| It's
most unlike me to get any serious photography done in the
morning - most of the buses I photograph face south and
west! But I and a good couple of hundred others got off
work somehow to cover the whole epic event from start of
play at 9:30, when RT 3871 rumbled out of Bow garage, to
the death when RML 2760 inched its way home fifteen hours
later. Our nerves had been held to ransom by conflicting
weather reports, one of which said it would be sunny all
day and the other refuting that completely with grim
proclamations of rain, but it turned out to be the same
as it's been for the last month of this erratic spring -
sunny in the morning, clouding over by midday and then a
return of the sunshine in the evening. Such was the case
for the Farewell Tour last weekend, and that's how it
turned out today. With that in mind, finding suitable
spots to take pictures was important. Bow Church in the
morning allowed me to get the first four specials as they
emerged on their ambitious but well maintained
twenty-minute headway, and as the sun began to work its
way round the clockface it was off to Bishopsgate
following a tip-off from a fellow photographer that
unobstructed nearside views would be possible at about
10:30. It was a good decision, as Victoria was a bit too
hectic that day. |
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First out of
the traps on Friday 4th June was Blue Triangle's RT 3871 (LLU 670), taking up
its third consecutive day on the 8. It is seen at
the end of Fairfield Road, down which lies Bow
garage. This is the only way they can come out,
as a low bridge takes the Docklands Light Railway
over the road just to the north of the garage
entrance, so only the single-deck route S2 can
traverse it. RT 3871 is a popular fixture in the
preservation scene and already had two last
Routemaster days to its credit. Until its last
but one repaint it sported further cream relief
above the upper deck windows to recall the RTs'
post-war livery. A traditionally-inspired gold
leaf fleetname accompanied its last repaint to
coincide with its forays to the 6 and 98 in
March. |
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Number 2 in
the runout of fourteen specials was RTL 139 (KGK 803), another last
day veteran with that superb return outing on the
15 last August to cement its return to the
British Isles. Since that date it has had a roof
repaint to fix the ravages of thirty years'
passage of time, but the rest of it looks
particularly good as well and it's a pleasure to
travel on. RTLs are comparatively rare in
preservation, a large number having been sold to
Sri Lanka after their service ended in the
mid-1960s. Having emerged from Fairfield Road, it
is seen approaching the 8's first stop at Bow
Church. The 8 didn't actually terminate here at
all times until 1984, with buses having to make
their way from Old Ford along the dual
carriageway. |
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Captured in
just the right spot for comparison with the
almost identical RTL above is RT 1790 (KYY 628) from Memory
Lane. This bus was one of the last dozen RTs in
service and performed on the final day of that
class on route 62, 7th April 1979. That was a day
almost as epic as this one, but unlike today's
extravaganza the 62's service RTs only lasted
until midday, being subbed by the replacement RMs
as meal reliefs came due in mid-morning. |
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Unlike TfL,
Stagecoach appreciate the cultural and commercial
value of London's Routemasters and are only
selling two of Bow's final fleet of RMLs. The
rest are heading to Stagecoach's national
subsidiaries to serve as permanent classic buses,
for once allowing the provincials buses superior
to those that Londoners are lumbered with
nowadays! To speed that process, the first
example has been repainted in corporate livery
(dubbed 'beachball' for its colourfully rounded
appearance). Although originally intended to be
RML 2641, the pilot bus selected was RML 2665 (SMK 665F), a vehicle
with fewer bodywork repairs to attend to before
going into the spray booth. It looks like the
narrower London-width stencils at Leyton were
used (perhaps for the last time, as Trident
repaints now omit the swirls), and the red is LT
red rather than the orangey shade normally used.
I assume the blue cap at the front will be added
later to complete the job. Carrying its
traditional fleetnumber RML 2665 for one last day
before the application of national number 12665,
which will be appropriate only outside the
capital, the bus swings into Fairfield Road. |
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What I liked
about the 8's last day was the surprise factor.
Although enthusiasts were widely informed of what
was going to be out in general, there was always
the caveat that some buses might not be able to
make it. It was fun listening to compatriots
saying that such and such a bus wouldn't be out,
would it? and being able to reply to them that
yes, it would! In the event two of the buses that
people thought were early cancellations did make
it after all, as well as their replacements. The
only genuine omission, then, was Routemaster
coach RCL 2220 from Ensignbus, which was detached
at the last minute for Derby Day work with its
convertible roof off. I would have liked to have
seen that in service, but the replacement was
just as good in the shape of RT 4421 (NXP 775), yet another
"last day of RMs" veteran with its work
on the 23 in November. By this time I'd proceeded
to Bishopsgate and spent an hour and a half there
just bagging stuff as it came through the
junction at Camomile Street. |
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First
CentreWest joined in today with Westbourne Park's
superb RM 1650 (650 DYE), the
Marshall-refurbished Routemaster in Silver
Jubilee livery. It photographs particularly well
in these colours. It's only got a month left in
service itself as the 7 goes OPO early on 3rd
July, and by the time it appears at Routemaster
50 at Finsbury Park on 24th-25th July, will be
out of a job. The loss of the 7 will mean First
London loses crew operation completely, becoming
the second London company to suffer this fate. RM
1650 is also known as SRM 3 to recall the Jubilee
number carried in 1977. |
 |
No fewer than
three Routemaster coaches joined forces with
Bow's surviving RMLs, interloping crew-operated
Tridents and the myriad of other specials on the
8. This is the second special appearance on the 8
by RMC 1461 (461 CLT), the former
Upton Park bus having been loaned to Bow one
Sunday last summer for a day out. After its days
on the 15 ended it was donated by Stagecoach East
London to Cobham Bus Museum, whose officers were
in charge of it today. No bus has equalled the
standards of comfort provided by the RMCs and
RCLs even after forty years, and with the DDA it
is highly unlikely they will ever be allowed to. |
 |
Leyland Titan
T 1 had its moment on the 8 on 16th May, and for
most of the last three weeks ran as a regular 8.
