If I'm on my own, I keep them up a little longer so they are really tired (but as we all know can be a fine line to over-tired!) then we all go into DS1 room, DS1 gets into bed and we read a story, DS2 sits on my knee and listens to the story, then I take DS2 to his room and he feeds to sleep. On the days I know I'm doing bedtime by myself, I will often do a late trip to the park to really wear them out. Also do the dinner/bath thing a bit earlier so they are not cranky about it all.
I really used to dread late afternoon/bedtime with my two but now ds2 is a bit older it seems to have settled.
Good luck, I hope you find what works.