Buses of England 1989-United Counties Routemaster's in Bedford 

Good to see the old dears have a second lease of life. they look great in green and love the routemaster decals. loud and proud. unlike the ones magicbus used in Glasgow trying to hide what they were. ending up looking like bulbous sticks of Blackpool rock! . And I'd forgotten how ubiquitous milk floats were too .part of the streetscape.

Wow - I am probably in this video as I was driving these for two years in Bedford from about 89-91. That brought back a lot of memories. There were about 15 drivers on the Routemaster rota and that was the only route we did every single day. Just about all of us had started on the Street Shuttles and this was the next step up - literally as well to get in and out of those cabs! I will add - forget air-con! Those cabs had the best air circulation you could possibly imagine. We had a sliding door that was always open on a hot day and even the front window had a handle so you could open it to at least a slight angle to let more air in. The Bedford Routemasters were designated with numbers from 701-712 if my memory serves me correctly. 706 I believe was the only one in the fleet that was a bit of a wreck. They were all quite noisy but that one - oh boy. I hit black ice one day coming along Queens Drive - the bus made a 90 degree slide/turn and I ended up sideways on with the road - my conductor did not even realise what had happened - the passengers certainly did! Shame you did not get to the Kempston end of the route too - the 3.30 bus from Williamson Road was nearly always a nightmare as the bus was filled with misbehaving Hastingsbury school kids - I remember them well. Mentioning no names but a driver one day was running well late and having reached Kempston decided to go off route to try and pick up some time. His clippie was completely oblivious to what was going on and just sat there reading his newspaper as he heard an almighty crash. The driver had attempted to come back into town via Ampthill Road which meant going under the Elstow Road bridge! There was one less Routemaster in service following that incident! Thanks for sharing the video.

The opening shot shows the RM turning to its left into what is now a fully pedestrianised area outside the Harpur Centre shopping centre. Another great time capsule, Soi. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Great stuff, I started school in Bedford, took the 101 on the first day. I think I cried. Not because it was a Bristol KSW.... more than 60 years ago, School was opposite the bus station 🙂 Woodside didn't exist then, all fields..

Wow, what a lot of green routemaster buses see it is! 😯

Took me a while to figure out what the massive building in the background at 7:50 was. Too young to remember it, but assume its the old power station. Must of dominanted the skyline!

What a great trip back in time this was. Remember these in my hometown so well. Hard to believe it's 30 years ago now! And the lovely old sound of the original AEC engines too. Many thanks for filming these buses at the time and uploading!

C&A I miss them.

Wow, great - I really love your historic-nostalgic footage. *LIKE

Thanks for this!

4.12, that is an accurate stop with no re coil. The stability of the RM is second to none, look at the way the Drivers are cornering without a hint of body roll, then using the power hydraulic brakes to smoothly pull up. A modern bus would be all over the place, and even an RT would be giving a 35 degree lean.

This brings back memories.

Another great routemaster video. I know you've got another one coming soon...!!!

This brings back memories of seeing Routemasters in Bedford when I visited the town with my parents on a Network Day in 1988 and again in 1990 - in the spring of 1990 my parents and I travelled on one of the Routemasters on route 101 from Bedford town centre out to Kempston and back and for a 15 year-old at the time it was heaven! Just a shame that when Stagecoach took over United Counties in 1990 the standards on this Routemaster service started to slip with the vehicles looking scruffy and dowdy. A great shame that this had to happen as it seemed that someone in Stagecoach's management over at United Counties felt that the Routemaster operations at Bedford and Corby had ran their course by the early 1990s. Nowadays route 101 no longer exists as the route is covered by two separate routes with different numbers.

RM 1647 later ended up as a mobile disco and bar in the city of Cancun in Mexico.

Que sonido perfecto

AECs being run in Bedford ha! I doubt Bedfords were run in Southall!

I can think of only one problem with this video. It would be great to watch more, the green livery suited the RM's well. Who remembers the coal Lordy? Another great look back in time.

Lovely roar from the engine. Great bus, but seen here in a horrible livery.

Did any of these return back to London?

No other bus route other than 101?.

4:04 whats happening with that blind?