I lived in south africa , I can still remember seeing two RML,s coming down the road in a town in the old transvaal still in there London Transport livery . The whole road just seemed to stop still . I was so proud to see them . One things for sure Britain may of built the likes of the Rolls Royce but when it comes to a national british icon the Routemaster takes it all . It's a nation gem , and for me the greatest bus ever built . Long may they be seen by future generations.

Love it massive thankyou for this route master buses will never die classic and the best keep it up thanks KZread

I drove the Routemaster on London routes. 5 Becontree Heath - Waterloo 8 Bow Church - Willsden Garage. 25 Ilford - Victoria 69 Woolwich Ferry - Chingford Mount. And loved every minute of it. Then came OPO buses ( one person operated) or when it wasn't politically correct OMO. One man operated) And then it all went down hill. What great a bus the Routemaster is.

@robotmad

3 жыл бұрын

I used to travel on the 5 and 25 busses

@rabd9881

3 жыл бұрын

The routes have changed a lot since RMs. It’s now 5 Canning Town - Romford Market 8 Bow Church - Tottenham Court Road 25 Ilford - City Thameslink 69 Canning Town - Walthamstow Central

@ace-paidinfull5240

3 жыл бұрын

@ thats the garage id like to work from one day to drive the 52 and the 6 and the 98. And maybe one day the 7

My bus! I bought RML2650 from Ralph in 2011. Then toured the USA on it for a year and now live in Texas on my bus. Been looking for this documentary for several years, very happy it is now on youtube!

@robertp.wainman4094

3 жыл бұрын

How great!

A brilliant production and one I've not seen before. Makes me even more proud to own one of these fine pieces of engineering.

Amazing. From an ex Routemaster driver in California. (Yes, we DO still have a few RTs left here in Davis...!)

I went to Cyprus in 1958 and came back in 1959 and the trolley buses had gone and routemasters were in place and I was gobsmacked

To see a routemaster at le man is heartwarming

Brilliant bus fantastic heritage So proud of the routemaster London iconic bus

Thanks Bally! I loved those old trains too. Commuted for 3 years on the old EPBs. Used to like riding in the guards van at peak times!

A Tribute to a London Icon the Routemaster Bus

Ralph is a proper funny character 🤪🚌

I often thought about doing the same as Mark and applying to drive RMs again at Niagara Falls. Not sure that it would be the same buzz though as racing around London, with many incidents that wouldn't be out of place in 'On The Buses'.

Top blokem Eshan Goonesekera, bringing a little happiness wherever he goes!

Thanks for uploading, fun & interesting.

Good that a wedge of these buses survive. There is no way I could work in that scrap yard tearing them apart.

we have a couple on the street here in Dublin. lovely buses

In have seen a Routemaster working a tourist route as far south as Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina.

British engineering at its best never to be seen again

The Routemaster is one of those great success stories. The design, the practical use, maintenence, reliability and the love for this vehicle makes it the most enduring PSV in the world. Not like the crap today, although geared to modern laws such as DDA, it is a sad thing they don't run any more.

there's a dozen or more Routmasters in Halifax Nova Scotia

Fantastic..Quality not quantity!

LT had 2760 Routemasters, withdrawal in large numbers began in 1982, and over 2000 have been scrapped, the earliest being RM11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20. The last survivors in LT service were the final longer RMLs 2261-2760 plus just over 100 earlier short RMs. There were also a bit more opulent Greenline coaches for express routes to towns in the home counties being short RMC1453-1520 and long RCL2218-2260 but many were repainted red and used as ordinary buses.

Such a good film.

Such a fantastic bus, probably one of the most successful buses ever. They were part of my childhood growing up in Tottenham. Have a 1 24 scale model of an RML I am going to build and it will be no 41 to Tottenham Hale. Sorry a London bus has to be Red, a cab has to be black and Big Ben has to sound unique because it cracked. These things ARE LONDON.

@ABZBuses

8 жыл бұрын

+steven rowe To be honest i would say a bus like a dennis trident is more succsessful as its been in production 17 years and is still made to this day, only 2k route masters where ever made, where as 14K dennis tridents have been built and are still built to this day, more to note the routemaster was outdated even for its time. most of the double deck buses in the uk/honkong/north america are tridents even germany has a few. So technically the route master it no where near the most successful buses ever made as there was so little of them and they did not catch on as much outside London. I dont dislike them i just disagree with your statement.

