Not long repainted out of `wedding bus` livery carried during Summer and Autumn 1981, RM 607 from NX is seen here on Jan 4th 1982.

Sporting chrome trims which the armchair experts will of course tell people they "never carried in service"!

My bus number (if any): RM531

Chrome trims may not have been a usual standard feature in the earlier days of RM`s but from around 1979 they were randomly fitted on overhaul to a few buses. The idea that chrome trims could only be associated with `showbuses` isn`t strictly correct as the chrome for these was usually obtained from ordinary buses that just happened to have gained it on overhaul. There was so much of it available - if a bit of swapping around was done - that Neil T and I managed to equip our entire fleet of 36 RM`s at Mortlake with it. But the idea of a New Cross bus having chrome was akin to giving a violin to a gorilla!

Hi Neil,

Interesting about the chrome. My friend George, who I mentioned before, was a driving instructor and he told me that if you ever went into Mortlake for a cup of tea in a RCL or such like when you came out all the chrome was gone! He knew M had the best buses on LT and enjoyed seeing them dolled up so he made a point of popping in if he had a trainer chromed up. There was very little of it in the Sixties, you only have to look at period pictures to see how things were generally, but then it started to appear, as you say, in the Seventies. I’d always imagined the availability of chrome bits came about with the introduction & then demise of the one man buses. SMSs & the DMS came chromed up but once they started to be disposed of the shiny bits started to filter through to the more popular Routemasters.

Loved the comment about NX, so true! You’d imagine that they could hardly be bothered to drive through the wash so the thought that someone would think for one moment to fit a chrome bezel is almost unbelievable. (Hope there isn’t any old NX enthusiasts reading this, I’d hate to think there were guys there actually trying!). Merry Christmas to all and happy driving. Danny.

I don't think too many trainers carried much in the way of chrome fittings. The RMC and RCLs had possibly side and tail lights but obviously the twin headlamp rims were completely incompatible. Only the BEA fleet had chrome headlight rims from new RMC and RCLs were painted. Sidelights were chrome.

In the late 70s the spare CAV side and tail lights were changed from being supplied in Chiswick Pink to a black painted
base and fitting and a chromed bezel, some of the lenses also no longer carried the CAV logo.

I think it may have been a diverted stock from another state owned facility. London Fire brigade vehicles used a lot of similar components from the Rubber indicator ears to the sidelights and chrome trims on AEC /Merryweather appliances. As they were being replaced by new standard Dennis appliances in the mid to late sixties, it may be these shiny parts came to LT and were fed into the parts stock


Several RMs had chrome bezels lon before the showbus era came along.

RMs 7, 21, 41, and 995 and I think 1420 or 1425 all at NB had at some time chrome fittings. Many RMLs on the 24 from CF had chrome headlamp rims.

RM254 had chrome headlight rims when a showbus but still in regular service, but when it went up a notch on presentation it was presented in an as delivered condition which had the standard painted embelishments

It was common to see RTs with chrome front wheel trims on the odd bus here and there but RTs did have chrome trims when new.

There were a few training buses that had the odd bit of chrome - but not for long! A Mortlake based Driving Instructor put the word around the Training School and within a couple of weeks many of the buses concerned did show up at Mortlake for a break - long enough for the chrome to be swapped! And wheel trims too. Mortlake wasn`t the easiest garage to find being tucked away in a residential road and the advice given to Instructors was to follow a 9 so that the turning wasn`t missed! We got a lot of our chrome from training buses.

Fantastic, thanks Neil. You can’t imagine what it is like to have someone who was actually there being able to back you up. George was my best friend, we had many happy years at Upton Park together, he was God father to both my girls. I had to quickly dash off to the UK last year when he was diagnosed with throat cancer and was fortunate enough to have a fortnight with him before he died. We spent many hours up the pub drinking, talking about buses and telling stories. Why would my best friend tell me about Mortlake pinching bits of chrome off your bus if it wasn’t true? Doesn’t make sense. By the way, don’t forget DMs were starting to appear in the training fleet as well. Not very popular, a little seat by the trainee leaving the instructor feeling very exposed, plus he couldn't reach the cable handbrake on the other side of the driving seat. All he had was an emergency air brake handle to yank on. Never very popular, although generally warmer and you could chat to the trainee easier. Keep an eye on your chrome though!

I hope I did not sound as though I was being sceptical about the chrome acquisitions at Mortlake.

It was well known that that happened and quite a few chuckled about the antics. Some saw it as light subversity against the uniformity of LT and others quietly wished it happened at their garage. Some really admired the initiative and were in awe of the Mortlake fleets constant appearance whatever the weather, year round.

Despite a lot of older hands apparent grumpy cynicism and the domination of union bullying and a couldn't care less culture of those times, they yearned for bygone days when standards were very high and pride & presentation was higher places. I know of several who dug around cupboards and stores fishing out long deleted items and seeing that they got to several of the staff looking after showbuses at a handful of garages for their buses.

I thought most of the headlamp rims came off DMS, SMS and BL types. Having also eyed up training RMs when they wandered into NB and HL with a view to a similar swap for some of NB's RMs. However, I think in 2 years the best we recovered was a set of rear light bezels. Clearly, Mortlake got there first by a country mile!

