Last Years of the London Routemaster

Last Years of the London Routemaster PDF Author: Matthew Wharmby
Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 139906195X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
The last decade of Routemaster bus operation in London saw over seven hundred surviving RMs and RMLs divided between several new companies following the privatization of London Buses Ltd’s subsidiaries in 1994. Now operating their existing twenty routes under contract to LRT (renamed TfL in 2000), Centrewest, Metroline, MTL London Northern, Leaside Buses, Stagecoach East London, South London, London Central, London General and London United all adopted their own predominantly red liveries, but by the turn of the century these firms had clustered in pairs and generally sold out to the emerging big corporate groups. Two independents, BTS and Kentish Bus, had also won a Routemaster route each and were similarly brought under the control of larger parents. In this photographic archive, each company’s last Routemaster-operating decade is outlined in detail up to when each route was converted to OPO one by one between 29 August 2003 and 9 December 2005. The two heritage routes are then explored all the way up to their own end in 2019.

Last Years of the London Routemaster

Last Years of the London Routemaster PDF Author: Matthew Wharmby
Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 139906195X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 365

Get Book Here

Book Description
The last decade of Routemaster bus operation in London saw over seven hundred surviving RMs and RMLs divided between several new companies following the privatization of London Buses Ltd’s subsidiaries in 1994. Now operating their existing twenty routes under contract to LRT (renamed TfL in 2000), Centrewest, Metroline, MTL London Northern, Leaside Buses, Stagecoach East London, South London, London Central, London General and London United all adopted their own predominantly red liveries, but by the turn of the century these firms had clustered in pairs and generally sold out to the emerging big corporate groups. Two independents, BTS and Kentish Bus, had also won a Routemaster route each and were similarly brought under the control of larger parents. In this photographic archive, each company’s last Routemaster-operating decade is outlined in detail up to when each route was converted to OPO one by one between 29 August 2003 and 9 December 2005. The two heritage routes are then explored all the way up to their own end in 2019.

London's New Routemaster

London's New Routemaster PDF Author: Tony Lewin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781858946245
Category : Routemaster buses
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Few things are as synonomous with London as its famous red buses, thousands of which carry millions of passengers a year on hundreds of separate routes. Yet since the withdrawl from service of the much loved Routemaster in the mid-2000s, noe of its replacements has succeeded in generating the same kind of affection among the travelling public. Now, however, the stylish, Thomas Hetherwick-designed New Routemaster looks set to recapture the imagination of Londoners and visitors alike. This book tells the story of the New Routemaster.

The Bus We Loved

The Bus We Loved PDF Author: Travis Elborough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Published to coincide with the withdrawal of the last Routemaster bus in London

RM70 – Seventy Years of a London Icon

RM70 – Seventy Years of a London Icon PDF Author: Malcolm Batten
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1398123625
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Malcolm Batten illustrates the story of the Routemaster, instantly recognisable as the typical London bus, as it celebrates its seventy-year anniversary in 2024.

All Aboard the London Bus

All Aboard the London Bus PDF Author: Patricia Toht
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
ISBN: 0711281084
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description
Come! Board the London Bus and see the London sights with us. At any time, hop off, explore! Then climb back on, and ride some more… As a family of four spend a day exploring London, fun, child-friendly poems introduce readers to our wonderful capital city, and all its secrets. Well-known landmarks like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the London Eye, plus inescapable features like rain and taking tea, all get Patty Toht's witty treatment. Non-fiction facts provide more information about the poetry subjects, while rising star Sam Usher brings them to life with his signature style and humour. This gorgeous celebration of London will be loved by both tourists and those who call the city home.

Routemaster Bus

Routemaster Bus PDF Author: Andrew Morgan
Publisher: Haynes Publishing UK
ISBN: 9781844259380
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Routemaster bus – instantly recognizable as the classic red double-decker London Transport bus – is a British icon, and a symbol unmistakably associated with London. Now the Routemaster receives the famous Haynes Manual treatment. This book provides a unique perspective on owning, restoring and operating a Routemaster, as well as an insight into the design, development and anatomy of this remarkably resilient machine, which saw continuous service in London for over 45 years.

