Having had several days of hearing about political power going from London to Scotland, how about some pictures of RM`s that have made such a move!
Taken in St.Andrew`s Square in Edinburgh on July 2nd 2014.




The next few pictures are of ERM 90.




















Back in 1959 would there ever have been conversations between workers at Park Royal Vehicles in which their thoughts regarding the life expectancy of the newly built RM`s were aired? Knowing that seventeen years was the intended life span there must have been views, based on build quality, of this being surpassed. Would twenty years, maybe thirty have been
considered likely or not? What would those workers in 1959 have made of a prediction that fifty five years later some of their first batch of RM`s would be running in service in Edinburgh alongside trams? The idea wouldn`t have had any credibility but here`s ERM 84 doing just that!

Don't forget we had RMs running alongside trams in Blackpool a few years back! And my old company ran the first RMs as tram replacement services for Corydon Tramlink by special request from the Tramlink controllers!!

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Hadn`t forgotten about the long ago Blackpool example but in Routemaster longevity terms it`s not as impressive as the here and now in Edinburgh - where trams had gone before production RM`s commenced. Running alongside trams in Blackpool was a possibility for the hypothetical conversation in 1959.

But to take the incredulity bit a stage further, imagine those Park Royal guys in 1959 trying to get their heads around the idea that some early RM`s would be taken apart and lengthened years beyond their intended life span and that they would by then have already seen off various newer forms of bus intended as Routemaster replacements and would continue to do so.

It`s quite a remarkable testament to the design and durability that such things happened and a shame that such a large percent of the original PRV workforce aren`t around now to see how their skills out-ran anything else of that era.