It also worked on the last day, and so did T 2 (THX 402S) now owned by Blue
Triangle. Both Titans have been repainted into
the livery they wore when new in 1978, complete
with Multi-Ride stickers to recall yet another of
the abandoned experiments in fare collection.
It's sobering to reflect that all the work that
went into trying to devise a method of revenue
collection that would not impede bus speed has
been completely wasted, with TfL now happy to
disregard massive losses by fare evasion, content
that the shortfall would be made up by increasing
taxes. |
 |
With all these
specials working I've barely got round to
commemorating the ordinary workaday RMLs on the 8
out of Bow. Just such is RML 2748 (SMK 748F), seen with
balloons fixed to the wing mirrors. When
Stagecoach took over East London upon
privatisation of the LBL subsidiaries in 1994,
their decision to repaint their Routemasters with
traditional cream bands and give them proper gold
leaf fleetnumbers was widely praised. It's sad
that Stagecoach East London ended up the first
firm to lose their RMLs completely, as out of all
the new companies, they treated their buses the
best. Most of Bow's fleet had polished chrome
headlight rings like these seen here. Under the
bonnet, the watery howl of the Scania engine
represented the latest advances in engine
technology - in fact Bow's RMLs had been
re-engined twice, having first received Iveco
units in 1990. Further modifications added a
powerful compressor that emitted a unique
snuffling sound that was rather odd to
experience, but performance increased
considerably with drivers now able to wring an
improved turn of speed out of their old veterans. |
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This is
another bus that always photographs well -
Ensignbus's RT 3232 (KYY 961) in its
splendid blue and silver livery. In RT family
days prior to the arrival of RTWs on the 8,
Willesden operated RTs but Clay Hall was in an
engineering district that favoured Leylands and
thus ran RTLs. There is little to choose between
the two chassis, especially since the bodies were
designed to be interchangeable, but in the grand
scheme of things AECs were always kept for longer
than Leylands. |
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The second RMC
to appear on the 8 today was RMC 1456 (LFF 875, ex 456 CLT),
another former Upton Park charge based on the 15
until August 2003 and since sold into
preservation. The only trouble with the doored
configuration was that we weren't allowed to jump
off to photograph it again after riding it from
Bishopsgate to Bank, where the story picks up in
Part Two. This was the eighth scheduled special,
with plenty still to come. |
|
| A
helpful pamphlet was handed out on the day, full of
historical information about the 8. Routemaster operation
on the 8 spanned thirty-nine years, with RMs replacing
RTWs at Willesden garage (AC) on 1st January 1965 and at
Bow (BW) a month later. RTW operation had lasted since
1951 following the clearance by the Metropolitan Police
of 8-foot-wide buses to operate in central London. At
that time, of course, the 8 operated into town and out
again on an east-west axis. To the west, peak hour and
Sunday journeys could take it all the way out to
Alperton. Its western terminus was gradually retracted to
Willesden garage, but in the east had been going to Old
Ford for generations. Clay Hall (garage) closed on 11th
October 1959 when the A102(M) link road swallowed it up,
and Bow took over. AC and BW continued on the 8 together,
upgrading from RM to RML over the course of 1975, until
4th September 1982 when it became Bow's sole
responsibility and all workings west of Willesden garage
ceased. From 28th July 1984 the whole Old Ford service
was projected to Bow Church, with buses turning at last
in their own garage. The spread of Sunday OPO to the 8 on
16th January 1988 forced West Ham to take over on that
day of the week, as Bow only had a dozen Titans for the
old 10. The most important changes to the 8 came on 18th
July 1992 when the route's western arm was renumbered 98
and returned to Willesden garage, with the 8 being
diverted at Bond Street over the 25 to today's Victoria
terminus. Evening OPO was introduced on 1st July 1993
with Ts and Ss (later VAs and VNs, and later still TASs),
but the late rally of crew operation that accompanied the
return of Ken Livingstone, before his subversion,
restored RMLs all-day daily on 28th April 2001. Such was
the state of play as crew operation ticked down. The
prediction that the new Tridents would be ready early
(which didn't actually prove to be the case, owing to
TransBus going into liquidation) prompted the moving up
of the OPO conversion from 26th June to 5th June. In the
event TAs had to be loaned from Leyton until the balance
arrives from Wigan. Keep going to Part
Two, where
we proceed to Bank during the midday and afternoon, or
return to the Table of Contents.
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