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The CentreWest Darts |
London to Bracknell |
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& beyond |
Following rounds of route tendering in London calling for new low floor single deckers good quality second user buses have needed new homes. What follows is a brief history of some of those vehicles, Darts and others especially the ones who came to Bracknell.
The fleet aquired by CentreWest from London Buses Ltd. in September 1994 was unusual in that it contained no Dart Plaxton Pointers. About two thirds of the small bus requirement was covered by "breadvans" ! Nearly 200 buses from two body builders on two types of chassis but so visually similar as to form a single class in the mind of the travelling public. The marginaly larger component of the "breadvan" class comprised 93 Alexander AM bodied Mercedes - Benz 811D, classified as MA. then there were 89 Wright bodied Reanault - Dodge S75 classified as RW. Four other individuals should be included in the group, two were Reeve Burgess Beaver bodied Mercedes - Benz 709D (MT7 & MT8). The remaining two were Mercedes - Benz 811D, one with Reeve Burgess Beaver body (MTL5) and the other with a Wright body resembling an MCW Metro - Rider (MW17) .
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| RW72 lays over from E6 on a Sunday afternoon in March 1998 | DM141 nearly new but sporting 3 "UNFIT" notices March 1998 | 26th October 1998 & long after her sisters left RW58 continued working |
The Dart chassis was represented in the CentreWest fleet by 107 members of the DW class. Delivered between 1990 & 1993 these were 8.5 metre chassis with Wright Handibus bodywork, based mainly at Westbourne Park (Gold Arrow) and Alperton (Challenger) garages.
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| DW22 in the service bay at Alperton Garage on 26th October 1998 | Challenger's own red Dart Plaxton Pointer DP19 on 105 15th February 1998 | Numbered in the low-floor Plaxton series East Lancs bodied Dart L51 at Heathrow in April 1997 |
Route aquisitions and upgrades led to the purchase of small numbers of Dart Plaxton Pointers, numbered in CentreWest's own scheme. Original SDL specification chassis were the DP class and longer examples were D, while low floor SLFs were simply L.
When London & Country took route 105 from CentreWest a near farcical situation developed as L&C were unable to fufill their commitments. Stewardship of the route and buses passed first back to Alperton who applied their Challenger logos to the green liveried vehicles. These were mainly Dart Plaxton Pointers but included at least one East Lancs bodied SLF. Later London Buslines gained the contract and took over the L&C buses while waiting for new Marsahll bodied Darts to be delivered.
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| L1 in special livery for route A10 guesting on 222 lends colour to Hounslow Garage's Open Day November 1998 | D36 sets off on route 331 from Bakers Court Uxbridge April 1997 | DML197 straight to work a couple of days after delivery 20th September 1998 |
The largest intake of Dart Plaxton Pointers into CentreWest ownership came with the take over of London Buslines and Beeline's Slough operation.
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| The special livery for route for 258 became the standard for Buslines as seen at Hatton Cross March 1997 | 630 in the last version of Buslines' brown skirt livery at South Harrow in April 1997 | Buslines 633 with an early style of (f) First logo March 1998 |
At the start of 1998 two events which could well be subtly linked changed the face of CentreWest. The local networks of U numbered routes in Uxbidge, the Ealing E series and others had to be retendered and re-equiped with new low floor buses. Some routes passed to other operators but many were retained and a whole new fleet of Marshall bodied Darts in 9.6 & 10.6 metre lengths were ordered. This was also the time that CentreWest became attractive to the ambitious and expanding (f) First Group. Being part of a large corporation provided a ready market for buses with plenty of useful life before them that no longer fitted the specification demanded for London Transport services to redeployed.
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| Refurbished and moved from Westboune Park to Uxbridge DW26 exhibited at Showbus in September 1998 | Change of company DW42 became (f) FirstCapital 642 exhibited at Showbus in September 1998 |
All the Dart Wright Handibuses that have gone to new homes and some that have remained with Centrewest are fitted with new single piece windscreens. Those that needed interior redecoration have been "upgraded" to (f) First Group corporate colours including pale blue grab handles.
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| The Beeline allocation were stored at Bracknell while awaiting refit DW106 in June 1999 | The first buses ready went to Slough. Unfortunately the large Berks Bucks Bus Co. bumblebee logo has not been applied to these repaints. DW91 in Bracknell June 1999 | |
While being stored at Bracknell waiting for their refit some Dart Wrights found themselves in service round the town. The legal lettering was changed and the "GOLD ARROW" logos cleaned off, then they were pressed into service. More details and photos can be found at the end of Old Friends in The BeeLine of Bracknell Pages.
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