You`re quite right, Jack. There were several people in other garages that helped Neil T and I in our quest for chrome trims once they understood what we were attempting to do. Colin Curtis sent us a box of chrome rings that had been unused in the Experimental Shop for years. We even had an invite to go to GM and swap our red trims for the chrome on their Merlins. As more - and often quite unexpected - donations arrived, we had to rely on the help of the garage staff with the electrician being especially helpful. There were a couple of instances of him telling us that he`d had the chrome off training buses that had called in when neither Neil T or I had been around to do it. The most audacious stunt involved a newly overhauled Riverside bus that had chrome rear indicator surrounds. We were waiting for it to arrive in Mortlake (when Riverside had an allocation on the 9`s) with a few minutes between trips in the hope of doing a swap whilst the crew went to the canteen. But as Neil was unscrewing one of the lights, the crew re-appeared. Thrusting the screwdriver at me he diverted them to the front of the bus on the pretence of a diesel leak and had them peering under the bonnet long enough for me to finish the job!

Chrome rings put to good use........

I remember stories of how Harrow Weald garage "acquired" their stock of chrome for their RMs ......... some of the donors stopped off on their way to Aldenham for overhaul or repaint and probably nobody seemed to mind.

They were not as smart as Mortlake's but from early 1981 they were vastly improved. There were several examples that seemed to have missed repaints but continued to give stirling service for up to 20 hours a day, but with a little tlc, they looked far more presentable and loved.

My bus number (if any): RM1368

The Mortlake intiative certainly had a ripple effect. Buses at K and NB were quite tatty and they started to appear much better kept inside and out. The same at Riverside and Harrow Weald and Streatham.

After a while it showed up the sheds that were not so good. Hanwell, Uxbridge and Alperton ran quite dirty buses too often. Stamford Brook was average but improved a lot.

But quite sheds a few did pull their socks up a bit and that is thanks to the efforts started by both Neil's at Mortlake all those years ago now.

In many ways, that primed the renaissance of the RM in London and secured it's emerging status as a London Icon as well as broadening the then rather small world of bus preservation

Neil's pic and for Jack, a pic of the last RMs just after the end of conductors at Norbiton.

And out of curiousity, does anyone know why NBs allocation of RMs had a yellow stripe pained on the drivers heater vent cover on the front of the bus?

Pity the attention to detail at Mortlake didn't stretch to the destination blinds on RM 1373.

Apart from the chrome rings, Mortlake's buses were also kept in good condition, with few dents, good paintwork and also clean but Mortlake unlike any other garage in the area was fortunate to have a full compliment of craftsman with few buses to worry about, (the craftsmen at Mortlake were less than 50% occupied, unlike the much maligned larger garages). Mortlake also had the same compliment of night staff of a garage with well over twice the buses. Mortlake's buses were not that impressive in RT and RTL days when they had a 74 to worry about, as opposed to the 35 or so in latter days.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RMC 1458 RM 1585, (M 961, M 271 - both sold) and several RTs

When I was at HL we had a lot of staff and plenty of work.
But we had a lot of staff who did not like to actually do any work, let alone take pride in what they did.

The only time any enthusiasm was shown was when a union meeting or industrial action was called.
It was just the same at Hounslow.

It was not like that at Norbiton where a degree of pride in one's work still flickered.

I only went over to Mortlake a few times but I never noticed an abundance of staff sitting around doing nothing.
Quite the contrary to HL where there were people who clocked in and did very little on their shift and it seemed to make no difference to the rostered work awaiting attention. But a lot got bodged just to get it out.
If the DoT had ever turned up I suspect that all our Merlins/ DMS would have been taken off the road and half the RML fleet.
If we were overworked, buses were sent to other garages in the District where, (if) they were short of work. That was very rare.

I recall a conductor Mulcahy ( later a driver) who took his RML off the road for a loose seat. But when the engineers went out to Bromyard ave. It had more than a loose seat. The police had pulled it for a loose wheel!
His driver, a key shop steward never noticed.

It turned out that that the police had called 55 Broadway and someone at 55 Broadway had via the Police instructed the conductor to report the problem as a loose seat only.
Police officer had a few strong words with the engineers and nothing further was ever said. Apart from conductor Mulcahy being rewarded by being sent for driver tuition.

He now trains our drivers at ND in HGV vehicle safety and retires next week!

Having a full compliment of staff be it in a bus garage, supermarket, care home or whatever doesn`t give a guarantee of perfection regarding output. Strong leadership, acceptable pay and conditions plus an instilled belief in doing a job well without having to resort to militancy were the hallmarks of the `old` LT that gradually became eroded in most work places. But not at Mortlake whilst I was there - for what I saw was a higher proportion of older, long serving staff with commendable values and pride in doing a job well. It was one of the least `Union` orientated sheds on the fleet.

