RMC 1469

RMC 1469 at North Weald, June 98. Photo: Ian Smith

I first saw RMC1469 at The Routemaster Association's rally at Chatham Dockyard in 1998. Its freshly painted Greenline livery looked good from a distance but a closer inspection revealed a very poor paint job, probably done in a hurry to make th bus more presentable for resale. Worse still, the interior had been radically modified and most of the seats had been removed. However I still thought it would make a viable preservation prospect providing that a set of original seat frames and luggage racks could be obtained. The following year the bus appeared as a new resident at the premises in which RM291 is kept and I was looking forward watching its restoration progress. Little did I know that fate would intervene and I'd be the one doing the restoration!

A couple of months later the bus was up for sale again so I made a silly offer, almost hoping that it would be rejected so that I wouldn't have to embark on yet another lengthy restoration job. My feelings were a mixture of delight and dismay (but mainly delight!) on hearing that my bid had been accepted. I'd just about finished RM291, and SMS 369 had been donated to the London Bus Preservation Trust so I'd have a bit of time on my hands, and of course the asking price was very tempting.
In any case I needed something new on my website.

I later learned that RMC 1469 had been converted into a training and recruitment bus by London United in 1988. Unfortunately this meant removal of most of the seating. An internal partition with door was added to each deck, various tables installed and the interior side panels clad in maroon Formica. Brown carpet was fitted upstairs while grey plastic flooring was used in the lower saloon. The bus was also wired for 240v mains electricity. Sometime after being sold in 1996 it was repainted (badly) in traditional Greenline livery but at least it looks fairly presentable. My first journey in the bus after acquisition was to Cobham Bus Museum to collect a set of RMC seat frames that had lain behind the museum building for many years. This was crucial to the whole project as RMC frames are very different to standard RM ones and consequently difficult to find. The first job will be the removal of the interior partitions and tables to get it looking more like a bus again. Serious restoration will commence after the 1999 rally season.

Ultimately the bus will be restored to its 1964 condition when it was used to try out various cosmetic alterations that were later to appear on the RCLs. Namely, deeper headlamp panels, LT triangle badge on radiator grill, registration plate mounted below the radiator and narrow heater grill. It was also fitted with an RCL style blind box at the front and was the first vehicle to be painted in the later style of Green Line livery but with unique fleetname arrangements.
The bus no longer carries the body that received these modifications, it was given to RMC 1502 during overhaul in 1967. That bus was scrapped so when restored, RMC 1469 will become unique again.

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