Hi everyone. I'm looking for chrome head light surrounds for an RM. Also for spare lenses for original rear indicators. many thanks

hi barry hydrajaws make them new.be warned if you have an original condition bus with fog light or at least bracket nearside one won't fit so you will need to get one sent that hasn't yet been drilled.hope that helps.regards tim.

My bus number (if any): rm 2023 2097 rml2388

Hi barry i think you might be able to obtain rm headlight chrome sorounds from squirrel preservation society who go to all the bus rallies they are usualy at duxford rally, regards Denis

My bus number (if any): rml2613

I would try Squirrel first as Hydrajaws no longer keep stock of the surrounds and some time back when I wanted some urgently they were very slow in responding to my query and even longer lead time for delivery. Good tip about the holes as the N/S one is not the same as the O/S. No idea where you get the captive cheese head screws from though!

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

hi all squirel do the headlamp rims but guess what they come from hydrajaws so still have the same problem with the holes they also do the screws but thet ain't right don't get me wrong i'm not knocking them for one second as if they didn't do them you'd have to find them yourself i'm just pedantic about details being right.hope that covers everything.regards tim.

My bus number (if any): rm 2023 2097 rml2388

Chrome Headlight surrounds were not an original feature of Routemasters with the exception of a few specials.

The standard original rims were brass painted red, and were handed with the nearside one having a deeper profile on one side.

If memory serves me correct I think it was Mortlake Garage that greatly enhanced it's shed of pristine RMs by adding chrome headlight surrounds and wheel nut guards followed by the emergence of RM1563 as a showbus.

I think the headlamp surrounds came off Merlin and SM buses as they fitted whereas those 'lifted from DM and BL types required a bit of licence to fit properly.

It always looked good and lightened the look of the RM as well as going a long way to put behind LT the filthy and unkempt standard that had become the norm for LT in the mid to late 70's.

Mortlake my be gone but I think that it's legacy lives on. Those pristine Routemasters turned heads and put the RM very much on the road into it emergence as a London icon. Other garages were inspired and the showbus days began. But no other garage managed a fleet of showbuses like 'M' did.

Great memories.

Do squirrel sell brass headlight surrounds or plain metal ones aswell as chrome? We're after some for 2626 but are going to paint them red so don't really mind what they are, even if they're a bit tatty. If anybody is upgrading to chrome surrounds and have some basic ones spare then I would be interested.

Thanks, Karl

My bus number (if any): RML 2626

Thirty years on and I still look back on my days at Mortlake with enormous affection. Especially so when other people who worked elsewhere on LT at that time and were well placed to make comparisons are still recognising that something as seemingly trivial as a couple of guys doing a little bit to enhance the look of their vehicles actually made such a difference. Neil T and I quickly became aware of the favourable reaction that `a bit of chrome` had and it just went from there. But we didn`t actually start this ourselves. Aldenham did - and we just carried it on.

As I`ve mentioned before, Mortlake kept its own buses through overhaul and always had due to a water filler mod. We had a high proportion of 1200, 1300 and 1500 series bodies (reflected in the bonnet numbers) and these started to go through their third overhaul in 1979 - the year in which both Neil T and I started working at M. RM 1354 arrived from overhaul with chrome on all of the front lights followed soon after by RM 1373 likewise. One Saturday afternoon we swapped the red surrounds on the back of 1354 for the chrome ones from various other buses that just happened to have them and thus made up our first fully chromed bus which we then polished. It was quite surprising how many people noticed it. So we did the back of 1373 too. A quick check revealed that several buses had chrome wheel nut guards that had simply been overpainted - and likewise the AEC hubs. Using a spare set as a float we set about paint stripping and cleaning. The easiest way of doing this was to buy several cans of Pepsi from the canteen and empty them into a trough and put the trims in overnight. God knows what the stuff does to your insides but it cleaned trims up a treat!

