Welcome to part 2 of my 3-part video review of London General in Spring/Summer 2022. This video covers routes 118, 131, 151, 152, 154, 155, 163, 164, 170, 200, 209 and 213. Nearly all of these routes have something interesting to watch out for:
118 with its ex-London Central vehicles, some of which are still un-refurbished with grey skirts and yellow coach lines;
131 with its ex-First Group Volvo B9TLs,
151, 154 and 213 with soon-to-be-retired DOE-class Optare Olympus-bodied E400s;
152 for its SOE-class Optare Esteem-bodied E200s (again, soon to be retired);
163 for its ex-First Group and Docklands Buses E200s;
170 for its ex-London Central and Docklands Buses E200s;
209 for some of the very few MMC-bodied E200s in the fleet and;
213 for the three solitary E400-bodied Volvo B9TLs VE1-3, which are again on borrowed time.
The 200 is particularly interesting because it was while I was shooting this video that all of the ME-class Metrodeckers were taken off the road for about 10 days as a precaution in the wake of the Potters Bar garage fire of 22nd May in which two similar buses were completely destroyed. Drafted in as a partial replacement was a squadron of E400MMC-bodied Volvo B5LHs (EHV-class) which were recently made redundant by the loss of the 135 contract by Docklands Buses, plus some other old bangers to fill the gaps! Consequently, the video shows an unusually diverse mixture of vehicle types on this route.
I hope you enjoy the video, and watch out for Part 3.
11 авг 2022
