While
fighting tooth and nail for the heritage route or,
preferably, one or more Routemaster routes to be retained
intact, I think the best course of action is to save as
many of the surviving buses as we can and make sure they
go to good homes. Leading the way in this field, as they
have been doing for the last thirty years with previous
generations of London buses (actually, the generations
that came after the
Routemasters!), are Ensignbus. The company, based in
Purfleet, have been the main dealers for the majority of
Routemasters that have come out of service since the cull
began last year, and are proud of the fact that none of
them have been broken up for scrap.
It may have seemed as if anyone could stroll in and
purchase a classic London bus for whatever use (usually
they fancy their chances hiring it out for commercial
events such as weddings), but the company was keen that a
number should pass solely to genuine preservationists who
could prove they had the facilities to store them and
look after them properly. Thus came around the magic
£2000 figure (only offered under this scheme) that has
entered popular media parlance as the going rate for a
Routemaster, and that has inevitably led to a deluge of
calls by timewasters who would then be put off by the
more realistic price of four to five times that,
depending on condition and running units. The pool was
thus whittled down from an amazing 400 applicants to
today's 32, matching the number of years that Ensignbus
has been in business, and today they all gathered in the
Purfleet yard for the ultimate prize draw. It was even
better than the usual Routemaster-centred bus rally,
because 32 lucky visitors got to take an exhibit home
with them! |
 |
A City
Sightseeing open-top Olympian was placed in just
the right position for the visitors to photograph
today's sales stock from above while they
were all still gathered together in one place
prior to dispersal around the country. As can be
seen here, the vast majority of Routemasters sold
today were Cummins-engined, South
Yorkshire-refurbished RMLs retired from the 12 at
London Central's Camberwell garage on 5th
November, but the following photos will show some
of the other varieties. |
 |
Flanked by
former Camberwell RML 2583 (JJD 583D, left)
and RML 2554 (JJD 554D, right)
is RML 2380 (JJD 380D, centre),
one of four ex-Tottenham machines sold today. If
you thought all Routemasters looked alike, this
picture alone turns up multiple differences in
radiator chrome painting, front window fitments,
camera installations, route branding and the
extent to which the front windscreens had been
fixed shut with riveted plates. One common
feature to all the buses sold today was their
treatment to a custom-made radiator grille
triangle sticker reading 'Supplied by Ensignbus'
across the roundel crossbar. In addition, in the
windscreen of each bus was displayed a
meticulously researched history that would enable
their new owners to decide how they wanted to
present it in the future. |
 |
It was
entirely pot luck as to what bus you got if you
were one of the 32 on the list, but you could
swap if your heart had been set on a particular
vehicle. But whatever you got, it came with a
long history of service to the capital, a good
clean and sufficient repairs to bring it up to a
full year's MOT. All buses retained the blinds
with which they came out of service, which meant
mostly 12s (and its Carnival-only express
counterpart 12X), but two were ex-Brixton RMs
taken off the 137 after its OPO conversion on
10th July, and thus could show both that route
and the 159. Again, two ostensibly identical
short-wheelbase Routemasters belie a wealth of
differences, and since the bonnets of each are
up, it's immediately apparent that they have
different engines. RM 736 (XYJ 418, ex WLT 736, left)
is Cummins-engined, but only four years ago RM 1872 (ALD 872B, right)
received a Scania unit to replace the Iveco
engine that replaced its original AEC! RM 736's
body, B185, is one of the early batch that was
fitted with fixed windows from new, while RM 1872
was later cursed with the unattractive hopper
units that don't actually open at all! |
 |
Halfway
through unloading today's haul of digital camera
pictures I could proudly rename the prefix that I
use to sort them from 'Ensignbus' to 'Preserved'.
Seen here ready to leave for their new homes are
three more ex-Camberwell buses, RML 2273 (CUV 273C, left),
RML 2613 (NML 613E, centre)
and RML 2400 (JJD 400D, right).
Once again each bus has a story to tell that can
be interpreted as fit by the new owners - RML
2273 still retains its foglight cutout that was
not replaced when the bus was refurbished, while
RML 2613 spent a very short time a few years ago
as an all-over advertisement for Cadbury's. You
can see me sitting in RML 2613's cab,
photographed by the bus's new owners, whose
pedigree in bus preservation qualified them for
today's sale - they used to own MCW Metrobus M
67. |
|
| That
was enormously enjoyable! My sincere thanks go to the
Newman family for their hospitality and helpfulness and
for everyone else at Ensignbus who made us feel so
welcome. How I wish I could have driven my own
Routemaster home today - but I'm not sufficiently
licensed, nor could I scrape up two grand at the time of
the offer, and parking's not exactly plentiful where I
live (do you think it would be bad form to solicit
donations for the cause through this website? I wouldn't
be the first...). One of these days. |
The
full list of thirty-two buses taken home by happy new
owners is as follows:
Ex-Camberwell
(route 12): RM
541, RML 883, 2270, 2271, 2273, 2275, 2276, 2302, 2335,
2396, 2400, 2454, 2469, 2474, 2499, 2515, 2539, 2551,
2554, 2583, 2596, 2613, 2683, 2711, 2714.
Ex-Tottenham
(route 73): RML
2261, 2267, 2380, 2418.
Ex-Brixton
(route 137): RM
736, 1872. |
