London Bus Preservation Trust Ltd Events Diary Events that may be of interest to members

LBM E-News Where bus numbers are shown, those vehicles are planned to July 2016 attend the event, subject to vehicle availability. [email protected] Application forms for the members’ Trips can be downloaded from the museum’s web site, in the member’s area. Routemaster Summer July st 31 Worthing Bus Rally Running Day Members Trip Cancelled

August 7th A&D Oxted & Westerham running day th 13 Bromley Garage open day ST922, TD95 The Paddock display © Colin Fradd th 20 Imberbus (Members’ Trip)

September

3rd Croydon (TC) Garage open day postponed to 2017

October st 1 Potters Bar Garage open day nd 2 A&D Amersham Running Day * corrected date th 8 Garage open day th 15 Garage open day 15/16th IoW Beer and Buses Weekend

Overnight stay. (Members’ Trip) rd 23 Transport Fest & 50th anniversary of “Cobham Bus Paris Horse Bus © Peter Wall Museum”

November See page 4 for a report from Deryck Fill, Events Manager th 5 Colin Billington Collection, TVGWOT (Members’ Trip)

December Membership Card for 21st Century 3rd EnsignRunning Day

If you have recently joined the Trust, or renewed, you will have received the new membership card which has recently New Displays been introduced. The display team continue to add new attractions A letter on A4 paper contains a welcome See next page message to new members or renewal confirmation to existing members. The membership card is a peel off credit card size laminate.

This has many advantages. The card is laser printed directly from the membership data base so the details on it reflect the data recorded. The A4 sheet is less likely to be missed when included with the magazine at renewal time.

You will see that the membership type is now clearly stated in a word, replacing the confusing suffix letters (F used to mean couple and C was family membership !) Regent Street “by design” Peter Osborn

Currently the cards are printed from a pdf emailed to the museum. It is planned to have a dedicated printer so they can be printed directly by the membership team from home.

The Membership Team of Steve Edmonds, Peter Osborn, Mike Dolton, Giffard Hazal, Ian Jackson have worked hard to get to this stage and hope you appreciate this advance.

LBPT ltd, Weybridge. KT130QS, Page 1 of 4 E-News July 2016

Membership & Volunteering Steve Edmonds Bus Stop Display HR Trustee

This is the penultimate piece in this series covering Bus Services and Workshop volunteers. This month it is the turn of our ever growing restoration teams. Many of you have read Roger Stagg’s quarterly updates in the LBM magazine on the four current projects, RF19, NS174, RT2657 and the Canteen Trailer.

You will also be aware of the shining examples of high quality finished product residing in the collection. The outstanding quality of restoration carried out in our workshop, is very evident in STL2377, G351 and UMP 227 to name just three. So what do the teams do and what is the process of restoring an old vehicle?

In order to provide some context, it is important to note that the teams work almost exclusively on bodywork; the mechanical side resides with the engineers. Also, the teams work under a strict Health and Safety regime which requires each individual to take responsibility for due care and attention to their own and each Beneath the bus stops is the others’ safety and wellbeing. Regular inspections of the working LGOC/LT tool kit belonging to environment, machine tools etc are a strong feature and many Henry John (Jack) Brown. improvements have been made in recent years as a result of Jack began working for LGOC Health and Safety inspections by a professional assessor. in 1915 at Battersea garage and then Catford in 1933.

Dismantling and reassembling vehicles is the main job the teams This has been donated to LBM do and which commands the biggest investment of their time and by his son Sidney, who is a effort. From the outset, a broad outline plan to scope each project volunteer in our Archive is decided by senior managers. This must inevitably be flexible as department. unforeseen problems often do not come to light until the dismantling stage is in progress. On the reverse side is a selection of small items incl The teams are then faced with a number of decisions as they badges and maps. proceed:  Will it be feasible to restore the vehicle to its original condition?  Have any modifications been made to the vehicle during its time in service?  Should any modifications be removed or retained in the interest of road safety?  Are the required spare parts in stock or do replacements need to be acquired or manufactured?  Are there external suppliers who can source the materials needed; flooring and rexine for internal surfaces, rivets, screws, paint etc?  What livery details are required for the exterior and interior finishes?  What can be learned from previous restorations to similar vehicles?

Tasks during the restoration include: taking things apart, cleaning, removing old paint, replacing rotten wood or corroded metal, sourcing replacement parts and making up new ones. Just a few BBC recording Colin Reed of our volunteers have had coach building experience. However many of the skills required fall into the DIY category and are well Most members receiving E-News will have seen a message within the capability of most volunteers. Team members benefit from instruction from those with a greater skill level, recently for asking for help recording a show about a Conductor in . It example, in using air operated tools and sophisticated was all rather short notice. woodworking machinery. Thanks to Colin Reed who was able to help and sent this:-

Bus used was London Bus & Truck's RTW75. The work these chaps do continues our long tradition of restoring and preserving London buses. It is testimony to the skills and Scenario was set in mid 1950s (despite £1 coin used for the labour of love exercised by our volunteers for decades. I am fare!) and the 'conductor', in proper summer uniform with

grateful to Brian Greenfield and Chris Plested for providing me Gibson machine, interviewed us (or is it we?) passengers. with the key messages contained in this piece. And I pay tribute to all the members of the various teams, too many to mention It was based on a black family settling in Brixton at that time. individually; which is in itself a very healthy sign of the numbers of Two of us played the enthusiasts; I produced a 1963 Ian Allan people working in the workshop these days. abc and got a plug in for the museum, I recall.

