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An all-new version of this website is now available at www.ltsv.com/sv/. These pages are no longer being updated.

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Photographer / Copyright
Google
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Location Link/s
Morden Wharf

Date added to site
15/08/2019

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Details: And now for something new. I have made much use of aerial photographs over the years, most often to investigate service vehicle locations. Birds-eye views are the most useful, where the camera is not looking straight down. Bing maps used to have this feature, where you could you view any location from the direction of each compass point. However, this seems to be no longer available. Happily there is an alternative, and it is, in some ways, even better. Google maps has aerial photographs of pretty much the whole world. Many areas are now also covered in 3D, meaning you can select the angle and elevation of your view. The level of detail is remarkable, with objects smaller than cars being modelled in 3D. I don't know how it is done but I assume there is some compositing of images taken from different directions, this then being applied to a detailed topographical model. There are some glitches, particularly with vehicles, no doubt caused by them moving between the time of the various images being taken.

For four reasons, I recently decided that it would be worth adding a selection of images from Google to the LTSV website. Firstly, the loss of the Bing facility, and the fact that the Google images are periodically updated, means it is worth 'preserving' these images. Secondly, it allows me to show locations that are inaccessible. Thirdly, it will enable the locations of existing photographs to be put into context. Fourthly, I will be able to highlight some interesting discoveries. Let's hope nobody from Google minds!

Anyway, enough of the waffle, let's talk about this photo. This is Go-Ahead London's Morden Wharf garage, located on the Greenwich peninsula and opened in July 2017, primarily to replace the small Belvedere garage. This view is looking almost south-west, with the River Thames in the background. Although Morden Wharf does have an engineer's van and a couple of crew ferries, none are visible here. However, the red bus in the background caught my eye. Parked with some modern white coaches and a couple of black Routemasters, this was unmistakably a former LT Swift bus. In moving to take a closer look I then noticed the red van which can be seen in the top left here. This turned out to be one of the LBSL Infrastructure VW Caddy Maxi vans, parked in a large car park with a couple of Highways liveried cars. The LBSL VW vans were mostly withdrawn in early 2019 so this image must have been taken before then. As far as I know, their duties are now covered by Highways contractors, so this location probably won't be added to the LTSV database.

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Posted ByCommentsDate/Time
RayThis garage was used to replace Mandela Way (MW) in some respects, routes/buses being exchanged with Q & NX also. Buses from Belvedere followed at the end of the year.Thu 15/08/2019, 17:16