Routemaster bus RM6

English: Routemaster bus RM6 (reg. VTL 6) was delivered to London Transport in May 1959. Unusually for a Routemaster RM6 has its original body, being specially arranged during its last overhaul in October 1984. (The Routemaster was one of the last types to be designed for an overhaul process where body/chassis were swapped during overhauls, due to the difference in time it took to refurbish them. The practice of swapping ended with the closure of Aldenham Works.) In 1991 it was re-engined (Iveco 8360) and refurbished. It saw continual use in London into the privatisation era, passing in 1994 into the fleet of Cowie South London (which later became Arriva London South). In its last year with London Buses it had been repainted into the special red & cream route branded livery for route 159, although with the requirement for all central London liveries to be 80%, these were repainted into a Cowie standard livery of red with a yellow band in 1996. By 1998 with Cowie becoming Arriva, this yellow band became white. In 1998 it designated the showbus of Brixton garage (code BN), being maintained in top condition for exhibitions and special events, and seeing just intermittent normal service. In April 2001 while being refurbished in Enfield, RM6 was one of several Routemasters now with private London operators (mainly Stagecoach, London General and Arriva examples) that again received new engines, this time from Scania. In March 2002 RM6 was one of the 50 London buses selected to be covered in gold vinyl to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Unlike the other buses however, in May this was replaced on RM6 with a permanent gold painted Jubilee livery. The livery intially used a white band and small white Arriva logo, alongside pruple round Jubilee logos. By September 2002 the Jubilee logos had been removed, the Arriva logo had increased in size with the circles painted purple and ARRIVA lettering still white, and the white band also changed to purple. In March 2004, RM6 was withdrawn from public service after the conversion of route 137 to conventional buses. It was then transferred to Arriva's special purposes fleet, with its gold livery being adjusted again to change the band and Arriva circle from purple to white. On 8 & 9 December 2005 it was one of the guest buses used for special journeys on route 159 on the last day of normal Routemaster operation in London. In 2006 it became one of the buses in the Arriva's The Heritage Fleet heritage private hire fleet.