Routemaster in Scotland - Kelvin & Clydeside Part 2
Independent Transport Videos are
proud to present this archive video
presentation of the iconic AEC Routemaster bus running in service with Kelvin
Scottish, Clydeside Scottish and Stagecoach Magicbus. The video was shot by transport
photographer Malcolm King in the late 1980's and features the Routemasters running in service in and around
Glasgow. Malcolm now takes up the
story…
“It is early evening in Paisley
with the sun starting to set and we see a variety of Clydeside vehicles including the iconic Routemaster.
The following day I set out for Johnstone garage and film a selection of RMs
featuring details such as their names, RM fleet numbers and registration
plates. It was ‘Rodney
the Routemaster’, RM652 that brought about the
naming of the Routemasters with boys names beginning with the
letter "R", examples including ‘RUDYARD’, ‘ROY’ and ‘RUSSELL’.
Despite the boys names we see a young lady driver water RM550 before she
takes to the helm!
Clydebank was an ever popular place
to photograph and film buses with Routemasters operated by Kelvin Scottish on the
5/5A routes. In November and December
1985 two Routemasters were borrowed from Clydeside Scottish to see if crew operation
was viable. After the trials an order
for Routemasters was placed with London Buses Ltd.
and the rest is now history. A visit to
Greenock garage shows the number of former London RMs used to provide spares to
keep the fleet going. A closer look
reveals two Routemasters with the same registration, namely
830 DYE in the yard with adverts on the rear panel and then another 830 DYE in
the garage without rear adverts, very strange! At Old Kilpatrick I catch up with
RM371, ‘The Golden Retriever’ being brought into the yard for
photographs, whilst at the garage a painter is seen applying the new style
fleet name (K C B Kelvin Central Buses).
At
Paisley garage, Clydeside’s ‘Rodney the Routemaster’ gleams in the
sun. A farewell tour for these iconic buses took
place on the 11th February 1990. It is worthy of note that some of the
ClydesideRoutemasters carried a triangular grill badge
made for the company, comprising of the word Clydeside and the AEC
motif. Working alongside the
Bristol FLFs, we see RM54 out on training duties. We also see
RM17 had a note in the fares
cabinet on the platform that said “TA TA! everyone gone for
good”.
Withdrawn RMs being stored at most of the garages are seen awaiting
their fate. Despite all the doom and gloom we take another look at
other RMs in
service at Buchanan Street, Glasgow and at Clydebank, and a glimpse of
the
latter Kelvin livery of red and cream.
Plenty of action for you to enjoy.
Our final scene, however, is of VLT 28, this time it’s a Leyland Tiger
with Plaxton Paramount 3200 body leaving on ‘Routemaster’ service 24
for Paisley! A brief visit to the Magicbus depot in Glasgow
completes our
visit to Scotland”.
…So take your seat and enjoy this
nostalgic video presentation featuring the iconic Routemaster running in service many miles away
for its natural home in London!
|
|
| Filmed
: |
1980s & 1990s |
| |
|
| Duration
: |
95 minutes (approx). |
| |
|
| Price
: |
Within UK - £16 |
| |
Rest of world -
£18 |
| |
|
| Format
: |
DVD -R |
| |
Picture Aspect 4:3 |
| |
|
| Order
Ref : |
D195 |