As I type this I`m looking at a photo I took of 1354 and 1373 side by side in the garage fully chromed. I can see why we set ourselves the challenge of doing all 36 of our RM`s! We quickly exhausted the chrome available from our own fleet so the net had to be cast a bit further. A Driving Instructor based at M quickly got on board and put the word around the training school for any instructor who had an RM with any chrome on it to call in at Mortlake for a tea break during which time a swap would be instigated! The `inside staff` soon got used to instructors appearing in the dock area saying `who wants the chrome off my bus?` And if Neil T and I were not there, George the electrician would do it. We shared the 9 road with Riverside at that time. One of their freshly overhauled RM`s had chrome indicator surrounds on the back. For a few days at least. It came into Mortlake for a short layover between trips. The crew were somewhat surprised on coming back from the loo to find Neil T with their bonnet up. He bluffed his way through a leaky injector story and kept them talking while he `fixed it` Just long enough for me to change the fittings without the crew noticing!

The handed n/s headlight surrounds were difficult to get and adjustments often had to be made - which our coachmakers did. I think DMS ones fitted - and were duly scrounged. Our best break with wheel trims came by arrangement with someone at GM where all of their Merlins had them. One Sunday we arranged that every one of our RM`s without chrome wheel trims would be spare from service so that in the evening we would go to GM and swap the trims. For some reason the RM trims didn`t go well on Merlins without packing them out with washers. I wonder how many rattling trims were reported on GM`s MBA`s on the Monday morning!

By the summer of 1980 the idea of a showbus to take to the occassional rally was begining in other garages and we wanted to do this too. By now most of our fleet was fully chromed and 1354 seemed the obvious choice as the first one done. It wasn`t a particularly nice bus to drive and had a bit of a dent above the windscreen. I wanted to choose something else and suggested to Neil T that we waited for the bus that was in overhaul at that time to come back. This particular bus had gone away as RM 1617. It had been one of the `staff seaside outing` buses - well used to long trips and a good bus to drive. It came back as 1563 - the victim of a most unusual Aldenham oversight. The long redundant BESI plate holder which should have been removed hadn`t been making it, I`m sure, the last RM in the fleet to have one. As a point of added interest for a showbus it became the obvious choice - and the rsst is history....

We pressed on with the 100% chrome objective and eventually reached it with the help of many, many people who wanted to see the idea become reality. Some of those people will read this thirty years on and perhaps they will be as proud as I am that they were part of something that made that little shed memorable. Chrome and paintwork that shined. You could pick a Mortlake bus out of an advancing pack of RM`s. The residents of Mortlake and Barnes always knew the difference between a Mortlake RM and one from Ash Grove and given the choice many would actively choose to get on the Mortlake one. We didn`t go through tins and tins of polish - just a quick wipe with a duster was enough to keep chrome clean if done often. The only bus that got polished was RM 1644. We stripped the paint off the light surrounds and ran it in original brass. Those trims were a git to keep clean. We likened it to how RM 664 must have been as the Silver Lady. No amount of Brasso seemed to do any good - tarnishing happened so quickly. But them came serice reductions that saw some of our tidy buses go to other sheds. Within weeks the chrome was filthy and usually the rest of the bus too. That short time when all 36 Mortlake RM`s were like showbuses was hard work to achieve but didn`t it leave a tough act to follow that is still talked about now. Great days.

Neil, Great post, very enjoyable reading.

My bus number (if any): RM 822

What a great read! fills in all the grey areas.
Neil, It must be time to write a book!

Thank you Neil for the post, this kind of information from the halcyon days of Routemasters makes for excellent reading material. Importantly it reveals from first hand experience that many of you took great pride and much enjoyment from your work. We can only look back with fondness on such times, perhaps they should have been enjoyed the more had the future been more predictive.

My bus number (if any): RML2335

As a matter of interest why did they remove the headlamp surrounds in the later life of the routemasters. For the last few years the vast majority were devoid of these fittings.

My bus number (if any): RM1001

Economy, laziness and the fitment of all sorts of different light units that didn't allow the refitment of the surrounds I suspect Mike. Our RML was lacking them but the RM has them, both from Metroline.

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