@ABZBuses

8 жыл бұрын

+steven rowe to add to what i said above 14 thousand Olympians were built ( thats 12 thousand more than the routemaster) and they can also be found in every corner of the world.

Excellent

There is still some in London

Love it. When british goods were made to last and the did....quality not quantity. Smile please....your country needs you.......

Sydney has an RM and an RML. I was happy to hear the Sri Lankan one stl with a healthy sounding AEC power plant. Are any of the Niagra Falls units still AEC or Leyland powered? It's nice to see they keep a stash of parts for them. I hope they can keep the gearboxes going. They require specialised knowledge.

Very amazing

We have a Routemaster in Finland too. In the city of Kuopio

@busesinprofile2114

5 жыл бұрын

Finnish Wolfie what road

@TheWacoKid1963

4 жыл бұрын

There's one in Helsinki , But it's not an ex London Transport example

anyone else think the Swiss guy sounds a bit like Borat?

@FBI-wh9pj

3 жыл бұрын

Yess a rrroutemaster very nice

It's so heartbreaking to see The gorgeous London Routemaster being used in Canada. Equally very happy that these buses were not sent for scrap. The crazy thing is Man sends Man to the moon but sadly couldn't retrofit these buses to run cleaner.

@stephensaunders1845

4 жыл бұрын

The even crazier thing is that they were retrofitted, with Cummins and Iveco engines - and then withdrawn from service a few years later.

@pit_stop77

4 жыл бұрын

It wasn't just about clean engines. The buses needed to comply with disability legislation, and couldn't be adapted to carry wheelchairs., so had to go.....

@bf2404

4 жыл бұрын

@@pit_stop77 Fair Point. But I'm sure there was a better solution than getting rid of them IMO.

The Routemaster was wonderful, it never failed to make me smile... until I ended up paralysed and realised that it’s completely inaccessible to wheelchair users and those of us with physical disabilities (for whom the BendyBus worked quite well actually!) So whilst I understand the nostalgia, the past wasn’t always better.

the routemaster weren't just in London they were in service all over

There. Is one in Burton / Branston on trent

There was a couple stashed in our local chicken farm down here in North Dorset and other side of Shaftesbury were the two "Saddam-masters" for ages being a pair of charity event RM's heading to Iraq. Back in the 70's I had stacks of papers where I managed to spot virtually every Merlin, AEG, RT and RM in use in London including the green line ones and a saturday or sunday would see me lurking outside a bus garage or wandering in with permission from the foreman. I think it was an act of corporate self harm when they were abolished, instead of all that stupid money spent on new stock they should have refurbished these and kept them on.

That Sir was awsome :D (Routemaster enthesiast here was at Route master 60 too)

What a brilliant film. Built when we sold stuff around the world and AEC was a global brand. And loved the Barmy Army of Brits at Le Mans. "Back in the day" when I drove trucks across the Continent I drove down the Mulsanne Straight as it is a public road normally. (Its actually a curve btw). I was in my artic a couple of weeks before the race and had two Ferraris go past me at about 180 mph ... I read later they were 'tyre testing'! I also drove the rig round a part of Spa Francorchamps on my way to Malmedy as again its a public road normally. I thought I'd just drive up to Eau Rouge no bother. But halfway up the hill I realised it was a lot steeper than the TV shows. And why there is a side road that eases the slope! The old girl got up it OK. Nowt beats a Volvo F12.

@gary96397

3 жыл бұрын

A141 would piss all over an f12

@1chish

3 жыл бұрын

@@gary96397 Maybe. Depends on what gearbox it had. I owned a 141 after my very first owned truck a 110. The shift on a Volvo was a lot faster and had 16 speeds and you didn't get tennis elbow finding 1st / 5th in the 10 speed range change.

@gary96397

3 жыл бұрын

@@1chish 1st and 6th

@1chish

3 жыл бұрын

@@gary96397 D'UH .. yes of course my bad. But in my defence it was 35 years ago. The two remaining brain cells aren't talking to each other...

@gary96397

3 жыл бұрын

@@1chish lol...I drive for Richard king haulage, i would have loved to try middle east trucking...

What I wouldn’t give to have a fender or even an old panel from that scrapyard for my garage.

