The London Routemaster has become a world wide symbol of the British double decker primarily due to its longevity, but also due to its strong design as the last large scale product designed by London Transport itself. Few were sold in the Provincial market, though after bus deregulation in 1986 several operators purchased them second hand (including Blackpool with our 521), using their conductor operation to speed boarding times where they were in competition with slower operators or just to take advantage of their iconic status.

Despite the widespread withdrawal of conductors in the UK, London retained them on many busy routes and several hundred Routemasters survived into the new millennium. All good things come to an end, and the move to cashless operation in London removed the speed of boarding benefits of Routemasters and the desire for a 100% low floor bus fleet finally saw plans for their replacement announced in 2003 and the remaining 20 routes were converted to modern buses between August 2003 and December 2005.

The vast majority of Routemasters released have gone to new homes. Many are preserved, others with private hire operators, several as promotional buses and many exported. Two of the longer batch have joined the LTT collection in the ownership of member Graham Oliver. Both are of the 30ft long RML variant, which became the standard in 1965, contrasting with the earlier 27ft long RM variant represented by 521, the one time RM1583.

RML2290 was outshopped in September 1965 and entered service in November at Tottenham before moving to Chalk Farm for the well known 24 route to Pimlico. London ’s major overhaul included separating the bus into its components and what emerged was generally an entirely different vehicle. New with body B2290 it emerged with B2270 (ex RML2270) from its first overhaul in August 1972 and is believed to retain that today.

RML2734 was one of the last batch (up to 2760) and entered service at Hanwell in November 1967. Its 1975 overhaul saw it receive body B2702 originally on RML2702. London Buses was privatised during the 1990s and as a prelude was split into operating companies which were then advertised for sale. RML2290 was at Putney depot which became part of the London General company used on the 14 and 22 route and RML2734 at Shepherd’s Bush became part of London United used on the 9 and 94. Both companies were sold in 1994.

By 1991 the AEC engines in the RMLs were becoming tired and with their maker long since closed, spare parts were in short supply. Various alternatives were tried to find replacements of comparable size to avoid modifications to the structure. Two types were adopted for squadron use – Iveco and Cummins, 2290 receiving the former, 2734 the latter. The interiors were upgraded with new moquette and flourcescent lighting in 1993/4, together with improvements to the external lighting. RML2734 has since had a further mechanical overhaul with a modern gearbox installed.

Our two RMLs continued in regular use until the decline of their type began. RML2734 ran on the last day of route 94 on 23 January 2004 but moved to the associated London Sovereign operation on route 13 running until shortly before the last day in October 2005.

During 2005 it was sold to Ensign bus and onto Graham Oliver. RML2290 survived at Putney until the last day 22 July 2005 when it ran on route 14 before also passing via Ensign to Graham. Both buses have had a full overhaul and are now back in 1970s style London livery. 

For more pictures of London Routemasters visit http://bobsroutemasterpage.fotopic.net