The London Dennis Trident

By Matthew Wharmby

Propelled towards the end of the 1990s by accessibility imperative requiring low floor buses both in London and the rest of Britain, Dennis developed a tri axle Trident double decker for Hong Kong and then adapted the design as a two axle version for Britain. Orders came thick and fast between 1999, when the first Tridents for London entered service with Stagecoach and 2006, when the Enviro 400, a combination of its unified body builders, replaced it. In those years over two thousand of the type appeared in London, ordered by Stagecoach, First London, United, Metroline, Metrobus, London General, Blue Triangle, Connex, Armchair, and Hackney Community Transport. The body work was by Alexander ALX400, Plaxton, (Precedent) and East Lancs, to two available lengths, while badging itself progressed although Trans Bus, until this troubled organisation was suspended in 2004 by todays Alexander Dennis. Versatile and personable, the Trident in all its forms lasted two decades in London, the last examples being withdrawn from service in 2020.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781526786937

Matthew Wharmby

Matthew Wharmby is an author, photographer and editor who specializes in London bus history.

Book preview

Stagecoach

TA and TAS classes

Stagecoach’s association with the Dennis Trident was undoubtedly the most significant in London, even though at one point the group had sold them all, only to buy the lot back for a pittance! In fact Stagecoach was to become intimately involved with the manufacture of the type, and its London companies alone ended up with very nearly a thousand units, which it operated for twenty years.

Long and low, the first 98 Dennis Tridents with Alexander ALX400 bodies occupied that point in time when what became TfL’s standard for low-floor buses was not yet fully defined, and other than the red livery and blind boxes, Leyton’s TA 9 (S809 BWC), with its spiral staircase and low height, is therefore to full Stagecoach national specification. Seen on a gloomy 29 January 1999 in Hackney, it is fresh into service. Author

It was right on the heels of Dennis’s launch of the Trident in January 1998 that Stagecoach ordered 100 Alexander-bodied examples straight off, 62 of which were against Stagecoach East London contracts for the 48, 55, 56 and 277. These were about to be furnished with Volvo Olympians which could then be cascaded to replace Ls and Ts as fit. Now it was a question of waiting for deliveries as Dennis’s Guildford works was tooled up for manufacture, and a December 1998 date was tentatively pencilled in.

As 1998 rolled along, tendering brought in or retained routes 5, 15B, 96, 199 and 472 and the Trident order was increased to 98. To enable easy cascade within Stagecoach’s provincial companies, they were specified as low-height 10.5m chassis with forward spiral staircases rather than the centrally-mounted straight variant being taken by other London companies at the time. Seating capacity was a healthy 73 (H51/22D).

The first examples of the new TA class did indeed make their December 1998 delivery date, and after chassis modifications at Guildford began gathering at Leyton in January 1999. TA 1 carried Stagecoach corporate livery as a taster of what provincial examples would look like, but was repainted red before going into service.

The TAs’ service debut at Leyton on 25 January, in the shape of TA 4 on the 55, was also the first time Tridents had gone into traffic in the UK as a whole. The 55 was concentrated on first, followed by the 48 from 6 February. These displaced VNs and VAs to Plumstead for the 96 and 472 in advance of those routes’ own Tridents at some future point.

Seventy-four more TAs were ordered at the start of 1999, as the first examples went into service, with a rethink incorporated to include straight staircases, though still mounted over the offside front wheelarch. However, of the existing batch, one was destined never to enter service at all. This was TA 74, which was completed and undergoing painting at Bus Painters Ltd in Kirkcaldy when it caught fire and was burned to a crisp. One was thus added to the next order, now increased to 124, as a replacement. These were part of a national order for 172 Tridents and in London were intended to take over routes 30, 69, 96, 147, 194, 241, 294, 330 and 472.

