PRESERVED BUSES & COACHES
| FLEET No | RT 8 |
| REG | FXT 183 |
| MAKE | AEC Regent III |
| MODEL | RT |
| YEAR | 1940 |
| BODY | London Transport, Chiswick |
| OWNER | Ensign Bus Transport Museum |
| HISTORY | Just before WWII,
London Transport introduced a new standard double decker bus - the
RT. The handful of buses produced before hostilities went into
service in 1939/1940. RT 8 was first registered and put into service
in 1940. After the war, the standard RT bus was put into full
production, and they replaced every older bus by the mid 1950s.
The few pre-war RTs were put to use for driver training in 1955, including RT 8. She was finally withdrawn from use in 1960, and was eventually sold to new owners in the USA. She went on display in the Museum of Transportation in St Louis in 1965, and stayed there for 40 years! In 2005 Ensign Bus purchased the vehicle from the museum and brought her back to the UK. There then followed several years of full restoration, but finally in the summer of 2010, she was back on the road in her wartime livery, including the white front mudguards which were needed during the black-outs of the blitz. A full history of the
bus can be found at: http://www.ticketslondon-online.biz/TransportMuseum/Museum_RT8.htm
|
| Above photos taken at: | Cobham London Bus Museum Spring Gathering at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey. |
| Taken: | 10th April 2011 |
Photographs © Mike Smith 2011
None to be reproduced elsewhere without permission
mjs@onlineweb.com