Friends of Classic London Buses of the Fifties for Those Actively Involved in Or Supporting the Preservation of London Buses, Coaches and Trolleybuses of the Past
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Friends of Classic London Buses of the Fifties For those actively involved in or supporting the preservation of London buses, coaches and trolleybuses of the past The previous Newsletter had rather a Country area flavour with reports of the LCBS50 event, so as the green buses tend to be overlooked, I thought we might stick with that. Anyway, only green buses are REAL London buses.... In this photo by Paul van der Hulks, RT 1700 and MB 90 are seen at Harlow participating in the event in what might be a symbolic shot as the RT, with interior lights on, could be going out on service to cover the failure of an MB, something that was not unknown 50 years ago. Of course, this is no reflection at all on MB 90 and its enthusiastic owner as this bus, the sole surviving Country Merlin, is in excellent shape. As I have mentioned in the past, I rather liked the low driving position, fully-seated Merlins and it so happens that MB 90 was the very first I ever saw when it was being used for driver familiarisation at HH long before I ever worked on the buses. Its survival is remarkable and it is always good to feature it in the Newsletter, even if it is not quite “of the fifties.” Newsletter 165 May 2020 Opening Lines As I start this edition in the middle of April, everything is still not happening because of the evil virus. We in Wigan appear to be fortunate in comparison to many places because there are few cases in relation to the size of the population although it is anyone's guess if this situation will continue. The spell of good weather we have had has allowed me to catch up with jobs at home and in the garden but RT 1018, incarcerated at St Helens, has had very little done to her. This is very annoying since, as far as the body restoration is concerned, the end is in sight and I really would like to complete a task which for many reasons has taken infinitely longer than I first anticipated. I am sure there are plenty of other vehicles also suffering unwanted delays and all we can do is wait and see how things pan out. My own feeling is that there is scope for sensible arrangements to allow people to get on with their lives but not everyone is sensible and of course some of the “authorities” are really enjoying this almost unprecedented increase in their powers. When you hear of people's shopping bags being inspected for “non-essential items” you have to wonder if we are now finding employment for many ex-Stasi 1 members and it is interesting that the government has had to announce formally that you can buy anything you like in any shops that are open and you can make free and unfettered use of your own garden. How kind. I hope that all the “Friends” and readers from the London Bus Museum are coping with the restrictions and are in good health and spirits. As I write this at least one French narrow-gauge railway is advertising a re-opening at the end of the month and one or two German ones are working now (although not the splendid Harz system, alas). Whether operations do resume generally we shall have to wait and see, but if they do, then perhaps the UK will not be far behind. LCBS50 Nick Agnew As one of the EOR volunteers team involved with the 50th Anniversary of London Country event it was good to see the photo of RMC 1507/RF 180 on the front page. I can confirm that the ‘missing’ radiator filler cap on RF 180 was indeed intentional, to remind ‘those of us of a certain age’ that during the early days of London Country the Company sometimes fell short of the presentation standards set by their predecessor! Can I add our sincere thanks to all who contributed to make the event such a success, including the owners of visiting vehicles without which the event would have been to poorer? Some owners and visitors had travelled a considerable distance to take part and their collective support was greatly appreciated. Even the weather improved from the threatening clouds and rain earlier in the day and it is hoped that everyone enjoyed the event as much as we did. London Country Bus Services 50 years ago Geoff Hudspith In the caption to the picture of RF 180 and RMC 1507 on page 1 of Newsletter 164 you make the comment that ‘fifty years ago it was a case of using whatever was actually in running order to cover the schedules’ and ‘the RF lacks the radiator filler flap ..... not entirely unknown in those days’. Actually, 50 years ago it wasn’t like that at all. I joined London Country in June 1970 and at that time the fleet was in more or less exactly the same condition as it had been in June 1969 when it was owned by London Transport. The only difference was that the legal lettering had been changed and the fleetname on most (but not all) of the buses had been changed to London Country. The words London Transport had been painted out on the front of the bus RFs, but the LT roundel hadn’t. The radiator badges of most RTs had been overpainted green. Otherwise everything was the same. We were even taken on a training bus to Chiswick to collect our uniforms and equipment. In fact for a while after the split the fleet improved. The Green Line RFs had light overhauls at Aldenham (I don’t think that the bodies were removed and they certainly didn’t change identities) but they came back to the garages spick and span inside and out, and I believe the RMCs had the same treatment too. A small number of RTs were also overhauled at Aldenham and I drove one of these, RT 3478, within a day or two of it arriving freshly overhauled at Luton. I was slightly disappointed to find that although it looked very pretty everything was very ‘tight’ and it didn’t drive anywhere near as nicely as most of our others, which were well worn in. And then there were the new vehicles. Shortly after I joined the SMs began to be delivered; ordered, of course, by London Transport. In 1972 there was a big influx in the shape of the RPs for the Green Line routes still crew operated and the ANs to replace RTs on several trunk routes including Luton’s share of the 321. There were also small batches of other types such as the SMAs. It was also the normal practice during the London Transport period and for the first few years of London Country for Green Line coaches to operate journeys on bus routes in the morning peak before taking up Green Line work. At Luton the Green Line RF allocated to LS53 did 2 or 3 journeys on the 360 with a driver and conductor (on overtime!) before operating the 09.09 route 714 to Dorking with only a driver. Many years before that in London Transport days when the 714 was still crew operated it was LS56 that did the early morning 360 journeys. Unfortunately London Country’s early promise didn’t continue. The problems with a lack of spare parts and vehicle reliability originated with the wider industrial unrest in the country and the 3 day week. LCBS was reliant on London Transport for spares for RMs, RTs and RFs and LT itself was in a mess from 2 1973 onwards with vehicle shortages, unkempt vehicles, cuts to services and all the rest. But for a little while, early on, LCBS was not bad at all! [Editorial comments: I was not working on the buses back then so I saw everything simply as an enthusiast observer. I remember the very rapid phasing out of “London Transport” on the vehicles, but I had not appreciated how quickly the new livery had been applied. Years ago one of our Bus Mechanics at SA, Jack Spokes, introduced me to a friend of his who lived in Apsley and had taken quite a lot of cine film in the early days of London Country. Certainly the buses were well-kept, and it was noticeable how quickly the canary yellow relief and lettering superseded the traditional Chiswick cream and gold with almost every vehicle on his films being in the new colours, although momentum was lost and I remember that in 1977, by which time I was part of the massive LCBS disorganisation, there was still one RML, 2437 from Garston, which retained Chiswick cream. This worked the 347 and so sometimes slept at HH so I was able to photograph it, and it did attract visiting enthusiasts who had the same idea. We had reasonable supplies of items for the RT and RF vehicles, the problem arose with the Routemasters because LT apparently had an arrangement whereby they had first call and indeed second, third and subsequent calls, and didn't want to let us have anything at all for them so we struggled to keep them on the road. I did the last-ever RML engine change at HH (RML 2422 from GR which failed at Hemel Bus Station) and waited weeks for a special bolt before I could complete the task – very frustrating. The use of Aldenham for overhauls became prohibitively expensive, but some fool in Reigate had the bright idea of setting up our own works just outside Gatwick Airport, a moronic decision because anyone who was capable and qualified went to work in the aircraft industry where things were clean, parts had to be available (you can't make do and mend with an aircraft) and wages were better, so, sad to say, our Works tended to be staffed by persons of less ability than one might like.