As if we haven`t seen enough snow in the last few days, here`s a reminder of how it can be slightly more bearable when it involves a Routemaster! But it should have been two......





The boundary wall of Kew Gardens would have resonated the Leyland roar of RM 867 on 8 December 1981 - but look closely to the side of that truck. Another RM so nearly made it into this picture! I wish I could remember what I was saying at that point. It probably wasn`t very polite....

A nice reminder that we used to drive in the snow in those days. I remember being sat on the Leatherhead Road on the 71 with a petrol tanker sliding sideways towards me and it only stopping a few feet from the front of the bus. It took nearly 6 hours to do a Leatherhead end and that was my days work completed.

The strange thing about this picture is I used to like Leyland emgined Routemasters and yet I have no memory of this bus at Kingston, despite the fact it was there for over 2 years. Usually there is some little story to tell about each bus you drove but this one obviously had no distinguishing features. Unless I managed to avoid it all that time. I will find my diaries one day and have all the answers at my fingertips.

My bus number (if any): RMC1469

So true. We did carry on driving in snow. On roads that were properly gritted as can be seen in the picture. The road is totally devoid of snow. Not like the lamentable situation around Bournemouth last Thursday afternoon when snow that had been forecast fell on schedule at 2pm and crippled the roads around town by 5pm. Both major bus operators pulled all their services off by 6pm after many buses became stranded on hills all around town because of a lack of pre-gritting. On my time with LT we were never taken off the road in snow and although I drove in snow many times - which admittedly was never as great a problem in central London - I never felt it was unsafe. And it wasn`t just because RM`s were more capable, all of the rear engines types kept on going too.

Your story about the skidding tanker reminds me of a frightening near miss I had in RM 1446. Whilst stationary at the main stop in East Sheen an idiot car driver came out of Safeway`s car park right in front of an artic which braked on a wet road and almost jackknifed. The tractor unit came straight at me and its mirror turned my offside (metal) mirror around. I thought I was going to be crushed in the cab. I was probably still shaking when we got to Hounslow! And yes, there is always a story to tell about each bus in your garage. I`ve just told one!