London Bus Route 49

(C) All Rights Reserved by Brian Creasey

 Route 49: Clapham Junction - White City
Operated by: London United (RATP)
Garage: S
PVR: 20
Length: 9km/6 miles
Bus Type: Volvo B7TL/Vykings, N230UD/Scania Omnicity, N94UD/Scania Omnidekka and Trident 2/ALX400

     Timetable: http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/049full.pdf

TA240 on its first day on the 49
(C) All rights reserved to the owner

Before I start I just want to say Happy New Year to you all and I hope this year you complete all of your goals!

 The 49. Where to start. Okay, the 49 began back in the 50s and is actually one of London United's oldest routes! It should really be a route they would die for, having once stretched from Harlsden to Crystal Palace! Think about that for a minute, the 49 a route that most don't know much about used to be a key West London route well it still is but just not as important but it does serve a lot of high profile places like Clapham Junction home of 'Britain's busiest railway station', the posh area of Chelsea, South Kensington home of the Natural History Museum, Kensington High Street or High Street Kensington (however you say it) home of Palace Gate and a lot of high profile shops and where it meets up with fellow London United routes 9, 10, 27 & C1 all of them being prestigious routes in their own way respectively. Then takes a right down Holland Road for Shepherd's Bush's Tube, Train and Overground Station and White City Bus Station. Also the birthplace of the Westfield franchise and the second biggest shopping centre in western Europe.

A Routemaster somewhere on Tooting Bec Road.(C) All rights reserved to the owner

So now onto its buses, the 49 when it began as most routes used Routemasters and personally I'm glad they saw the back of them, I'm not really a fan of the Routemaster and actually prefer the Borismaster anyway until the late 80s the 49 continuously ran using Routemasters and the odd MCW Metrobus, then the 49 was awarded to a proper bus company (I don't class South London as a company) and that company was London General from their Stockwell Garage, it used MCW Metrobus buses for the entire contract with the occasional Volvo Olympian.

VA64 in Shepherd's Bush Garage a few weeks before it's put to rest(C) All rights reserved to the owner

So this paragraph will be focused on London United's 15 year reign of the 49, London United began operations of the 49 in 1999 and converted the 49 back to single deck operations following the footsteps of Arriva & London General with the 319 & 345 making the Clapham Junction - Battersea - Chelsea corridor single deck operations. But the 49 specified extra long Darts at 10.7m the longest vehicle the 49 could take. The takeover didn't go to plan because the 209 had been awarded to Armchair from their Brentford Garage at the same time but weight restrictions on Hammersmith Bridge meant that the buses ordered for the 209 were to heavy and London United's DPs were delayed so the most logical thing to do was temporarily award the 49 to Armchair from their Brentford Garage using the single deckers ordered for the 209 and the 209 to remain with London United with its existing buses until the weight restrictions were lifted on Hammersmith Bridge.

A VA on the 49 using the early IBUS announcement system(C) All rights reserved to the owner

In 2003 it was announced that London United had retained the contract of the 49 with a PVR of 19 and converting the 49 back to Double Deck operation using the VAs from the 337 which was lost to Arriva from their London Sightseeing Garage in Wandsworth and a 10 new Vykings coded VE1-10. They would prove a good purchase as they all still live on the route. 

Around 2009 London United was the first bus company to take on the IBUS system and the 49 was one of the first buses to use it. Note the IBUS says ' Route 49 to Clapham Junction ' compared to the recent ' 49 to Clapham Junction '. Also in 2009 the 49 had it's contract renewed and it was awarded at least 7 new Double Deckers to work alongside the existing East Lanc Mylenniums, ALX400 & early Omnicitys on the route, those double deckers were an updated version of the Scania Omnicitys that were already seen on the route from 2006 (SP1-15 & SP29-40) with SP1-15 moving to Hounslow for the H91.

VA62 battling through the rain in White City

Now in 2013 it was announced that the 49 was up for tender and did not receive a 2 year contract extension so it made it seem as if the 49 was to pass to a different company. I hoped for Abellio London and during September it was announced that Metroline West route E3 was awarded to London United using 27 Double Deckers this lead us (me) to believe that the 49 would almost certainly be awarded to a different bus company and it was too and on the 21 November 2013 the 49 was awarded to Abellio London from their Battersea Garage using 20 new Hybrid Double Deckers.

Fleetlist

Mylenniums

VE1 - PG04 WGN

VE2 - PG04 WGP

VE3 - PG04 WGU

VE4 - PG04 WGV

VE5 - PG04 WGW

VE6 - PG04 WGX

VE7 - PG04 WGY

VE8 - PG04 WGZ

VE9 - PG04 WHA

VE10 - PG04 WHB

Omnidekkas

SLE43 - YN55 NKM

SLE44 - YN55 NKO

Tridents

TA238 - LG02 FBC

TA240 - LG02 FBE

Omnicitys

SP29 - YN08 DHU
SP30 - YN08 DHV
SP31 - YN08 DHX
SP32 - YN08 DHY
SP33 - YN08 DHZ
SP34 - YN08 MRU
SP35 - YN08 MRV
SP36 - YN08 MRW
SP37 - YN08 MRX
SP39 - YP58 ACJ
SP40 - YP58 ACO
SP109 - YR59 FYO
SP110 - YR59 FYP
SP111 - YR59 FYS
SP112 - YR59 FYT
SP113 - YR59 FYU
SP114 - YR59 FYV
SP115 - YR59 FYX
SP116 - YR59 FYW
SP117 - YR59 FYY
SP118 - YR59 FYZ
SP119 - YR59 FZA
SP120 - YR59 FZB
SP121 -YR59 FZC
SP122 -YR59 FZD
SP123 - YR59 FZE
SP124 - YR59 FZF
SP125 - YR59 FZG
SP126 - YR59 PBF
SP127 -YR59 PBO
SP128 - YR59 PBV
SP129 - YR59 PBX
SP130 - YR59 PBY
SP131 -YR59 PBZ
SP132 - YR59 PCF
SP133 - YR59 PCO
SP134 - YR59 PCU
SP135 - YR59 PBU

Please enjoy some pictures of the 49 below.

This bus has been withdrawn but was a a regular on the 49
(C) All rights reserved by StephenGilletPhotos

VE3 on the Shepherd's Bush - White City path
(C) All rights reserved by Dave McKay

SP29 on Northcote Road approaching it's stand on Bolingbroke Grove
(C) All rights reserved by Ledlon89

SP36 in White City Bus Station
(C) All rights reserved by James Panaligan

TA238 in Shepherd's Bush
(C) All rights reserved by leesbuspics

Thank you for reading this post and for visiting our blog.
Remember to stay safe.