In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 22:20 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 23:50:56 +0000 (UTC), "Vauxhall Victot"
wrote:

Just drove past Tolworth bus garage, there seem to be a lot of
Routemasters parked there.

this is one of the place where redundant vehicles are being stored.
There are others at Tottenham Marshes which Arriva use as a store.
The ex route 73 buses went here until such as Ensigns and others
were ready to sell them on. I imagine a similar process will happen
with the route 159 vehicles in a couple of weeks time.

Those London operators who want to keep a small "commercial" fleet
have done so - First, Stagecoach, London United, Go Ahead. Arriva
are putting their's together now.

Does that mean that some RMLs will remain in London service then?
I've yet to see one on the heritage routes and even the 159 seems to
have a good few RMs now.

Only on the 9 and 15 heritage supplemental services. The 159's last
day is 9/12/05 with the special extra "last day" vehicles running on the
Thursday 8th. RMs will run on the 159 until the last day when they
will be progressively phased out during the day and replaced with the
new LFDDs. Not sure at what time the last RM journey will operate but
info will appear on the Route 159 page on www.lots.org.uk After that
there just the 10 in service on the 9 & 15.

Plus the 6 spares.

Those RMs that are retained by other operators are in their
commercial / private hire businesses. You may see RMs on rail
replacement services if Sullivan Buses are contracted to provide them.

But are any of the vehicles on the heritage routes RMLs (30') rather
than RMs (27'6")? I can't say I've seen any RMLs so far. There are still
a good few RMLs of the main batch that never left London in service on
the 159 but a number are RMs returned to London with new registration
marks.

--
Colin Rosenstiel