The bonded glazing on the ALX400 body added a futuristic dimension, even if it did encounter expensive difficulties against the worst that north-east London’s passengers could offer. Here at Walthamstow Central on 5 March 1999 is Leyton’s TA 25 (S825 BWC). Author

There was one problem with the early low-floor double-deckers; no downstairs rear window. The manufacturers hadn’t realised how important these were to Londoners, who in a city of short routes needed to be able to see whether their next bus was pulling up behind. From the other side of the road as the above shot, we see that TA 19 (S819 BWC) has joined TA 25 (S825 BWC). Author

The increased length of the TA class was about to throw up its first problem when tests carried out over the 277 during February indicated that the type would not be able to make it, so those intended for Bow (TA 37-49) were switched to the 26 and entered service commencing on 11 March. The D7 and Sunday 8 quickly saw their first TA appearances. At Leyton, the 56 had still not yet been tried out even as the garage’s full complement of TAs (1-36 and 50-62) approached completion, so they took over the 69 instead from 18 March. The 56 was duly cleared for TA operation and was converted on 22 April, allowing the 69 to revert to Titans for the time being.

The 69 had to stand in for the 56 when Leyton’s batch of TAs entered service; TA 26 (S826 BWC) demonstrates at Walthamstow Central on 5 March 1999. Author

Barking’s 5 was treated next, its Ts being replaced by TA 63-73 and 75-80 between 12 April and 1 May. On the same date the 69 was pulled back from North Woolwich to stand at London City Airport. Barking’s TAs also assumed the N15, which worked on and off the 87, and wandered to the 169 and 387. Then, on 28 April Upton Park commenced TA operations with the introduction of TAs 81-98 to the 15B (which was intended to be renumbered 115 later in the year) and associated 15 at evenings and on Sundays. The 330 was also taken over, considerably in advance of plans for that route. Upton Park soon tried out its TAs on the 262 and 473.

Once clearance problems along the 56 were sorted out, the route could receive its TAs and here at Dalston Junction on 9 August 1999 is TA 4 (S804 BWC). Author

With the entry of TA 1 into service at Leyton, the first batch was complete, barring the lingering until August of Upton Park’s last few. However, they were still subject to sudden moves, as on 19 May Bow switched its TA complement from the 26 to the 25 despite that route’s upcoming loss to First Capital. Bow’s Saturday-only allocation on the 86 was also treated to TA appearances from 22 May. Upon the 25’s departure on 26 June the TAs resumed their place on the 26 and D7 before going onto the 277 on 20 July, now that clearances had been sorted out on this route.

Bow came next in TA allocations, but the 277 had to wait until its own clearance issues were dealt with, so in stepped the 26. The registration system had now been meddled with to produce two letter changes, so S-registrations only got seven months before T-regs came in on 1 March 1999. Even so, the Essex marks continued on Stagecoach East London and Selkent purchases, as we see on TA 46 (T646 KPU) at Bank on 20 August. Author

As Stagecoach geared up for the winter intake of TA 99-222, some of its existing TA-operated routes underwent changes associated with the opening of the Jubilee Line Extension. On 18 September the 5 was altered to terminate at Canning Town’s new bus station daily, abandoning its Sunday run into town. Upton Park’s 15B was duly renumbered 115, though still ceding to the 15 over its full extent during evenings and on Sundays; the increased requirement was taken by removing the 330’s TAs for the moment. The D7 was taken over by First Capital, removing the likelihood of TAs.

The 5 was the first route at Barking to specify TAs. It was being subjected to changes that would position it further away from central London than a route this low-numbered would normally be found, and the Limehouse stand of TA 77 (T677 KPU) on 16 May 1999 would be abandoned. Author

The next Trident batch commenced delivery early enough for TA 101 to pay a visit to Coach & Bus on 5-7 October. Still to 10.5m length, the new buses were now to full-height (4.4m) spec with straight staircases, wheelchair ramps in the central doorway and individual seats (Lazzerini Pratico), producing a seated capacity of H47/24D, two fewer than the originals. Most significantly, there was now a rear window downstairs, albeit very small by comparison with step-entrance designs. They were scheduled to be allocated to Plumstead (routes 96 and 472), Catford (199), Bow (241), Leyton (69), Upton Park (330), Stratford (30), Bromley (194) and North Street (294), though three of those routes would drop out for the same clearance-related reasons as had bedevilled the 277 the previous time around.

