Blackpool Transport Routemasters

The municipal transport company Blackpool Transport, better known as the operator of the Blackpool Tramway, also operated a fleet of ex-London Transport Routemaster buses in the 1980s/90s.[1][2]

History

Blackpool Transport was one of many companies that took advantage of surplus Routemaster buses as they begun to be sold by London Transport when RM operated routes in London were being converted to one-man-operated bus types. The changes brought about by bus deregulation in Great Britain were due in 1986, meaning bus routes would now be opened up to competition. Blackpool and other operators saw the Routemaster as a competitive advantage in the expected new commercial environment, due to their conductor operation and rear open platform, leading to fast loading/unloading. Unusually at the time for provincial operators, Blackpool was also still using some rear platform buses, Leyland Titan PD3's, and were still using conductors, on routes 5, 14 and 22/22A.

In all, Blackpool owned 13 of the first Routemaster type to be built, the shorter RM class, all but 1 from the batch originally built with Leyland engines (most had AEC engines). It painted them in a version of their livery used in the 1930s, red and white with lining, with a London Transport inspired underlined Blackpool Transport fleetname. The company gave them fleetnumbers in the 500 series, painted black underneath the front cab window, while retaining their old London Transport RM numbers in white, in the traditional position on the side of the bonnet. The red/white livery had also been worn by PD3 507 for the tramway centenary in 1985, and was later applied to some PD3s again.

Before deregulation commenced, Blackpool took one bus first in January 1986, on a 3 month trial on hire from London Bus Sales, to assess the type. This was RM1583 (reg. 583 CLT), which they later numbered 521. In that year, the company bought 521 and 5 more RMs, arriving in April and May. Some entered service in their old London red paint schemes, being painted into the red/white livery later, the last by September. All went into use on the remaining conductor operated routes. In late 1986 as deregulation commenced, route 5 was withdrawn, and route 12 between the airport and the bus station (later extended to St. Annes.), was converted back to conductor operation, with all the Routemasters allocated to it. This was to compete with Flyde Transport (as Blue Buses), who used one-man-operation buses. The RMs were also sparingly used on the 5 and 14, and later the 9.

In 1988, 6 more RMs were bought, going into operation on the seafront service, the Beachcomber 55, a new summer only Promenade service from Starr Gate to Gynn Square, with the buses being stored in the off season. This service was route branded, but the red/white livery was a simplified version compared to the first 5 buses, but which was changed to the original within the year. The 55 was renumbered to the 40 for the 1989 season, with no branding, and was also extended to serve Pontin's Holiday Camp in 1990, with 522 wearing an allover advert for Pontins that summer. A final, 13th RM and with an AEC engine, 534 (reg. 123 CLT) was bought in November 1989, from Burton's Biscuits of Blackpool. It entered service in January 1990 retaining the allover advertising livery worn for Burton's.

The 13 bus fleet was by this time as follows:

(all bought from London Buses except RM1123, all with original registrations)

RM	No.	Reg.	New	Bought	Subsequent fate
RM0848 RM848	522	WLT 848	1961/07	1986/04	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 40)
RM0879 RM879	527	WLT 879	1962/01	1988	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 41)
RM1123 RM1123	534	123 CLT	1962/05	1989/11	Returned to Burtons Biscuits
RM1357 RM1357	528	357 CLT	1962/12	1988	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 34)
RM1583 RM1583	521	583 CLT	1963/05	1986/04	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 39)
RM1627 RM1627	523	627 DYE	1963/06	1986/04	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 38)
RM1640 RM1640	524	640 DYE	1963/06	1986/05	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 35)
RM1650 RM1650	525	650 DYE	1963/07	1986/04	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 37)
RM1735 RM1735	526	735 DYE	1963/10	1986	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 36)
RM1966 RM1966	529	ALD 966B	1964/07	1988/04	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 44)
RM1989 RM1989	530	ALD 989B	1964/08	1988/04	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 33)
RM2071 RM2071	531	ALM 71B	1964/11	1988/04	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 42)
RM2089 RM2089	533	ALM 89B	1964/11	1988	to the Reading Mainline fleet (No. 43)

With the RMs having already displaced the remaining PD3s in the fleet, when the company finally converted route 12 to one-man-operated types in December 1991, all the RMs were all downgraded to Summer only use, used in alternating years on the promenade service. The Burton's bus was never used again, stored until being sold back to Burton's in 1994. By the summer of 1995 Flydes ahd been taken over by Blackpool, route 40 was withdrawn and the remaining 12 RMs remained in store. Some saw further use on a Park & Ride service to Lytham Open Golf Championships in July 1996, and on the Zoo service (route 21) for the whole of 1996. During this time, the buses were renumbered in the 400 series, to accomodate Fylde vehicles.

By 1997, all of Blackpool's RMs were sold to Reading Mainline, ironically a new operator set up to use RMs to compete with a municipal operator, Reading Transport (with Blackpool painting them in Mainline's livery, also red/white, before leaving). Mainline operated 10 of the 12 Blackpool buses it bought, with 522 and 529 not being used. After the Mainline operation ceased, 8 went on to see further use in London after being refurbished and re-engined, ironically after a change in policy by Transport for London to use more RMs, leading to the buying back of many of those sold by LT earlier. Some of those survived the final loss of Routemasters in December 2005, to be used on the heritage routes, route 9 and route 15

Many of them also passed into preservation, with at least two in Blackpool livery:

• 521 was preserved by the Lancastrian Transport Trust in September 2003, having been used as a promotion bus by the Walkabout pub chain. After refurbishment/repanelling, it was restored to Blackpool livery by June 2004, and by November 2006 certified for public/private hire use. [3]
• 530 was painted in the 55 Beachcomber livery and appeared at events like Showbus 2006, but has since been repainted in London Transport colours.

Images

In Blackpool

• 
  (ex-London livery) 522 RM848 (reg. WLT 848), 1986, route 5A
• 
  528 RM1357 (reg. 357 CLT), April 1994, route 40

In preservation

• 
  RM1989 (reg. ALD 989B) preserved in Blackpool colours and wearing Route 55 blinds, at the Showbus 2006 rally