Routemasters Live On
The seven Routemasters
acquired in June 2015 by Henry Cooper Coaches are going through a
programme of refurbishment, with three already MOT'd and being used
on private hire. The seventh vehicle RM 1640 (640 DYE) which didn't
travel north with the other six, has finally reached the north east
and a start has been made by stripping out all of the seats for a
deep clean.
The general
refurbishment of the others has included fitment of new radiators, new stainless steel
exhausts, new hoses and stainless steel water pipes. The undersides
have been steam cleaned and painted silver and each vehicle has been
individually assessed for any extra work, for example RM1562 has
received a new staircase and RM 1218 has had the lower side panels
painted as a temporary measure, prior to eventually being
re-panelled. Both 1218 and 1562 have had new tyres and all vehicles dealt with have had oil changes.
Graham Greaves, owner
of Henry Cooper Coaches is a great fan of the RM. According to Graham
“They are a little bit of our history. There won't be any more
coming along so I'm prepared to invest in them in order to give them
the best chance of survival” He's particularly enthusiastic about
RM1562 which has a Cummins ISB engine and is therefore quite
sprightly compared to the others. He plans to keep this vehicle to
run alongside RM931 (MFF 580) which has been part of his fleet for some years
now. The long term plan is to eventually sell the remaining vehicles
but he's in no rush to do so. On 29th August Graham has work
for three of them and there's tremendous interest from potential
customers, with daily phone enquiries, especially now that two of the
vehicles have received eye catching pictures of London scenes on
their advertising panels. OK, the adverts might not suit the purists
or the rivet counters, but the buses look good and customers who hire
them are impressed. When it comes to selling the vehicles the adverts
can easily be removed and replaced with appropriate heritage style
adverts.
Focus Transport will
keep you updated of further progress. DG
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| RM1640 above and below, has now reached the north east and will now be assessed to find out what needs to be done |
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| RM1562 required a new staircase as part of the no expense spared treatment |
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| Destination blinds are on order and in the meantime temporary destinations are displayed using stick on black vinyl |
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| And finally...not a Routemaster. This is the number to dial if you fancy treating yourself. |
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ON THE NEW FOCUS FLICKR SITE:
Brain Bell recently visited the excellent Statfold Barn Railway situated near to Tamworth in Staffordshire.
Every so often this miniature railway 'set' is opened up to the public and Brian's photographic efforts at a special event for the 'Railway Magazine', can now be found in an album by clicking here
