LOOPING THE LONDON SUPERLOOP
Part One: South
13 April 2024
ABOVE: Metrobus (Go-Ahead London) WVL 338 (LX59 DDV), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, is seen outside East Croydon station (with major tram upgrade works underway) near the end of a run on Superloop route SL7 from Heathrow Airport). All pictures in this article were taken on Sunday 7 April 2024.
I remember the moment that I heard about the London Superloop, on 28 March 2023. I was sitting on a bus in Louth, doing a tour of Lincolnshire. The bus (to Grimsby) wasn't due to depart for a few minutes so I checked the news headlines. As soon as I read the details, I knew that I would be devoting a day to making a circuit of the Superloop. Just over a year later, on Sunday 7 April 2024, that day came...
For those who are unaware, the Superloop is a series of Express bus routes running around Outer London, operated for Transport for London (TfL). There are seven* routes in all, and doing each in turn will enable one to undertake an (almost) complete circuit of the capital by Express bus, excluding a gap for the River Thames, which we will come to later.
* There are actually 10 routes in the Superloop series, but two of them - the SL6 (Russell Square to West Croydon) and the SL8 (White City to Uxbridge) don't form part of the circuit. The SL4 (Canary Wharf to Grove Park), which can't start until the new Silvertown Tunnel opens next year, won't be part of the circuit either. I would say that the inclusion of those three routes in the scheme is loopy, but of course it's exactly the opposite.
ABOVE: A broad approximation of the Superloop network / the route taken. Superloop routes SL4, SL6 & SL8 are not part of the main circuit and are not included.
So here I am at Heathrow Airport's central bus station, at 7.55am, as my first bus pulls up...
ABOVE: Metrobus WVL 489 (LJ61 NWB) passes along Malden Road, Cheam, on its way to Heathrow Airport on route SL7.
SL7: Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station to East Croydon Station*
Operator: Metrobus (Go-Ahead London)
Vehicle Type: Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2
Approximate length: 24 miles#
Scheduled journey: 0755-0915
Actual journey: 0756-0919
Previous service number: X26
*Service continues beyond East Croydon to West Croydon bus station (scheduled arrival 0917)
# All mileage figures in this article from www.londonbusroutes.net
I have decided to do an an anti-clockwise circuit, so I am heading first for Croydon on the SL7, a long-established route that was previously the X26 but can trace its ancestry back to the Green Line coach network, where it once ran from Windsor to Gravesend as the 726.
The SL7 is the longest of the seven routes by far, at around 24 miles. I suspect that, if not already established before the Superloop was dreamt up, the SL7 would have been created as two separate routes, meeting at Kingston. And I suspect that the western half would have called into Feltham Town Centre as well.
The route, as the X26, had to manage with single-deckers for years, but was finally promoted to double-decker in 2017. The current vehicles are Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2s - a mixture of single- and dual-doored examples. The single-doored examples have been on the route since 2017; the dual-doored examples were added last year when the frequency was doubled and the route became the SL7. All buses have extra luggage racks, leading to a very small number of seats on the lower deck.
The advantage of doing this route early on a Sunday morning is that the journey takes one hour and 20 minutes (scheduled) to East Croydon, where an equivalent journey on a schoolday would take two hours and three minutes.
The bus has pulled out from Heathrow Central Bus Station one minute behind schedule at 0756. After the tunnel out of the Airport centre, a one-third size model of an Emirates Airbus A380 sets me off on my journey.
The SL7 is the longest of the seven routes by far, at around 24 miles. I suspect that, if not already established before the Superloop was dreamt up, the SL7 would have been created as two separate routes, meeting at Kingston. And I suspect that the western half would have called into Feltham Town Centre as well.
The route, as the X26, had to manage with single-deckers for years, but was finally promoted to double-decker in 2017. The current vehicles are Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2s - a mixture of single- and dual-doored examples. The single-doored examples have been on the route since 2017; the dual-doored examples were added last year when the frequency was doubled and the route became the SL7. All buses have extra luggage racks, leading to a very small number of seats on the lower deck.
The advantage of doing this route early on a Sunday morning is that the journey takes one hour and 20 minutes (scheduled) to East Croydon, where an equivalent journey on a schoolday would take two hours and three minutes.
The bus has pulled out from Heathrow Central Bus Station one minute behind schedule at 0756. After the tunnel out of the Airport centre, a one-third size model of an Emirates Airbus A380 sets me off on my journey.
We start along the Northern Perimeter Road, and onto the Eastern Perimeter Road. As is implied, these roads are on the edge of the airport and give us panoramic views of a multitude of aircraft. The selection parked up on this particular Sunday morning include a Qantas aircraft, from Australia, which will spend even longer on its journey today than I will on mine...
