THE GALLERY

London
First Orpington Buses
Orpington Buses was established as a separate operating unit by Centrewest in its early days. It was hoped to be a centre from which the business might have expanded in the area, but the operation remained focussed on the Orpington tendered services. The First Orpington name disappeared under First's London wide branding. In late 2007 First disposed of the isolated operation, including the buses, to local Go-Ahead subsidiary, Metrobus.
Orpington Buses Dart
DML380 (W361VLN), seen at Cobham in April 2001, bears Croydon Tram livery for Tramlink services. It is a victim of the DVLAs then inability to supply matching registration and fleet numbers, as W380VLN is mysteriously worth more than W361VLN so First would have had to pay extra for that matching number!
First
Orpington Buses Dart
D40 (P410MLA) was one of the first Darts delivered to Centrewest and one of the last non low floor models to be built. It is seen on the R9 when relatively new.
 
Orpington Buses Olympian
Orpington Buses Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties V12 (N312JBV) was used as part of the celebrations of BUSES fiftieth anniversary. It is seen here at Millennium Showbus sandwiched between a First Capital Dennis Trident and a "607" liveried similar Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palantine II of Centrewest.
 
London
First Orpington Buses