Wandering, part 2

Continuing from my previous Wandering, part 1 post, I started off the next day...

28th September:
Unlike the previous day which I had most stuff planned out prior and practically on the spot, covering many things in a day as humanly possible without getting drenched into evening rush hour.
Thus, I decided to only focus on one route.

SP40108 YT59DYY starting at Fairfield Bus Station

If the picture isn't clear enough, 131.
Appearing out of nowhere from Longmead Road stands in Tooting Broadway which itself is a mess with a high frequency route, a lower frequency route and this, including possible turns for many other routes in the vicinity.

Second to last day | RATP London United SP40107 (YT59DYX) | Scania OmniCity | 131

Anyways, the 131 makes an appearance to aid the 57 from Tooting Broadway consistently until Rayners Park which by timetable is roughly half an hour. From the busy stretch on the A24 to Merton High Street and then making an entry into Wimbledon's town centre, the whole way through you're greeted with average apartment buildings, and two theatres in Wimbledon.
Upon entry we serve a 'bus station', just three or four glorified bus stops with a segregated traffic signal upon exit. We circle through the gyratory where 163/164 suddenly serve a stop of their own next to a Morrisons and pass it to reach our stop of Wimbledon Station which is just across the road, and the town centre Wimbledon is you see many shops and homes that live up to it's South West London style.

Leaving Wimbledon on our way to Raynes Park, we're still an aid to the 57 but now the night N87 accompanies the day 131 from here on out. All that can be seen out the window is residential houses which there wasn't much opportunity from the beginning, mostly just detached houses and the like of course. Not so busy in the off peak though but that's every other route I guess.

Raynes Park Station just pops up like a whack-a-mole, along with it's shops, all in all making it seem somewhat posh with it's up-to-date atmosphere but that's South West as a whole.

Finally, the 57 and 131 part ways, 57 taking the direct route straight to Kingston and 131/N87 making a detour via West Barnes and New Malden.

As soon as we turn left the spacious and posh air turns into a greenier and heavy-housing type of residential area, with some tenements and then more but slightly distanced homes. Next on the 131 sightseeing tour is a level crossing to your left which seems rather well placed (sarcasm) on a junction to our road, West Barnes Lane. At the time I heard the barriers going down but we sped past as my driver seemed to be late.

Originally I wondered why the New Malden terminus was The Fountain, as by the time I arrived I spotted no Fountain either on the roundabout or anywhere vaguely near but...it was the name of a rather large pub.

My ride, E220 SN61DDZ on stand at Delta Point, West Croydon

Along Kingston Road where the X26 thrashes by we just see a different mixture of houses, mainly just detached houses and one or two random tenements which stand out with their colour and size, that's until we reach Norbiton Church where we say hi to the 85, the 213 which we crossed earlier without locking eyes and making friends with the 57 again....only for those friendships to last like two extra stops at the end of the 57/131/213/N87. Still, in the meantime we pass Tiffin School which either has part of it being reconstructed or it's a different building, but judging by the boarding it would be the former. On the opposite side of the road which I didn't notice was Kingston Grammar School.

Like I summarised with the 388, I'd give 131 a rating of 6/10, as it's mainly a residential route though it's spacious off peak so you can get any seat you desire without being bothered. As the route is residential it has not much visually-appeasing, and does miss out Kingston's town centre towards Kingston.

I needed to escape so I took the X26 to the areas I'm familiar with and needed to do the route anyway so I walked to Cromwell Road Bus Station and boarded E220 which was just about to leave.

For this, I'll let the video explain and not more words.

Express | Go-Ahead London Metrobus E220 (SN61DDZ) | ADL E40D 10.2m Enviro400 | X26

I thank you for reading thus far, I will continue to make content on my YouTube channel and upload more photos when the time comes. Also, I have another post in my thoughts yet to be executed into words for you to read, until then, enjoy yourselves, and peace!

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