TRANSPIRE SLIDESHOW 60:
Rodney visits Derbyshire
by Tony Wilson
Photographs by Tony Wilson except for one by Andrew Bagshaw.
Added to website 29 March 2010
Somewhat out of its comfort zone was East London Bus Group's
Routemaster RM 652, which visited North East Derbyshire on March 26/27 2010.
Still a genuine London bus as it works daily on route 15
through the centre of the Metropolis, it made reasonably short work of
Slack Hill on Saturday morning transporting family and friends to a
classic location in order to celebrate a significant birth date of one
George Watson.
Many will recall his days with East Midlands along with
the arrival and operation of Routemasters during the 1980s. He then
went on to establish a similar operation with Clydeside 2000
taking with him as the first operational Routemaster, RM 652. Like the
remainder this was named, in this case Rodney, about which a short
children's tale was published back in the mid-1980s.
Thus with George
residing locally and many wishing to celebrate the event, the original
'Rodney the Routemaster' travelled north from London on Friday,
performed the private hire on Saturday, returned to London late that
night and was back on duty in the Capital on Sunday morning.
The significance of the blind display (622 RENFREW FERRY) shows the route the bus first worked
in Glasgow whilst based at Inchinnan and back then sported a bright
red and yellow livery. The bus was later repatriated to London when
crew operation was made popular again by the then local government and
London Buses.
"Rodney the Routemaster" sticker attachment affixed between the decks
for the occasion. It operated in service in London on at least its first day back (28 March 2010) in
the same fashion.
For those unfamiliar with the Clydeside livery, the only known
Routemaster preserved in their livery, RM 835 is illustrated below in
Cumbrian surroundings at the Kirkby Stephen/Brough event last year.
And the photograph below that is evidence that it's not the first time that a Routemaster has visited
Chesterfield. RM 980 then with the United Counties subsidiary, was
placed on loan and operated in service over route 10, seen here in the
familiar surroundings of New Beetwell Street way back in April 1989.
Now look at this photograph (by Andrew Bagshaw) which has been on this website
HERE
for some time. This, too, is Rodney, this time in Mansfield, probably early 1991. But the registration is LDS 161A rather than WLT 652 as in the photograph at
the top of the page. Look below the picture for an explanation.
Here is Rodney's history:
RM652 WLT 652 new: 7/5RM5/7
4/61 WN into service on 127, 259, 269
6/65 WN to Aldenham overhaul
6/65 WN from overhaul
1966 WN
1967 WN
1980 in service from last bodyswap with B598
1/85 SF withdrawn
1985 with Clydeside for open day and trials
9/85 bought by Clydeside Scottish, #252
5/89 Western Scottish, #C47
LDS161A reregistered by Western Scottish & sold to PVS (Carlton)
11/90 bought by Mansfield & District, not used
4/91 bought for preservation, Chesterfield
1991 preserved: Mansfield Christmas shoppers for East Midlands
1992 preserved: Mansfield Christmas shoppers for East Midlands
9/93 repainted into Clydeside Scottish livery
WLT 652 11/93 loaned to Clydeside 2000 for brief Paisley-Glasgow fling
1996 preserved: Rodney the Routemaster
9/00 bought by LBSL for London refurbishment float
1/02 at Marshall's, Cambridge for refurbishment: rengined: new floor, interior lights, exterior lights, handrails, paint
3/02 CT allocated to Arriva London North (Clapton)
5/02 CT into service on 38
8/04 at Enfield for rear-end damage repair
10/05 CT withdrawn: returned to TfL
T into store (Leyton)
11/05 PD change store (Plumstead)
2/06 WA change store (Waterden Road)
3/06 WA into service
9/07 BW transfer (Bow)
7/08 BW repainted, red, white band, white numbers, bullseye
Notes from George Watson:
When I took Rodney back to Scotland (Clydeside 2000), I was able to
swap an RM reg for Rodney's which had moved onto a vehicle at Western.
I understand that a key reason for TfL keeping it in the heritage fleet was
the original registration.
(C)Tony Wilson and one photograph where stated (C)Andrew Bagshaw.
These photographs must not be copied without the permission of their
owners.