London Transport AEC Routemaster / Leyland O.600 wlt 506

[Fuckoffucuntisback]

That beautiful, distinctive sound of my favourite bus with that engine....many memories of riding the 253 (Holloway HT's allocation of Leyland RMs) from Stamford Hill to Warren Street and the back towards Aldgate. I would wait around at stamford Hill for a leyland to show up in either direction then cross the road to hop on the back> my favorite seat is in the video above. Loved the AEC engined ones too but the Leyland 0600 sound stole my heart forever....

[NoraCollins]

Yes, just listen to that gear change beween 0:14 and 0:18. Just as I remember it as a lad in the 70s. The refurbished ones never had any character...

[scorpia12345]

now this is a proppr rm rather than those REFURBISHED ones in london with the Dennis engine. My aunt used to drive the No. 19 bus in London and fell in love with these RM's and seems to have passed it down to me. We both love it when it is idling

[HORNEBEEDUBLO]

I agree with you that the sounds of the original Wilson (SCG) gearboxes were a main part of the Routemaster's character. However the casings of these had become porous and there were bad oil leaks from them. Faced with keeping around 600 Routemasters in frontline service, it was necessary to find an alternative, hence the 'Dartmasters' with the Cummins B series engine and Allison gearbox as used in the dennis Dart. Livingston & TfL bought back 50 RMs from around the UK and refurbished them.

[HORNEBEEDUBLO]

Around £20K was spent on each of these rebuilding them to a very high standard. Then there was the U turn and all the Routemasters in London except the heritage routes were retired. Around 600 powertrains were on the point of being ordered to convert all London's Routemasters, which I am sure would have been more preferable to Londoner's and tourists than the new off the peg buses they have now. I have been on 2 preserved 'Dartmasters'. I was very impressed with their performance and comfort.

[pielight]

There were definitely routemaster built with Leyland Engines fitted new including Northern General RMFs. The prototype RMF (RMF 1254) had AEC fitted but when it was later sold to NGT they replaced it with a Leyland unit to match the 50 strength fleet that they had by then acquired.

[radioianj]

Routemasters were all automatic gearboxed; you could change the selector manually if required. The original lump in them was AEC, as it was AEC Southall who built them.

[jaggass]

was the routemaster the first low floor bus? just think it had no steps you just jump on

[HORNEBEEDUBLO]

Around 595 London Routemasters were built with Leyland O.600 units as well as Northern General's 50.

[mrspivvy]

Thats unusual to have a leyland motor in a routemaster isnt it? thought they were AEC, iveco or cummins B series

[glenrea]

if my memory serves me right, they were sold originally with AEC engines, with the leyland as an option when AEC were purchased by Leyland. The Iveco & Cummins units were put in when the buses were refurbed my Marshall

[Robbie2612]

Did the routemaster have P.A.S. then?

[glenrea]

Don't know about when originally built, I know the reconditioned ones did, along with fully auto gearbox instead of the pre-select.