You’ve found an easter egg! This section describes the 81 and the buses that run it (personal favourites of the author!)
Some general facts about the route:
- created in 1933, between Hounslow and Windsor
- The first route to be tendered, in 1985
- Allocated 18 Vehicles
- Has 10 out of 20 native Voith VWs
- Vehicles from 7 different batches of VWs can work the route
The buses are arranged in age order (except for VW1387 which gets priority!)
VW1387
- The hottest bus on the route
- One of the few (if not the only) VW with that type of front indicators
- One of few (if not the only) VW to catch fire
- Spent almost a year off road for repairs
- One of the louder voiths
- One of the most hated VWs on the route
- Has been banned from returning to SG a few times
VW1830
- New to First as VN37878
- Oldest bus allocated to the route
- Has never been refurbished, although has Metroline disabled cushion
- Only ex-First bus in Hounslow
VW1378
- Only ZF from its batch at SG
VW1379
- Has a creaky chassis
VW1380
- Has had a bodge repair done to the offside
- Has bent-out-of-shape seats at the upper nearside
VW1381
- Fast and loud Voith
- Visited AH in 2018 before moving permanently the following year
VW1382
VW1383
- One of the slower ones
- Had the side offside paneling replaced, with slightly different shade to the rest
VW1384
- Faster Voith
- Visited AH in 2018 before moving permanently into AH/SG the following year
VW1385
VW1386
VW1388
The London Bus Files 