Cliff Richard RT
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=41745

One for the ladies!!
http://www.crestoflondon.co.uk/products/london-bus-pvc-apron/

One for the blokes!
http://www.crestoflondon.co.uk/products/bus-shaped-tin-of-chocolates/

My bus number (if any): RML 2547

For those that knew Chiswick, Cliff certainly wouldn't have ended end up on the skid patch going down "The Dip" under the plant shop bridge, totally the wrong direction! What always amused me about the skid patch session "circular skids", was why a driver would just slam on the handbrake and swing the bus violently to the right in normal service? I suppose that was LT being thorough in telling you what would happen of you did!! LOL The other skids and braking, straight line and getting out of a rear wheel skid made sense, but the swing round seemed purely for show to me.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RMC 1458 RM 1585 and several RTs

I never saw the point of the kind of skid training LT did at Chiswick.
It was spectacular and very skilled, but I cannot think of a single road in London that could accommodate that manouvre! In fact not many streets which could take just a quarter of that skid!

I asked once and the instructor nearly bit my head off! 'Don't tell 'em son! We'll all be out of 'effing work!"

I wanted to see a mock street scene with kerbs and poles, dummy vehicles and fake shops! then try a skid!

Of course, what it really represented was proof of control and whilst I mocked it at the time compared with todays general bus driving skills, I wish I'd kept my mouth shut!!

another chiswick video ,very short though.

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=7712

My bus number (if any): rt807

Hello Mr Gunn ,when I was browsing on this site I could not help but notice that you had rt807 as your vehichle. last time I heard about this bus i heard it was a store shed if you don't mind me asking have you brought this bus for restoration.If you don't wish to answer this query i fully undrstand regards Jim Gilroy,RT fan especially the green ones!

My bus number (if any): none yet!

Hi John

If you want all the street furniture in place try the one from Jason Gunn :-)


Claire

My bus number (if any): 2330 etc.

its still a store and way beyond restoration (ex lesney),its only green to blend into its background :)

My bus number (if any): rt807

Wouldn't it have ben great if all those trainees were dummies and the bus took them out in a row, send that one to Harry Hill!! I hope they told them which was the approved method for cornering in the wet!
I reckon Park Lane, vauxhall either side of the railway and the approaches to Westminster and Blackfriars bridges could stand a full swing round skid, perhaps that was what Chiswick was preparing us for?. When I did mine the instructor had severe arm ache from trying to get the handbrake to work well enough to do a full 360 degree, I think we managed a a 60, those RTWs never were any good :-)

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RMC 1458 RM 1585 and several RTs

Hi Brian

I can tell you that the part cobbled trolleybus turning circle that used to be at Liverpool Street Station will allow a RM to almost swing around and nearly face the oposite direction but you do need pouring rain and crossply tyres........


Claire

My bus number (if any): 2330 etc.

Whilst the extreme sliding of buses on the skid pan was without doubt done for visual effect in front of an audience, there was actually a valid point to make when doing this for trainee drivers to observe.

I once made the mistake of asking the then Skid Instructor Bill Love if he would let me have a go at a `lively` skid as opposed to usual `tame` variety. Those who remember Bill would probably recall that he was better gifted at skidding buses than at tolerance of novices or humour. What I actually got was a lecture along the lines of `If i can bring the bus to a controlled halt from an exteme slide then there`s no excuse for you not being able to do it from a straight line minimal slide`. And of course he was right. Cadence braking to facilitate a controlled stop was the lesson to be got across.

And that was the whole point of it for as Jack said there`s very little scope for the speed at which a side swipe type skid could be achieved without massive damage in a London street. What Claire mentioned also has much relevance too for cobbled streets in the City Of London were still a reality when I was driving RM`s there and in the wet you knew to treat such surfaces with great respect.

Unfortunately it`s one thing to know what to do but quite something to put it into practice when confronted by a situation that takes you by surprise. I`ll never forget coming off Stoke Newington Common early one Sunday morning in RM 1438 to turn into Brooke Road and going sideways for what seemed like ages on black ice - none of which had been obvious all the way up from Mortlake and thus caught me out spectacularly. Probably recovered more by luck - and yes, it frightened the hell out of me.

Another Mortlake example of a really serious black ice slide was on the bitumen surface of Hammersmith Bridge when RM 1073 smashed into the parapit sustaining severe damage and resulting in the hospitalisation of the driver who was off work through injury for months after.

One of the Mortlake staff bus drivers always managed a tail wobble coming under Barnes Railway Bridge on S bend (is there a crossing there?) start of the 9 route. When it was wet, zebra crossings were pretty lethal.

Whilst the skid patch was OK for realising that wet roads meant ABS type braking was needed and caution in the wet, when was black ice or packed snow as we had in 1967, nothing was going to stop a bus sliding down the camber into the kerb, and as the Southall staff bus driver found out, into a great big concrete lamppost!!

Wonder if trolleybuses skidded so much with two rear axles?

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RMC 1458 RM 1585 and several RTs

The surface of a zebra crossing could indeed be lethal when wet and the one that Brian mentioned was a good example of being situated on a sharp bend - in this case at the point where Barnes High Street meets Barnes Terrace (the riverside road). Before I went driving at Mortlake I`d already experienced the aforementioned potential danger when as a conductor at AR I nearly got flung off the platform. On the 243 road there was a zebra crossing on a bend by Bruce Castle Park and it was not at all unusual for the back end to break away quite violently if the corner was taken too fast in wet conditions.

I can think of another instance of the back end of an RM breaking away in the wet with unbelievably tragic consequences that all the skid training in the world probably couldn`t prevent when disaster strikes without warning. But it might be better if one of the regular contributors to this site who was working at the time in the garage involved relates the story as his memory might be better than mine.

We tend to think of good road holding being a Routemaster asset. Every so often a little reminder of how it isn`t always so is perhaps no bad thing.