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MaBSTOA 15
Age: 70 Joined: 27 Feb 2013 Posts: 1059
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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The three London Transport RTL double-deckers made a cross country trip to San Francisco from New York in 1952.
1. In the California rugged terrain... note the CHP cruiser way in the back.
2. The three double deckers on exhibit in San Francisco... note the White on the extreme left.
3. A British driver ready to go to work... note the NY state license plate.
Material borrowed from the San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2017 for educational purposes.
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Last edited by MaBSTOA 15 on Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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MaBSTOA 15
Age: 70 Joined: 27 Feb 2013 Posts: 1059
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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A London RTL shares the street with a Muni trolley
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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BLIMEY, MATE!
YOU'VE BLOODY WELL OUTDID YOURSELF WITH THESE BLOOMIN' SNAPS!!!!!!!!
In all the books on LT buses in my bus library (as well as all the photos I've found on the 'net) I have NEVER seen any of these photos before!!!!
These photos are a right rum go, guv'nor!
Note the "greatcoat" worn by the LT driver, as he climbed into his cab; such coats were issued by LT (beginning in the GENERAL days) into the 1960's, to new drivers (knee-length coats were worn during winter months)
Note how small the driver's door was; this might explain why, to date, I've yet to have seen a vintage photo showing a "chunky" LT driver!
Before enclosed cabs and windscreens became standard in the late 1920's/early 1930's, such greatcoats indeed came in QUITE handy will driving a bus in gloomy/foggy/rainy/snowy weather!
The first such coats were made available to GENERAL drivers in 1912; into the 1960's, LT crews were quite proud of their natty uniforms; however, as was the case here at home, full uniforms (including caps) began to fall out of favor, except for the grizzled old veterans still on the job, in later days.
Again, MANY THANKS for sharing these rare old photos!
Cheerio, Mate!
"NYO"
Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:17 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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.......I also really like the photo of the one "RT" under the streetcar wires in SF; In London, many bus routes had the double-deckers running beneath tram and trolleybus wires.
Like TARS and Washington DC, London tram routes utilized large sections of conduit trackage, the last were used in July, 1952, when the last trams ran.
The LT trolleybuses, however, lasted until in 1962....
"NYO"
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MaBSTOA 15
Age: 70 Joined: 27 Feb 2013 Posts: 1059
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!
You've made this old Anglophile VERY happy, indeed!
Ta!
"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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An outstanding book I strongly recommend to anyone interested in the "RT" is "THE RTL AND RTW CLASSES AFTER LONDON TRANSPORT", by John A. S. Hambley.
This excellent book is loaded with vintage photos, as well as tables denoting where the buses ended their days.
These classic London buses were, after retirement from LT, indeed "globe-trotters", with many ending their days in foreign lands far removed from Trafalagar Square and Piccadilly Circus.
Many also went on to further serve the public in other areas of Great Britain and in Scotland.
Your's Truly has a framed picture of himself (age 9!) patting the fender of a classic "RT" in Niagara Falls, while up on a weekend with his folks, back in 1966; I STILL have (framed) the souvenier ticket, as well as the plastic friction "RT" Mom bought me, before we boarded for a sightseeing tour....wonderful memories!
"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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........."RTL1307", one of the three "RT" buses sent on the North American tour in 1952, was later sold for for further service in Columbo, Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka)
In the aforementioned Hambley book, there are a number of colour photos showing ex-London "RT's" in service in Colombo*.
These buses HAD to be built TOUGH to take the punishment that awaited them in Ceylon; these once-proud buses now carried the scars of many battles, missing bonnet (hood) sections, amputated mudguards (fenders), not to mention sizeable dents and rips in the roofs.
Most of these buses looked like scrapyard refugees (I'm being kind, here!); to look at one, lumbering along, while leaning to one side, jammed full on both decks, and STILL rolling, really made you think of just how TOUGH these old buses were built.
Sadly, eerily echoing the fate of most of our iconic "Redbird" subway cars, most, if not all, of the ex-London "RT's" in Colombo were later dumped into the ocean, to become artificial reefs.
"NYO"
*Most of these stalwart, ex-London buses remained double-deckers in Colombo; however, several were converted to single-deckers, which made them resemble the old single-deck "T" type buses/coaches, operated into the 1950's by LT and GREEN LINE......
Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Wed Nov 17, 2021 12:19 am; edited 3 times in total |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2021 12:05 am Post subject: |
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"SIXTY YEARS OF LONDON'S 'RT' FAMILY"* (from 1999)
www.countrybus.org/RT/RT60.htm#top
*(This a beautiful and colourful "gallery" of handsomely restored "RT" buses, complete with reproductions of the colorful advertisements they once displayed, decades ago)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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A number of interesting double-decker/single-decker buses are on this page*, including some other interesting means of transport (including railways)....
www.classicbuses.co.uk/lanka.html
*The vintage bus shown as the website logo at the top of the page is a three-axle "LTC" type; the basic "T"- type was used by LT, GREEN LINE, and many other British operators from the 1930's through the 1950's.....
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22662 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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LT's "postwar "TD" Class single-deckers were virtually indentical (with some variations) to their prewar "T" cousins, which dated back to the 1930's.
Like the "RT's" of that era, these buses also utilized the traditional British "half cab"
These distinctive buses were replaced by new "RF" Class buses in the early 1960's; thankfully, several of these historic buses are preserved today.
Some "T"/"TD" Class buses, upon retirement, found themselves again serving the public in far-away places......
www.classicbuses.co.uk/TD.html
See also:
https://www.londonbusmuseum.com *
*This museum shows a healthy respect for public transport's rich history (very much a given in Great Britain for decades); imagine a similar bus museum here in "Noo Yawk".....
"NYO"
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