London Bus Garages
Q - TC

Camberwell Bus Garage– Warner Road, Camberwell, SE5

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	Q
Garage opened –	1919
Max Bus Capacity –	185
Current Garage PVR –	170
Current Routes Operated –	12 35 40 45 68 360 468 484 P5 X68
Current types operated -	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (PVL)
	Volvo B7TL/ ALX 400 (AVL)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (LDP)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 (LDP)
	Volvo B7TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini (WVL)
	DAF SB120 / Wright Electrocity SD (WHY)
	Mersedes Citaro Articulated (MAL)

Although built in 1914, Camberwell garage was not used as a bus garage until 1919 as it had been requisitioned for the war effort. Once it came into use it was one of Londons biggest garages and also carried out body overhauls in 1940-1941. The garage was bombed during WW2 in 1940 which resulted in 4 buses being destroyed and a further 13 seriously damaged. During the early 1950's the garage underwent modernisation with the welfare & operational block reconstructed and the parking area extended. The new building also incorporated a new pit and workshop layout in a seperate self contained block which also undertook heavy maintainance for Walworth Garage, 350 buses in all. The allocation at Q decreased slightly over the years from 165 in 1952 until the closure of Walworth in 1985 increased the allocation to 142. Camberwell was also the home of the tree Titans fitted with electronic blinds which were used on the night bus standby duties. Recently Camberwell was the trial site for a new breed of SD buses - Hybrid powered. These worked with a small diesel engine charging the batteries of electric motors to drive the vehicles. 6 were delivered for use on route 360 alongside traditional LDP's, although there were a number of teething troubles and there was never a time when all six were on the road.

Queenstown(Battersea) Garage – Silverthorne Road, London SW8

Street map reference

Garage code -	QB
Garage opened –	1993
Max Bus Capacity –	100
Current Garage PVR –	85
Current Routes Operated –	156 211 344 452 C3
Current types operated –	ADL Trident / Enviro 400 ( )
	Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400 (TA)

QB was the Limebourne Travel base of Q-drive which began building up operations from it's Silverthore road base until 1998 when the group went into recievership. A succesful management buyout followed under the name of Independant way. In august 2000 the company bought out the operations of Travel London who failed to get planning permission to use railway land at it's Stewarts Lane base. In 2001, after reliability and other problems which resulted in two routes being given up early (42 to London Easylink & C10 to Blue Triangle) the business was taken over by Connex Bus which continues to use the Silverthorne Road base.
Ironically, in early 2004 the Connex company was taken over by National Express with vehicles being re-branded Travel London.

Rainham Bus Garage – Albright Industrial Estate, Ferry Lane, Rainham, Essex, RM13

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	R
Garage opened –	?
Garage opened –	2006
Max Bus Capacity –	165
Current Garage PVR –	0
Current Routes Operated –
	365 462 499 W19
Current types operated –	None

Opened in 199? by Capital, the yard is at the end of an industrial estate near Rainham Station. The entrance and exit access roads are separated by an electricity pylon, and the large majority of parking is open air. The rear of the garage backs onto Arriva OLST and Blue Triangles depots on the nearby Denver Industrial Estate. The garage closed in 2006 with buses transferring to a new depot in Dagenham.

Waterloo Bus Garage – Cornwall Road, Waterloo, SE1

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code - RA
Garage opened –	1989 (As a bus garage)
Max Bus Capacity –	36 (Articulated Vehicles
Current Garage PVR –	28
Current Routes Operated –	507, 521
Current types operated -	Mercedes Citaro articulated (MAL)

Prior to being reopened as a bus garage in 1989 Waterloo was formally a bus stand for services terminating at Waterloo. Following the closure of Walworth Garage the “Red Arrow” routes moved to the waterloo base, hence RA as the garage code. The garage also operated Routemasters on Route 11 for a time, however due to the proximity to residential area’s the planning consent meant that the garage could only operate on Monday-Fridays. The garage in still used by London General for the 2 remaining Red Arrow routes, but the Go-Ahead Group now owns the company

Shepherds Bush Bus Garage – Wells Road, London, W12

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	S
Garage opened –	1906
Max Bus Capacity –	123
Current Garage PVR –	105
Current Routes Operated –	49 72 94 148 220 N72 N94 N148
Current types operated -	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPS)
	Volvo B7TL/Alexander ALX400 (VA)
	Volvo B7TL/E Lancs Vyking (VE)
	Scania Omnicity (SO)

The garage was built in 1906 by the Vanguard Company, but came under the control of LGOC in the amalgamation of 1908. Requisitioned during the war it briefly re-opened in 1919 before being re-built between 1920-1923 but was still cramped and could only hold 50 buses. It was further rebuilt in the 1950’s using the land that was the former site of the Ravenscourt Park-Olympia Railway. The building was delayed three times, first due to a lack of timber, then a shortage of cement, and finally a shortage of re-inforcing rods. The garage now has a capacity of 123 buses but could easily be extended to accommodate an extra 25, but has never come really close to that figure, the highest reaching 113 in July of 2003

Stratford Bus Garage – Waterden Road, Hackney Wick, E15

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	SD
Garage opened –	1992
Max Bus Capacity –	160
Current Garage PVR –	147
Current Routes Operated –	26 30 86 106 241 257 276 D3 N26 N106
Current types operated –	Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400
	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander ALX200
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2
	Alexander Dennis/Enviro 400

