As a recently retired Marine Engineer, this was an absolute delight to watch and I enjoyed every minute of it. But, it is a difficult watch when you consider the skills, capabilities and confidence we have lost in our once great organisations and institutions. Having said that, a lot of the activity shown in the video, was even in the the 1950s totally uneconomic. They were rightly proud of their organisation, methods and measurable efficiency and doing what they did - but they were in the process burning cash unnecessarily and it was unsustainable. I regularly repair my cars, motorcycles, domestic appliances but my labour is free if I was paying someone to do it- it would be ruinous. London Transport probably thought the labour was free in those days.😉
It would be good to study which aspects of that era should have been retained and which aspects should have been modernised. Modern computer systems and production technology could have vastly improved efficiency without taking away the core skills, work ethics and sense of purpose people seemed to have back then.
It is remarkable to read what you describe when you talk about work ethics and sense of purpose of the workers of that time. It seems to be a global problem. I am from Argentina where we had excellent work capacity and labor and today it seems impossible to prepare a young person and teach them a trade or make them understand that their work is important. Clearly world society has changed drastically, but you have to understand that artificial intelligence in the future will not repair your kitchen faucet, we will always need the hand of the human being. greetings.
@@SkaterStimm lol, have you seen how low modern busses are? They wouldn't make it a block on the old roads that those buses handled easily every day. It's fun to watch videos of when "developing" (lol, "developing" for the last 10,000 years) places get their hands on a modern bus and try to drive it down what they call "roads" and then end up tearing it all up and getting it stuck in the mud. Heck, a modern 4x4 "SUV" couldn't even keep up to a Ford Model T in most off road scenarios.
And yet ironically it was improvements in bus build and material quality requiring fewer full overhauls that was partly responsible for Aldenhams decline.
@@mannythelimodriver6003 British industry was horribly inefficient, and labor had grown militantly lazy and socialist. Margaret Thatcher was a stern and forceful woman who made difficult decisions in order to put things on a sustainable path. And the lazy socialist detest her for it.
Same was done to the railway. Despite the obvious efficiency of modular replacement using standardised parts across much of British Rail's fleet, the Thatcher government turned public opinion against inefficient, lazy, nationalised monopolies that ran old, dirty, smoky and unreliable transport operated and maintained by heavily-unionised workers who hated any change, wasting taxpayers' money by going on strike every five minutes....
Remember when you could rebuild things? Good times. Now days the body control modual would flip shit if you tried any of that, the seat structure wouldn't hold up long enough to warrent rebuilding, and the motor would have to have a rod hanging out the side before theyd even consider pulling it from service
Brilliant, but how did they overcome the regulations regarding chassis/engine numbers relating to that vehicle as they would be different when the bus left the works?
In short, they didn't bother with mere regulations! London Transport being a quango were a law unto themselves. When I was a driver on route 207 in the early eighties, I remember being told by an inspector en route to change buses at Hanwell, because the bus I was driving was supposed to have gone to Aldenham. Upon pulling onto the forecourt at Hanwell fully loaded, the maintenance staff not only swopped over the number plates, to the newly re-conditioned Routemaster that was waiting for me on the forecourt, they swopped the tax disc too! Wouldn't get away with that nowadays I suspect.
I imagine chassis number remained the same regardless of what body was used, engine swap would be the same as with any vehicle it was just performed and no one cared.
We used to visit a company making tautliner trailers for off cuts for school DT department, sheet, angle, box, treadplate, steel, stainless, alloy. Spoke to the MD about his product, it's absolute crap he said, I can do much better than this, but it's designed and manufactured down to a price, they all go out through a capital company on 5 year lease, they are designed to fall to pieces basically as soon as the lease has expired. We are an incredibly wasteful society, the local University is flattening 300 student flats that are 30 years old, the Victorian/Edwardian railway companies built to last forever. And as for all these PFI hospitals and schools that President Blair organised, they are the worst of the lot. Still that nice Mr Starmer has pledged to put everything right.😉. Some 8100dy hope he's got .😬🤣🤣🤣
@@nzsaltflatsracer8054 That would have been considered a very good job, so there would not be much turnover. Typically, if you see a lot of young people at a place, it means it's either low paying and/or a toxic workplace.
I was a coach and bus builder for 40 years. The Route Master was a fantastic bus design for a city like London. Todays (BORIS BUS) in my view is horrible and if you look at the bus from the front and imagine a face it looks like it has suffered a stroke. The RM should of been replaced with the same design with a new engine Londoners loved them. I understand the new RM cost £350,000 per unit from Wrights the ALEXANDER DENNIS ENVIRO DOUBLE DECKER WAS FAR FAR CHEAPER AND LOOKED BETTER. When I visit London I love to see the old RMs on heritage routes not many left now but some are in transport museums thank god.
@@danwoodhouse9290 Totally agree. I am no fan of the New Bus for London. I will however say one thing in its favour, they are being kept in very good condition, inside and out. They still look almost like new, and the first ones were introduced before the Olympics so they must now be approaching the end of their 14 year intended lifespan.
As a Kiwi, my guess was 1955 from the cars, a great video. A hell of a lot of moving things around, Henry Ford should have been consulted. No sign of Health and safety those days.
This was an era where public safety was considered above private profit. I worked for a coach company and we did the same thing except removing bodies. If it was removable, it was removed. Even road springs were stripped down. Proper maintenance, not the quick oil change and through it out as happens these days.
Epping Ongar Railway operate RT type buses on their 339 service from Epping Station to Shenfield Station. Weekends from Easter to October. (Coronavirus permitting!)
