The last journey RM 549 made in the UK was to Harwich Docks on Jan 11 1985 for export to Norway.

Seen here on the A120 a few miles from Harwich.




With RM 1887 used as `support vehicle` carrying basic spares and fitted with a `platform door` to keep these safe when parked up for a break in the journey.

It also had a few bags of rock salt on board too as the need to get RM 549 on a booked boat meant having to go in weather that was known to be bad in Essex. It might be thirty years ago but I can still remember how very cold it was!

This was actually the second attempt to get 549 to Harwich as two weeks earlier it only got as far as Oxford Street when a broken fuel pipe couldn`t be fixed in time to catch the ferry!




And on arrival at the docks having got there ok...

Brrr Neil,

I feel chilly just looking at the pics! I can just imagine the wind howling through the cab as you drove along. Looks even bleaker with the lights out. Still, might pass as a nice day in Norway! Hope they appreciated all the chrome fittings.

Danny

Getting the buses acclimatised for Norway then?

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Loving the destination blind being used as a radiator cover!

i'm guessing that's why they stopped in the first photo, as in the 2nd photo it suddenly appears behind the grill.

My bus number (if any): RMF2771 (Beatrix)

Great pictures, as ever. What basic spares and tools would you carry for this sort of trip?

My bus number (if any): RMs 238, 471 and 2213, GS17

Sales Department transfers that stayed within (or just slightly beyond) the LT operating area went on the basis of being taken to the nearest bus garage if a problem arose that left the bus driveable. Or waiting at the roadside for the Running Shift of the nearest garage to come out to the stricken bus. In either event as the bus was still in LT ownership and on LT trade plates until the point of being handed over, there was a procedure in place whereby the Sales Department could ask Rolling Stock (both based almost next door to each other at Chiswick) to clear the way for assistance at garage level. This fell apart if the transfer was being done outside of normal office hours. Many such transfers went early in the morning but would be unlucky to have a problem before 8.00am when help was available. Few went in the evening for that reason - except for the first attempt to get RM 549 to Harwich for a night ferry. It was around 7pm when it broke down in Oxford Street!

Turning up unannounced at an LT garage was never a good idea as the element of surprise could generate a wall of suspicion. Stopping outside a garage and going in to immediately find the Foreman and asking to use the phone having explained the circumstances would usually result in help being forthcoming. Arriving knowing that you were expected because a call had been made in advance by someone in authority generally changed everything and this was also the only way to get roadside help. If the problem was of a minor nature it was often sorted and the bus went on its way. If it was more serious there were two options. Either the garage repaired it (or the district tow truck recovered it) and charged it to the Sales Department or the Sales Department arranged recovery and did the work. Which with their limited resources made this rare. But if the fault was such that it compromised the sale, there wasn`t much of a choice and whatever work was needed had to be done somewhere, somehow. I do recall one instance of an engine failure that resulted in another bus having to be substituted as this was quicker and more cost effective than arranging for an engine change.

There was also the problem of the garage nearest to the breakdown not actually running the type of bus involved with the resultant spares holding or repair capability issue. This was a particular concern with the MD class as most of those sold for re-use left London in exactly the opposite direction to the few garages that knew anything about them! I wonder if Jack remembers two Leyland Nationals of the early batch of six that arrived in Norbiton Garage one afternoon. Painted white and on transfer to Gatwick Handling, by Tolworth both were in trouble and were subsequently fixed at NB.

All these years on I don`t think there`s really any harm is saying that a hell of a lot got done at no cost by people whose interest in the job was such that they helped willingly and were happy to get involved. When RM 1288 broke down at Sudbury on the way back from Aldenham following the reverse staircase conversion, despite being a Saturday morning with `official` lines of communication` being unavailable, within twenty minutes of making a phone call a mechanic from HD (well known to many regarding their `showbus RM) arrived by car with toolbox. And camera! A lot of help was out there unofficially. Goodwill and friends of friends always ensured a result - and this happened easily in the days before mobile phones! In the early days of the LT Museum Reserve Collection almost everything got done like this.

But to answer the original question, it was just basic stuff taken as spares. Pipes, hoses, bulbs, fluids and the tools needed. Plus two wheels, jacks and a heavy duty tow chain. The sort of things that would enable a journey to continue or recovery to a place of safety out of the traffic flow. Anything requiring more than that had to go through the procedure described above.

Hi neil
I repaired a dead short fault on one of the Airport bound Nationals at Norbiton. Traced it to a faulty lamp. During manufacture the wire from one of the soldered pins hadn't been cut off and was soldered to the other pin as well. One of those daft faults you never forgets. It is as also the first time I'd seen a bus being sold on. I started at NB in February 1985 and I think it wasn't much later they came in.

My bus number (if any): M1001, RML 2276, T806

Yes David, that would be about right, first half of 1985. Chances are that we may have met at Norbiton through those Nationals!
Amazing how people on this forum connect to long ago events!