We shuttled between and Brixton for 2 hours or so. The final part in this series covers the presentation our buses to the public, specifically cleaning them. Sharon Burton is to provide Programme reputedly called “Back in Time for Brixton” and on

us with a comprehensive “How to” guide. Now there’s something BBC2, possibly August. No photos unfortunately. to look forward to in August. (I'm ready for my close-up now Mr DeMille!)

LBPT ltd, Weybridge. KT130QS, Page 2 of 4 E-News July 2016

Views of Routemaster Summer © Peter Wall Views of Routemaster Summer © Colin Fradd

Your editor caught with the balloon model made by Samantha (see next page)

Thanks to Peter, Colin and Deryck for their photos of the event.

LBPT ltd, Weybridge. KT130QS, Page 3 of 4 E-News July 2016

ROUTEMASTER SUMMER Deryck Fill Prototypes in Paddock Events Manager © Deryck Fill

The London Bus Museum was proud to present Routemaster Summer as it’s summer event on Sunday 26th June, celebrating 60 years of London Transport’s iconic Routemaster bus and the

event was supported by the Routemaster Association.

The background to the history of the Routemaster is simple enough, the first entered service on Route 2 at Crystal Palace in February 1956 and the last was withdrawn from front line service in December 2005. In all, 2,876 Routemasters were built of which, according to the Routemaster Association, 1,280 are still in existence. They can still be seen on the streets in London and much, much further afield in various liveries and model variants, there were six types, and on Transport for London’s heritage Route 15 between Tower Hill and Trafalgar Square. The Routemaster is a firm favourite with visitors to the London Bus

Museum.

Nearly thirty Routemasters entered our event, many from private owners and others from the heritage fleets of transport companies © Deryck Fill or businesses bringing new life to an old friend. There was a long line of Routemasters painted in various colours parked in front of Samantha Adams – Balloon Modelling & Singing © Ian Jackson the Race Bays whilst our premier Paddock display featured, with help from the London Transport Museum, RM1, RM2, RML3 and CRL4 as being the first of their kind and being joined by RCL2233 and RMA11 gave everyone the opportunity to see most of the

Routemaster variants.

During the day, visitors could also view or ride on the very last Routemaster or the 2016 model as well as the first (and last)

Short New Routemaster.

Other activities enjoyed by the 1,383 visitors, an increase of just under 400 from last year’s event, were two, ninety minutes Heritage Bus excursions to Guildford and Hampton Court, one

proving so popular that a second bus had to be provided.

Throughout the day a special bus service, Route 462, operated a TfL registered link service between Weybridge Library, Weybridge Rail Station and Brooklands. The service commences with our own buses but as the day progresses, vehicles from visiting companies join the fleet, something that happens at all our events and just emphasises the enthusiastic support the Museum attracts

from bus owners and bus companies.

There were regular Horse Bus rides in LBM’s 1890 Four Light “Garden Seat” Horse Bus, always an attraction with young and old visitors and at certain times a smaller guest visitor, a French Omnibus Horse Bus, drawn by a team of two magnificent looking horses, “Jeeves” and “Wooster”. Both Horse Buses were operated Do you have any topical bus or museum news with photos by Drewitts Carriages. for the next e-news?

Younger children also had fun in a Playbus, having their face please send them to [email protected] painted and watching balloon modelling, whilst their guardians enjoyed the return of singer Samantha Adams who performed on E-News is produced for the members of the London Bus Preservation Trust and sent to those who have supplied an email address. the balcony of the Napier Room, entertaining photographers and spectators in the Paddock along with those enjoying an ice cream It is intended to provide recent news and details of forthcoming events.

served from the Shell Pagoda.

Items for inclusion should be topical, and sent to As always there was a Market Place, mainly within Cobham Hall, [email protected]

where collectors could peruse amongst the traders’ stalls offering Deadline for August issue - Monday August 1st for sale models, books, artefacts and historical items. Edited & distribution by Ian Jackson Business in the Market Place was at a steady and the Barbecue Photos © Ian Jackson or as individually credited. provided by BMT caterers was very popular, the good weather allowing people to sit awhile and enjoy the refreshments as well London Bus Museum www.londonbusmuseum.com as the sunshine and passing of buses. Accredited Museum no.1633

London Bus Preservation Trust Ltd It took over 80 volunteers from LBM to run Routemaster Summer, Charity no.1053383, Company no.01061762 quite a few starting duty at 06.00 and going through to 20.00 but Museum & Registered address much thanks is also due to the support and encouragement given Brooklands Road, Weybridge, Surrey. KT13 0QS by the Brooklands staff. 01932 837994 during museum opening hours only

LBPT ltd, Weybridge. KT130QS, Page 4 of 4 E-News July 2016