Nick Larkin reports on a London celebration, the likes of which is unlikely to be repeated
Operators have been thanked for their part in a truly spectacular tribute to the legendary London Transport RT-type.
Around 50 examples attended RT80 in east London commemorating the 80th anniversary of the first bus in service and 40 years since the final examples of almost 7,000 in London service were withdrawn with major fanfare from London Transport’s Barking garage in 1979. [wlm_nonmember][…]
By subscribing you will benefit from:
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
The 30 March 2019 event was based at Barking garage, now operated by Stagecoach London, and Go-Ahead Blue Triangle’s Riverside depot. Highlight of the day was a convoy of RTs from Barking garage to the town centre, with some 35 buses taking part. There had also been a cavalcade 40 years ago and both processions were led by RT1, in private ownership and just restored in 1979, but now owned by the London Bus Museum.
RT624, (registration JXC432) and the last bus into the depot after operating the final service run in 1979, was also the last RT to enter Barking Garage during the 2019 event. This bus is now owned by Ensignbus, which provided four RTs, and had been specially renovated for the occasion.
A feature of the 1979 last day had been the gradual substitution of RTs for Routemasters during the afternoon, and this was replicated 40 years on by the appearance of RM1527, owned by Peter Comfort, which had been reunited with its original registration, 527CLT, on the morning of the 2019 event. The number was donated by Stagecoach in return for a donation to Macmillan. Depot staff were also collecting for the charity.
Routemaster RM7 (VLT7), which had been based at Barking in 1979, was present and the line-up also included Leyland-chassised RTL1256 (LYR788), which had been a Barking Garage bus when new.
RTs operated free services on their old routes, including the 62 Chadwell Heath to Barking and Creekmouth, and there was also a regular service from Baring garage to Riverside,
Special thanks were given by many to Roger Wright, formerly of Blue Triangle and now London Bus Company, who did manage to fulfil his ambition to provide no less than 20 RT family buses – 17 AEC examples plus two Leyland RTLs and a Leyland RTW 8ft-wide variant for the event.
“A lot of hard work went into preparing the buses and we had no major problems,” said Roger, who is offering some of the buses for sale. “This was a great event and I don’t think we’ll see anything like it ever again.”
RT80 organiser and treasurer of the London Bus Museum, Peter Osborne said: “We were pleased at how the event went overall and we are grateful to operators for their support; Stagecoach and Go-Ahead for us allowing us to use their premises, Roger Wright, Ensignbus and everyone who bought a vehicle.”
Tribute was also paid to the AEC Regal IV Metro-Cammell-bodied RF-type bus, which finished its London service on 30 March 1979, 700 of these having been built between 1951 and 1953.
When the final RTs left normal service no-one could have predicted that almost 40 years on they would be back on London’s streets during the tube strikes of 2018!
