EFE Road announcement 20/7 - RMC

[Oldddudders]

"By appointment to narrow-gauge railways"!

[RThompson]

43 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

"By appointment to narrow-gauge railways"!

It certainly is Ian which fits in with the Bachmann range of Narrow gauge models.

 

RMC1490 will be at the Welshpool and Llanfair light railway operating a shuttle service on August 31st and September 1st 2024.

 

It's not at RM70 this weekend as it's doing a local private hire today.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Did you manage to convince Bachmann to consider a giant 6 wheel Olympian type thing Robert?!!

 

Mike.

[RThompson]

6 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Did you manage to convince Bachmann to consider a giant 6 wheel Olympian type thing Robert?!!

 

Mike.

 

There is a manufacturer called model1 (?) who does an accurate Hong Kong Leyland Olympian.

 

They didn't see it when visiting as it was at my other depot.

[The Stationmaster]

Not really into 'buses but as RMs were visible from my kitchen window  am ndour back garden when running for Reading Mainline a version in the Reading Mainline livery would be quite acceptable thank you.

[Oldddudders]

On 17/07/2024 at 20:24, wombatofludham said:

Not a fan of London's precious buses.

Any particular reason, apart from them being in London, a city often reviled by those from other parts of the UK?

 

The Routemaster was a considered distillation of engineering development over more than a decade before it hit the streets. And buying 2760 of the things does suggest it suited its purpose in a busy city. Its longevity also speaks volumes, not least borne out by the pathetically-short lifespans of later buses bought by LT off-the-peg due to political pressure. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

27 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Its longevity also speaks volumes,

 

Although, to be fair, they were a Trigger's Broom bus!

 

Mike.

[Oldddudders]

40 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Although, to be fair, they were a Trigger's Broom bus!

 

Mike.

LT's Aldenham Works (built on the intended site of the Northern Line depot for the stillborn Bushey Heath extension) had long had a method of swapping components liberally to get the bus back out there. In RT (Regent Three) days it was not unknown for a bus arriving for overhaul to apparently meet itself coming out pristine! And were railway works any different? My cursory examination of a Schools' motion at Sheffield Park some decades ago revealed parts from at least three classmates. 

[wombatofludham]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Any particular reason, apart from them being in London, a city often reviled by those from other parts of the UK?

 

The Routemaster was a considered distillation of engineering development over more than a decade before it hit the streets. And buying 2760 of the things does suggest it suited its purpose in a busy city. Its longevity also speaks volumes, not least borne out by the pathetically-short lifespans of later buses bought by LT off-the-peg due to political pressure. 

A number of reasons.

Firstly, there is no doubt the Routemaster was a pinnacle of half cab engineering but so was the much overlooked Midland Red D9, which had disc brakes (as built, later changed) simple rubber suspension and power assisted braking (although to be fair, fed off a pump that relied on engine revs to work, so when you needed the brake assist, faded as the engine went to idle!), plus was a lesson in simplicity and weight saving, as Midland Red were obsessed about making buses as light as possible to save money.  The Routemaster was a dead end though, being a half cab, and it is telling that the last Routemasters were entering service when the big cities were turning to front entrance rear engine buses, and making them work in areas which often had multiple peaks like the Black Country where there were up to four peak loading times due to shift patterns.  Bournemouth even took advantage of the Fleetline's flat floor to make step free buses for their elderly population. 

London has always claimed to be unique in traffic conditions yet places like Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool often had just as heavy traffic conditions yet made off the peg buses like the Daimler Fleetline and Leyland Atlantean work without the need for modification.  In fact the reason why LT couldn't make the DMS Fleetline work was their engineering processes at Aldenham which relied on the odd system where bodies got swapped with different mechanical bits, plus insisting on loads of additional features, like door interlocks and power steering, which were not fitted to standard Fleetlines and which were prone to failure.  Once removed and sold on second hand those self same DMS buses went on to become reliable purchases for many operators around the country including WMPTE, GMPTE and independents, so the fact everywhere else in the world (including Hong Kong who also bought ex-London DMS buses) made them work when LT just gave up on them as "too difficult" shows that it was LT who frankly were too precious and not the Fleetline.

Later buses, like the Metrobus (which became the standard West Midlands bus) and even off the peg Olympians worked fine in London, as do the current standard vehicles.  In fact some of the less reliable buses in London are the custom designed Borismaster hybrids which are undergoing a refurbishment and cost significantly more than an off the peg bus which is why the design is no longer in production.

[brushman47544]

On 20/07/2024 at 15:02, RThompson said:

RMC1490 will be at the Welshpool and Llanfair light railway operating a shuttle service on August 31st and September 1st 2024.

 

Would love to see RMC1490 repainted into the all-over white London and Manchester Assurance livery it carried when operating on my local route at the time 414 between West Croydon and Horsham out of Reigate garage. Then EFE could produce it as a model.

Edited July 22 by brushman47544

[Oldddudders]

49 minutes ago, brushman47544 said:

 

Would love to see RMC repainted into the all-over white  London and Manchester Assurance livery it carried when operating on my local route at the time 414 between West Croydon and Horsham out of Reigate garage. Then EFE could produce it as a model.

Sadly we had moved from Betchworth to Deepdene Vale by then, otherwise i might have seen it. The bus-stop by our gate was fare Stage 33 of 65 on the 414. 

[RThompson]

3 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Sadly we had moved from Betchworth to Deepdene Vale by then, otherwise i might have seen it. The bus-stop by our gate was fare Stage 33 of 65 on the 414. 

RMC1490 operated in all over advert at almost, if not, every London Country garage.

 

Its last garage before being bought back by LT was Chelsham which ironically, I have 2 buses 25 years apart that operated on route 403.

 

Tbh, it won't be going back to all over advert as I'm not keen on it plus don't think many people would hire it like that!

[brushman47544]

2 minutes ago, RThompson said:

RMC1490 operated in all over advert at almost, if not, every London Country garage.

 

Its last garage before being bought back by LT was Chelsham which ironically, I have 2 buses 25 years apart that operated on route 403.

 

Tbh, it won't be going back to all over advert as I'm not keen on it plus don't think many people would hire it like that!

RMC1490 certainly got around in that livery, or at least in one of the two versions of it. Probably only the garages still operating crewed double deckers. There was an AN in the same livery for OPO routes.

[RThompson]

For those who may be interested, the real RMC1490 will be participating for the first time in this years Imberbus on August 17th along with lots of RM's and other buses.