E&T Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 9, October 2015

100 TIME OUT BLUEPRINT Open-platform entrance 64 seats Length 27ft 6in (8.38m) Width 8ft (2.44m) Integral chassis with front and rear subframes Power output: 115hp (86kW) Transmission: AEC 4-speed automatic/ semi-automatic Height 14ft 4.5in (4.38m) Engineering & Technology October 2015 www.EandTmagazine.com C2201_R21131_PictureFeature_100.BK.indd 100 08/09/2015 11:31 101 * On its 60th anniversary in 2014 PROJECT: AEC ROUTEMASTER Nick Smith Google produced a BLUEPRINT(RM) BUS ‘doodle’ * 2,876 Routemasters were built * In 2002 50 buses were painted gold to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee DEVELOPMENT: 1947-1956 DESIGN ENGINEER: * Routemasters Douglas Scott, have been exported all over the world Park Royal Vehicles, AEC including Australia, Malaysia and the Falkland Islands ACCORDING TO THE several organisations, with than modern steel buses. VisitBritain tourist the styling by Douglas Scott, Also, it weighs less than a information office, the construction by Park Royal modern single-deck steel bus * In rural areas Routemaster (RM) double- Vehicles and engines by AEC with half the seating the iconic bus was decker bus is right up there (Associated Equipment capacity. These benefits in the top ten of classic Company), the latter two meant that the RM saw painted green British designs, along with eventually becoming part of continuous service in the Spitfire, the E-Type Leyland Motors, which in London until 2005, when the Jaguar and the Post Office turn became British Leyland last regular service ended. * There were 8 red telephone box. and later the Rover Group. The Routemaster has Introduced into service in The first order of the day passed into popular culture different types of September 1956, after almost was to make the bus lighter in many ways. Perhaps the Routemaster a decade of design and than the RT in order to most interesting is that Ian testing, the RM-type was the economise on fuel. Making Fleming came up with his replacement model for the use of emerging aerospace hero James Bond’s ‘007’ RT-type that had been the engineering techniques and designation by counting the * The double-decker standard red London bus materials, notably aluminium, number of RMs that passed bus has become an since 1939. Primarily a front- the RM was also cheaper and the pub he was drinking in engine bus with a rear open easier to maintain than its one afternoon. The bus was XQRIßFLDOXQLWRI platform (with a few predecessor. to appear in the movie ‘Live measurement variants), it was to survive The unit’s independent and Let Die’. The then James alongside replacement front suspension, power Bond, Roger Moore, took designs, including the New steering and power- bus-driving lessons in order Routemaster whose hydraulic braking created to play the role. Such is the * ‘Heritage’ introduction was overseen an innovative replacement affection for the typical red by the Mayor of London, that made it considerably London bus, but the media Routemasters still Boris Johnson, in 2012. It ‘lighter’ in its handling. and public in general tend to operate in London on was the previous Mayor, Ken Other innovations included get them confused – a fact Livingstone, who ordered sub-frames (rather than a much lamented by the Route 15 the withdrawal of the RM, chassis) that supported the Routemaster Association. pointing out that on average engine and suspension in No one over a certain age one passenger per month the front, while supporting can forget the critical role a * Succeeded by the was dying after falling off the rear axle and suspension red double-decker played in the open platform at the back. Although the Cliff Richard’s 1963 movie New Routemaster in Even so, the vehicle is majority of the RMs were ‘Summer Holiday’ – but 2012 cherished as a British icon. 8.4m (27ft 6in) in length, sadly it wasn’t a RM, but an More than a thousand of the regulations for road vehicle AEC Regent III RT, despite total production run of 2,876 size were eventually relaxed what all the reviewers still exist, mostly as display, and the RML (or ‘long’ thought. Likewise, the training and reserve units, model) grew to 9.1m (30 ft). triple-decker Knight Bus in and they still run on one The main reason for the ‘Harry Potter and the London ‘heritage route’: the RM’s longevity was the build Prisoner of Azkaban’ was No.15 from Trafalgar Square quality and the incorporation built from three RTs. to Tower Hill. of aluminium in the Next month: Gibson EDS- Routemaster production bodywork, meaning that it 1275 twin-necked electric was a collaboration between resisted corrosion far better guitar www.EandTmagazine.com October 2015 Engineering & Technology C2201_R21131_PictureFeature_100.BK.indd 101 08/09/2015 11:31.

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