We`ve had the argument about manning levels before regarding Mortlake but the simple fact was that it had the minimum number of craftsmen required for what it was operating. One each of a painter, electrician and fitter plus two coach makers as these could not work singularly. Yes, those same numbers of people would in other garages have had more vehicles to work on so it might be said that Mortlake was fortunate. If Mortlake had been turning out poor condition vehicles with the staff it had there would have been fair criticism leveled at it but as Jack points out in the case of Hanwell, having a lot of staff didn`t bring great results. And that applied to many other garages too where apathy triumphed over commitment.

Brian, your comment regarding Night Staff being at the same level as sheds with more buses might be true but, again, at Mortlake it was at the minimum number required to do the job in accordance with the circumstances. Two Night Bus Mechanics (as these couldn`t work singularly) and five General Hands per night. One for the `front shunt` one for the `rear shunt` one for fluids and two for internal vac - one on each deck. Mortlake was an example of agreed manning levels on the `run in ` after the pm peak being decided on account of the potential impact of buses blocking a public road whilst queuing to get into the garage. A driver bringing a bus up Avondale Road to the garage at the end of its day on the road could not see the rear gate used on `run in` as it was around the corner in a different road and once the turn into North Worple Way had been made there was nowhere to go if the entrance was full and the road would be blocked. Each of the Night General Hands had other tasks to perform which included cleaning and servicing of other areas of the garage plus the `thirty minute cleans` by which each man was allocated six buses (which were theirs permanently) to clean the interior windows and thus to spend time each night doing some of their batch when not engaged on `run in `and other duties. Obviously there would be some of their batch out on the road at any given time so they were spread over several days to even out at each bus done once a week. There were actually seven Night General Hands to allow two to be resting and thus between them they covered 36 buses for service plus the Training Buses too.

At the point where official sanction was given to put 1563 back to 1960`s external appearance, all of the craftsmen at Mortlake got enthusiastically involved. And when it was finished some of those guys came with us on it to rallies on their day off. True, the work was done in normal work time which some might say was proof that there was little else to do. But there`s an interesting twist to this. Jack mentioned the rare situation of Hanwell buses being sent to other garages to have work done when they got behind. That`s actually a surprising thing to happen given the known militancy of HL - the sort of thing that could have been stamped on as a case of taking potential overtime away from HL. Perhaps there was an overtime ban at the time or a staff shortage at HL but Jack implies not to the latter. But for whatever reason, as 1563 was going back to the sixties, on the pit next to it was RML 2435 from Hanwell undergoing an engine change. No surprise, but I`ve got photo`s of it. And it wasn`t the only RML from HL dealt with at Mortlake.


It has to be remembered that in the last couple of years of Mortlake`s existence it was the only shed on the fleet to operate nothing other than RM`s and that gave it a big advantage in that more work time could be spent making them really good if the demands of more complex types didn`t feature.
Interesting to hear Brian`s opinion that Mortlake was nothing special in RT/RTL days. I only knew Mortlake from 1976 which was perhaps a bit unfortunate to judge the presentation standards as the fleet wide ban on nightly washing to conserve water in that hot Summer meant that buses only got washed on Thursdays for several weeks.

Neil, my comments are in no way or meant to be a criticism of what Mortlake did. However the fact was that Mortlake had minimum staffing levels that would have been the same for a garage with more than double the number of buses. They didn't even have enough buses for a major rota to be required every week. Therefore the coachmakers and painter had a lot more time to do minor knocks etc that other garages would only be able to pick up on a rota.

It is however to their credit that they did what they did rather than the "homework" that a quite a few garage craft staff engaged in.

Credit should also be given to garages like Brixton who at the same time, had a lot of buses but also managed to turn out them out clean and well presented. As at M, the Foreman was a strong character and that it perhaps what marked the difference between garages.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RMC 1458 RM 1585, (M 961, M 271 - both sold) and several RTs

Mark,
I am also intrigued by the yellow mark on the heater vent. I do not actually remember that feature, even though I was a crew driver at Norbiton at the time, so do not have a clue. Surely somebody must be able to answer this question?

Is the picture of RM1425 taken on the last night? Apart from the two last buses from Ealing, 797 & 729, one of which I drove, I did not see much of the operation on the last day and do not know which RMs were still active. I know that there weren't many left by the last day. Do you have any other pictures of the last day?

My bus number (if any): RMC1469

Hi Paul,

Somewhere I do have a set of negatives in black and white from the last day of Norbiton's Routemasters.

I never really took numbers but can remember a few. As for the last day I can only remember photographing 729, 797 and 1425 but also recall images of 1255, 84 and a couple of others. When I find the images I'll post them.


The yellow mark was on most of the NB buses but not all. Mostly the long term allocated vehicles and not the extras drafted in after the sudden shortage of Metrobuses caused by the fire at Southall.

Someone must know what it represented. I've heard over the years everything from a traffic light control device fitted to a special type of oil. These marks were carried for around 3 years.

Anyway below are a few © images from my archive.

It was apparently to show these buses had an all year round coolant and were not to be filled with water.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RMC 1458 RM 1585, (M 961, M 271 - both sold) and several RTs

Lovely pictures, they bring back some memories. Very sad the end of RMs at Norbiton, lovely bunch of people on the 65 and 71. Some real characters especially a couple of the clippies

Now back to work.....