175 Years of London's Buses
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Friday, 23 March 2007
Climb aboard the celebrations for the 175th year of London's famous buses. The oldest motorbus at the Museums Acton Depot, the 1920 K-type will be on show alongside state of the art contemporary buses including a new hydrogen fuelled, zero emission bus. The new buses were introduced to London's streets this year and are not only environmentally friendly, but provide modern low-floor easy access.

The Museum has teamed up with Kew Bridge Steam Museum to provide a special discount ticket offer and free trips between the two venues on the first ever Routemaster bus. RM1 was revealed 50 years ago this year as the first prototype for the Routemaster and this is a unique opportunity to travel on a vintage classic.

The vehicles will be accompanied by an exhibition of early films, models, photographs and posters telling the story of Londonís buses since the first horse-bus journey from Paddington to Bank in 1829.

There will also be the opportunity to purchase a brand new model bus to be launched especially for this open weekend.

London's Transport Museum Depot in Acton Town is a unique working museum store, containing over 370, 000 items in the collection not on display at the Museum in Covent Garden. Objects include trains and buses, the famous poster collection and unusual items such as a one-man bomb shelter and the earliest known prototype for a spiral escalator.
posted by Anonymous @ 9:27 am   0 comments
RF Class Family of Buses
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Seven hundred RF class single-deck buses were built for London Transport between 1951 and 1954. The first 25, designed for tour and private hire work, were 27' 6" long, but the remainder were built to the newly permitted length of 30'. 263 were built for Green Line Coach services, whilst the remainder were for bus work - 225 for the Central Area and 185 for the Country Area.

The vehicles were based on the AEC Regal MkIV chassis, built at Southall, and bodied by Metropolitan Cammell in Birmingham. The AEC 6-cylinder 9.6 litre engine was mounted horizontally below the floor, transmission being through a four speed air operated pre-selective gearbox and fluid flywheel.
posted by Anonymous @ 9:24 am   0 comments
RT Class Family of Buses
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Some seven thousand buses of the RT family were built for London Transport between 1939 and 1954 creating the largest standardised bus fleet in the world, although a number of design improvements and variations evolved as production progressed. The majority were finished in Central Area red livery, although many were painted green for Country Area and Green Line use.


Most were were based on the AEC Regent MkIII chassis built at Southall, being fitted with AEC 6-cylinder 9.6 litre engines. Transmission was through a four speed air operated pre-selective gearbox with fluid flywheel.




The were built to pre-world war II legal specification. So, they were less than 26 feet long and 7 foot 6 inches wide. They carried 56 seated passengers (30 upstairs and 26 below) and 5 standing. This made then ideal for London's narrow streets. The AEC versions were very quick off the mark and were very popular with crews.




THe RTL (RTLeyland) came about due to high demand for new vehicles after World War II. Initially the Body Builders could not meet the demand and later the chassis builders had a similar problem. There were 1631 RTL's built based on the Leyland Titan chassis but modified to LT requirements. This meant altering the radiator to be the same size as the standard RT and fitting the wilson pre-select gearbox and full air brakes. The chassis was altered to accommodate the RT body. Initially the RTL's were built by Metro Cammell but of course all bodies were interchangable. So, after second overhauls they ended up with different bodies. Many were fitted with early roof box bodies on their last overhaul. The Layland version was not so popular with crews are they were slower and lacked pullong power.




The majority of the standard RT's were bodied by Park Royal Vehicles or Weymann.




The standard type proved immensely efficient and reliable, and some remained in public service with London Transport until as late as 1979. RT 624 being the last in passenger service with London Transport.
posted by Anonymous @ 9:19 am   0 comments
Buses of London
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The AEC RMA is part of EFE's Routemaster series containing re-tooled and new castings, the RMA is one of the latter. Twin headlights, front entrance, rear towing hook for the luggage trailer - all included in a very nice model. I'm looking forward to authentic BEA liveried variants with trailer! One of the very nice efforts from the EFE series.




The AEC RMF Routemaster with front entrance and long wheelbase is another fine model from the EFE Routemaster series. Well done, even if the wing mirrors are a bit on the thick side. I really like it that we get these rare Routemaster body variations at a reasonable price!





One more EFE Routemaster: the AEC RMC class was missing in 1:76 scale and now it's here! Very nice, excellent finish and reasonable detail if a bit basic compared to CMNL or Britbus. So all I need now is a good model of the FRM to complete the series of Routemaster body variants....





The AEC Routemaster bowed out of regular service in London in 2005 and one of the final Routemasters working route 159 and being adorned with adverts for the new "Heritage routes" worked by Routemasters is the fitting end of the EFE Routemaster series. Excellent fit and finish, well done tampo printing and especially the historic significance make this a "must-have" model for all London bus enthusiasts.



This model of the Leyland RTL class bus was produced for an Acton Depot Open Weekend last year and I came across it when I visited the London Transport Museum Shop. I have a soft spot for RT and RTL class buses, so I just had to have it! It's as good as all the RTLs by EFE before and I very much like the livery and the adverts.




Does anyone want some more modern vehicles? Alright, you can't get more modern than with CMNL's Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 which is now available in "London General" livery. This is just a stunning model with brilliant detailing inside and outside. Really good - even though I heard that the destination board is wrong...




In the 1970s the Leyland Atlantean AN-class was operated by London Country and in my opinion it's one of the nicer "boxes on wheels" from that era. The model is made by Britbus which means it's pricey and sloppily put together. If anyone wonders why Britbus models are a
bit rare in my collection, now you know. It's a nice model but overpriced and the quality of fit and finish is not satisfying.



Another great model from CMNL is the Scania Omnicity, the full-sized rigid single decker from the Swedish manufacturer that can be found in the Metrobus fleet - one of these being replicated by CMNL. As usual detailing inside and outside is stunning, the finish is absolutely flawless and it captures the looks of the real thing perfectly. This is how it's done, Britbus!




The first generation of low-floor double deckers in London started with the Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400 bodied vehicles and the first of these is released in miniature by CMNL. The basic model is well known and is very good, so no surprises there. A fine model in plain red crying for adverts... let's see what I can do.
posted by Anonymous @ 9:03 am   0 comments
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