Route 144

Route 144
5 July 2008

Five routes were selected by London Transport in 1994 to be operated by the first, experimental, low floor buses. 68 single deckers were purchased and placed into service by London Buses, the total including 30 Scania N113CRLs with Wright Pathfinder 320 bodywork, receiving the classification SLW, 14 of which were allocated to Wood Green garage for route 144 (Muswell Hill – Edmonton Green). They were later supplemented by a trio of DAF SB220s with Plaxton’s neat Prestige bodywork. Apart from airport work at Heathrow this type was unique to London — and did not last long in any case.

Despite the frequency increase, the busy 144 was not the most suitable route for a single deck conversion, and the earliest opportunity was taken to convert it back to double deck operation. Naturally, converting the route back to standard floor buses in order to do so would not have been deemed acceptable, so the 144 had to wait until low floor double deckers appeared on the market. The engineering for a double decker is more complex, and it was not until the last months of 1998 that any low floor models entered service. Some of the first were those at Arriva, which had specified DAF DB250LFs supplied by sister company Arriva Bus & Coach, the dealer.

Quite a variety of different bus types are now allocated to Wood Green garage, which operates the 144, and therefore a new version of this page is hereby published to illustrate them all. The following photographs were all made at the newly built Edmonton Green bus station on Tuesday 22 April 2008.

DAF was the first to produce a low floor double decker, as it was able to modify its existing DB250 to low floor format, whereas the other manufacturers opted for completely new designs. The initial design did have some minor compromises, and needed an exemption from certain aspect of Disability Discrimination regulations on gangway widths and intrusions. Many of the early ones went onto Wood Green area routes, including the 144, and some are still based there. Plain red DLA27 (S227 JUA) is from the first batch, and illustrates the centre staircase that was initially favoured. Early experience led to some modifications being made from DLA 65 upwards, not least the fitment of a rear window on the lower deck where previously there was a blank panel.

Photo © Brian Creasey.

Later DLAs (after 126) were built to a shorter length following concerns about manoeuvrability, and these are represented by DLA214 (W414 VGJ), now with the standard forward staircase, and still in the older "cow horns" livery.

Photo © Brian Creasey.

Some later DAFs were built with Plaxton President bodywork, and some including freshly repainted DLP67 (LJ51 DLD), which has been incorrectly fitted with non-DDA blinds, were built to the longer length again. Long and short wheelbase buses seem to mixed indiscriminately at all garages that have both.

A bold move by Arriva in 2001 was the ordering of a speculative batch of 50 Wright Eclipse Geminis, the first of many, and these replaced DLAs at WN. VLW18 (LJ51 DGO) is one of this batch and is actually a short example despite the short bay near the back more usually associated with long wheelbase buses.

The present-day 144 actually started its existence in 1982 under the number 144A. The established 144 ran from Muswell Hill via Turnpike Lane Station, Westbury Avenue, Great Cambridge Road, Silver Street, North Circular Road, Woodford Avenue and Gants Hill to Ilford. One of the few new routes introduced in the September 1982 cut-backs was the 144A, and this was genuinely a new route, replacing only a short section of the 144 between Muswell Hill and Turnpike Lane. Although it paralleled the 144 to some degree, it served the shopping area of Wood Green and diverted at Edmonton to Edmonton Green. This route quickly became busier than the parent 144, and in 1991 the 144 was renumbered 444, in turn allowing the 144A to lose its suffix when the SLWs were introduced in 1994.

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Chronologically 331 244

Numerically 140 146
See also routes 444

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