10 Years Without Routemasters

On Wednesday the London Bus Preservation trust organised a bus running day on route 159 in London to mark 10 years since the end of Routemasters in normal everyday service.
There were about 20, maybe more, buses in use and my photos from the afternoon around London can be seen here https://paulgildersleve.smugmug.com/London-Wednesday-9th-December/

Regards,

Paul

 

Thanks for that. I saw one yesterday and wondered what that was about. Was cycling so couldn't take a pic

 

I noticed that an RT and a RTL got in on the act

 

I was there on the final day so thanks for posting these as a reminder of an end of an era.

 

Thanks for sharing...lovely pics

 

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They wouldn't look out of place if they were still in action in todays modern London. Proper machines, not like the rear engined tin boxes of today (not forgetting the "outstanding success" of the Merc. bendy buses) Just need to recruit a flock of clippies and it'll be happy days. A routemaster with an Allison auto box, I'd dust my PSV licence off and apply for a job.

 

The real classic London bus for me is still the RT, a pre war design that lasted until 1978. My father was a driver at Catford Garage and I remember many staff seaside day trips with an RT or RTL. One notorious trip involved my Dad as driver, he decided to return from Littlehampton the pretty way and did his research the night before to make sure there were no low bridges on the route. Unfortunately he totally overlooked the possibility of low overhanging trees, took him a long time to live that down.

This is RT1 outside the Bank of England on a photographic about 2 am, the city gent was brought along for effect.

 

Absolutely agree re the RT and RTL I grew up just off the top of Perry Hill and we had RTs on the 75 and RTL on the 108. There must be a pretty good chance that I have ridden on a bus driven by your dad as the 75 was allways a Catford job, except on sundays when it was a Croydon job. The 194 shared the same route as the 75 from Croydon to lower Sydenham where the 194 turned left near the gassworks and headed for Forest Hill. One sunday coming back on a 75 the driver forgot which route he was driving and turned left as a 194. Stopped by the conductor a quick reverse into a side st and we were back on track

I was allways facinated by the pre selector gear box. Bus pulls up, gear lever to second, they never used first, hit the selector pedal to get 2nd then gear lever straight to third.Pulll off select 3rd and gear lever to 4th

 

Thanks for your replies/comments everyone. It's always good to hear about peoples memories. My Dad drove STL's on the 83 from Alperton in the early 50's and his claim to fame was driving railway replacement buses after the Harrow & Wealdstone crash.
The eagle eyed may also have spotted that an RTW was also running on the 159 last Wednesday.

Best wishes,

Paul

 

You may well have done, his regular route was the 47, a long one, Farnborough to Shoreditch shared between, Bromley, Catford and Dalston Garages but I think in his career he drove every route out of Catford. Before that he was a Tram driver at Camberwell, converted to buses in 1951. We lived off Burnt Ash Lane, Bromley on the last route worked by RTs the 94.

 

You can still ride in a Routemaster (for now) on the remaining heritage route from Trafalgar Square to Tower Hill, on the 15 route.

Simon

 

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Victor, the later Cummins B (re)engined ones do have an Allison gearbox. The earlier C series conversions still had the Wilson box, which could be driven in semi-auto or full auto mode (4th gear was full auto, or else you selected other gears yourself). I've worked on, and driven most RM derivatives and never got over just how rubbish the heaters were. Only a few ones that had been 'oop North had radiators all the way down the saloon which were quite effective and, more importantly, could be switched off with a simple isolating cock in the summer. Relying on a ram-air system (as original) in London Traffic was never going to be effective! Even the cab heaters/demisters weren't all that; I once had to drive a route in winter with the cab window open to its most full extent due to the formation of ice on the inside of it!

Many parts for RMs are now made of un-obtainium, and even those which could be rebuilt have now reached the end of their serviceable lives. This particularly applies to the unique power/pressure hydraulic brake system.

 

Aye, but they could break your ankle if you got it wrong......the clutch pedal had to be fully depressed when changing, One of the buggas tried to bite me and then an "old hand" pointed out the error of my ways.

 

Air operated on the London AECs, so no chance of that!

 

It is ironic that heritage is reserved for those who are competent with modern technology!

John

 

Don't understand this, you can buy an Oyster card at most Underground Stations, what's so complicated about that?

 

Many years ago, when Routemasters ruled in London but the rest of the country had gone over to front-entrance buses, a squad contracted by an advertising company arrived to erect some bus shelters. Seemingly oblivious to the buses going past, they erected them with the opening lined up for rear entrance buses.

 

Newsagents, yes, but most stations can't now sell Oyster cards, as there are no ticket offices.

Simon