Well Done Michael. In 1971 i joined LT and was an engineering garage trainee. I did a few jobs on Rts Rms and others. West Ham bus mechanic school in 1973, and finally resigned in 2014 after almost 34 years. The old buses were the best.
Something so relaxing about travelling on an RT - the musical transmission, slow revving AEC engine and occasional exhalation of compressed air - not to mention it's mellow softly lit interior.....was better than meditation!
As a child, I rode on RT's, as an adult, I drove Routemaster's, then, the box DM's on London Transport, as it was then called. So many stories to tell, what you see in "On The Buses" is just the tip of the iceburg!!! GREAT FUN MOST DAY'S!
From 1960 to 1968, I rode London buses to school. Depending on the route I chose, it was RTs (91) or RTL & RTW (11). Once in a while, you would ride on a bus (both AEC and Leyland engined) that hunted/surged very badly at idle. One of the folks in my block of flats worked at Chiswick Works, and he said that tuning the CAV fuel injector pumps was an art and only a few folks were allowed to do so, and the once they had tuned the engine prior to release for duty, they were so smooth running, you could put a half crown on its edge on the radiator and it stayed upright. You folks must have that gift too since all your buses run without a hint of surge or hunt! Keep up the great work on your old buses!
RT's, a head above RM's, I loved them and RF's, hated the RM gearbox, you never knew when it would change, power steering was good but the gearbox let it down, passed PSV in Chiswick March 1971. Whatever happened to LUC 1 registration RT, I always used to look out for it on the route between Shepherd's Bush and Staines 117. That number must be worth a fortune.
I love RM`s, but RT`s were the everyday usual fare we travelled on in Enfield when I was growing up, so I love them even more, like a trusted old friend.
The RT series were so much more comfortable and a smoother ride than the RM series. I know they were more difficult to drive, having no power steering, but I prefer them to anything on the road now.
Hi Michael my name isLewis i’m just to let you know on your video you’re talking about this no more RTW or RTL well done in Northfleet garage called the London bus company on the industrial site down there with got free forgotten RTW in red and they have got two RTL In the garage so there is still some about so I’m just letting you know if you wanna go and check them out
I need closure on how you got the Loughton bus parked behind the metal column? Turning circle must be tight? Really great to see your collection - mine are 1/76 scale :-)
And there is a LT there they have got RF classic buses they got a couple of RM and a load of RML route master buses and they have got a RMC two of them okay So if you’d like to check them out feel free to go down
I've been keen to find out more about 2 RM's that were due to leave Shaftesbury for Iraq but never did, also wonder if these were the same two that appeared in a chicken farm between Shaftesbury and Gillingham some years past. Every time I see a green RT I remember fondly the gauntlet of Biggin Hill on the route 410... going down was such fun like a fun fair ride and the grunty gritted teeth swearyness of the driver and the pale faces of the lower deck passengers who seeing the driver in somewhat high stress, the colour in their faces drained hehe Going up was equally as fun learning new sweary words from the irate tailing drivers and we were all egging the bus driver on "Go'un yer old girl" as she crawled up that ridiculously steep road at a snails pace. RM's ran up and down like greyhounds as did Olympians but you hadn't lived if you hadn't done the Biggin Hill run in a RT.
A bus is built for ten, maybe fifteen years. So let's be kind and say they last 15 years. So, in"human terms" they are the equivalent of approximately 350 years old. I wonder what "state" you'll look like when you are 350 years old, pal? And irrespective of what you think, these guys find, save, restore and return to the road, these fine old vehicles to show the current generation what it was like to travel back then and how far we've come and because they like to as to get one finished and gleaming, which all these eventually will be, is a great acheivement. And even if you ignore ALL of that too, how does what this guy and others like him, affect you to make you feel you have to make such an inane statement, which incidentally,is factually incorrect. If ANY of these somehow made it to ANY of the bus breakers that I know, I can absolutely GUARANTEE, they would put them on one side, ring some people in America and make a mint!! So..wrong, wrong, wrong and er.....wrong!! But do have a happy day. Cheers