Good job

R.I.P :(

Great Fun to Drive with a 'crash double declutch gearbox".. Easy to change an engine in a day.. Takes three days in a bendy bus.. Up into to top gear, she will still accelerate from 10mph.. E.U. said bendy buses were safer, no bendy buses in London City 2020.. Great Buses for Crews + Passengers..

@kristinajendesen7111

3 жыл бұрын

You've got the wrong bus Tim, 'crash double declutch gearbox' is on a Bristol Loddeka. Quite a different beast but passed off as a Routemaster to those who are none the wiser. Routemasters have an automatic gearbox with manual overide. No clutch, just the gear selector directly below the left hand side of the steering wheel. They also had power steering and dual hydraulic brakes. We used to start off in 'automatic 2nd' which was also the top '4th' position, when it changed to third, we would push it forward to the '3rd' position manually so that it wouldn't change up too early. Get the most out of that gear then pull back into '4th' top. Run rings around modern buses if they were well maintained. We were only given an automatic PSV licence on London Transport and I had to upgrade mine to a manual on a 'crash double declutch gearbox' Loddeka when I joined Wilts & Dorset back in 1986. The fitters at my garage Westbourne Park (X) said that they could change an engine in half a day unlike two days for a Metro or Titan.

A shame about the picture distortion on this piece: Routemasters never looked like that!

Ive driven modern RMs or LTs as they are known as now on 76, 15, 11 & 453 Tottenham hale - waterloo Blackwall- Trafalgar sq Liverpool st - Fulham bdwy New cross - oxford circus

Thank you, Ken Livingston and your bendy bus. Enjoy your newts!

@wink1eafc774

8 жыл бұрын

Bendy buses didn't last long, There are none left on London's streets, They have all been sold on to airports over country, Bendy buses was a terrible idea for London...

@nigelcharlton-wright1747

8 жыл бұрын

They work very well in cities similar to New York or Vancouver were they have the grid system, but they always seem to hold up the traffic due to their balk, they also took up more room than a double-decker bus. Someone (who's parents came from southern Italy), I worked with taunted me back in 1989 about the crappy old British engines, on the London buses, I found out latter that they were on the AEC buses, have been replaced with wonderful new Italian Iveco ones. How comes that when I brought a Revell model kit of the AEC Routemaster bus, featured the option of fitting either an AEC or a Scania motor, and no mention of the wonderful Iveco engines was mentioned, thus they couldn't have cut the mustard. Ha!

@wink1eafc774

8 жыл бұрын

Nigel Charlton-Wright see the notion the routemaster was unreliable are untrue, speaking to mechanics who worked on them said they were reliable and if something went wrong it was an easy fix a fuel pump took 30 mins to replace , once a year everything was serviced regardless if it needed it or not

@nigelcharlton-wright1747

8 жыл бұрын

When I was young, living in London in the 1970's. LT was still running AEC Regents alongside the Routemaster, both these buses were meant to be replaced by the Daimler DMS and AEC Merlin/Swifts (which always seem to breakdown), both buses were withdrawn in the late '70's, whilst the Routemasters were still being used well into the 1990's. These were wonderful buses to travel on especially jumping on and off the rear platform, health and safety would rule this out of course. Pure magic!

@wink1eafc774

8 жыл бұрын

The routemaster was taken out of service in 05, and funny you mention aec swift im driving that saturday

Hello There my name is Mr Cannadine T. Boxill-Harris I was wondering, why couldn't you Rebuild a nice fresh shiny Scania N113, Leyland TL11, Volvo TD102KF, Cummins L10, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 6LX 4 Speed Leyland Hydra cyclic Automatic Alexander RH’s and Repaint them to a Grey Green Colour's just like the original Scania Grey Green's which were in the East London bus route's such as 24, 141, 168, 210, 275, 125, 173, 179, 167, 313 and also the bus route 103, if you guys would like to Rebuild about 187 of Those Scania N113, Leyland TL11, Volvo TD102KF, Cummins L10, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 6LX 4 Speed Leyland Hydra cyclic Automatic Alexander RH Buses please could you Repaint them in the Exact Grey Green Bus Colour's and put them on the London Bus Routes witch are the 341, N41, 34, 123, N29, 149, 221, N73, 121, 86, 30, 262, 147, 396, 41, 56 and N26 for all of us because it would be a Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Interesting Buses to see them Repainted to a Grey Green Colour's and I'am a Big Fan of all of those Scania N113, Leyland TL11, Volvo TD102KF, Cummins L10, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 6LX 4 Speed Leyland Hydra cyclic Automatic Alexander RH Buses Please?

