please empty your brain below
Nice work with the perfect photo alignment ... the MWLB accept you into their inner circle!

Geofftech | 19.02.17 - 7:29 a.m. | #

387 - 8 miles, EL3 - 7 miles, the short cut through Barking couldn't have taken a whole mile off (that's very nearly an arm full).

dg writes: 387 - 7.7 miles, EL3 - 7.2 miles.
That's rounding for you..

Still anon | 19.02.17 - 8:06 a.m. | #

Wholly off topic but I wonder about "Walking the River Roding", and "Bridges of the River Roding". I feel sure you must have done these if they're remotely possible. So I guess I'd better start the search of the archives.

Julian Bond | Homepage | 19.02.17 - 8:15 a.m. | #

That block is a school? Looks more like a prison.

Andrew | 19.02.17 - 9:22 a.m. | #

Men Who Like Buses? Are there no Ladies, Boys or Girls who belong to this elite group?

popartist | 19.02.17 - 10:38 a.m. | #

I'm not sure if anyone has done a statistically valid population survey, but empirically it is not just adult males, but more specifically almost entirely "men of a certain age" who like buses (trains, etc). Exceptions (children, teenagers, women, small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri) are few and far between, and they tend not to be wielding the unfeasibly large camera lenses.

Andrew | 19.02.17 - 10:58 a.m. | #

MWLB make trainspotters look cool!

SAM
Ryde
IoW

SAM | 19.02.17 - 11:15 a.m. | #

I think the 'boomers' created critical mass, so: -

buses/trains/cars/planes/stamps/star trek/star wars/birds/football/dr who/music (endlessly putting their collections in order)/beer/toys - usually ones from childhood, so Matchbox, Dinky etc.

and on it goes, this critical mass no longer exists, plus you have online gaming to while away the hours, although you can have your own bus/train/football operation online, instead of bothering with the real thing.

Still anon | 19.02.17 - 11:36 a.m. | #

I just love Boris buses. Come to think of it I just love Boris.

Boxer | 19.02.17 - 12:10 p.m. | #

Of course for some of us, the EL3/ 387/ B1 will always be the 238 which is what the Barley Lane bus was about 30 yrs ago when the only hospital there was the former West Ham County Asylum...

Offshore | 19.02.17 - 12:23 p.m. | #

@ Popartist - there certainly are Ladies, Girls and Boys who enjoy buses. Plenty of people of forums and whizzing about with their cameras / camera phones.

I do find it ever so slightly odd that DG refers to MWLBs as some sort of seperate entity when he merrily rides buses, photographs buses and knows when all the routes change. Not all bus fans write down numbers!

@ DG - interested that you think the new buses may gain ELT livery. I've yet to read anything that says this will happen. I'm rather sceptical that it will given the limited "upgrading" of stops and shelters since the EL2 was sent to Becontree Heath. I suspect there isn't the money for such fripperies in the Khan era TfL budget.

PC | 19.02.17 - 12:25 p.m. | #

I'll hold my hand up as a Man Who Likes Bus Routes, as opposed to a Man Who Likes Buses.

Just as there are Men Who Like Trains, but also Men Who Like Railways.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 19.02.17 - 12:29 p.m. | #

Ladies who bus? Why yes, it's "The Ladies Who Bus". But they did that and now they're the "Ladies Who Museum". http://londonbusesonebusatatime.blogspot.co.uk/

Julian Bond | Homepage | 19.02.17 - 12:31 p.m. | #

Yes, but the ladies who bussed were indeed the exception that proved the rule (in the original meaning of that phrase). They could describe themselves as the ladies who bussed, precisely because most people who bussed (in the relevant sense of being systematic about a bus-riding or bus-watching objective) were (and still are) men.

Having said that, there is much more freedom these days for people with an interest (e.g. embroidery, cars, kittens) which is stereotypically associated with the opposite gender to pursue that interest regardless.

Malcolm | 19.02.17 - 1:29 p.m. | #

@PC - The consultation report https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/el1-387/ says that routes EL1 & EL3 will receive branded New Routemasters (I don't know why they missed the EL2 in that blurb).

Rob Healy | 19.02.17 - 1:45 p.m. | #

@ R Healy - Thanks for the reference to the consultation report. Slightly surprised that not even one NB4L has emerged with the ELT vinyls. I thought TfL might have ensured that for "day one" of the EL3.

I imagine the EL2 was not mentioned because the consultation was only about routes EL1 and 387.

PC | 19.02.17 - 4:14 p.m. | #

DG has only been on 20 buses this month according to The Count. Barely one a day.
@offshore. I knew there was something in the back of my mind of another route at Little Heath. Of course the 238, now trundling Stratford to Barking! They will probably bring the 87 back now.

scrumpy | 19.02.17 - 6:11 p.m. | #

They can't bring the 87 back to Barking, as the number has been snaffled by the old 77A (the last suffixed route in London)

timbo | 19.02.17 - 7:21 p.m. | #

@scrumpy, @timbo, the EL2 was rerouted to start near the Civic Centre (Coventry University East London Campus) and so now covers part of the old 87 route.

Ray | 19.02.17 - 7:22 p.m. | #

Is it just by happy accident, or clever contrivance, that routes EL1, EL2 and EL3 all serve stop EL in Barking?

timbo | 19.02.17 - 8:52 p.m. | #

@Offshore - but not forgetting Chadwell Heath Hospital, to which the 238 was extended (from Little Heath) on Saturday and Sunday afternoons until 1991

Paul | 19.02.17 - 9:18 p.m. | #

@timbo. The naming of stop EL at Barking was a masterstroke by the muppet responsible for the stop M fiasco at Bow !

scrumpy | 19.02.17 - 10:20 p.m. | #

Maybe they should rename Bus Stop M as Bus Stop DG in tribute.

Ned | 20.02.17 - 12:09 a.m. | #

Is there in fact a bus stop DG anywhere in London?

dg writes: There are four. Maybe I should visit them all one day...

Great Aunt Annie | 20.02.17 - 12:51 a.m. | #

Curious that putting some letters in the route number should be either necessary or sufficient for it to go where alphabet-free buses fear to tread. This idea could have potential.

timbo | 20.02.17 - 9:33 a.m. | #

These photos look like stills from a 1970s Dr Who episode about killer buses stalking the desolate urban landscape.

drD | 20.02.17 - 3:42 p.m. | #

"TfL frantically recodes all bus stops currently coded "DG". Phew - that was a narrow escape says the TfL Corporate consciousness. ;-)

PC | 20.02.17 - 4:22 p.m. | #











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