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RM 840 accident repair

Outside the Accident Shop at Aldenham Works on Sept 15 1983, RM 840 awaits its turn for repairs to commence. At a quick glance it doesn`t look like a really hefty front end prang......




But the proof of the severity is obvious eleven days later by how much work has been undertaken to remove mechanical parts prior to the body repair commencing.


Re: RM 840 accident repair

The damage to the cab was not that bad Neil, the impact was low down. The reason it went to Aldenham was because the A frame member was bent and had to be replaced. A new frame was put together and the the mechanical units engine, front boat etc if not damaged transferred from the old one to the new one At that time garages didn't touch A or B frames.

RMC 1470 although still carrying a Riverside code was a training bus allocated to Stamford Brook, who had it a week before this accident damage saw it sent to Aldenham where it hung around for almost a year before being sold for scrap in July 1984.
RM 845 had just arrived for its 4th overhaul
Not sure what RM 161 from Merton is there for, possibly a mechanical Wear and Tear. It didn't stay long at Aldenham as it wasn't delicensed.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1458 and several RTs

Re: RM 840 accident repair

Brian

I used the words `proof of the severity` to emphasise that the damage went beyond the fairly trivial cab area crumpling. I think we can all assume that it wasn`t a case of `let`s dismantle the A frame just for something to do`.

Zooming in on RM 161 shows the usual chalk marks on the screen providing the reason for the bus being there. W&T (Wear and Tear) B Frame.

RMC 1470 was a strange case - and maybe you know why it hung around so long in such a damaged state. Transferred from Riverside to Stamford Brook to become the `Skid Bus`, a rather unfortunate accident on the skid pan caused it to be taken to Aldenham as if a repair was contemplated. It didn`t return to Stamford Brook as the garage was at full capacity and didn`t have training buses allocated unless they were Skid Buses and, in theory, lived at Chiswick unless at V for scheduled maintenance. Given that it could so easily have been replaced by another bus it was surprising that it wasn`t immediately withdrawn after inspection and sent to The Sales Department - which it never visited. Many less severe front end damage buses were withdrawn around that time. But its presence and inactivity at Aldenham was being watched and when the scrap decision was made it became a source of spares for the LT Museum RCL.

Re: RM 840 accident repair

Neil G
Brian

I used the words `proof of the severity` to emphasise that the damage went beyond the fairly trivial cab area crumpling. I think we can all assume that it wasn`t a case of `let`s dismantle the A frame just for something to do`.

.
Yes, I was adding some detail Neil. One of the first buses I was let loose on in the Accident shop was an RMC involved in a fatal head on. The body damage was minor, but the front O/S wheel had taken the impact which had twisted the front boat and A frame. RM cabs were a joy to work on after RTs where after replacing many pieces of timber, working at very awkward angles even without steering wheel and driver's seat in place, you often had to try two or three cab panels to get a good fit!

I don't know what happened to RMC 1470, there were lots of people with vested interests involved in bus sales at the time, we can only speculate on why it was held onto.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1458 and several RTs

Re: RM 840 accident repair

Brian

Interesting and unintentionally coincidental timing as regards the RMC you mentioned that was involved in the fatal crash. Almost certainly it would have been RMC 1513 and it was fifty years ago this Easter weekend. Heading south on a 716 along the old Great North Road at Brookmans Park, the bus was involved in a horrific head on with a Mini Traveller which inexplicably veered onto the wrong side of the road on a bend. The car was completely embedded under the front of the bus. A dad and three of his kids were killed but a toddler survived. One of the boys was in the class next to mine at primary school. I remember this awful event well. Although it was a Stevenage bus it was an Addlestone driver involved such was the way schedules worked in the `Country area` and especially on Green Line where crews always finished at their home garage but might do this on a vehicle from the garage at the opposite end of the route which would `stay out overnight`. The bus driver was sufficiently above the collision to be fairly uninjured but spent months off work recovering from the trauma. I`m sure he later featured in a newspaper / magazine study of professional drivers trying to deal with the aftermath of being in a fatal but blameless crash. I think it was also (and for many years after - maybe never surpassed) the second worst fatal accident involving an LT bus with the worst being the heat exhausted driver of an RTL that ran into a queue at an Oxford Street bus stop in 1959.

Re: RM 840 accident repair

I suppose RM161 could also have been in for repair to the dent on it's front roof dome Brian?

My bus number (if any): RM967 (Driver/Restoration consultant)

Re: RM 840 accident repair

Thanks for that Neil, I couldn't remember the number of the RMC, only it was in early 1966 so Alan Bond and I thought it might have been RMC 1453 which was the only one delicensed at the start of 1966. I remember it particularly due to being told that it was involved in a fatality. Almost as disturbing as the finger we found at the front of an RT hit by a crane :(

This all came up in a discussion about numbering of replacement A frames. The practice at the time for the replacement of accident damaged A frames was believed to be, as in RT days, of taking the brass plates off the scrap one and put them on the new frame.

However during a special programme of replacing A frames on the very early RMs in the early 60s, it has been said by one of the fitters who did them (Mr Moss) that the old numbers were stripped off and put in a box and the first ones to hand were put on the newly assembled A frames, so there may have been a mix up of numbering initially, although it's equally possible that the Inspectors on the programme made sure that they were correctly numbered when replaced in the yet to be overhauled buses.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1458 and several RTs