There's a short diversion to avoid Envoy Avenue, which is closed. The diversion, along a further stretch of the Eastern Perimeter Road, takes us within sight of the A30 Great South West Road, and the very brief section of the Piccadilly Line Heathrow Extension that comes up to surface level, to cross the River Crane (it was felt to be easier to surface than to try and dig underneath the river).
Stops on the first part of this route are few and far between - there are only two intermediate stops between Heathrow and Kingston, and the gap between them, at Hatton Cross and at Teddington, Broad Street, is five miles and takes a full 16 minutes. I believe this is the longest gap between stops anywhere on the Superloop network, if you ignore the non-stop section on the SL6, which isn't part of the circuit anyway!
There's a house in Teddington which has a car parked on a driveway on top of a turntable - saves having to reverse out again, I suppose!
We pass Bushy Park, where deer can sometimes be spotted, but there are too many joggers and cyclists out this morning so the deer are probably all in hiding. They are shy, deer.
ABOVE: Metrobus (Go-Ahead London) WVL 454, a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, turns from Hampton Court Road into Park Road, Hampton Wick, on route SL7 towards Heathrow Airport. Behind it is the Old King's Head pub, which dates back to at least the 1850s and was "rebuilt A.D. 1906".
We cross to the south side of the River Thames via Kingston Bridge.
Kingston can be a crowded and congested old place, but, at 0830 on a Sunday morning, even this busy town has yet to wake up! Conversely, the bus is quite busy, carrying a decent load given the hour, and given the recent frequency increase. We come to Cromwell Road Bus Station, which isn't really what it was at the moment, as it's half-way through a rebuild.
ABOVE: Kingston's Cromwell Road bus station, in the process of a complete rebuild.
We continue our journey through the suburbs of South-West London, at times edging closer to the Greater London boundary than any other part of the Superloop will take us.
A bus stop in Sutton fascinates me, as it is one that is (apart from school services) only served by the Superloop. Given that these are express services, with other routes to parallel them, and given that we're in London, this seems unusual, and might even be unique. The reason in this case is that other buses do a more detailed journey around the town centre one-way system, and stop just around the corner, whereas this one nips through a one-way cut-through. I certainly don't consciously see another stop like this during the day, and buses in the other direction don't have a stop to themselves either.
Further along is the beautiful Carshalton Pond - technically Ponds-plural. There was an early Saxon settlement here, and, whilst once a single pond, it was divided into two pools in the 15th century – one for the public and one private! Source (of the information): Wandle Valley Park website. You can get some lovely pictures of buses by the Ponds, if there's one around at the right moment.
ABOVE: Carshalton Ponds
All good things must come to an end, though, and the SL7 is soon on the Croydon Flyover and heading into the town centre. I leave one stop before the end of the route, at East Croydon station. This gives easy interchange to the next bus, but the SL7 continues to West Croydon Bus Station.
ABOVE: Arriva London ENX 18 (LJ12 BYD), an ADL Enviro200, loads at Bromley North for the run to Croydon on route SL5
SL5: East Croydon Station* to Bromley North Station
Operator: Arriva London
Vehicle Type: ADL Enviro200
Approximate length: seven miles
Scheduled journey: 0933-0959
Actual journey: 0935-1011
Previous service number: None (new route)
*Service starts at Park Street, Croydon
The tram stops at East Croydon station are hidden behind fences covered in tarpaulin. The tram route is closed here for engineering works and it's a messy scene. Lots of people are milling about trying to find the official route to the entrance of the railway station, on the other side of the tram tracks.
It's been a chilly quarter-hour wait (the previous SL5 was just leaving as my SL7 pulled in). It's blowing a gale and the tall buildings of central Croydon have the effect of funnelling the wind - straight through the small bus station!
I have skipped the local bits of the SL5 & SL7 in Croydon in the interests of doing the circuit efficiently - I hope this is within the "rules".
After the longest Superloop route, the SL5 is the shortest. It's also the only single-decker Superloop service, due to some difficult tree clearance issues somewhere along the route. To be honest, I'm not sure where the restricted section is, as I don't consciously see anything that looks too tight for a double-decker, but we do undertake a diversion near the "Chinese Garage" in Beckenham.
Wikipedia tells us that the Chinese Garage is a former garage and petrol station, built in 1928 to a Japanese pagoda style design by Edmund B. Clarke (so shouldn't it be the "Japanese Garage")? It was voted the most unusual garage in England in 2001, and currently hosts a Tesco Express and a Majestic Wine store (how the mighty have fallen)!