Upton Park then took a contingent of Tridents for the 15B, but the route’s increase upon its renumbering to 115 would need the buses that had started off the 330 at the same time. On 24 June 1999 TA 85 (T685 KPU) is laying over at the new Canning Town bus station. Author

Quite why Bow decided to shift its new TAs from the 26 to the 25 when the latter had only a month to go with Stagecoach East London is unclear, but perhaps they were saying they could do low-floors better than First (which indeed had to start without most of their order, and in the event lost the contract back to Stagecoach East London after its five-year term). TA 45 (T645 KPU) is coming through Ilford on 6 June 1999, twenty days before the handover. Author

Otherwise RML-operated, the 15 had been OPO on Sundays since 1987, first with Ts, then Ss and finally VNs before the TAs for the 15B arrived. The service changes of 18 September 1999 curtailed the main route at Blackwall DLR station, where Upton Park’s TA 81 (T681 KPU) is heading when espied laying over at Oxford Circus on 28 November. Author

The 277 eventually received its TAs, but this photo of Bow’s TA 48 (T648 KPU) is actually of a launch outside Islington Town Hall on 22 March 1999. The 277 had actually terminated at Highbury & Islington, some distance up the road, since 1990, but its low-floor buses were in stock earlier than those for Metroline London Northern’s 43, which ran right past. Author

After carrying out driver training with two Leyton-based TAs, Plumstead kicked off Stagecoach Selkent’s two-decade Trident era on 4 November, albeit on the 122 (won on the basis of existing vehicles but not as yet pencilled in for TAs). As the millennium approached, the 96 and 472 were treated, allowing their VNs to take over the 53, whose 1995-vintage Vs would thereby ease out the company’s last Ls. TAs also visited the 53, 99, 177 and P3. Straight away Plumstead took the opportunity to re-register three of its new intake with Routemaster marks taken from outgoing vehicles (two Ls and one LV).

The first TAs entered service at Stagecoach Selkent as 1999 came to a close, introducing the revised specification to full height and with a straight staircase. On 12 December at Woolwich Arsenal we see Plumstead’s TA 113 (V113 MEV). Author

The 472 inherited the half-hearted Thamesmead remit of the old 272 and built upon it with a new link to North Greenwich, where the Millennium Dome was now open but rather failing to thrill. It was made a priority to convert all the routes serving this location to low-floor, and in this 2 October 2000 shot of Plumstead’s TA 114 (V114 MEV) we can also see East Lancs-bodied Tridents of Metrobus and a DLA from Arriva London North. Author

After Plumstead came the 69 at Leyton (now adding appearances on the 58) and then Bow, but a restriction was discovered on that garage’s 241 so the 26 stepped in once again for the new TAs allocated there. Similar problems forced the 147’s intended new TAs into Upton Park being diverted to the 330 instead, with the odd one popping up on the 101 (which had by now been retained on the basis of low-floor double-deckers) plus the 104 and 238 (which were due to receive SLDs). Stratford had no trouble phasing in its new TAs on the 30 from 16 November, though three Titans stayed obstinately put and would do so for over a year. Catford’s TAs began on the 199 on 5 December, soon wandering to the 136, but the 194 was taken off the list for the moment and the TAs that were going to go into Bromley were added to Plumstead’s complement instead.

Plumstead’s TA fleet was for the 96 and 472 but wandered straightaway to the 122, as on 22 July 2000 where TA 104 (V104 MEV) is just drawing up to the Crystal Palace terminus where a new bus station has been built. Author

The 147 was a third route specified blithely with Tridents until it was realised that the roads it served could not handle the lengthy vehicles. There was no physical solution this time, however, so this conversion was postponed until an order for the shorter 9.9m chassis was placed and the intended new TAs used elsewhere instead. One such Upton Park route was the 238, about to undergo a most unwelcome conversion from Scania to Dart SLF, and on 12 August 2000 we see TA 208 (V208 MEV) at Stratford. Author

The 30 was the only double-deck route at the otherwise minibus-populated Stratford garage, and accepted its TAs at the beginning of 2000 to replace a like number of Titans. Passing through Hackney Central on 12 August is TA 200 (V363 OWC). Author

Catford’s 199 was one of the sizeable number of Selkent routes to take new Tridents in 2000, and TA 149 (V149 MEV) was among its first. It is seen swinging into Surrey Quays shopping centre’s bus station on 18 May 2000. Author

