Thirty five years ago on this corresponding weekend, RM 1563 took to the road in a recreation of 1960`s livery. Officially sanctioned by Cardinal District in order to participate in the road run commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of RM 1 entering service, the work was carried out at Mortlake over the course of a week whenever the coachmakers and painter had spare moments. They were actually really enthusiastic about doing it!


This was the progress at the end of the first day, 23 Jan 1981 with brake cooling grilles done, top rad in progress and bonnet badge re-instated - the coachmakers just happened to have one in their bench draw......




Offside route number yet to be re-instated......




By 30 Jan, it`s finished - with appropriate mirrors.




A few people were made aware that it would be ready to use in service on Saturday 31st Jan and during the day several people pointed a camera at it. I would like to be able to give the due credit to whoever took this shot at the stop between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner but I really cannot recall who it was - and gave me this slide. It`s not a picture I took as I`m driving 1563!




Later in the day at Aldwych. We thought it best not to display the route number in the offside box given that it was, allegedly, down to the Royal Society for prevention of accidents asking for the removal of an offside route number to reduce the temptation some might have to run across a road to catch a bus on a route they wanted........




In its new look it certainly attracted attention and turned heads. Neil T and I were very surprised (and pleased) at how many regular passengers in Mortlake and Barnes commented on it. It seemed that a lot of people looked out for the bus in this recognisable livery so instead of keeping it in the garage to be used only when really needed, Neil T made sure it went out all day, every day.




Thirty years later on Jan 31 2011, Neil T passed away. On the closure of Mortlake in 1983 he had the foresight to save many items of paperwork and objects relating to the day to day running of the engineering side of an LT bus garage. I doubt anyone else managed to put aside so many documents that record the systems and procedures in place at that time for RM maintenance. If it could ever be possible to reconstruct Mortlake Garage, a most authentic stash of paperwork is awaiting in my safe keeping. Going forward, I`ll scan items that may be of interest and post them on here as I reckon they deserve to be appreciated by those who would enjoy an insider view of how things worked at garage level for Routemasters.

Nice photos and a great job. You mention that the bonnet badge was an original that was kept. Were any of the other 'old style' components surviving parts or were they custom made?

Phil.

It wasn`t actually difficult to find most of what was needed. Many of us are probably guilty now of having items in kitchen draws and in our garage that we last used a long time ago and never got around to throwing away. Likewise, in 1981 there were often bits in bus garages that were still in existence long after they ceased to be regularly used. In early 1981 finding things from the late 1960`s wasn`t a major challenge.

The painter still had a stash of gold transfers and the Chiswick Cream paint.
Brake cooling grilles were often `left over` in Coachmaker`s workshops - or, if not, could be found on many RMC`s still in situ beneath the later style wings. Many `showbus` RM`s got theirs this way.......
The round N/S mirror was also a `left over` item and the original O/S mirror hadn`t long been replaced by the later version and thus plenty were still around. The top rad was just an over-panel that was easily removed and likewise with the O/S route number box. Many bodies that originally had these (up to B1742) simply gained an extra panel over the original one that had the glass and rubber surround removed to leave a hole. Less easy to find was the blind mechanism left in situ. Most were removed.

The one thing that we couldn`t readily get was the radiator grille without the triangle. We had to have that made and that's why in the pictures (and for a long time after) 1563 ran with an incorrect mix of bonnet badge and later grille as we didn`t dare risk losing the newly made `original` type to a front end collision. Once the correct version was ready, Neil T used it to make a copy and when that was done 1563 could then run in service with one. Thankfully, it never got damaged.

The one thing that never `completed` the 1960`s look was the rear wheel disks. It was known that these were removed as an immediate fleet-wise directive due to instances of working loose and becoming missiles capable of damage and injury. We were never tempted to re-instate these (both the `dustbin lids` and `spider` brackets were still at Mortlake) and having sounded out various opinions from senior engineers it was obvious that this was a real `no go `area. We did, however, seek and get permission to use them out of service to rallies. Which, when you think about it, is somewhat against the whole point of removal given the higher speeds usually involved.

Thinking back, something else that eluded us was the `in house` poster that went on the small panel above the conductor recess. To this day I`ve never had one of those. By my reckoning they were probably last posted around 1969 - 1971. When I started on LT in 1973 around half of the RM`s at AR had them but they didn`t look new by then and were always removed on overhaul. By around 1975 they were all gone.

Once again, thank you Neil for another interesting and informative post with excellent photos. Warms the cockles of my heart after a cold, wet day fault finding on an RM in the open air!

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

Thank you, Chris. Glad you`ve liked this! I enjoyed reliving it too. I also enjoyed spending a couple of hours yesterday in Barnes with my former conductress who was `on the back of 1563` in the picture above. With the technology of mobile phones we even watched The Nine Road film (in which she appears) and had a lot of laughs about past times at Mortlake.

