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The 73 never
operated RTWs - perhaps something to do with
width restrictions, ironically - but today two of
them performed just fine. First across the busy
junction at Oxford Circus was Blue Triangle's RTW 75 (KGK 575), looking
immaculate. Just to show how the modern era
complements the classic era and vice versa, I'm
informed that replacement headlights for this bus
were purchased on Ebay! |
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Splendid full
blinds adorn RTW 467 (LLU 957) in the same
spot as RTW 75 a minute earlier. The standards of
blind displays peaked at the time of the RT
family and began a slow decline that has reached
a point at which passengers can no longer really
tell where the bus they need to take is going, or
via where, and at what exact time. |
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After spending
most of the day tracking the 73s, followed by the
390s and a quick check on the 9s, broken briefly
by a sit down and something to eat, all too soon
it was time for the end. After seeing the 9 off
from Hammersmith, I rushed back to Tottenham to
board RM 5 (VLT 5), running as
AR46, for the final route 73 round trip leaving
the garage at 23:50. Everybody else in the world
had had the same idea, so when it pulled into
Victoria an hour later I had to make sure I could
get back on it after having taken this picture!
This well-loved vehicle bore the honour of being
the oldest surviving London bus in service, and
the more poignant honour of being the last bus in
service with an AEC engine, bringing to an end a
great line that lasted ninety-two years from the
formation of the Associated Equipment Company,
the most famous and respected of all the
manufacturing concerns that ever built London's
buses. |
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RM 5 was
accompanied by two duplicates to carry the extra
crowds home ahead of it - Golden Jubilee RM 6 (VLT 6, left)
and RM 2217 (CUV 217C, right),
which arrived from Arriva London South towards
the end of the evening. RM 2217, the last short
example built, was the penultimate route 137
Routemaster on 9th July and remains licensed at
Brixton (BN) for the 159, while RM 6 was stood
down earlier in the year and is only used for
special occasions. At the close of play they were
lined up for pictures inside Tottenham garage,
with retiring and redundant staff saying their
last goodbyes to colleagues and buses alike. The
darkness doesn't do the shot justice, but thanks
are due to the garage staff for allowing us to
stand round the edge to take photographs. |
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The last one.
The scheduled 00:53 departure of RM 5 (VLT 5), with as many passengers
as could cram aboard, got going from from
Victoria at 01:07, with this most bittersweet of
phrases displayed in its rear blind box. Inside,
a party atmosphere was in full swing. Both lower
deck and upper deck was full of balloons and the
conductress (pictured by the bus as it stood in
Tottenham High Road, right at the end of the
final journey) was as cheerful as could be for
someone who was about to lose her job - she was
handing out Quality Street to the passengers!
This is not just about the buses, but the
livelihood of the good people that work on them,
and who through their hard work and cheerful,
helpful demeanour in a thoroughly unforgiving
environment have become part of London's culture.
The legal maximum payoff the sacked conductors
got for all that is derisory - just £405 for
each full year of service, and nothing if they
stayed to retrain as drivers.
As other route 73 RMLs sailed past out of
service, they were each met with a hearty cheer
and waves. They would not be returning home, but
to storage at Tottenham Marshes pending sale. At
1:15 am the 73's convoy met the last four 390s at
Marble Arch, and the photographers gathered there
cheered us through. After lingering at the Angel
so that the two duplicates could overtake and get
into position ahead of RM 5 (so that it could be
the proper last bus), the last 73s arrived at
Tottenham Swan at 2:20 am,
where even the locals drinking were interested
and saddened to see the 73's Routemasters go.
Along the way, people would jump on the platform,
hang on for a short distance and then jump
off again, just because they still could. As for
RM 5's future - it would have been nice if it
could return to Clapton and the 38, but its AEC
engine made it non-standard there following a
change in the fuel type used, hence the transfer
to Tottenham in the first place. After forty-five
years of sterling service, a proud retirement
beckons. |
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| Black
Friday marked the halfway point in the unwanted removal
of London's living transport heritage, of buses that are
just as good today as they were fifty years ago - in
fact, so much better than what we are lumbered with
nowadays. Commuters and travellers on the 73 are now
doomed to stand where once they sat, with no view out
where before they could sit upstairs, security will be
non-existent (I'm sorry, but CCTV does not qualify as a
deterrent) and anybody who wants to waltz on without
paying can do so as they please, reducing TfL's revenue
intake still further - and what a time for Ken
Livingstone to announce fare increases above the rate of
inflation. Don't think we don't know why that's needed. Thanks for the 73's superb
extravaganza go to Arriva London North and South,
Stagecoach East London, Blue Triangle, First London,
Ensignbus, Cobham Bus Museum, London's Transport Museum
and to the volunteer crews of the privately owned buses
that appeared. The roster of the 73's final day is as
follows:
Arriva
London South:
RM 6, 25, 2217; RML 2524.
Stagecoach
East London:
RML 2665.
Blue
Triangle: RTW
75.
First
London: RM 1650.
Ensignbus: RT
4421; RCL 2220.
Cobham
Bus Museum: RTL
139; RML 3.
London's
Transport Museum:
RM 1; FRM 1.
Privately
preserved: RTW
467; RM 613, 1000.
On
display at Tottenham but not used in service: RTL 453.
Return to part
one of the
73's swansong, go further back to explore the 390 or the 9, or start again at the Table
of Contents.
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