On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:35:18 +0100, "Tim Fenton"
wrote:


"Christopher A. Lee" wrote in message
.. .

I always thought of them as the Routemaster of the tube world!
I'd have said the RT. RMs were more the contemporaries of the 59 and 62
stock.

Mind you, the RT was still in production in 1954 (paradoxically, some of
these had OLD nnn numberplates).

This was actually a pre-war design - you could recognise the pre-war
from the post-war because the former had route-number boxes front and
back but the latter only had them at the front or not at all. We used
to see them occasionally on the local routes when I was a kid.

The pre-war vehicles were the 1RT and 2RT and ITYF they could be easily
distinguished by having a route number box above the top deck front windows.
The post war AEC chassis were 3RT, bodied by a variety of builders, but to
the same style.

Some of the post war RTs also had the route number box above the top
deck front windows. But the pre-war ones also had a similar box above
the top deck rear windows which none o fthe post war ones had.

Both the RT family (including RTL and RTW) and the RM family were long
lived, rugged and reliable vehicles many of which had an extended life
on provincial cities after withdrawal by London Transport.

Actually, many of the RTL and RTW (6RT and 7RT) got withdrawn at the end of
the 1960s and were cut up, which was a bit of a waste, but then there had
been over 4,000 built, and it wouldn't have been possible to find new owners
for all those. Leyland, as well as providing the chassis for these, also
built at least some of the bodies.

RMs were
the mainstay of of many of the independents athat sprung up after
deregulation.

There were two spells of RM operation in south Manchester, the second being
with an independent. The RM was a good vehicle for Wilmslow Road, but needed
a crew of two, and they were by now getting old.

I rode them in both Manchester and Glasgow, and saw them in other
cities.

In article
,
(1506) wrote:

My "London Period" was 1967 thru 1975. The only Red painted stock at
that time was the Standards and the 1938. 1938 Stock had much cleaner
lines. OTOH, the oval windows on some Standard Stock cars were very
easy on the eye.

No Standard stock cars had oval windows. Just one 1938 TS DM had them, an
experimental modification not repeated on other cars. The extension of the
door windows into the curve of the upper part of the doors on the same
experimental car (10306? - I've not at home to look it up) was repeated in
the 1967 and later TS, though.

My experience was only as a passenger/enthusiast. I never knew that
the 1938 stock was a maintenance headache. Who would have known?
They seemed so solid.

The compressors were never reliable. They were eventually replaced, I
think in the 1980s.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Stephen O'Connell) wrote:

Unreliable? Yet some of them are still operating on the Isle of Weight

s/Weight/Wight/

some 60 years after they were built! If that's unreliable, I hope I
still am at that age!!! :-)

Over 70 years!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Stephen O'Connell) wrote:

1506 wrote:
The 1938 tube train looked perfect. Although ISTR in service these
units ran with black roofs. The preserved one is all over red.

IIRC they were a darkish Grey. (Which could be black!) The roofs
certainly weren't red in my day anyway. However, that's only a
minor nitpick. They are lovely trains to see around, especialy in a
red livery. It brings back soooo many memories..

As I remember the 1938TS in my schooldays, the roofs were brown when
freshly painted. They were black only after years of grime.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:
In article ,
(Stephen O'Connell) wrote:

Unreliable? Yet some of them are still operating on the Isle of
Weight

s/Weight/Wight/

Wight wouldn't get through my spellchecker, and I wasn't going to pull
out an Atlas to check!

some 60 years after they were built! If that's unreliable, I hope I
still am at that age!!! :-)

Over 70 years!

Maths was never my strong point at school either! (Too much maths
debating, not enough maths studying!) :-)

In article ,
(Stephen O'Connell) wrote:

some 60 years after they were built! If that's unreliable, I hope I
still am at that age!!! :-)

Over 70 years!

Maths was never my strong point at school either! (Too much maths
debating, not enough maths studying!) :-)

That's not Maths. That's Arithmetic!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

MIG wrote:
On 9 June, 19:53, 1506 wrote:
On Jun 9, 10:56 am, "Stephen O'Connell" wrote:

1506 wrote:
The 1938 tube train looked perfect. Although ISTR in service these
units ran with black roofs. The preserved one is all over red.
IIRC they were a darkish Grey. (Which could be black!) The roofs
certainly weren't red in my day anyway.
That sounds about right.

However, that's only a minor
nitpick. They are lovely trains to see around, especialy in a red
livery. It brings back soooo many memories..
Indeed, I could not agree more. They were wonderful trains. They
almost define my years in London. Will there ever be another build of
subway trains as iconic?

They were the first large production run of tube sized trains that had
smooth roofs and all the equipment under the floors, avoiding the
messy look of the "standard" stock, so a real leap forward in design.

They even looked "modern" when they moved to the Isle of Wight - whereas
their predecessors, the standard stock, always looked old-fashioned
because of the clerestories.

Peter Beale

In message
"Tim Fenton" wrote:


"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...

I always thought of them as the Routemaster of the tube world!
I'd have said the RT. RMs were more the contemporaries of the 59 and 62
stock.

Mind you, the RT was still in production in 1954 (paradoxically, some of
these had OLD nnn numberplates).


I used to go to school on either OLD345 or OLD362, the latter was favourite
with us as the route was the 362.

--
Graeme Wall

This address not read, substitute trains for rail
Transport Miscellany at www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

In article ,
says...
In message
"Tim Fenton" wrote:


"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...

I always thought of them as the Routemaster of the tube world!
I'd have said the RT. RMs were more the contemporaries of the 59 and 62
stock.

Mind you, the RT was still in production in 1954 (paradoxically, some of
these had OLD nnn numberplates).


I used to go to school on either OLD345 or OLD362, the latter was favourite
with us as the route was the 362.


Don't think so, sir. Still have a 1962 ABC to hand which has no 300's.

The green ones were mainly 500's and 700's plus a few 600's and 800's.

Now my school ones were JXN33 to 41 when new!

In message
Jim Brittin [wake up to reply] wrote:

In article ,
says...
In message
"Tim Fenton" wrote:


"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...

I always thought of them as the Routemaster of the tube world!
I'd have said the RT. RMs were more the contemporaries of the 59 and
62 stock.

Mind you, the RT was still in production in 1954 (paradoxically, some
of these had OLD nnn numberplates).


I used to go to school on either OLD345 or OLD362, the latter was
favourite with us as the route was the 362.


Don't think so, sir. Still have a 1962 ABC to hand which has no 300's.

How about 1959? I distinctly remember those two numbers. They operated out
of High Wycombe. The 362 route went via Hazlemere to Amersham.


The green ones were mainly 500's and 700's plus a few 600's and 800's.

Now my school ones were JXN33 to 41 when new!

I defer to your venerability :-)

--
Graeme Wall

This address not read, substitute trains for rail
Transport Miscellany at www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail