| Stagecoach
East London are really showing the way to retire
an irreplaceable London icon. On Bank Holiday
weekend 30th/31st May Bow garage, who are to lose
the 8 to OPO buses after service on Friday 4th
June, mounted a special farewell tour of East
London using its two most special Routemasters,
taking in an extraordinary selection of local
routes both past and present. I and a large
number of others were there all day to see and
photograph both the last Routemaster built, RML
2760 (SMK 760F) in original condition, and RML
2456 (JJD 456D) in Country Area Lincoln green,
roving around. |
 |
On the Sunday
of the farewell tour, RML 2760 (as BW61) did one
and a half rounders over the 277, a service that
never in the event operated Routemasters
(starting as RT post-trolleybuses and then going
OPO with DMSs), then covered the 8's old peak
hour partner 8A and an eye-opening turn on bendy
bus 453. The major draw for this bus was a run
out to Chingford, Royal Forest
Hotel on the 6B, an epic slog that ran on
Saturdays during the 1960s over the entire 6 and
then far beyond even the 6's peak hour
projections to Leyton Green. The Royal Forest
Hotel, a terminal once heaving with buses
congregating from all over north-east London, was
abandoned completely upon the onslaught of
Reshaping on 7th September 1968 and has remained
desolate ever since. After its round trip on the
6B, RML 2760 became a 169A for the rest of the
afternoon - this route was another trolleybus
replacement that provided a useful link between
points west of, and north of, Ilford. |
 |
BW62 was the
running number given to RML 2456 in Lincoln green. Starting as a 10, a
much-missed link from Victoria to East London, it
became a 101 at Wanstead and a 473 at North
Woolwich. After reprising the 6A (an antecedent
of today's 26) and then heading to Stratford to
cover the current length of the 86, followed by a
trip over former Barking local service 23C and
back into town as a 115, the green bus arrived at
Stratford as another 10 and then became a 473 for
its last journey of the day. This allowed scenic
shots at the North Woolwich terminus, where the
bus is posed alongside the entrance to the foot
tunnel (a useful alternative to the ferry, and
pretty much as quick). |
 |
Much better
than the usual artic! The second day was superbly
sunny for the most part, allowing excellent photo
opportunities. After reprising the long-gone 169A
and bits of today's 26, RML 2456 arrived at the
Elephant and became a 453. Try getting away
without paying on one of these! The complexity of
the operations on both days made it a real
challenge to rush back and forth both
photographing and riding each bus, but with a
little help from friends, a handful of us headed
off the buses at various picturesque spots (and
some not quite so much so, like this Old Kent
Road view here). |
 |
A change of
plan was forced upon the schedule when it became
clear that everybody wanted to go to Abridge, so
RML 2456 abandoned the 8A and 277 and fell in
behind RML 2760 as a second 10, in fact showing
the way when the red bus took a wrong turning off
Horseferry Road and missed out a section of the
old route. After the long haul out into Essex,
where some sections were abandoned altogether by
buses over twenty years ago, we reached Abridge.
However the old stand at the Blue Boar pub was
occupied by parked cars so the duo continued to
the next feasible turning point, the roundabout
at Passingford Bridge, another long-forgotten red
bus terminus. So the last thing we expected to
find was an accident scene just short of our
goal, and the police clearing it up were equally
surprised to see two fully laden Routemasters
drawing up with no room to turn round! In the end
the buses had to be reversed in this lay-by, allowing for some more
pictures. On the way back both buses became 10As,
reprising another historic service. At Leyton
Green the pair divided again, with the red bus
becoming a 473 for its final journey. |
| A
really superb and enjoyable event thanks to Bow's
friendly crews, and one much appreciated by not
only us but by the large number of smiles seen on
the faces of East Enders who hadn't seen proper
buses on their local routes in a generation. But
there's even more to come before the end... On Wednesday and
Thursday RT 3871 from Blue Triangle will perform
rounders on the 8 into the early evening. And on
Friday it all kicks off. Don't forget the last
journey - RML 2760 as BW75 leaving Victoria at
22:40 - but during the day at least eleven and
possibly up to fifteen
special buses provided kindly by preservationists
will be put onto the 8, running a twenty-minute
service over and above the usual runout on the
route, which is now about two-thirds Trident.
There will still be about ten indigenous RMLs
left on the 8 by then as well.
|
|
