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A September 4th survivor

September 4th. A poignant date in RM history as on that day in 1982 the first mass Routemaster withdrawals began with over two hundred removed from the schedules in one go.

This time last year I posted a picture of a large group of de-blinded, withdrawn RM`s parked in a corner of Mortlake Garage. A closer shot of just some of that group includes one that can just be made out as RM 1404.



Supposedly withdrawn it was an RM that the Rolling Stock Department had perhaps made an error with. And there were many such instances as the `hit list` of buses to be withdrawn on that date was altered several times to include some vehicles at the last minute and to reprieve others in advance. And then there were a few examples of vehicles returned to service having initially been withdrawn. Such as RM 1404 which was re-blinded to carry on in service at Mortlake until the garage closed when it was sent to Stamford Brook as seen on the second day at its new home - 26 June 1983.

Re: A September 4th survivor

Interesting that the bus behind stills shows Mortlake Garage whereas RM 1404 has the new designation for the same destination: Mortlake, Avondale Road. Did they run 'dead' to and from Mortlake or did they 'when-work'?

My bus number (if any): RM 912

Re: A September 4th survivor

Neil is right there were many changes and still AEC engined buses turned up at North's and when alerted RSE (Buses)at Chiswick were not interested.
I went to Mortlake just after this, the Foreman at Mortlake was doubly unhappy as not only had he lost many of his pride and joys, he got a load of really crap buses from Southall as replacements.

RM 1670 also escaped "dismantling" being sold to New Zealand :)
Unlike RMs 1241 and 1332 both dismantled by Vic Berry at Aldenham!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1485 and several RTs

Re: A September 4th survivor

It certainly was frustrating to see really clean, well cared for, buses replaced with some of the filthiest RM`s I`d ever seen. But, so far as the Rolling Stock Department was concerned, those awful vehicles were just numbers on paper and deemed ok to do the job. Pride and morale didn`t come into it. If it worked on paper that was all that was considered.

The reason for the two different ultimate blinds in the picture is easy to explain. RM 1325 arrived at Stamford Brook too late on the night of Mortlake`s closure to have the new blinds fitted as the night staff who had dealt with all the buses had finished work. I know - as I was driving 1325 as a duplicate to the last round trip on the 9`s which didn`t get back to Mortlake until 0200 and then with the staff `party` in the garage, a lot of people needed taking home and there was no Staff Bus. So I ended up going all over the place including Trafalgar Square for night buses and many parts of south west London including to Surbiton as an unofficial staff Bus. So whilst all of the other RM`s that transferred from M to V got there at a respectable time, 1325 didn`t and had to run on the 9`s only for a couple of days until fitted with the new blind issue that enabled all V RM`s to work on the 9`s, 27`s and 237`s.


When the 9`s transferred to Stamford Brook all positioning trips to and from Mortlake were done out of service by using the A316 from Hogarth Roundabout to Chalkers Corner and thence via Mortlake High Street. This lengthy `dead` run was only used from V to M in the early morning plus a couple of late evening trips by crews starting the second half of a late turn from their break at Stamford Brook. In the other direction the dead run back to Stamford Brook happened only after the pm peak and then again at close of service. At all other times the way back to Stamford Brook was via Hammersmith and also out of service. Unlike now, no other regular bus service operated between Mortlake Green and Chalkers Corner nor along the western end of Mortlake High Street - with the exception of early morning, post pm peak and late returning trips on Route 33. These left/joined normal line of route at East Sheen and in so doing had to cross the railway at Mortlake Station. Done as a `dead` journey for many years, in November 1979 these were made `live` though in reality very few people ever used them. Such trips became, I`m told, the last instance of an RM operated route using a railway level crossing.

An amusing incident regarding that dead run on the 9`s ought to be shared....

In the first week of it, a Mortlake conductor familiar with the 9`s got a Stamford Brook driver who knew the 27`s but not the 9`s and was doing this route for the first time. Having spent an entire late turn bracing himself for a navigational blunder (which never actually happened) the conductor dropped his guard when, at gone midnight, it came to the dead run from Mortlake back to Stamford Brook. Feeling safe in the knowledge that the driver (who lived in Richmond) went along the A316 in his car every day, the conductor sat on the offside long seat to start cashing up. So with head down counting coins and writing on his waybill, little attention was paid to where they actually were in the journey. Until it came to the point where he needed some coin bags from the locker. Apparently he stood up and stepped backyards on to the platform and had the fright of his life at the unexpected shock of being not twenty inches above the road but twenty feet up on the Hogarth Flyover which the driver had used - force of habit! There wasn`t the width restricting pinch point at the entrance that is there now but there was then, as now, a two ton weight limit on it! Luckily the Meccano like structure survived the experience which the driver dismissed as `don`t suppose anyone saw us`. All these years on I still laugh about it whenever I go past Hogarth Roundabout and try to picture the look on the conductors face as the reality in darkness of where they were kicked in!

Re: A September 4th survivor

Neil G
Such trips became, I`m told, the last instance of an RM operated route using a railway level crossing.


Hi Neil,Routemasters were used on route 135 from Enfield Garage which used the level crossing at Brimsdown Station on peak journeys to the Lockfield Avenue industrial estate until 26th September 1980. Previously peak journeys had gone even deeper into the estate to Brimsdown Power Station until it closed.
We lost this route in the great cuts of 4th September 1982.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rw3-497alh/16131882340/in/faves-67741109@N04/

Here is a nice shot of RM2025 using the level crossing one of the last journeys from Lockfield Avenue

My bus number (if any): Formerly RML2613

Re: A September 4th survivor

When the `dead` garage runs on the 33`s along Sheen lane were made live in November 1979, they lasted until the closure of Mortlake in June 1983 which is how, I assume, they became the last instance of a level crossing used by RM`s in service.

I remember the Brimsdown example too. At Tottenham in the mid 1970`s there was the bizarre situation of a few Route 76 journeys going in completely the opposite direction to the bulk of the route. On weekdays in the morning peak, two trips went from Tottenham to Brimsdown and then both went as far as Moorgate. I can understand that this provided a service into The City along the Hertford Road and to places not served by 149`s and 279`s. But there were no corresponding pm peak trips as a 76 from The City to Brimsdown. Instead, there was a late turn on the 76`s that started around 4pm and went from Tottenham Garage to Brimsdown and then did four short round trips from there to Ponders End Garage. Then it went back to Tottenham by about 6.30pm. Quite how that equated to the 76 route I never understood. The Brimsdown terminus was on the blinds as Brimsdown Power Station and the bus stand was right beneath one of the cooling towers. The noise of falling water was horrendous and if the wind was in a certain direction the bus was covered in fine spray!

Re: A September 4th survivor

Hi Neil

I have taken a Metrobus over that very same flyover. I was returning to Stamford Brook from a trip to Fulwell or Norbiton I think and the police had closed part of the roundabout. When I pointed out my weight and the bridge limit the police officer told me to wait for the bridge to be clear of cars and then go for it!

David

My bus number (if any): M1001, RML2276, T806