The London Bendy Bus

The London Bendy Bus PDF Author: Matthew Wharmby
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473869439
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Between 2002 and 2006 six of Londons bus companies put into service 390 articulated bendy buses on twelve routes for transport in London.rnrnDuring what turned out to be a foreshortened nine years in service, the Mercedes-Benz Citaro G buses familiar on the continent and worldwide earned an unenviable reputation in London; according to who you read and who you believed, they caught fire at the drop of a hat, they maimed cyclists, they drained revenue from the system due to their susceptibility to fare evasion, they transported already long-suffering passengers in standing crush loads like cattle and they contributed to the extinction of the Routemaster from frontline service. In short, it was often referred to as the bus we hated.rnrnThis account is an attempt by a long-time detractor of the bendy buses to set the vehicles in their proper context not quite to rehabilitate them, but to be as fair as is possible towards a mode of transport which felt about as un-British as could be.

London Transport's Last Buses

London Transport's Last Buses PDF Author: Matthew Wharmby
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473869706
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
The Olympian was Leyland's answer to the competition that was threatening to take custom away from its second-generation OMO double-deck products. Simpler than the London Transportcentric Titan but, unlike that integral model, able to respond to the market by being offered as a chassis for bodying by the bodybuilder of the customer's choice, the Olympian was an immediate success and soon replaced both the Atlantean and Bristol VRT as the standard double-decker of the NBC. It wasn't until 1984 that London Transport itself dabbled with the model, taking three for evaluation alongside trios of contemporary double-deckers.The resulting L class spawned an order for 260 more in 1986, featuring accessibility advancements developed by LT in concert with the Ogle design consultancy, but the rapid changes engulfing the organisation meant that no more were ordered. During the 1990s company ownerships shifted repeatedly as the ethos of competition gave way to the cold reality of big business, an unstable situation which even saw London's bus operations broken up.The L class was split between three new companies, but the backlog of older vehicles to replace once corporate interests released funding ensured the buses up to a further decade in service. Finally, as low-floor buses swept into the capital at the turn of the century, Olympian operation at last declined, and the final examples operated early in 2006.This profusely illustrated book describes the diversity of liveries, ownerships and deployments that characterised the London Leyland Olympians' two decades of service.

London Buses in the 1970s

London Buses in the 1970s PDF Author: Jim Blake
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473887224
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Using photographs from Jim Blake's extensive archives, this book examines the turbulent period in the history of London's buses immediately after London Transport lost its Country Buses and Green Line Coaches to the recently-formed National Bus Company, under their new subsidiary company, London Country Bus Services Ltd.The new entity inherited a largely elderly fleet of buses from London Transport, notably almost 500 RT-class AEC Regent double-deckers, of which replacement was already under way in the shape of new AEC MB and SM class Swift single-deckers.London Transport itself was in the throes of replacing a much larger fleet of these. At the time of the split, it was already apparent that the 36ft-long MB class single-deckers were not suitable for London conditions, particularly in negotiating suburban streets cluttered with cars, and were also mechanically unreliable. The shorter SM class superseded them but they were equally unreliable. January 1971 saw the appearance of London Transport's first purpose-built one-man operated double-decker, the DMS class. All manner of problems plagued these, too.Both operators were also plagued with a shortage of spare parts for their vehicles, made worse by the three-day week imposed by the Heath regime in 1973-4. London Transport and London Country were still closely related, with the latter's buses continuing to be overhauled at LT's Aldenham Works. Such were the problems with the MB, SM, and DMS types that LT not only had to resurrect elderly RTs to keep services going, but even repurchased some from London Country! In turn, the latter operator hired a number of MB-types from LT, now abandoned as useless, from 1974 onwards in an effort to cover their own vehicle shortages. Things looked bleak for both operators in the mid-1970s.This book contains a variety of interesting and often unusual photographs illustrating all of this, most of which have never been published before.

East London Buses: 1990s

East London Buses: 1990s PDF Author: Malcolm Batten
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445680408
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Malcolm Batten offers a highly illustrated range of photographs looking at East London buses in the 1990s.