I know one of the main bugbears of allowing bus spotters into garages was souvenir hunters even in the late 1970s.
Some garage foremen would make some turn out their BEA bags to find badges, running plates and other bits of buses
particularly off of RT and RMs.

What irked our boss at one garage was that they removed them off of buses, often doing some damage in the process, even though they were supposed to be 'fans' of the buses concerned!

He was generally very good with enthusiasts who were polite, asked questions and kept a box of triangle badges and retrieved old blinds specifically for 'guest' visitors. Whether they were young or old. And was one of the first to help out others with showbuses when that era began.

In the end that band of collectors pushed the goodwill of others too far and enthusiasts were no longer welcome unless escorted as official guests which of course, was too much trouble to be bothered with.

But it is bemusing to say the least to see what prices some of these little souvenirs are now fetching. I wish I had stuck a few boxes of triangle badges in the holdall now. I think several boxes of badges and trim were even skipped when RMLs left HL.

from ebay today
.
TWO LONDON TRANSPORT BUS FRONT GRILL BADGES See original listing


Item condition:Used
Ended: Jan 12, 2014 08:17:17 PST

Winning bid:GBP 71.00

Approximately US $117.04

[ 13 bids ]
Shipping: GBP 2.00 Standard Shipping
Item location:Spalding, United Kingdom
Seller:
eastanglian (1019 ) | Seller's other items


So watch out for your buses small bits, maybe even microdot them!

Just as a point of reference, I'm sure staff had their hands on their fair bit of items, when the opportunities came up.

As a longer term minded person, I feel that it wasn't a totally bad thing, because LT probably would have thrown away the vast majority of items, and they wouldn't even be available for auction sites these days. (I'm not glorifying theft, not at all, but stating that it probably saved a lot of items.)

However, as a keen enthusiast, who has a great respect for the preservation community, if I caught someone trying to nick a part off a preserved vehicle, I'd ask for the return of hanging!

My bus number (if any): RML2561 (Well, at least the bits I managed to save!)

Stories of bits going missing in the good old days are legend. I suspect one of the founders of a certain museum was instrumental in "liberating" a lot of obsolete spares, as were many enthusiastic fitters. Several people I know managed to acquire a large stock of small components when certain large repair facilities closed down. Rather than get say a complete gearbox, they'd have all the small internal bits, easier to carry out "Johnny Cash" style, based on the logic that we' end up with a load of gearboxes and no internal bits to fix them!

One other contact phoned me many years ago and asked me if I wanted some GS spares...3 dustbins full of them! This was the time they were going out of service. Quite why Romford (country garage) had GS spares as they never ran any was a mystery! But, they turned up at home delivered in an LT service van. I still haven't used all those bits.

The "sticky" at Riverside was a useful chap to know, he'd let me have outdated posters. The poster rack was made from old Trolleybus fare tables, and one for a TD! That ended up on Dave Bosher's TD at Cobham. (the sticky was the old guy who used to glue the posters on the buses)

Riverside was helpful if the GS wouldn't start, the foreman would sometimes send the Matador out on a brake test via my house and as the Matador went past a rope would fly out the back and tow the GS down the road till it started!! What a coincidence.

I've already had visits from "travellers" who have pinched my spare GS back axle as well as expensive torque wrenches. It's still annoying that so-called enthusiasts go round removing bits off preserved buses.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Saving stuff disguarded and destined for the skip or keeping a few unused items or recovered items is one thing.

Removing them from buses that are still in use was another.

Most of these items did not get replaced because of the time and staff required. Consequently buses went out on the road not looking their best and there the rot starts.

Once unkempt, they seemed to stay unkempt..

A lot of stuff used to walk out of garage doors but usually stuff that had an alternative use. Paint was a favourite, oil, cleaning products,

But bus parts were common too. Bell cords, glazing, nuts and bolts,

But as long as you asked, stuff that was going for scrap, the answer was a quiet yes.

It's taking a lot of stuff without asking.

One chap brazenly drove his van into HL once and helped himself to all manner of items. No-one challenged him as they thought he had been sent by LRT. It was only years later when some of the removed items appeared for sale that it was discovered he was just a chancer.

When Mortlake closed the usual list of vehicle transfers came through - and was then amended several times. So many times in fact that just a few days before closure Neil T spotted that RM 1623 hadn`t been accounted for. Right up to the evening of closure still nothing had been arranged for this bus which finished service off the last 33 to run in and was parked up on its own after all the other buses had departed for new homes. We joked about trying to find a barn in the countryside and hiding it to see if it would be missed! Several days later it was still there, homeless. In the end District Office had to be contacted as Rolling Stock appeared to have completely overlooked it and - as Jack will probably know - it was sent to Norbiton. Pure fantasy stuff, but wouldn`t it have been the ultimate LT heist to have pinched a bus, hidden it for many years and then quietly appeared at a rally to see what the reaction would be!

Still looking for a set of BESI plates and willing to pay good money.

My bus number (if any): RM 912

The "rule" at Aldenham in relation to materials going out was if it's for homework then it's "OK". If it's for sale it's theft.
Every now and again LT would make an example though, one man was searched at Edgware station having got off a staff bus and he had a tin of paint, another , despite the word going round that random searches were to be made, was made to open his case and show the "off cuts" of platform boards he had. Off cuts were allowed, but he had such a lot, the warden pieced them all together on the ground to make 5 new boards. Both men were sacked.
I could write volumes on what went on between a certain preservation group and Chiswick sales office, suffice to say it went beyond selling off a few obsolete parts and it led to a few people losing their jobs at Chiswick

One yarn I heard was from a fitter homused to be at Riverside, he moonlighted for a nearby company who had RFs, he told me had a gearbox returned to Chiswick via Riverside Stores and got a new one in replacement.

A lot of LT garage staff including garage foreman made a few bob selling off bits to enthusiasts, I had a colleague who was on recerts at EM and he sold all the old RT cab panels to enthusiasts for £5, and it wasn't enthusiasts who took all the stock numbers off the bonnets at Barking for selling on was it?

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

When I was very very very young, we had a compulsory bus stop draped over our garden fence, on the street side. Giving us our own personal bus stop!

I never found out where it was acquired from!

My bus number (if any): RML2561 (Well, at least the bits I managed to save!)

My bus number (if any): RML2276 M1001 T806