London Buses 1985-Haringey+Turnpike Lane+Kings Cross with DMS/Metrobus/Routemasters 

There are still plenty more to come, have no worries! happy viewing.....

I can't believe it was 30 years ago i filmred it! And the Metro on the tow truck was just a bonus.

A very nippy and good handling bus was the Routemaster. And, yes we won't see the like of such a well designed and engineered bus again sadly.....

When i first rode the 144 it had RT type buses and the North Circ was being rebuilt in the Woodford area into what it is today. It used to be a two lane duel carrigeway with houses on the short banks either side (around by Gates Corner/Waterworks Corner/M11 slip). When the RT's went we had new DMS's and i rode them regularly to either Walthamstow to visit family or for a day out on a Red Bus Rover and go to Turnpike Lane and ride on the W2 to Finsbury Park. TPL then had lots of variety with RT's still running there on the 298 to Cockfosters way. Later on as the DMS's were replaced Titans appeared from Walthamstow and Metros from Wood Green but the odd DMS was still around and there is a photo knocking about of all three types on the 144 at TPL itself!

Thank you.... i wish i had filmed more back then but too late now.....

my first star wars was in there, I was late and the ewoks just kidnapped r2d2 and c3po

That cinema was infamous for letting 12 year olds into 18s- oh happy days 😀

There's a LOT more Routemasters vids, right back from 1986 onwards. I haven't even upload anything from my morning outside Chiswick Works yet....there was all sort of buses rolling along Chiswick High Road in those days.....

Yes, bus drivers years ago seemed to have a bit more go in them!

I'm pleased you find so much of interest. At the time it was just the mundane, everyday scene but a wonderful glimpse into the near past. The LCBS Leyland National in green was a bus version, the ones that were green & white were the coach version-the difference??? None! Quality vehicles for Green Line work--not! This is an SNB and should have been on bus work as g/L got nice new AEC coaches in the early 1980s so it is probably covering for an unfit vehicle.

Thank you for your comments. I started with photos as a child and got a cine camera in 1983. But it was expensive and had no sound. In the summer of 1985 i had the chance to buy a Panasonic M1 camera which took full sized E180 tapes. The joy of that was not having to copy the tapes (like the small tape'd cameras) so that kept the quality up. In the early 2000s i got a DVD recorder and copied all my VHS collection on to DVD, starting with the transport tapes first. So i now have double copies on disc plus now transfered to MP4 and kept on several hard drives!

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus That's unreal!! This is the sort of stuff I have craved to watch for decades. I used to watch The Bill in the early 1990s mainly in the hope of seeing London buses crop up!! A couple of memorable scenes included one of the detectives getting off a Routemaster and hearing it drive away and another was when they rode on a Metrobus. Who can forget the National seen in the background during the intro. Your stuff surpasses my expectations , like the Metro being towed! Absolute classic.

@@jamesfrench7299 Catching that Metro on the hook was a pure fluke but a real bonus as a few years later LT got rid of all the brakedown lorries (i seem to recall one in each side of London east, north, west ect). I still have lots more vids to upload so keep watching!

That was a real lucky catch when the wrecker pulled out of the side turning, and as you say, with the Metro on tow, the Routemaster quietly got on with the job.....

That was just a pure fluke that it popped out of a side turning right in front of the RM i was filming, a real bonus!

It was a Leyland Freighter, you can hear the Leyland 400 series engine being thrashed to within a inch of it’s life pulling the Metrobus up the hill. Great to see it captured in action and on video, brings to life the photos I’ve seen of it.

The main thing is it got back to the shed. Not a race!

Thank you, i still have more......

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I'm more into railways but but old buses I'm beginning to like too. Just not got same knowledge of them. Yet......

@@vincitveritas3872 Keep watching, i have more transport vids to come, plenty of both railways and buses....how about aircraft?.....can you be corrupted even more? lol...i have now got into aviation and film planes whenever i can, wish i'd done it sooner and i'd had some nice classic planes on film including Concorde....but there you go, i left it too late........

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus love planes, helicopters too😃

@@vincitveritas3872 We have a few where i live but it's knowing when someone falls off a mountain which is when they go up! I don't fancy hanging around at the rear of Ysbyty Gwynedd in the hope one will arrive! Mind you, when one does land there is plenty of thrash, it would make a good vid!

It's probably changed a bit now.....

Yes, that was on the corner of Lordship Lane and Redvers Road, an Eastern National depot. Long since closed although part of the garage wall still stands......

It was booked RM's but Tottenham did put the odd RML out, they had an allocation at the time for the 243/A......

Thank you. There's some good, historic stuff on this one. I think the EN bus just stood in York Way and went round the block back to Southend.

It's great isn't it looking beyond the main 'theme' and to see what lurks in the background. What was just the everyday mundane can be quite interesting now......

I lament now just focusing on Routemasters by mid 86 (in the main, still did a bit local to me then at Stratford & East Ham in 1989 time), now i wish i had just filmed it all! But the Routemasters were going and it was they that i grew up with (and RT's of course) so what with shift work bus wise they were my main attention. I can only lament now sadly.....

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus have you heard of 7/7 London terrorist attack in 2005?

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Indeed

Sadly i never got to Tottenham Hale although have got some film around Tottenham Garage.

As far as I can tell it went to Convey Island.

Yes, i was filming in York Road. The 14s back then went along to Hornsey Rise back in those days....

It is preserved by Arriva, one of the bus companies that took over from London Transport after the politicians destroyed it. It appears on garage 'open days' and special services from time to time. It has been returned to semi-original condition externally, but unfortunately its appearance is not 100% accurate.

@@uk-martin4905 That's good to hear! Thanks Martin 🙏👍

Thank you. RM 5 still exists and is with Arriva London as a private hire vehicle. I have other film of the 29s and will upload at some point.

Martin in the UK that’s actually sad that the government would do that, ive seen a few times now that this was a political thing, but what could be their true intentions? I know its probably for another conversation, but it all falls under the belt of destroying and ruling this world i guess

Back then it ran to Holborn Circus......

Trolleybus replacement for routes 521 and 621, North Finchley to Holborn Circus continuing from Turnpike Lane via Manor House, Finsbury Park, Holloway, Caledonian Road and Kings Cross.

Yes, quite correct. I have vid of the 207s and the 65's as well. The 65 kept Routemasters a bit longer as there had been a fire at Southall Garage over Christmas 1985 and several Metros had been burnt out (i have film of them dumped at AEC's as well) so the Metro's for the 65's were used to replace these burnt out vehicles. Of course another route was the 37's from Hounslow to Peckham (i have vid of them also) and the 237's which made it to Shepherds Bush but not quite Central London (and yes, i have vid of the 237's as well) so plenty more uploads to come!

Soi Buakhao ah yes, thanks

There's some good shots on this upload, the Metro on the hook was just by pure chance!

Soi Buakhao must have run out of fuel. MCWs are meant to be robust little things.

@@jamesfrench7299 Thay had their moments for breakdowns and Wood Green like the other 3 garage's that had a breakdown wagons, used to like going out in them as much as poss even if they didn't really need to! Any excuse for a jolly....