Another route still not able to take its intended new batch of TAs was the 294 at North Street, so the 86 stood in until this too was added to the list of routes to receive examples of the new, shorter TAS class. The 86, hammering up and down the main Romford Road, was a somewhat better proposition but would have to wait for its own Tridents; until then, TA 213 (V213 MEV) is seen coming through Ilford on 6 April 2000. Author

As TA numbers crossed 200, Stratford’s 30 was completed by the end of 1999 and the batch finished (barring accident-damaged TA 180 and TA 181 away on a national tour prior to delivery) with an allocation to North Street; although these were meant for the 294, it was the busier 86 that took them beginning on 29 January 2000. With the need for shorter buses in mind, Stagecoach placed its next order at the beginning of the year that would include 38 9.9m Tridents for the so far bypassed 147, 194 and 241, plus 100 more TAs for the 53, 58, 136 and 208. Future possibilities were the 174 and 175, announced as retained in March but still operating Titans that were now over 20 years old. A new 496 was also awarded, to be carved out of the 296’s eastern end.

TA 210 (V210 MEV) works a route 15 duty through Charing Cross on 27 August 1999; it was allocated to Upton Park against the 147 but ended up converting the 330. Author

In 2000 came the TAS class, strikingly dumpy-looking after the long TA but in actual fact the most common and most practical length. The first examples were divided between Catford and Bromley for the 194 and at East Croydon on 2 September 2000 we see TAS 233 (X233 NNO) belonging to the latter. Author

TA 180, which had hung back for long enough to require re-registration with what would be the only W-mark on a TA, was delivered in July and carried illuminated Stagecoach logos either side of the blind box. Shortly after, the first 9.9m Tridents arrived from the next order, and these inaugurated a new TAS class. The 194 received them first as part of a new Catford allocation introduced on 2 September; TA appearances on the 208 ended for now when Catford came off that route. Catford’s new TASs immediately wandered to the 54 and 624, and Bromley’s allocation entered service from the 16th. Then followed TAS 237-246 for the 241 at Bow from 25 September and after that, Upton Park’s 147 with TAS 253-260. These went into traffic on 23 October, wanderings ensuing to the 8, 26, 86, 262, 277 and 473 (Bow) and 208 (Bromley) with TAs on the 54, 136, 194 and 624 (Catford) and 174, 175, 294, 374, 649 and 652 (North Street). TASs 247-252 were diverted from Upton Park to North Street to start off new route 496 on 14 October pending the receipt of further new TAs. The TASs could soon be found on all of North Street’s services.

As dusk falls on Stratford on 16 October 2001 TAS 243 (X243 NNO), allocated to Bow for the 241, is coming in. Author

Existing allocations were now starting to shift, with North Street and Plumstead exchanging several TAs during September to break up their established blocks.

Upton Park took the rest of the 38-strong 2000 TAS batch for the 147, and on 11 November TAS 256 (X256 NNO) is leaving Canning Town bus station. Author

It was a strange sort of moment when Stagecoach started phasing in its new livery, as for the six years since privatisation the company (well, East London at any rate) had stuck to the traditional fleetnumber transfers and positioned them in the conventional places. When TA 286 (X286 NNO) was captured inside London Bridge’s old bus station on 20 January 2001, they’d not quite made up their minds what the fleetname was going to be, so this is a transitional state that wouldn’t last. This was one of the TA batch that was meant to oust Leyton’s last Ts from the 58. Author

On 7 November 2000 Stagecoach unveiled a new pair of corporate liveries to accompany a group reorganisation carried out earlier in the year. For London, the existing basic red would have a dark blue skirt added and a pair of swirls curving up to the rear of each side, in blue and orange. The logo was similarly refreshed and was immediately dubbed ‘beachball’ for its cheerful spherical shape. Only on the sides would this be expanded to ‘Stagecoach in London’. There was also a new interior pending, with red floors, orange handrails and a blue-based seating, but TAs 261 upward were all in build by the time this was announced so only the livery adornments would be added later. TA 268 was the pattern bus, going into service at North Street as its counterparts gathered on the 53 at Plumstead from the second half of November.

