Hello everybody,

as I received so many help I wanted to inform you before you hear/see it somewhere else. It seems that we have to go back to Germany because of unforeseen private reasons and at the moment I am trying to find out if it is possible to take the bus with us but we also want to try and see if we can get a reasonable price for it (although I know we won´t get all the money back we invested, not to think about all the hours...).

Thanks for all your support and help, you were great and I hope in a few years time we can come back and the next bus will be bought only for preservation and pure private pleasure!

Best wishes
Tonia

My bus number (if any): RML2386

Tonia
Sorry to hear your news I think it will sell in the UK if you are sensible about the price, if its pitched below £15 000 it should sell quickly, buses above this figure tend not to sell very quickly. If you take it back to Germany you will have to take off the roof as its illegal to register any vehicle over 4 metres high and you will have many problems moving it about due to the 4 m norm on German roads, some autobahns still have bridges with less than 4.3 metres clearance which is the minimum clearance for a Routemaster.

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

Hi Brian,

we would bring it to Germany and use it as a stationary restaurant (and not cut off the roof - it shouldn´t be done in my opinion). We would try and get it with a ferry very near to the destination (and I have heard about Routemaster and other high vehicle which managed to travel to Germany or even further countries). I have to do a lot of research in the next few weeks and see what will happen. If anyone has driven a high vehicle through these countries please do get in contact, it would be very helpful! Thanks

My bus number (if any): RML2386

I did some research before attempting to bring RT 2730 out of central West Germany to France. It was difficult to find an eay route as even the main motorway towards Clogne and Luxembourg had a low bridge on it. You may be ok coming from Holland or Calais and it depends where you want to take it. The good news is that Michelin maps show all bridges below 4.5 metres so you can plan your route before going.

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

Thanks for that hint, I will try and work out if we can find a route!

My bus number (if any): RML2386

If you are moving it through Germany you should see the authorities permission as an over height vehicle. If you don't and you get pulled up they can keep the vehicle at that point until the paperwork has cleared.

Many have just driven it and taken a chance, but thats exactly what you are doing....

Steve

Always a shame when such great effort goes into a project.

Obviously, I don't know where in Deutschland you are heading but both Hamburg and Bremen have now facilities for larger containers. Whilst these are intended for railhead transfer, road distribution routes have also to be enabled and this data probably exists.

As you speak German, you will probably find that the traffic authorities can assist with a one of trip as it is going to be parked and presumably not registered for German roads

We would bring her near Hamburg - I will research this possibility - Thanks!

I think it would be easy to get the permission for Germany, but I don´t know about Belgium, Netherlands and France (I think I have read France should be fine with the height).

My bus number (if any): RML2386

Tonia RE France, on Autoroutes no problem, nor on main E routes through Belgium and Holland, Germany is where you might have problems but as Jack says the routes to the ports have been improved as will be all motorways in Germany in the near future. You could always go straight to Hamburg from the UK by ferry.

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

Wow I didn´t know that - do you still need permission because of the height for Belgium and Netherlands? So far I couldn´t find a ferry company that does directly routes to Hamburg (or Kiel, Travemünde or Bremen), do you know the name? Another possibility would be to bring it to Denmark as from there its only a few hours. Would be great to have her with me in Germany and who knows maybe in a few years we could come back :).

My bus number (if any): RML2386

RMs in France are no problem as low bridges under 15'are marked.

I have customers in Belgium who run full height Routemasters, but they are limited to 50km from their operating base. A lot of the E routes in Belgium are under height, so I have to differ with Brian on this.
There are full height deckers running in Antwerp and Charleroi.

Nederlands is a nightmare; in 1980 when we had the amsterdam bus rally, the full height deckers had to go from Vlissingen via the east of the country to get to Amsterdam!

Germany is like Nederlands, low bridges everywhere. there is a full height RT near Geldern, near the border with Holland, and full height RMs in Muenchen. the other RMs I know of and work on in Germany have been modified with open top or telescopic roofs.

I recently spoke with Bridgeclear who make the satnav low bridge warning system for high vehicles. They will sell you a European low bridge database on disc for about £200. this may solve your problems, but they admit the list may not be complete.

I recently sold an RML to someone in Italy. He managed to get it there with the roof intact; quite which route he took I don't know.

My bus number (if any): RML2532;GS67;RT2629;MLL721;MLL738. MFM38 (Bedford OB)

Wow that sounds not easy at all! I found a ferry company which goes from Harwich to Esbjerg (Denmark) and from there its only about 2-3 hours. But their bridges are also only 4m.... lets see if we can sell it if not we will drive the route with the car and speak to the authorities. Thank you all for your information!

My bus number (if any): RML2386

Why not use Dover-Calais roll on/roll off 1H30 crossing time instead of almost 24 hours crossing time Harwich-Esbjerg and correspondingly much cheaper.

Claire

My bus number (if any): RML2330 etc

I thought the issue was getting to and into Germany avoiding the headroom clearance restrictions in Benelux and Germany.
This would be an issue if taking the France Belgium ports but not by taking the Hamburg or Bremen route.

Some ro-ro routes run Harwich - Hamburg and also a Southampton- Hamburg runs occasionally for freight trucks