Forum Topic

Routemaster Bus 60th Birthday

We took the family all the way to Finsbury Park on Sunday to see a 60th Birthday Gathering of Routemaster buses.For a free event it was quite awesome. a long line of perfectly parked vintage Routemaster buses as far as the eye could see. I gather it was over 130. Some were pristine, Red and Green with a smattering of other colours.Kids really loved it and nothing like the anorak fest I feared it might be. Huge crowds, very mixed and very relaxed.Best of all was finding a smart display by red routemaster.com who are very proud to be...wait for it...based in Brentford.Brilliant.

Anthony Waller ● 4490d18 Comments

Thanks Anthony.  What a parade!

Jim Lawes ● 4489d

My late mother would been delighted.I have a 'special place in my heart' for the RM as my mother was PA to Colin Curtis at Chiswick Works from 1953.We also used to see the chassis being driven along the Uxbridge Road as they came off the line at AEC.Strangely, I see an RM and feel like there's a 'bit of mum' there.

Nigel Brooks ● 4489d

An unashamed bump to 'demote' the latest wild ramblings of Shifty Ifti from the front page in order that we can focus on local topics.Apologies if this actions upsets anyone (Ifti excepted).

Nigel Brooks ● 4488d

Funny this should get mentioned.We yesterday abandoned a baking hot and supposedly Air Conditioned!!! - Boris bus on the number 9 for a Routemaster following behind. Even though it did not have it's original and marvellous wind down windows -and ones that open at the front, it was way cooler and rather comfortable.  So much for complex modern technology! Wouldn't it be great though, to have something like that Finsbury Park event in this bit of London, like Gunnersbury Park for example.My grandfather also worked under a man called Mr.Durrant who was I think the equivalent to a 'Team Leader' in the Routemasters development at London Transport.This world famous icon of London is of course very much a local product and many involved, lived in the vicinity.Designed in Chiswick,  built in Park Royal and Southall.And still the best London bus by far.Ealing and Hounslow ought to have some sort of  monument to something as highly regarded around the world as Kew Gardens.Maybe a special Routemaster service linking the Royal Barge and Kew Gardens?

Raymond Havelock ● 4487d

Messers Durant and Curtis were the chief designers of the RM so your father and my mother probably worked in the same office at some stage!The wind down windows were branded BecLaWat and were made by a company called Beckett Laycock and Watkinson in North Acton near Central Middlesex Hospital.The RM was the London bus for Londoners and RM1 still resides at Acton Depot and is brought out for school fetes and the like.

Nigel Brooks ● 4486d

I thought Beclawat was the tube train windows as it was (is) stamped on the frames of the District line trains.I remember the Routemasters wind down windows having a nameplate called 'Widney Ace Mklll' I only remember that because we had a bloke at school called Guy Widney and his nickname was Widney Ace Mk3 as he was the third of 3 brothers and was always winding people up!Teachers came up with that one! Mr Gove would have been proud of such knowledgeable teachers!!

Anthony Waller ● 4486d

You are absolutely right.And Widney still make vehicle windows!How I got them confused with BecLaWat on Acton Lane, Lord alone knows.

Nigel Brooks ● 4486d

fascinating information to the really keen bus watcher.

Trudie Fuller ● 4485d

"We yesterday abandoned a baking hot and supposedly Air Conditioned!!! "They're not actually air conditioned, they have 'air cooling'.  This doesn't work properly, as people are finding out.Mind you, they were built to be looked at, not ridden in."And still the best London bus by far."Up to a point - the design is technically excellent, but the drawback of building a bus in the 1960s that locks you into crew operation can't be underestimated.  They're also way too small for modern demand; remember the supposed 'heyday' of the things coincided with a sharp decline in the quality and usage of London buses.The best London bus might well be the single front door version, FRM1, which was at Finsbury Park last week and is the great 'what if?'."Maybe a special Routemaster service linking the Royal Barge and Kew Gardens?"Hmm.  The 9H heritage route you took is being phased out this year, by the way.

Thomas Barry ● 4485d

We are delighted that routemaster will be supporting the Brentford Festival this year by running a free service from Brentford, Hanwell and West Ealing and will have a small display at the event.  Don't forget, Sunday 7th September, noon at Blondin Park, off Boston Manor Road.

Linda Massey ● 4481d

We are delighted that routemaster will be supporting the Brentford Festival this year by running a free service from Brentford, Hanwell and West Ealing and will have a small display at the event.  Don't forget, Sunday 7th September, noon at Blondin Park, off Boston Manor Road.

Linda Massey ● 4481d

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/news-opinion/brentford-festival-diary---july-7485936What a wonderful event.. and so well organised by Linda and her team.

Jim Lawes ● 4481d

Excellent.Let's hope all the roads are not blocked up with all the planned roadworks going on.Some should be finished by then.

Anthony Waller ● 4481d

I used to get the No 9 to Ken Church St when it had Routemasters....... Cramped seats, especially on the top deck and no leg room for a 6 footer. It might be iconic but it was a very old fashioned bus. When growing up in Liverpool during the 60's the city council bought 'Atlantians' One of the first modern, enclosed, front entry buses with a central stair. I wonder why LT never made the move to such a vehicle at the same time?.........

Iain Muir ● 4481d

Is that right, the Tyre's  on the busies that went through the Mersey tunnel had strengthened side walls because the constantly rubbed the kerb on the way through?

Paul Allen ● 4480d

"Is that right, the Tyre's  on the busies that went through the Mersey tunnel had strengthened side walls because the constantly rubbed the kerb on the way through?"I don't know about the Mersey Tunnel, but that was certainly true of the London STL-class buses used in the Blackwall Tunnel, as described in my 1949 edition of the ABC of London's Transport. In those days the Blackwall Tunnel had a single bore with 2-way traffic.

Richard Jennings ● 4480d

Encore... Routemasters at the Festival again! Great News.

Jim Lawes ● 4480d

I'm just over 6 ft and the only bus I can sit in easily to this day on a Routemaster.The seats are slightly narrower than modern buses but then again the Routemaster is slightly narrower than modern buses at 8ft making it more nimble in crowded London Streets  The seats are, though, way more comfortable than on modern buses. A real bug bear of mine, now that the old back is showing it's age!!Have you tried the buses on the 267 ?  The rear lower seats are impossible unless you have detatchable legs. The upper deck front seats on most modern buses are only suitable for children.The new Borisbus has decent seats but they are raked to steeply to be comfortable in and the leg room is very tight in them as well.  But the ambience is really rather good.Modern buses have the most uncomfortable seats. The exception are the buses on the 237 which are not bad, but the leg room is poor. The buses on the 65 are by far the worst, Really uncomfortable.London Transport did have some Leyland Atlanteans, I used to get one when visiting an aunt in Croydon. They were always overheating and breaking down and used so much fuel that they cost more than a Crewed bus to run.They were succeeded by the DMS a Daimler Fleetline, almost identical to the Atlantean but none too clever either. Routemasters and their predecessors had to be revived to bale out the failed services operated by them due to their high running costs and unreliability.The Routemaster simply ended up being the best vehicle for the job it was required to do.  Cheap and easy to repair and maintain compared with most other buses, easy to drive and operate and their longevity made them hugely cost effective for mass transit.

Anthony Waller ● 4480d