates Aircraft parked on the other side of Concourse A

Here is another shot of Concourse A

Here is an interior shot of the mini metro that is used in the Airport to shuttle people between Concourse A and the main terminal building.

In a week, I returned to the Airport to make my way home to London. We managed to arrive at the Airport pretty early and I made use of the time by going around the terminal taking pictures of waiting planes. Funnily enough, almost all of the planes that I took pictures of were Boeing 777s. Emirates being the World's largest operator of the type. The plane flies to many destinations around the globe and some of their newer Boeing 777s also feature WiFi which can be purchased on the flight. In these pictures you can see them as they wait around the terminal waiting to take passengers to their needed destinations.

These planes have two airbridges connecting them to the terminal. One is used by First Class passengers while the other one is used by Economy and business class passengers. Although their Airbus A380 has Three Airbridges, one for use by First and Business Class passengers, and the other two for use by Economy class passengers.

In the picture above you can see the Three air-bridges which connect an Airbus A380 to the main terminal.

After walking around the terminal taking pictures, I made my way onto the plane and made myself comfortable on the plane. It was a 6 hour flight and we got delayed by half an hour due to some passengers not turning up and their baggage needing to be of loaded. Eventually we landed on the Northern Runway at Heathrow 40 minutes late. Landing on the Norther Runway meant that we had to go past the brand new Terminal 2. I managed to get some pictures of planes waiting there.

You will notice many Air Canada planes parked at Terminal 2, this being because Air Canada's Focus City is London and they operate out of Heathrow to multiple Canadian destinations

Below is a picture of a United Airlines plane, I cannot tell exactly what plane this is but I'm taking a guess at this being a Boeing 767 plane.

I have no idea what the airline in the picture below is, But the plane is a Boeing 777. Please leave a comment if you know what airline it is

Here is a TAM Airlines Boeing 777. TAM Airlines in a Brazilian airline and operates between London and destinations in Brazil.

In the picture below you have got a good view of some of the planes parked at Terminal 2. Terminal 2 is used exclusively by members of the Star Airline alliance. Key members of this alliance being Air Canada, Thai Airways International, Lufthansa and United Airlines. Although It should be noted TAM airlines is no longer a Star Alliance member.

....and we end where we begun. I started my trip with my first photo being of a Qantas A380, and I ended my trip with the last picture being a Qantas A380.

What do you think of Airplanes? Are you an enthusiast yourself? or do you prefer to stick to buses? Please let us know in the comments section

Thank you for reading this post, Please visit again soon :)

Routes Ahead: Route 287

Route 287 is a route in East London and runs between Barking Station and Rainham, Abbey Wood Lane. It is operated by Stagecoach London from Rainham (RM) garage.

Route 287 doesn't have much of a History, although once it did operate to Ilford extending from Barking, but on the 20th March 1993 it was cut short to Barking, and diverted to the Harts Lane Estate. Then on the 24th March 2001 the route was cut back to Barking Station, with the Harts Lane link being replaced by Route 368. During this time the route was operated using single deck vehicles, but this often led to overcrowding as this was the only Route linking Barking and Dagenham. Upon contract renewal in 2006, it was decided to add in one Double Deck journey to help cope with school traffic. Then about a year later the whole allocation was converted to Double Deck operation with ALX400 bodied Tridents introduced. Another contract renewal saw the allocation move from Barking (BK) to Rainham (RM), as well as Enviro400s being introduced.

The route was officially retained on the 26th of March 2011, although the buses were late arriving, as Stagecoach had ordered over 100 of them for their retained Routes. The route continued using the Tridents until the current Enviro400s arrived. The route was not the only route in Rainham (RM) awaiting new buses, as fellow route 174 was also awaiting some buses. Eventually the new buses arrived and the 287 got some much needed new buses. Although, on the first few days of Rainham (RM) operation on the route, they did make their presence known on the route. Many of route 248s Omnicities has been delivered with blindsets which contained Route 287, as the route passes pretty nearby to the garage. The Scanias were often out on the Route since the move, and this still happens very often. 

The buses were originally delivered with Dayglo coloured blinds, although Rainham later won routes 252 and 365, and considering route 252 was going to get a partial allocation of Enviro400 buses, all the Enviro400s in Rainham (RM) got new sets. Due to this tender win a further batch of Scanias came to the Rainham (RM) fleet released from recently lost 106 from West Ham Garage, for route 365. These buses got a full refurbishment as well as White on Black Blinds. One of the transferred buses can be seen on the 287 in the picture above.

Along with the Newer Scanias, Rainham (RM) also took delivery of some newer 63reg Enviro400s. Many thought that these buses would intermix with the current Enviro400s, as they were the same bus type and mechanically similar, although that was not the case. The 63reg buses stuck to the 252 and it was extremely rare finding it on another route. But eventually Rainham (RM) lost their self control and started letting the newer Enviro400s leak onto their other routes such as the 287, 174 and 372. I managed to catch up with 10169 on a day in which not one allocated bus was on the route .