The new livery was definitely colourful and cheerful and added some interest to all-red, which can be so terribly dull. TA 281 (X281 NNO), another Leyton intake at the start of 2001, shows the fleetnumber now above the driver’s cab (where, unfortunately, view of it would be blocked by the wing mirror) plus a supplementary one at the rear, preparing not only for the mess that registrations had already become when everything ending in 5 or 0 was taken out, but for the letter-oriented system that would follow. Author

The treatment of TA 180 (W187 CNO) to a pair of Stagecoach logos either side of the blind box was an attractive one-off that had already been superseded by the ‘beach ball’ carried between the headlights. This bus was to be the only W-registered Stagecoach London Trident, due to having come so late that its previous mark, also non-matching, had to be cancelled. A Leyton motor taken for the 69, it is seen at the Angel on 15 August 2001. Author

The Trident orders grew ever more massive; in December 78 TAs (shortly reduced to 77) and 99 TASs were ordered, the longer chassis for routes 26, 87, 169, 262, 374, 387 and 473 and the shorter for the 47, 67, 106, 160, 174 and 175, and when they arrived they would see off the last Titans in Stagecoach London. As the ink dried on that particular deal, 2001 began with a programme on 20 January that took away the likelihood of TA appearances on the P3 when this route passed to London Central as 343. After a winter break, deliveries from Alexander got going again in earnest, and application of the new skirt and stripes soon followed. TA deliveries to Plumstead were bracketed by examples for Leyton and North Street. Leyton’s intake for the 58 and its existing TAs tried out the 230 for the first time, despite not being able to go beyond Whipps Cross. During February and March Catford and Bromley took new TAs for the 136 and 208 respectively, Catford’s adding the 47 to their haul and Bromley’s wandering to the 269 as well as the 162, which would not be able to accommodate them after a rerouteing away from Petts Wood on 17 March. TASs 247-252 left North Street for Upton Park, though the TAS class would return to North Street when its new examples came later in 2001.

Plumstead’s TA 267 (X267 NNO) combines the new Stagecoach logo with the existing all-red livery, on which the swirls would be sprayed later. Seen coming up to Lower Regent Street on 25 September 2001, it was part of a large contingent delivered to convert the 53 from VN and VA operation. Author

TA 281 (X281 NNO) is in the full new Stagecoach livery as it stands at Walthamstow Central on 18 December 2001, several months after having seen off Titans from the 58. Author

There are no fleetnames, fleetnumbers or livery adornments at all on this bus, but at least it is in service so a Volvo Olympian can be cascaded out of the Selkent fleet. One of the allocation into Catford for the 136, TA 329 (X329 NNO) instead finds itself put out on the 54 when seen at Lewisham on 9 June 2001. Author

Bromley’s intake of TAs for the 208 were also delivered in all-red and the accoutrements put on later. TA 342 (X342 NNO) is seen setting off from the stand at Lewisham bus station on 5 May 2001, showing the unique windscreen-mounted running number cards that Bromley alone used at the time. Author

Although the placing of former Routemaster registrations on newer buses had tailed off since the glut at what became London General and South London, Stagecoach inherited a handful and gave them to a total of seven Tridents. TA 99 (VLT 14, ex-V476 KJN), flying into Trafalgar Square on 7 August 2001, was the third carrier of this mark after RM 14 and L 262, and would subsequently bequeath it to Optare Tempo 29001 and finally back to its original host. Author

The two TAs at the end of this build ended up diverted from Stagecoach London to Stagecoach East Kent and a third needed was clipped off the next order, rendering that quantity 76.

With single-deckers the only vehicles of low-floor capability during the second half of the 1990s, the routes given over to them suffered from overcrowding. The worst such case was the 230, which was tremendously busy and outgrew its nine SLD-class Dart SLFs sufficient to need constant support from whatever Leyton could throw at it. The latest example of such assistance by 2000 was the TA class, exemplified at Wood Green on 2 July 2001 by TA 60 (T660 KPU). During that year Stagecoach East London attempted to solve the 230’s problems with more and newer SLDs but it only settled down when converted to TA, which didn’t come until 2004. Author

TAs became a possibility on the 54 with the reallocation of part of it from Catford to Plumstead on 17 March. 24 April saw new night routes