The Big Red Bus - History of the Routemaster

much like the london black cab the aec route master took what was otherwise a humble mode of public transport and turned it into a national icon the big red bus being an immediate symbol of london and britain the root master is much more than just an iconic bus though but was also a marvel of simple but sturdy engineering being able to outlive many of its replacements and see continued use over 60 years after the first ones rolled into service the route master's tale begins with its pre-raw ancestor the aec regent 3 rt arguably the first of the traditional red london buses and was the last iteration of the bonnet design where the once protruding engine bay from the front was gradually integrated into the overall body shell the rt began production in 1938 but the original order for 338 units was cut back to 150 following the start of world war ii in september 1939 the rts having only entered service in june of that year but production would continue in 1946 allowing for the strong and practical design to replace the long neglected tram cars of central london swinging the balance in favor of regular diesel buses by the time construction resumed though the rt's design was now nearly a decade old and development of a replacement began in 1947 this new bus requiring increased fuel efficiency to suit the post-war rationing as well as being easier to build maintain and operate the new vehicle was originally conceived by aam durant and colin curtis with styling done by douglas scott who based their concept around the aforementioned parameters of efficiency practicality and ease of use giving rise to a 64-seat double-decker bus that was three-quarters of a ton lighter than the rt but could carry eight additional passengers intentions for the new bus were for it to allow replacement of the city's electric trolleybus system which by 1950 had become extremely care worn after years of wartime neglect and thus the capacity was increased in order to provide equal carriage to the largest of london's trolley buses the british united traction 6 axle while also providing greater flexibility and operational costs that differed only slightly from its electric counterpart now chris and the route master body construction was handed to park rural vehicles who employed the use of innovative lightweight aluminium panels derived from world war ii aircraft production to bypass the post-war steel rationing which had crippled many other car manufacturers while also pioneering the use of independent front suspension power steering a fully automatic gearbox and power hydraulic braking for a british bus making it incredibly nimble and responsive as opposed to the heavy sluggish buses of the past one feature of the bus derived from the rt was the vehicle's grounded center of gravity which meant that if the bus had to take a corner sharply it wouldn't tip over while power was originally derived from three power plants that depended on customer specification the aec av 590 9.6 liter engine the aec av 690 11.3 litre engine and the leyland o600 9.8 liter engine the output of which was approximately 110 to 130 horsepower these being supported by a series of four-speed automatic and semi-automatic gearboxes with air-operated pre-selection most importantly the route master like the rt was front engined allowing for it to be naturally aspirated to a traditional radiator manifold removing the fear of overheating if the vehicle was forced to stand still for extended periods in the heavy london congestion while also providing a fully flat floor for ease of passenger access with an open rear platform allowing for efficient boarding with ticket collectors usually stationed on the platform for revenue protection initially four prototypes were built and put into service between 1956 and 1958 for acceptance tests with each vehicle built by a different coach builder two from london transport's own works at chiswick one from weyman and the other from eastern coach works the wayman and easton coach examples being fitted with the leyland o600 9.8 liter engine the first prototype was displayed at the earl's court motor show in 1954 and received widespread acclaim for its superb design while during the same year the previous rt ended production in anticipation of the route master's introduction designations for the rootmaster came down to seven different variants the rm route master which was the standard design the rml routemaster long with an extended wheelbase the rmc routemaster coach which was specified for long distance journeys the rcl route master long coach a long wheelbase version of the rmc the rmf route master front entry a standard rm route master with front sliding doors a unique purchase by the northern general transport company of north east england the rma root master airline a specialist 70 mile an hour version built for british european airways on their transfer service from the west london air terminal in kensington to heathrow airport which also included forward sliding doors and was usually paired with a luggage trailer and the frm or front route master a unique rear-engined route master with forward sliding doors the single frm was a particular note as externally it could easily be mistaken for a leyland atlantean but due to the placement of the engine this created numerous teething problems that dispelled customer interest leaving this bus as the sole member of its class affectionately dubbed the fruit master the rootmaster officially entered service with london transport in february 1956 and quickly took influence over the public transport network in the city eventually displacing older designs such as the rt and the leyland titan by the 1970s as the concept of double decker buses became something of a novelty the big red london route master could immediately be associated with the eccentricity of the british people as well as maintaining an old world charm that was carried through the following decades helping to cement its position as the mainstay of london's public transport provision therefore the route master's place in the public consciousness was secured helped along by its famous appearances in series such as on the buses while drivers had nothing but praise for the vehicle's reliability and ease of use its road manners and handling being not too dissimilar to that of contemporary cars with power steering and a practical cab layout meaning that driving the bus wasn't a complex chore such was the