please empty your brain below
Poor DG, the one weekend you had booked and it _had_ to be then.

Still, 'tis only a load of old buses!

Enjoy your time away.

Bronchitikat | 12.07.14 - 9:40 a.m. | #

I'm going thanks to your prompt in the sidebar this week; shall report!

EskimoPie | 12.07.14 - 9:52 a.m. | #

" Free rides " so you haven't got to hand over any money !!, O damn you can't even if you wanted to, forgot.

Colininthailand | 12.07.14 - 12:39 p.m. | #

"in fifteen years' time" (2029) ...by then the first of the NB4L ("new Routemaster") buses will be retiring?!

E | 12.07.14 - 1:49 p.m. | #

I went along to Finsbury Park on Saturday morning. I took the number 4 bus from Waterloo as what better way to a bus event than by bus.On the top deck front seat were two gents in their late 50's who looked like bus types, I was right as they also got got off at Finsbury Park and made there way into the bus display.
Entering the park from Finsbury end, bus RM1 and RM2 were on display, then there was a gap where later in the morning RM3 appeared. Plenty of people taking photos and lots of stalls with bus stuff, including radiator grills!. Cups of tea were £1.50p so I gave them a miss.
Pleased to report there was no Boris Bus to be seen in the park.
After 1pm I got a number 4 bus to the Angel where I had had good roast lamb lunch, then a bus home.

John | 12.07.14 - 5:13 p.m. | #

the buses were lined up as far as the eye could see and then some, all the way from the Finsbury Park gate pretty well up to the Manor House Gate ... mostly red but some green, one bright blue, one in BEA colours, a black one (Ghost Bus Tours), and one with German number plates ... plenty of "men who bus" with their cameras obviously, and plenty of general public (like me) who haven't got a clue ... some of the buses were doing a stately circuit round the park

I took a few photos and will try to upload them to Flickr and put a link

for some obscure reason the gold bus was parked way up beside the Endymion Road entrance and hadn't joined the others

Caroline | 12.07.14 - 6:07 p.m. | #

I can confirm that the usual quotient of extra patience was required in order to get photos without too many people in the way. The groans, sighs and cries of "get out of the way" from so many photographers confirmed why I'm not really a fan of these sorts of rallies.

It was billed as the biggest collection of Routemasters in one place but they certainly weren't all in place by 1100 this morning and there was not quite as consistent a run of the low numbered RMs as there was for RM50. I'd be amazed if there were 140 of them there by Sat lunchtime when I headed off.

I certainly didn't see RM5 or RM6 despite them being billed for the shuttle bus X60. I did have a nice ride on Ensign's RCL2226 which was splendidly comfortable as it's to express / coach specification inside.

| 12.07.14 - 6:37 p.m. | #

Some pictures from when it was sunny this morning...
https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=rm60&ss=0&ct=0&mt=all&w=42486212%40N00&adv=1

Alistair | 12.07.14 - 6:49 p.m. | #

There were lots of old buses.

And old men writing down numbers. And ticking off lists. And muttering if they thought you were spoiling their view.

Worth an hour (maybe) if you are in the area but not worth giving up a weekend away. Unless you are a certain sort of sad transport geek.

There will be a few pics on my flickr stream in due course

Steve | Homepage | 12.07.14 - 7:23 p.m. | #

It looked as though it was one of the the largest gatherings of The Men Who Bus in 60 years. They took up the grandstand seats, ie the park benches, all along the line of parked buses and enjoyed the sight of the passing bus parade.

First aid facilities were available in case anyone got overcome by the sight of all the Routemasters and in case it was beyond the capabilities of the first aid team there was a coffin available.

The usual sales stands were there selling bus models, books and photos plus the added bonus of a few stands selling Routemaster spare parts in case you wanted to attempt to build your own RM in easy stages.

My photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mctumshie/sets/72157645598825856/

Andrew | Homepage | 12.07.14 - 9:19 p.m. | #

I'm with Caroline, here: a happy day and I couldn't find any negatives the way some have done.
I can't pretend to be >passionately< interested in buses (or any other kinds of public transport) but it was great to see so many all together in one place.
Another nice thing was to see a few (older) folks taking photos with 'film' cameras. Don't see that too often these days. Hmmm: it's only a guess but I'm thinking Caroline and I will probably have our pics on Flickr before they do.

rogerw | 12.07.14 - 9:31 p.m. | #

Here's the first couple of my pics: more to be uploaded asap
https://www.flickr.com/photos/32293736@N04/14451588510/

rogerw | 12.07.14 - 10:40 p.m. | #

I'm normally more of the train/funicular/transporter-bridge persuasion but I enjoyed it greatly. I used to ride on these buses all my childhood, and for me all you need is (1) round bulb illumination downstairs (2) wind-down windows at the front upstairs (3) that wugga-wugga sound. TfL's heritage RMs fail on 1 and 2, but today I was utterly spoilt for choice on all three. BTW I only knew this was happening via ianvisits.co.uk.

george | 12.07.14 - 11:43 p.m. | #

I have tried to miss out on a once a year event, that I had been looking forward to. Not funny.

Poul Thorsen | Homepage | 13.07.14 - 12:27 p.m. | #

Well, I've posted the rest of my pics but after doing a search on Flickr for "Routemaster 60" I'd have to say there are plenty of other people's pictures now up, which are way better than mine. (Oh well, I'll just have to go back in fifteen years' time and try to do it better next time)

rogerw | 13.07.14 - 1:35 p.m. | #











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