Routemaster coach RMA29 / RME1

English: Routemaster coach RME1 (ex-RMA29, ex-BEA3) (reg. KGJ 603D) was one of the batch of front entrance Routemasters built as express coaches for use by British European Airways (BEA). Also equipped with luggage trailers, they transported passengers from their Cromwell Road Air Terminal in Kensington to Heathrow Airport. Initially numbered BEA3, it was delivered to BEA in November 1966, wearing blue & white BEA livery, followed by a more striking orange one. Following the creation of British Airways, absorbing BEA, it received a darker blue & white BA livery. In June 1979 it was one of the last batch of these air buses bought by the owner of most other Routemasters built, London Transport, who renumbered it RMA29. With earlier batches of RMAs found to be unsuited to route service, RMA29 was one of the batch chosen for conversion for use in the training fleet. This necessitated the removal of the staircase, as its position behind the driver's cab meant the trainer/inspector had nowhere to sit (where they could observe the trainee). This conversion is identifiable by the change from a metal panel to a window in the offside bay behind the driver. It entered service as a trainer in LT red with white bullseye logo. By February 1988 it had been withdrawn and sold to Clydeside Scottish, who used it as a spares donor for their public transport Routemaster fleet. By 1990 it had passed to a dealer, who held it for two years before selling it to another dealer for scrapping. Instead of being scrapped however, it was bought by public transport and private hire operator Shaftesbury & District Motor Services Ltd, who set about an extensive rebuilding project which restored the staircase and extended the length of the bus. Using parts from standard Routemaster RM675, the bus was extended by the length of one standard bay. A staircase was re-added to the bus using a staircase taken from a modern bus, Clydeside 2000's fleetnumber 911, a Volvo Ailsa (reg. KSD 111W), which was withdrawn after catching fire in the Clyde Tunnel. The staircase was not added in the normal RMA position behind the driver however (with that position remaining a window since the LT trainer conversion) but in the middle of the bus, creating a unique layout for a Routemaster from the already rare front entrance types, identifiable from those now by a filled in panel in the middle of the offside. To reflect the rebuild efforts, the bus was renumbered RME1. Retained after the refurbishment is the rear tow-bar connection it used to tow luggage trailers as BEA3. It entered service for Shaftesbury & District in 2000, painted allover red but with multiple cream bands. Between October 2010 and July 2011 it was on long term hire to Verwoodbus, who used it in the same livery.

Shaftesbury & District

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  2010 Cobham bus rally
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