George Shillibeer Omnibus 150th anniversary buses
History[edit]
The commemorative buses were to be sponsored, so the prototype Routemaster RM2, by now assigned to Chiswick Works as an experimental bus, was painted first in January 1978, as a demonstrator. Also painted was the London Transport ex-Green Line / London Country RCL coach class Routemaster RCL2221, bought back by LT and converted in January 1979 to a mobile cinema and exhibition bus. [2]. The other buses were all normal service buses drawn from the red Central area, and comprised 12 RM class Routemaster buses (all in the CUV ---C registration series), and the DM class Daimler Fleetline DM2646 (reg. THX 646S), the last DM to be built. [3]
The official date of the 150th anniversary was 2 March 1979. The service buses were repainted in the two months before, most as they came out of overhaul, and then presented together in a ceremony at Guildhall, London, attended by Sir John Betjemin, the Poet Laureate. [4][5] They then went into service for the first time wearing the special livery the day after.
On 15 April 1979 in Hyde Park there was also a preserved bus rally and procession of the Omnibus liveried buses and horse buses. [6]
RM2 was repainted into LT red by June 1979. The service buses were all repainted back into red by February 1980, with some being repainted earlier, in November 1979. The cinema bus was repainted in a red & yellow scheme in 1981. Of the buses that survived into preservation, at least two have been restored to the Shillibeer livery, RM2186 and RM2208 but both have since been repainted into LT red again leaving Leyland Fleetline DMS2646 as the sole remaining representative to carry the 1979 Shillibeer livery.
In addition, at least one RML class Routemaster, RML2524 (reg. JJD 524D) was repainted into a version of this livery by Arriva London in its last two years of service from 2004 [7], passing into preservation in May 2005 still wearing the livery, into 2010. [8]Fleet details[edit]
Fleet No. | Registration | Fate |
---|---|---|
RM2 | SLT 57 | Preserved |
RM2130 | CUV 130C | Scrapped (June 1987) |
RM2142 | CUV 142C | Scrapped (July 1992) |
RM2153 | CUV 153C | Preserved? |
RM2155 | CUV 155C | Exported (Sri Lanka, 1988) |
RM2158 | CUV 158C | Exported (Sri Lanka, 1988) |
RM2160 | CUV 160C | Exported (Sri Lanka, 1988) |
RM2184 | CUV 184C | Scrapped (June 1987) |
RM2186 | CUV 186C | Preserved |
RM2191 | CUV 191C | Scrapped February 1989 |
RM2193 | CUV 193C | Exported (Japan, 1987) |
RM2204 | CUV 204C | Scrapped (October 1994) |
RM2208 | CUV 208C | Preserved |
RCL2221 | CUV 221C | Preserved |
DM2646 | THX 646S | Preserved |
In service[edit]
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RM2191, September 1979, Oxford Street (route 137)
In preservation[edit]
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RM2208, 18 April 2010, Manchester Museum of Transport London Bus Day
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RM2208, 18 April 2010, Manchester Museum of Transport London Bus Day
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RM2186, 8 December 2007, Regent's Park route 159 anniversary run
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RM2208, 22 July 2012, Newbury Bus & Coach Preservation Show