Stratford garage has had some identity crises in it’s time. Opened by Stagecoach in 1992 that garage is a large yard on an old industrial estate. It was originally called ‘Bow Midibus Base’ and took over the Midibuses from both Bow & West Ham garages. Stratford Garage is opposite First’s Hackney depot and is described as Hackney Wick on the blinds for the 106 which terminates there. SD also formerly housed the dedicated livery and adapted buses with rooftop flashing beacon for the London City airport Contract running shuttles from Liverpool Street and Canning Town, however these ceased in 2006 with the opening of the DLR extension to City Airport. Unfortunately a vehicle from SD was involved in the terrorism in London on 7/7/05 and was totally destroyed. Fortunatley the driver of the bus, George Psaradakis, escpaed serious injury and was able to return to work a few weeks later. Stagecoach had a replacement bus handed over to them in Nov 2005 which was the first Enviro 400 off the production line and named 'Spirit of London. Stagecoach in East London has recently won a large amount of new work which in turn has resulted in an increased allocation for Stratford and the nearby Waterden Road Garages as Stagecoach's other garages at Romford and Bow are almost fully occupied. The long term future of the garages on thier current site seems uncertain, as they will be in the centre of the 'Olympic Village' when the olympics comes to London in 2012.

Stockwell Bus Garage – Lansdowne Road, S. Lambeth, SW8

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	SW
Garage opened –	1952
Max Bus Capacity –	215
Current Garage PVR –	182
Current Routes Operated –	11 87 88 133 170 196 239 315 322 333 345
	N11 N44 N87 N88 N133 N345 School route: 670
Current types operated –	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (LDP)
	ADL Trident / Enviro 400 (E)
	Dennis Trident/Plaxton President (PDL)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (PVL)
	Volvo B7TL/Wright Gemini (WVL)

Opened in 1952 after nearly 4 years of planning and building with many materials short of supply and problems re-housing residents of the houses that stood on the site. Stockwell garage is a listed building, and when built was a masterpiece of architecural design incorporating a new roof structure that didn't need supports which enabled for a 73,350sq ft unobstructed parking space. The offices and workshops are on the edges of the garage but do not take up any of the parking space. In the first few days of operation the garage ran just 11 buses on route 178 which had moved from Rye Lane (Peckham), but then gained more work from the next stage of the tram replacement program for which it had been designed for, but it was still well short of capacity. More work arrived in late 1953 and early 1954 when routes 77 & 77A moved from Vicoria garage due to recruitment problems, and the closure of Nunhead which increased the PVR to 110 buses. In the early 1970's the Round London Sightseeing Tours moved to Stockwell. In 1984 Stockwell was chosen to conduct comparative testing on route 170, consisting of Metrobuses, Titans, Leyland Olympians, Dennis Dominators, and Volvo Ailsa's. The allocation steadied at around 120 for many years, but has increased in the last few years, parcially due to taking back full control of route 11 from RA. The garage in still used by London General but the company is now owned by the Go-Ahead Group

Leyton Bus Garage – High Road, Leyton, E10 6AD

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code –	T
Garage opened –	1912
Max Bus Capacity –	110
Current Garage PVR –	104
Current Routes Operated –	48 55 56 69 97 230 N55 N69
Current types operated –	Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400

Leyton garage was built in 1912 by London General to replace an existing garage acquired from London Metropolitan, and was in an ideal position to benefit from developing areas. During the Second World War the garage suffered bomb damage but was not rebuilt until a major renovation in 1955. The garage was the first to receive post war RT’s and by 1947 78 were allocated. A further 30 were added for the trolleybus conversion program in 1959 and they lasted at the garage until 1972. Leyton was also the first garage to receive Stagecoach Londons new Low-Floor Trident/ALX 400 (TA) in 1999. The current operational allocation is entirely Low-Floor Tridents.

Bromley Bus Garage – 111 Hastings Road, Bromley, Kent, BR2

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	TB
Garage opened –	1924
Max Bus Capacity –	115
Current Garage PVR –	76
Current Routes Operated –	61 208 227 269 314
	School route: 630 636 637 638
Current types operated –	Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400
	ADL Trident / Enviro 400
	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander ALX200
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2
	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander Pointer 2

Bromley Garage was built in 1923 to serve the growing area of Bromley and was first allocated to Thomas Tilling, hence the TB code. Built to hold 60 buses the allocation could easily top 100 by using a yard adjacent. TB has been allocated a variety of buses over the years ranging from FS type minibuses to Titans and more recently Tridents. Prototype Titan was allocated to the garage in 1993 on a lease from Ensignbus, but no new buses were allocated between the Titans and Volvo Olympians in 1997 under Stagecoach. Most of the buses in the fleet today are Low-Floor, but a few Olympians remain predominantly for the school routes.

Croydon Bus Garage – Brighton Road, S. Croydon, Surrey

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	TC
Garage opened –	1916
Max Bus Capacity –	120
Current Garage PVR –	89
Current Routes Operated –	50 60 166 194 197 312 407 412
	School route: 407 612
Current types operated –	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander ALX200 (ADL)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DDL)
	DAF DB250LF/Alexander ALX400 (DLA)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (DPP)
	DAF DB250LF/Wright Pulsar Gemini (DW)
	DAF SB120LF/Wright Cadet (DWL)

Built by the LGOC in 1915, the garage was handed over to Thomas Tilling on opening as part of an agreement between the two operators. The garage had to have roof reconstruction in the early 1930's to allow roofed double deckers to use the garage and was totally destroyed in 1941 after an air raid which also killed four staff and destroyed 56 buses. The reconstruction was finally completed in the mid-1950's. RT's mainly monopolised the garage until the arrival of RM's in 1964 and RML's in 1967. 1969 saw the arrival of the experimental XA's and later FRM1 would be tested on route 233. When the XA's departed in 1973 they were replaced by DMS's which lasted until January 1993. LS's started to arrive in the late 1970's and M's in 1985 until they were replaced by L's. When Elmers End closed a reshuffle took place with the RM's departing and the garage became fully OPO, and later in 1994 the garage became fully double deck with the departure of the last LS.

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