ABOVE: The Chinese Garage
This diversion causes some confusion for a family who want to get off there - not only is that stop closed, but so is the next one on the diversion route, so they end up being transported quite a distance from where they wanted to get off. TfL doesn't do temporary stops nowadays.
The diversion also seems to have confused whoever prepared the "Buses on Diversion" signs, which appear to be guiding the wrong Superloop service...
ABOVE: Diversion sign at the "Chinese Garage" references the SL2 instead of the SL5.
It's a busy run on this service and I can imagine peak hour buses struggling. Inexplicably we arrive into Bromley North some 12 minutes later than scheduled. The diversion may explain some of that lost time but I wonder if the timetable is a bit too tight.
As I arrive at Bromley North, my next bus is just leaving. Time for a tea break, I think!
ABOVE: Stagecoach London LT 126 (LTZ 1126), a New Routemaster, on route SL3 at the Eastern Way roundabout on Harrow Manorway in Thamesmead
SL3: Bromley North Station to Thamesmead Town Centre
Operator: Stagecoach London
Vehicle Type: Wright New Routemaster
Approximate length: 14 miles
Scheduled journey: 1053-1148
Actual journey: 1052-1151
Previous service number: None (new route)
This route, twice as long as the previous journey, might be classified as "the scenic one", as it runs through some leafy streets in South East London and Kent. The service is operated by some New Routemasters that became spare from service reductions elsewhere. So the panoramic views from the SL7's Volvos are replaced by the far more restrictive letter-box front windscreens of the New Routemasters. To add insult to injury, an interloper on the SL3, coming into Bromley as I leave, would have given me that panoramic view...
ABOVE: A stray ADL Enviro400 MMC, Stagecoach 11073 (YX68 UTR), on the SL3 in Widmore Road, Bromley
I experience my first congestion of the circuit as we approach the Chislehurst War Memorial. But it's a lovely bit of woodland either side of the road, so who's complaining? The last time I came this way, late last year, was to attend a funeral of a former work colleague, and one could not have hoped to meet a warmer or more-welcoming family than I did that day.
ABOVE: The junction of the Bromley Road with Centre Common Road / Royal Parade in Chislehurst is the site of the War Memorial. Metrobus 176 (YX61 ENU), an ADL Enviro200, passes on route 162 (Eltham Station to Beckenham Junction). An ADL Enviro400 MMC hides behind the trees between journeys on route 161 to / from North Greenwich.
We have a couple more diversions on this journey - unannounced this time as no bus stops are affected.
In Bexleyheath, as we drive round the block to stop at the Library, I find an example of a Superloop bus stop that serves the route in both directions. Again, this might be unique for the Superloop?
ABOVE: Be careful to get on the right bus! The stop at Bexleyheath Library serves both routes 269 and SL3 in both directions.
We're deep in South-East London, but the SL3 takes a turn towards the north here, towards Abbey Wood and Thamesmead; the latter sits right on the river.
ABOVE: Stagecoach London 12433 (SN67 XDW), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, turns out of Avenue Road into Broadway, Bexleyheath, on route 422 from North Greenwich
Abbey Wood is of course the far end of the Elizabeth Line, and I could have got here in 64 minutes from Heathrow Central, whereas this journey has taken me almost four hours! Far more interesting, though!
And so to Thamesmead, where the SL3 terminates. Whilst it has been a moderately busy service, especially between Sidcup and Abbey Wood, I am the only passenger for the last couple of stops.
ABOVE: Stagecoach London LT 239 (LTZ 1239), a New Routemaster, stands at journey's end in Thamesmead Town Centre.
Thamesmead itself is being redeveloped, but the Town Centre is a bit run-down, and basically closed, as I pass through. There is a lovely brook flowing through, which seems to be a link between a series of lakes in the area developed for ecological purposes.
The centre does have a lovely Clock Tower, though. This was erected in 1986 and houses an 18th Century clock that was reportedly salvaged from Deptford Royal Naval Dockyard and donated to the Greater London Council (the predecessor to today's Greater London Authority).
ABOVE: Thamesmead Town Centre, and the Clock Tower
And this feels like half-way. I have only done three of the seven buses, but the SL7 counts as double, surely!
There's a break in the circuit here. The next bus is exactly two miles away, on the other side of the River Thames. Unless you swim, and I really wouldn't recommend it, it is necessary to go into Woolwich on a conventional bus, and then cross the river.
There are three straight-forward ways across the river to North Woolwich:
- The Woolwich Ferry
- The foot tunnel underneath the river (with approximately 100 steps to climb at the far end); or
- The Docklands Light Railway (one stop from Woolwich Arsenal to King George V).
But it's unavoidable that it's going to take a bit of time to get over there. Stop the clock - I'll see you on the other side.