Anything that gets done to 1563 now is a case of `welcome to the real world` as regards being on a cold floor in a cold shed. The luxury of closing the doors around a dock area that`s got the space heater (as pictured) running just on low power to provide a lot of comfort is as much a memory from long ago as the subject matter! As is walking into the stores and finding everything an RM could ever need..........

Beautiful pics i wished the 15h rms did look like this that be a touch.

Also i am nealy the same age as these pics in July

Wish I could find a set of BESI plates. We have the holder. RM 912 was on the 9 road when it was identified as RM 783, the Esso Uniflow bus. It also ran on the 9's from Shepherds Bush as RM 912 at a later date.

My bus number (if any): RM 912

The BESI plate holder wasn`t actually re-instated during the `back to the sixties` look in 1981 as 1563 already had this. An unusual oversight at Aldenham left it in situ on overhaul in early 1980 making it the last bus in the fleet to carry one. All of Mortlake`s RM`s had one and all were removed on overhaul during 1979 and 1980. As the BESI system had been discontinued for a couple of years prior to then, the holders had gone off many other buses that had them on overhaul leaving those at Mortlake as some of the last - especially as none of our buses were overhauled in 1976/7/8.

Not many routes used the BESI system but those that did were generally large allocations. When I was at Tottenham the weekday 73 allocation of 51 buses made this the biggest BESI controlled route but others had allocations of up to thirty buses. The BESI routes were initially the only ones where route control - and thus instructions to turn short a journey - routinely came by radio as opposed to coming from roadside inspectors. And that was because the position of the bus could be `seen ` or at least pinned down to a point between two scanning posts. Not that it was infallible as it wasn`t unknown for conductors to climb on the nearside wing to remove a BESI plate as a scanner was approached in order to avoid detection!

I've still got a brand new BESI plate holder somewhere in my collection of bits! It's interesting to note the allocation of over 50 buses for the 73s in those days. Presumably that was when it used to run through to Hounslow on Sundays as well? Didn't this make the 73 one of the longest Central Area routes? (dives under the table as a fresh discussion starts)...

The 11s were BESI controlled as well, there was a BESI scanner in Fulham Broadway outside what was the Granville Music Hall, now sadly gone, but where the current 11s turn. The RTWs were BESI fitted.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Those fifty one buses on the 73`s were just the weekday allocation when the route ran from Stoke Newington to Hammersmith. Forty four buses between the peak hours joined by another seven during the rush hours dropping down to twenty eight after the pm peak until close of service. I`m sure this was the largest RM allocation on a route operated by just one garage. We had 96 Mon - Fri duties, 78 on Saturdays and 50 on Sundays - when Mortlake supplied eight buses to bolster the route extension to Hounslow as the 33`s which ran from Kensington to Hounslow didn't operate on Sunday. The splitting of the 73`s to create the 33`s at the south western end also caused the anomaly of the 33`s being the only BESI route worked by RM`s that didn`t come into the West End.

But even with the extra mileage on a Sunday, less buses were needed compared to the weekday requirements as the headway was reduced. All 73`s from Tottenham ran `dead` to and from Stoke Newington but to be on the bus from Tottenham to Hounslow and back must have been one of the longest round trips a Routemaster crew would ever make. We had a few duties that did two round trips to Hounslow and that accounted for more `time on duty` than doing three round trips to Hammersmith. Needless to say most Tottenham crews hated going to Hounslow because of the length of trip but not as much as Mortlake crews hated going north of Kings Cross because of the vastly different environment to their usual area! Having worked on the 73`s from both garages I well recall many aspects of an amazingly busy and always interesting route.

It was also one of the most complex RM routes in terms of scheduling. Between the weekday peaks in the mid 1970`s it worked in sections that created a `conveyor belt` pattern for each bus to follow. Stoke Newington to Hammersmith. Hammersmith to Kings Cross. Kings Cross to Palace Gate. Palace Gate to Stoke Newington. It put a bus every two minutes (in theory) along the busiest section and the loadings were intense at most times. It probably seems strange to many people how the 73`s waited so long to get an upgrade to RML operation. The reason (in my time on the route) was that the very tight turn from Stoke Newington High Street into Church Street precluded 30` buses.

Happy days! Sorry to see the RMs go but a memorable festive atmosphere on the last day in September 2004. Remember full loads and everybody singing at the end of the evening.









I carefully peeled off an interior advert thinking it would one day be regarded as a historic document.



Not wanting to restart a bitter controversy but I actually liked the articulated Citaros that managed surprisingly well in Albion Road near where my children went to school. I also like the NBLs that operate the route now.

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