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The 6 and 98
weren't Metroline's last routes - that honour
falls to the 390, due to lose its own on 4th
September - but Willesden garage has now lost
crew operation entirely. The 98 is a product of
the Central Changes of 18th July 1992, being
carved out of the eastern end of the 8, but the
6, although itself cut in half in 1992, stretches
back a long, long way. It was the luck of the
current schedules that the 98's RMLs were
scheduled to finish an hour later than those on
the 6, but canny organisation meant that I and
others got to ride on and photograph both routes'
final workings.
Here for posterity is a nearside shot of RML 2710 (SMK 710F) swinging out
of its home garage Willesden on its last day in
service. The Metroline livery as interpreted by
Routemasters was particularly tasteful, only
adding a discreet blue skirt and turning the
radiator mesh from red to blue. All of the RMLs
have found new homes very quickly, despite the
usual dealers Ensignbus taking only two for
personal preservation. |
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So this is the
modern face of the 6 and 98, sixty-nine new
Transbus President-bodied Volvo B7TLs. Adequate
for suburban services or provincial towns, but
where's the pride? I feel ashamed as well as
bored to death when I see buses like this in
Central London; in no way are they a unique
symbol of Britain or of London, especially not
when they're built in Poland! Additionally, a news
report
cites locals living along the approaches to
Willesden as complaining that the new buses are
intolerably intrusive compared with the
Routemasters. At three and a half tons heavier
each but seating twelve fewer passengers than an
RML, the economic case is laughable. Any savings
made from laying off the conductors will go
straight on fuel bills and absorbing fare
evasion. Tellingly, a frequency increase to the 6
proposed to accompany the OPO conversion has had
to be cancelled, so passengers are doubly hard
done by.
VP 553 (LK04 CVR) is seen at
Oxford Circus. Yet another change to the seating
specification has seen another design of
stone-hard modular seats introduced, which on a
long journey (such as passengers still make on
routes like the 6) damn near cripple you. Perhaps
that's the idea! |
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Metroline took
the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone
by incorporating a salute to the
almost-as-veteran MCW Metrobus of M class, which
celebrated 25 years in service last November, and
which also inspired the company's name. All of
Metroline's examples, which had been running as
spares to newer vehicles since the last scheduled
allocation on the 240 was removed last year, were
withdrawn during March, leaving a small band at
Potters Bar to survive on non-TfL services. M 1 (THX 101S), numerically the
first and a company showbus as well as working as
a trainer for the last twelve years, was put into
action one last time, working one rounder on the
98 and one on the 6. Ironically, for a class of
dedicated OPO buses, M 1's first day in service
in November 1978 was on a crew route, the 16, and
so was its last today. It is seen at Marble Arch
heading westbound at lunchtime, sporting the
smart livery carried only by the first five
evaluatory Metrobuses. |
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The
Routemaster coach got a nod today with the
placing into service of RMC 1513 (513 CLT), a former
Green Line example and affiliated with
Metroline's private hire department for some
years. The twin headlights characterise the RMC
class, along with seats so deep and comfortable
that you disappear into them! I fail to see what
the objection is by the Disability Discrimination
Act to normal bench seats with proper cushions,
because today's excuses for seats are insultingly
inadequate.
At lunchtime all three of M 1, RT 3871 and RMC
1513 terminated at Oxford Circus for a
photo-shoot, exciting some interest from the
office crowds to be found hereabouts. Without
people like us to chronicle the destruction of
London's heritage in the deliberate absence of
any useful information from Transport for London,
the only way such non-enthusiasts would know
about the cynical removal of their customary way
home would be when they were forced onto a
sparsely seated, inadequately ventilated,
uncomfortable, unsafe and uninspiring (not to
mention downright dangerous, if it's a Citaro!)
OPO bus. |
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Stagecoach
East London's green Country Area-liveried RML 2456 (JJD 456D) has become a
fixture on last Routemaster days. This was its
third after the 15 and 23, and its next special
appearance will be its own swansong when the 8 is
lost on 4th June. Seen behind a characterless,
square Volvo lump in Oxford Street, it's a dead
cert that the OPO bus will be held up by its
inefficient, slow-opening doors and ridiculous
pavement ticket machine that passengers either
ignore, vandalise or have to waste the driver's
time asking questions about, and the RML can
simply overtake it. |
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Blue
Triangle's RT 3871 (LLU 670) is a
perennial on final Routemaster days, and its
appearance today was absolutely immaculate. It's
been repainted again, despite last seeing the
brush only a couple of years ago, and the paint
job is so superb you could eat off it. It has
also received a new style of Blue Triangle
fleetname, underlined in the old London Transport
fashion. As night falls, it is seen at the 6's
Aldwych terminus preparing for one last journey,
upon the completion of which it ran dead to Maida
Vale to about-turn and shadow the last 98 in. |
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RM 1979 (ALD 979B) became
Metroline's last short Routemaster, existing in
an unrefurbished state with original bulb
lighting and red-based seat moquette, though
environmentally up-to-the-minute with a recently
installed Euro 2 Cummins engine. After a lively
last fortnight, punctuated by a route 6 journey I
rode on that saw it break its nearside indicator
off against the back of a Trident, it was out for
the penultimate 98. At 8:45 it is seen ready for
the off at Holborn, Red Lion Square. |
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Aldwych again,
and the last route 6 working. It fell to RML 2431 (JJD 431D) to perform
duty AC505. This bus was chosen as it was
Willesden's representative in Golden Jubilee
livery in 2002, and was swapped onto this working
after having been AC507 during the day. It was
scheduled to depart Aldwych at 19:32, and
actually got going only fifteen minutes late,
which is quite acceptable for Friday night London
traffic conditions, when all the nutters come
out! (Not counting us, of course...)
The 6 and 98 were both OPO worked in evenings,
with the last crew workings coming off after the
evening peak had petered out. Such were the
pressures to achieve savings during the tough
times of the 1980s that converting crew routes to
OPO during the evenings was seen as a viable
option, despite the logistical complications
caused by swapping buses coming off regular OPO
services. Indeed, after the single-decking of the
302, Willesden couldn't spare double-deckers for
both the 6 and 98, so the 98 had to use Darts. |
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It was
recommended on the working timetable I saw that
RML 2558 should be placed on one of the last
workings, as it was new to Willesden when the
garage's allocation on the 6 was converted to RML
on 1st October 1966. However, it was not
available and RML 2430 (JJD 430D) did the
honours instead. The 98's last journey, AC551,
departed from Holborn within fifteen minutes of
the scheduled 20:34 time and arrived home at ten
to ten, to the flashbulbs of a large semi-circle
of photographers and wistful Willesden staff,
only some of whom have been able to transfer to
Kings Cross and the 390, and that for just five
more months.
At the very close of play RML 2430 takes its
place in the fuel line behind RM 1979 and RMC
1513. Just out of shot to the right is RML 900
from Blue Triangle, which joined in at the death.
Willesden's RMLs were then driven away for store
at North Wembley pending collection by their new
owners. Already some smaller operators of
Routemasters are re-equipping with RMLs, with
International Coachlines in particular about to
take a number. |
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