success of the route master that it would go on to outlive many of its proposed replacements the most notable being the daimler fleet line known as the dms which entered service with london buses in 1971 but immediately faced criticism for its slow boarding times due to narrow doors and its tendency to overheat due to the positioning of the engine at the rear as unlike the naturally ventilated route masters the dms could only be accessed to a rear panel making cooling the engine troublesome all of them were withdrawn by 1983 after only 12 years of service their poor resale value meaning that most units languished at bus depots known as dms graveyards for nearly a decade by which time the abandoned units were so far deteriorated that in 1990 the graveyards were cleared and a majority of ex-london examples were scrapped 1975 saw the arrival of the metropolitan built as a joint venture between scania and metro camel wayman or mcw which was much more reliable than the dms but still failed to garner the same popularity as the routemaster with only 164 examples sold to london transport before they were all withdrawn in 1983. it wasn't until 1978 however that two designs came to pass that would truly challenge the route masters authority the mcw metro bus and the leyland titan b15 the metro bus was the successor to the metropolitan and saw widespread implementation due to low running costs and a more practical design while the titan took design cues from the highly popular leyland national single-decker bus and proved to be a huge success across london's network in the battle between the metro bus and the titan preference was made for the titan through political pressure resulting in major losses for mcw while the appearance of the new bosses saw earlier route master examples either retired or relegated to training duties meanwhile outside the capital the routemaster fought against a slew of younger competitors including the leyland atlantean the daimler fleet line and the metro bus compounded by a general drop in ridership numbers for bus services outside of london that saw widespread reductions for large fleets of vehicles by the mid-1980s most non-london route masters had either been retired or preserved while the rise of driver only operation thanks to front entry bus designs where the driver also doubled as the ticket collector meant that rear entry route masters quickly became non-standard aggravated by the collapse of aec in 1979 after it was taken over by volvo withdrawals truly began in earnest following the defeat of the greater london council in the house of lords over its subsidised fare scheme with major service reductions ensuing from september 1982 but rootmaster operations in london were allowed to resume thanks largely to the privatization of london transport in 1989 where in its formal realm was divided into 11 different sections that were open to franchises of these eight sections inherited fruit masters all of which had previously seen life extension practices implemented in 1987 due to the failure of the dms to replace the fleet in earnest while further life extension practices took place in 1992 with all but two vehicles being modified as such which included refreshing the interior and replacing the older aec engines with new units built by cummins throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s removal of root masters was still on the cards but there appeared to be no viable replacement in store that could match the vehicles for performance reliability and practicality eventually amid upcoming health and safety legislation as well as amendments to the disability discrimination act it was now imperative for london's route masters to be withdrawn to avoid being operated against government policy with the iconic open rear platform being the main point of contention regarding wheelchair access as new buses were fitted with hydraulics and low floor technology as the route master could not be retrofitted withdrawals began in august 2003 with route 15 having its route masters replaced by alexander alx 400 dennis tridens although the great irony is that rootmasters would return on the heritage route 15 between trafalgar square and tower gateway in some instances route masters were replaced by the controversial mercedes-benz citoro articulated buses but the latter proved highly unpopular among bus drivers as their incredible length meant they had difficulty navigating london's narrow streets compounded further by overheating problems that resulted in several vehicles catching fire withdrawn route masters being reintroduced to cover for citaros that had broken down rootmaster retirement continued throughout 2004. the end coming on december 9th 2005 at the last number 159 to brixton garage made its run through streets packed with crowds of well-wishers and fans bringing an end to 49 years of dedicated operations the dennis trident double decker now taking up the mantle of london's iconic big red bus preservation of the route masters however has seen hundreds of these vehicles remain on the road all over the world with 1280 of the 2876 vehicles produced known to still be in existence a survival rate of 44 such as the iconic nature of the routemaster that in 2012 the new route master was introduced in london to become the latest iconic red bus its styling cues and overall design having been taken from the timeless original at the end of the day while the route master is still just a bus its mixture of practicality performance innovative mechanics and design and its beautiful unmistakable lines mean that it went far beyond the utilitarian role envisaged by its designers back in 1947 the hype for the big red route master even over half a century after the first ones rolled out onto the streets of the old smoke refusing to let up you

Channel: Ruairidh MacVeigh

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Keywords: car, cars, automobile, auto, bus, truck, motor, motor vehicle, saloon, estate, compact, sports, roadster, transport, road, heritage, historic, AEC, AEC Routemaster, London, UK, London Transport, London Buses, Bus, Coach, RM, LT, Trolleybus, Tramcar, AEC Regent III RT, Regent III, RT, Double-Decker, New Routemaster, Boris Bus, United Kingdom, City of London, Great Britain, Red, Public Transport, Leyland Titan B15, Daimler DMS, MCW Metrobus, Scania Metropolitan, Dennis Trident, Mercedes Benz Citaro

Id: 6DHHu9Nj-i0

Length: 12min 6sec (726 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021