19000 ''Spirit of London'' is an

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the United Kingdom, British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident 2, ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

which entered service in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in October 2005. Originally carrying fleet number 18500, ''Spirit of London'' was built as the replacement for the bus destroyed in

Tavistock Square Tavistock Square is a public square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. History Tavistock Square was built shortly after 1806 by the property developer James Burton and the master builder Thomas Cubitt for Francis Russell, 5th Duke ...

during the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

, killing 13 passengers. ''Spirit of London'' was also the first production Enviro400 built by Alexander Dennis. Throughout its time in service, ''Spirit of London'' has served as a tribute to the victims of the 7/7 attacks.

Background

On 7 July 2005, a series of four coordinated bomb attacks occurred during the morning rush hour across central London, killing 52 people. Three of the attacks occurred on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

, while the fourth targeted a number 30 bus that was travelling through

at the time. The bomb explosion ripped the roof from the vehicle and destroyed the rear portion of the bus, killing 13 passengers on board; the driver and passengers near the front of the bus survived with varying severity of injuries. The bus involved was a two-year-old TransBus ALX400-bodied

TransBus Trident The Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally manufactured by Dennis, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow. It was built by TransBus after Dennis was incorporated into the group in 2001, t ...

double-decker bus, registration LX03 BUF and fleet number 17758, operated by

Stagecoach London Stagecoach London is a major bus operator in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach and operates services under contract to Transport for London mostly in East and South East London as well as some services into Central London. It i ...

. The remains of the vehicle were taken to a secure

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

site for forensic analysis immediately after the attack, before being returned to

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, Stagecoach London's successor company, on 15 October 2009, where it was stripped for usable spares and subsequently scrapped.

Introduction and early years

''Spirit of London'', initially carrying Stagecoach fleet number 18500, was unveiled on 3 October 2005. It was the first production Enviro400 to be built; the Enviro400 was Alexander Dennis' successor to the Dennis Trident and Alexander ALX400, the chassis and body combination of the vehicle involved in the Tavistock Square bombing. It was originally assigned Stagecoach fleet number 18500, which is otherwise used for Trident-based vehicles. After a lengthy promotional tour, ''Spirit of London'' entered service on route 30 in January 2006, five months after the Tavistock Square attack had occurred on the same route. In 2006, Stagecoach sold their London operations to

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...

, who rebranded the division for which ''Spirit of London'' operated as

. During the vehicle's operation with East London, it retained its ''Spirit of London'' identity and 18500 fleet number. Stagecoach re-purchased their London operations in 2010, rebranding again back to Stagecoach London; at this time, ''Spirit of London'' was renumbered to 19000, matching Stagecoach's national numbering system for Enviro400 vehicles.

Fire

During the early hours of 19 October 2012, while operating on 24-hour route 69 from

Walthamstow Central Walthamstow Central is a London Underground and London Overground interchange station in the town of Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, north-east London. It is the northern terminus of the Victoria line following Blackhorse ...

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

, ''Spirit of London'' was set on fire in an

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

attack. The fire occurred while the bus was waiting at

Walthamstow bus station Walthamstow Bus Station serves Walthamstow town centre in Waltham Forest, London, England. The station is owned and maintained by Transport for London. The station can be accessed from both Selborne Road and High Street as well as Walthamstow ...

. The

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...

brought the fire under control after it had swept through most of the upper deck, destroying the roof of the bus and upper deck interior, causing £60,000 of damage. The driver was the only person on the bus at the time of the fire, and was uninjured. Following the fire, two 14-year-old girls were arrested by the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

on suspicion of arson. CCTV footage showed that they had set fire to pieces of newspaper, and then stuffed them down the back of seats, which then caught fire. By the time the bus driver had become aware of the fire, the two girls had left the vehicle.

Return to service

After the fire, Stagecoach London confirmed that they would repair the vehicle due to its special status. Repair work took several months, during which the vehicle was returned to the

Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, ...

factory. ''Spirit of London'' was relaunched on 21 April 2013 at the London Bus Museum in

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

. There are a few notable external differences to the rebuilt bus; for example, the rear end was reconstructed using panels from contemporary Enviro400s, with the registration plate thus moved from a glass containment panel at the upper-deck level to an inset holder in the redesigned rear bumper. Additionally, the ''Spirit of London'' branding was made much larger and more prominent across the side of the bus, and one of the panels below the front windscreen was repainted black as a memorial. ''Spirit of London'' returned to service in April 2013 after the fire, initially allocated to route 55. The bus was withdrawn from service in October 2020 for preservation at the

London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the h ...

; an

ADL Enviro400 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Enviro400 MMC is p ...

delivered in 2020 with the fleet number 11377 was given ''Spirit of London'' branding to replace 19000.

References

{{reflist Vehicles introduced in 2005 Individual buses Alexander Dennis buses Bus transport in London Stagecoach Group July 2005 London bombings Arson attacks on vehicles

Background

Introduction and early years

Fire

Return to service

See also

References