Route 38 Goes Retro
To celebrate the hundreth anniversary of route 38, Arriva have been running some old buses on the route today. three Routemasters, an RTL, an RTW and a K type are taking part according to this press release from Arriva. All except the elderly K-Type will be accepting passengers. I managed to get some pictures this morning.
I’m not sure whether the RTL was the RTL and not the RTW. It certainly wasn’t the RT which was also rumoured to be taking part. I remember the RTL particularly well, as they worked the 298 from Oakwood to Southgate, when I was going to school at Minchenden.
The RT and its various sub-types can be considered to be London’s first modern bus and the Routemaster was the ultimate example of the front-engined rear-wheel drive bus. The Routemaster was built with an integral aluminium body and two sub-frames to hold the engine and the axles. It was 0.75 tonne lighter than the RT, despite carrying eight more passengers. No wonder it became a design classic, as the construction of some modern buses, is not as efficient as the sixty year old Routemaster.
Some Routemasters still operate on Heritage routes 9 and 15. Bookmakers don’t take bets on when they will, if ever, be retired.
The Anonymous Widower 
In an episode of Sherlock Holmes . . . I saw a double decker Horse Drawn Bus . . .
Some of these in say Hyde Park, would be a great tourist draw.
Comment by Steam Lover | June 17, 2012 |
Very few if any of the horse drawn buses still exist. Even the K-Type I saw yesterday may be the only serviceable one left. Before the K-Type, they were all wood and were easily disposed of by fire. Until the 1960s, we rarely put any buses, trams or trains into museums or even store. With 1960s Routemasters though, we have enough to run two routes across the centre of London. As to our 1960s High Speed Diesel Trains, they’re all still running at 100 mph, all the way from London to Penzance, Aberdeen and all points north and west.
Comment by AnonW | June 18, 2012 |
What about TAFE Apprentices building a few replicas of Double decker horse drawn Buses.
A great combined projects, with a useul outcome for tourists
Comment by Steam Lover | June 19, 2012 |
Knowing this country, if it would work they’d have done it, but there may be regulations against horse-drawn vehicles in Central London. Thirty or so years ago, Rothmans had a beautiful horse drawn delivery van, hauled by an identical pair of chestnut horses, with a driver and assistant, in morning dress, who were twins. I’ve not seen a horse in Central London for years, except for police, the military and Royal carriages. Although, a friend provided four Suffolk horses for the Lord Mayor’s show. Sounds like I need to do some research.
Comment by AnonW | June 19, 2012 |