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Don't make 'em like they used to...


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Possibly like their namesake, the Boris buses built in 2012 seem to be running out of road. 

https://www.timeout.com/london/news/londons-boris-buses-may-have-reached-the-end-of-the-road-012122?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&cid=~london~natsoc~facebook~echobox&fbclid=IwAR277dsirH7vcmGICdlhMuCIFNwubZoDuvk3NgoYR2c39By1SAygYe6IwFE#Echobox=1642784170

Not quite the 50 year career of the original AEC Routemaster then, which was introduced in 1956 - ie just a few months after the TR3 - and used on many routes until 2005.

Nigel

 

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Actually, Routemasters continued to run on the No.15 route from Tower Hill (via Cannon St., Fleet St. and the Strand) to Trafalgar Square, certainly until the first lockdown. My office was just off Cannon Street and I would use them if travelling west to meetings.

Miles

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Actually when I was a nipper living in London in the 1960s, the Routemasters seemed to be outnumbered by the earlier AEC model with a more 'vintage' radiator. The internet now tells me it was the Regent. It came into service in the 1930s and there were various upgraded models . (Good God I'm becoming a bus geek.)

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The AEC Regent was a popular choice back then, and I remember these in service in the ‘60’s. I remember listening to the gearbox as I believe they had a pre-select gearchange. We called them whiners for some reason. 

If you think you’re a bus geek, the poster of this image waxes lyrical about it, describing it as ‘a beautiful 1951 AEC Regent III, and the pinnacle of post-war bus design’!
 

This one, purchased by Eastbourne Corporation pictured outside Eastbourne Railway Station, apparently suffered an accident and was scrapped in 1970. But it still survived longer than a Boris bus..All you see now is Stagecoach foreign rubbish- dull as ditchwater !

Kevin

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Edited by boxofbits
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9 hours ago, boxofbits said:

The AEC Regent was a popular choice back then, and I remember these in service in the ‘60’s. I remember listening to the gearbox as I believe they had a pre-select gearchange. We called them whiners for some reason. 

Yes I believe they had Wilson pre-selectors (not sure which specific manufacturer) and fluid flywheels. You can imagine the poor bus drivers before then having to go up and down a crash gearbox around town all day. But still, no power steering of course - although having driven the AEC truck equivalent (the AEC Mark 1, known to soldiers as the 'Knocker' and still a few in service up to the late '80s) I know it's all about technique and rhythm rather than brute strength.

This thread also brings back memories of when my father was a coach painter at a works in Park Royal, spraying truck and bus bodies as well as doing the freehand coach lining. I won't ever forget the reek of cellulose that wafted off his clothes when he came home. They held a children's party every year at the works, I think we were high on the ambient fumes long before we got to the fairy cakes.

Nigel

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I did a 9 month industrial placement, as an engineering undergraduate, with London Transport at their Chiswick depot in 1973. Had to do the bus driving course in 3 days, driving RTs and RMs but could not drive on the road as I was only 19. Drove lots of buses on test tracks and around the yard, testing brakes and suspension. The RT with the pre-selector gearbox was great fun to drive but the RM was much easier. Hated the single decker Scania bus, far too long wheelbase with a huge rear overhang. They were quickly sold off to airports as they side-swiped pedestrians walking on the pavements during sharp turns, fortunately all very slowly but we got lots of complaints. 

Ah, nostalgia....

Mick

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I remember the local Routmasters from East Yorkshire who's route went through the low  North Bar gate in Beverly  so were rebuilt with a pointed roof to get through.

Alan

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Edited by barkerwilliams
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24 minutes ago, barkerwilliams said:

I remember the local Routmasters from East Yorkshire who's route went therough the low  North Bar gate in Beverly  so were rebuilt with a pointed roof to get through.

Alan

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I used to live in Willerby and rode on them regularly. Also remember riding on a type of bus with upper deck aisle running down the side not the center of the deck. Always thought it was a bit weird.

Alan. 

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4 hours ago, barkerwilliams said:

Alan,

So sad that all the quirky differences in every aspect of life are being phased out and wherever you go in the world it is more and more alike. All be driving on teh right soon!

Alan

"Aye, we 'ad things then as they don't 'av today. Like diphtheria, and rickets."

(Not The Nine O'Clock News, IIRC)

:D

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