Wonder if the bus company in Canada would sell any of there buses ?

People are buying them up and making a good living out of the router master hiring them out for weddings and parties, I count myself lucky I get the chance to drive Routemasters

9 buses to both ways is good build it now

I think that was the biggest mistake the London mayor made at least they were more reliable then thd modern buses are

Why couldn't they have used the new ones PLUS the marvelous old Routemasters?

@beardyface8492

2 жыл бұрын

Because the regulations require wheelchair access for busses in passenger service, & they're just not suitable even to be adapted for it. You *might* be able to use them for chartered excursions in the UK, but not as a service bus, they literally made it illegal.

one thing is a quarter other is divided people

Terry lack....are you related to me 😆

Swedish bloke sounds like Borat!

Years ago the BBC ran a series of bus programmes. It ran for one night and they called it bus night. Anyone know where I'll find it? I've been looking for these programmes for years.

@Jon-em4kc

4 жыл бұрын

May be worth asking BBC Archive on Facebook, its a fantastic resource.

18h18 : Versailles (Marché Notre-Dame) !

from 2021.03

Hardest spare part for a routemaster has to be the offside (left) wing, I've only ever seen one but it wasn't on a routemaster lol

@busnutta

4 жыл бұрын

Even harder is a genuine metal offside front wing! We fitted a new one on RM8 about 30 years ago!!

Good luck trying to get parts for these CLASSICS! The bending buses didn't last long. Cause they was losing money on them.

@7natcho

3 жыл бұрын

I'll second that . I was the only mechanic for a Tour company in Sault Ste Marie Ontario for 2 years . Parts and information was a daily struggle ! One bus the Leland diesel engine gave up so i converted it to a 351 Cleveland Ford truck engine and transmission . Our last Double Decker bus was a 1972 . Shortly after the purchase the rear differential gave up the ghost . I ended up salvaging a rear differential out of a MCI city bus and fitting it to the Double Decker . Everything was an absolute chore but i did enjoy the retrofitting making something work and fit where it wasn't meant to be .

@wheelie_1988

3 жыл бұрын

@@7natcho for these beauty's you'll need a actual double for.

@7natcho

3 жыл бұрын

@@wheelie_1988 A double ... double decker bus you mean ??

Sad

Can this be uploaded in the correct aspect ratio please?

i thought cliff had a RT

@alfiewhittaker3763

7 жыл бұрын

ahh i see

@hanskniezand2049

4 жыл бұрын

He did. Ralph and others are a bit confused. Summer Holiday and The Harry Potter film with the Knight Bus both used Regents.

yet another programme that thinks a Routemaster is in Summer Holiday sigh how many times it was an RT not the same bus please do your research

3 жыл бұрын

Correct

No 11 is good try build it is good bofh ways

@Off-roader-

4 жыл бұрын

Wtf

Interesting documentary. A bit gung ho.

The best London bus was WITHOUT DOUBT the RT - a much more iconic bus that the cheaply made Routemaster. Check it out for yourself and you will see the beauty of the RT and the cheapness of the RM - mind you, the buses that followed the RM were absolute junk.

@twoslices

7 жыл бұрын

Agreed, my favourite was the Leyland RTLs, as a kid I remember the sound of the engines screaming up the hill where I lived.

@alfiewhittaker3763

5 жыл бұрын

there is only one RT for sale in the world shes priced at £25,000

@hanskniezand2049

4 жыл бұрын

The RTs, Leyland Titans and others were the last of the dinosaurs. The RM was innovative and set the blueprint for modern buses. There was even a front entrance/rear engined prototype, which is now the standard layout all over the world.

and they're all pink

see good looking there I hop see sou good there

At least we know where the nazi gold went.

London red purple

Why destroy them? Give them away to museums for small price or something.. Penguins of Madagascar maybe king Julian for party's

@rabd9881

3 жыл бұрын

I guess you have the impression from watching this video all were scrapped, no. Some were retained for a heritage route, some given to tour bus companies, other bus companies and private owners all over the world, some were put into museums. Only a percentage of routemasters were scrapped

@FBI-wh9pj

3 жыл бұрын

@@rabd9881 ah okay good thanks mate

some London buses is broken is old make to new bus for London new one old ones out

@Off-roader-

4 жыл бұрын

Learn how to speak properly