Today, in a world bent on sustainability, I see this video and see a bus built to last, built to be repaired, re-powered, rebuilt, and capable of being so for generations. There we were, in 1957, achieving something. Where are we today? We throw away everything, repair nothing, and any piece of equipment like this that gets bought for the job ends up over budget, can't do it as effectively, and is totally unsustainable in the long term. So much for progress!
Good luck getting this level of service in our present times. Too costly I would think. Back then employing folks wasn't in crime to be punished by the market forces.🤔🤔
What a fantastic little doc. Thanks for posting. ❤ Funny watching this. They said the RT's were replacing the trolley busses. Interesting how they were replacing a less locally polluting vehicle with a diesel powered one. Now we have electric ones but at what cost? I think we should have kept trolley busses longer until we figured out a better one for the local and wider environment. We should have kept trams too. Now it costs countless millions to re-establish them. Crazy.
People were much more friendly and polite. However train trip up to Waterloo although just as quick as today, was often a dirty experience. Also smoking on public service vehicles and tubes was smelly and awful to non smokers. However the mood of the people today is the difference. Too much imm igration of the wrong sort in the capital.
Perfect! That's how it was done back in 50's. That's how it should be done today 2024. Things were made to last. Single use culture was unheard thing. In this respect things have not gotten better.
British standards in those day were quite high, also the kitemark on products. I have noticed things made in china using uk brands like washing machines using 1/3rd of thickness cable, so they get quite warm when heating water and motor running.
When workers were WORKERS, and when buses were BUSES. None of those two exist today. Quite the impressive factory too. Britain was once the envy of a lot of countries for having the best....shame its not that way now.
Excellent film. Such dedication, attention to detail, and professionalism. Most of the technicians in this film are part of the wartime generation and their dedication is clear. It is also interesting to see the public of London; all pre immigration, all British, all going to work. Sadly none of this remains; buses are boring boxes like any other bus and half the babies born in London are to mothers who were not born in the UK. All in the last 50 years.
Really enjoy,d this ,i started as an Engine boy apprentice,at Upton park Garage 1970 ,transferred into the Stores Dept,and then into Chiswick works on progress chasing,returned to the garage,s on the Float,eventually back to where I began at U,and then ,spent the the last years off Service,on decommissioning, U, WH,T L,RD,AP .then took Severence,shame it's all gone now,also spent time on the introduction off the Pilot fleet off Dms,SMS fleet also, visited Alderman on Progress work, "the good old Days".
And that's why everybody loved those old buses, they had a soul as they were not just throwaway objects. Treated that way with pride and TLC they could be used and re-used indefinitely.
Amazing, what an operation. Surely the envy of the world at the time, one bus out every hour. Very interesting this, I wonder how many people were employed by London Transport at its peak?
Vary impressive, I wonder if they still do that for the Buses, if they have that factory still and how much did they get paid back then. I feel like this is a good system, it creates jobs, and keeps public transport operational. Any Brits in here, I would appreciate some Insite. Thank you.
Unfortunately the whole industry has been privatised and buses are not as well looked after as they once were. Once privatised the only concern for any company is profit
Yes, and here you are replying on your computer at home. Something that hadn't been invented yet. What makes me laugh about you boomers is that you hark back to a "simpler time", all the while not understanding the irony that you're sharing your opinion (pointless opinion at that), on a digital platform.
Look at London now..horrid place, will never be the same again, and wear a stab vest when visiting and hope you don't get mugged by our new third world visitors.
@@Thecrazyvaclav Um, now a college education gives you less purchasing power than a minimum wage job did then. (edit)(addendum) as someone pointed out, although it seems youtube didn't like something they said as I don't see the comment now, "minimum wage" probably wasn't a thing then. The study I'm referring too, IIRC compares the 1980's or so to today. Back then things would have been _even better,_ although there were drastic changes from decade to decade in those days as well.
The health and safety pundits would be in a mental health facility watching real people working with their bare hands, although standards are much better now
Unfortunately American Bankers(because it hasn't been British leadership in this role for yrs)bought up all the Engineering companies, I know I worked at Perkins Diesel Engines, when bought out 1500, people lost a job, me included , I just went back on the spanners in the local garages, but the pay was shite
Full overhaul every 3.5 to 4 years and 150.000 miles? That seems excessive and wasteful. You don't do that to commercial aircraft and the regulations there are much more strict...
It kept the fleet in tip top shape and up to a standard of presentation. It was a well oiled machine that was very efficient at achieving that end for an 8000 strong fleet. The buses carry thousands of people each with absolute constant stop starting every day for those four years. It was quite sensible actually. If they left them much longer to keep plying the streets, standards would have visibly fallen.
This was at a time when it was realised that state enterprises could in many cases be tun more efficiently than fractionated private ones and without siphoning away tax funds in profit to tax havens. Such state enterprises were good for our economy and society and for the people that worked in them.
The AEC works also overhauled the underfloor engines that powered some of British Rail's once vast fleet of diesel multiple units (DMUs) built in the late 1950s/ early 1960s. They were essentially a 150hp horizontal version of AEC's bus engines. It wasn't by accident that BR built a DMU depot at Southall; engines could almost be 'swung over the fence' to/from AEC next door.
Oh gosh, I recall seeing pictures of railway lines going to the works. It was appalling their main rival bought them. It should have been prevented on national interest grounds. Joint ventures only, like the road train. Kept autonomous otherwise.
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment?
There are a few Routemasters that were taken to America. I am amazed that they are allowed to operate there, with an open platform on the ‘wrong’ side of the bus. They are used as a sort of British novelty, not for normal service.