One other batch of Enviro400s that can appear on the 287 is part of a batch which was originally at Plumstead (PD) for route 53, 10 buses transferred to Rainham (RM) to convert the 372 to Double Deck upon contract renewal. These are intermixed with the other Enviro400 buses at Rainham garage and you can often find them on the 287. They received a fresh lick of paint and obviously new blindsets.

So what do you think of route 287? Do you find it an interesting or a boring sort of route? Please let us know in the comments section. 

Thank you for reading this post, Please visit again soon :)

Metroline's Latest: The 112

TA650 and TE926 take a break.
©GloriousWater

On Saturday the 2nd of August, Metroline West successfully took over the operations of route 112 from Abellio London. The route is operated from Cricklewood with 10 Trident 2/Alexander ALX400s (TA).

Metroline West took over the operations of route 112 between Brent Cross and Ealing Broadway. Initially, the route was rumoured to be operated from Greenford garage with brand new 10.8m Alexander Dennis Enviro200 buses (DEL), until there was word of the DELs for the route, running late due to the annual summer shutdown at Alexander Dennis. This then leading to discussions of which buses will deputise for the late buses, it was then believed that existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400 buses would be drafted in from Holloway until the new buses arrived, but this would not to be, why? Because the current drivers on the 112 were not all familiar on how an Enviro400 works. The discussion of the deputising buses rose again until it was confirmed that the route would temporarily operate from Cricklewood garage with the redundant TAs at the garage.

TA638 looking for a place to stand.

August the 2nd neared, it was said that ten transferred Enviro400s (TE925-934) from Holloway at Cricklewood were loaned to help out the TAs, as well as a few Enviro200s. Possibly hinting at a permanent stay at Cricklewood for the 112. 

The route successfully passed to Metroline West even though it operates from a Metroline Travel garage and operated the day using the planned TAs and one TE. I went to cover it to see how the route was operating on its first day, blog member Jack followed the next day.

©KTLBB

The 112's route is mostly on the North Circular Road (A406) with it only coming off most noticeably at Brent Cross and at Ealing. It passes through Neasden, Stonebridge and Hanger Lane en-route and has quite a few fast sections. It was previously operated by Abellio London - who took over from Travel London - who took over from Tellings-Golden Miller - with 10.4m Caeteno Nimbus Darts from Hayes garage. These buses were highly rated and reached high speeds, prom a friend of mine, to ask me to do the route.

©KTLBB

I ventured out to Brent Cross via the 189, my first time doing the route for such a long distance and I enjoyed it very much, TEH1114 providing me with my best hybrid journey in a long time. Going over the bridge leading to Brent Cross, I got my first sight of a Metroline operated 112, it was TA640 the bus I took to Ealing Broadway as I missed TA649 by a minute because of the backlog of buses trying to enter the small bus station at Brent Cross. It was an eleven minute wait for the next 112 and I happily waited observing the many buses entering, alighting and circling the bus station looking for a place to stand. Eventually, my bus, TA640 pulled round and we were off. The bus keeping to a nice steady pace for the first few minutes of the journey, I was highly anticipating the bus reaching high speeds of 40 to 50mph but instead was treated to a slow and quiet ride along a traffic-less A406.

I was so disappointed with this that I decided to take TA649 back to Brent Cross - scrapping the proposed bus to White City to take a 49 home - to see if my fortunes improved. The journey was literally the same, slower than I expected, with the driver only reaching a satisfying speed in Neasden. I was very displeased to say the least and the only interesting moments for me was seeing TAs passing in the opposite direction. Overall, I found the 112 over-exaggerated. I didn't have the pleasure of buses reaching high speeds and I didn't really enjoy the scenery of the route either. But I did like the state of which the buses were in considering they are 9 years old! It is a route I would like to try again and a route I think I would enjoy with faster drivers.

Jack:

©GloriousWater

My experience was very different to Kieran's. The bus station wasn't very busy when I arrived on the 102 and it was barely a minute before TE926 pulled up. Everybody crowded on the bus which made me doubt how a single-decker could cope with the loads. Almost immediately the driver thrashed the bus and it was regularly hitting 40 on the A406 despite some traffic. It stayed crowded for most of the trip until about Hanger Lane and the traffic didn't relent, but it always found a gap. So I would recommend doing the route, just hope you get a fast driver.

It has also been confirmed that the route will now stay at Cricklewood. 

Fleetlist

TA638 LJ05GFO

TA640 LJ05GFX

TA642 LJ05GFZ

TA644 LJ05GGE

TA646 LJ05GGJ

TA649 LJ05GGU

TA650 LJ05GGV

TA655 LJ05GHB

TA656 LJ05GHD

TA658 LJ05GHG

• Route 112 runs between Brent Cross, Shopping Centre/Bus Station and Ealing Broadway
• Operated from Metroline's head office, Cricklewood
• Will use TAs until the DELs arrive
• The TAs are also being assessed to see if the 112 will stay double-decker