Just four weeks after RM 1563 was returned to 1960`s exterior appearance it had a bump that resulted in the damage repair as seen here at Mortlake Garage thirty five years ago today. I can`t recall how it happened but on seeing it as I arrived to start a late turn, I probably assumed that with the repair already underway it could be completed by the end of the next day. With daylight fading it was already too dark for a picture inside the garage - and it wasn`t much better outside either having backed the bus out of the `railway` end of the garage. So although it`s not a great picture it does show that even a fairly minor blow to the advert panel can travel to the inner panel too and crease the `above platform` area necessitating the removal of the pole in order to effect a repair.




It actually took several days to repair. I suppose I shouldn`t be too ungrateful given the state of the inner panel but to this day it`s still a ,little bit creased!

Wouldn't have tried to knock that out at Aldenham Neil, too hard. Bad enough when we had to do the enormous panels on the DMs. We would have changed the stress panel, a lot easier when you have an air rivet gun though. What was the platform ceiling panel like?

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

I didn`t think that the platform ceiling was damaged much. But then I`m not a coachmaker! Couldn`t have been too bad as I would have taken more pictures and it wouldn`t have been a garage job to change one of those would it?
It looks ok now so I guess John and Charlie were good at their work if they managed to knock that stress panel into something better than the picture suggests. But they were both coming up to retirement age with years of experience behind them so it was just another day`s work - as was the restoration of the 1960`s features done in just a few days - brake cooling grilles, o/s route number, top rad etc.

Looks like I`ve been caught out by the Edit facility not working hence being here twice!
And I`ve also got my dates wrong - it was thirty four years ago!

I asked as the stanchion has been removed. To get that stress panel out would have involved disconnecting wiring also, but the metal used there NS4? was very hard and not easy to knock out.
In the garages the coppersmith officially did all the panel beating although a lot of coachmakers had dollies and irons and used them.far more relaxed in the over demarcation than in the Works.
At Aldenham coachmakers didn't dare do any panel beating as there were panel beaters on every section to do this and with more plastic and fibre glass panels coming in and the use of filler, they were very protective of their livelihoods, woe betide you if you got caught.

Fiercest row I ever saw at Aldenham was when a stroppy impatient coachmaker on our RT gang was caught by our panel beater knocking dents out of a rear advert panel,it also happened after dinner when both had been to the bar for "refreshments"!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

It wasn't always RMs at Mortlake. https://www.facebook.com/BackTrackFulham/photos/ms.c.eJw1y8ERxEAIA8GMrgAhweafmM0tfnZppCyZgDAUzX~;6m~_qy9MzrchBlxc~;p0~_Pgun16nN69GdPLuZamD~;W6OTs71uf~_bf8nOX6rBxpTIHA~-.bps.a.531467666984702.1073741863.259273444204127/647607412037393/?type=1&theater

My bus number (if any): RML2532,GS67,MLL721,MLL738 and an RT.

Before the dwindling number of RMs allocated to Mortlake, it had well over 65 RTLs, before that a similar number of RTs, LTs and NSs!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

As I recall, Mortlake had capacity for 88 RTL`s.
Not only did it fall short of that, it also fell well short of full utilisation in RM days too. For many years until the severe service cuts of September 1982 it had just 36 buses allocated for service - or 38 if the hydraulic suspension bus and the `wedding bus` were included which they were not in allocation terms as both were deemed `extra`.
After the 9/82 cuts it fell to just 26 for service and many trainers were allocated to keep the work levels up to avoid redundancy or compulsory transfer. Almost a third of Mortlake`s fleet were trainers in the months before closure.

I have lots of paperwork regarding the closure of Mortlake. Most of it is official stuff either from Cardinal District or from 55 Broadway explaining the cost saving reasons for intending to close the garage. My late colleague Neil T exchanged numerous letters with the then LT chairman regarding the closure hoping to explore ways of putting extra routes into Mortlake to save it and I have to say that the then Chairman was very sympathetic and friendly in his replies. But the bottom line was that, at 1982/3 costings, the figure to be saved per year was reckoned to be £300,000 by closing the place.