So I see they finally got rid of the last of those bendy buses. There don’t seem to be all that many mourners.
I think part of the problem was that nobody realised quite how nostalgic Londoners got about the old Routemasters. They were a design classic and very much part of the scenery. Old-fashioned, yes, and not without faults of their own, but much beloved. Not that they’ve exactly vanished – they still work a couple of tourist routes and there have been no shortage of private firms to snap them up. But I digress.
The thing with the Routemasters was that, like the classic FX4 taxi, they were designed in consultation with drivers using the routes. They were, in a very literal sense, a bus for London. The bendy buses were not – they were off-the-peg vehicles used all over the world, from Germany to Japan to Mexico.
The bendy buses, or Mercedes-Benz Citaros to give them their proper name, were therefore not universally popular with drivers. Problems with visibility due to the length of the vehicle and reflections in the windscreen were reported. The length of the vehicle also meant that they had a tendency to foul crossings and junctions (this, incidentally, was my personal beef with them). Cyclists were perceived as being at risk from the lack of driver visibility. What also caused a certain amount of jeering in the early days was a fire aboard one of the buses en route to its new home, resulting in the nickname ‘Chariots of Fire.’ When Boris Johnson was standing for the Mayoral election, one of his promises was that he would get rid of the bendy buses and come up with a more appropriate successor to the Routemaster. A friend of mine went so far as to actually decry the bendy buses as “the Devil’s work,” which I think is perhaps a bit harsh.
However, I do wonder if the Citaros are a bus more sinned against than sinning. There has, for instance, never actually been an instance of a cyclist being killed by a bendy bus, despite Boris’ slightly showboating implications to the contrary. While it’s true that in terms of actual numbers, the bendy buses have been involved in more accidents than any other model, they are also used on more routes than any other individual model. The fire does not appear to have been caused by any fault inherent to the bendy buses and was in fact a one-off.
And the bendy buses did have certain advantages. They were roomier than your average double decker (they could hold 120 to a present-day double decker’s 85). And all of that space was downstairs, great if for whatever reason you couldn’t negotiate the stairs. Along those lines, they had disabled access, unlike their predecessor.
They were also popular for rather less orthodox reasons. One of the major reasons for their withdrawal was that they were a godsend to fare dodgers – one could board via the centre entrance. Transport for London as a result had to take on 150 extra ticket inspectors (I refuse to use the term “Revenue Protection Officer”), and there were plenty of reports of people getting shirty when told that actually, they were supposed to pay for this journey. A strange use for the bendy buses I learnt about today was by the Capital’s homeless. The night buses provided a measure of warmth and comfort, unofficially for free. Actually, a friend of mine once spent a week sleeping rough on the 24-hour non-articulated 285, so it is possible even if you don’t have a bendy bus. Just putting that out there. Not that I’m advising anything illegal.
Boris has been noticeably reticent about the cost of replacing the 10-year-old bendy buses with new models, and frankly I suspect the decision to get rid of them was populist first and practical second. Nevertheless, the bendy buses are finding new homes in other cities, where perhaps they’ll be a lot happier.
It’s a London Underground Saturday! Woo! Yeah! (exposes breasts)
Now you’ve had time to calm down, I’ll explain why I have declared this momentous occasion. Today was an open weekend at Upminster Depot on the District Line. Upminster is Terra Incognita as far as I’m concerned. Well, the District Line already has termini at Kensington Olympia, High Street Kensington, Wimbledon, Richmond and Ealing Broadway. I mean, I can’t visit every end of the line. It’s like Cthulhu or something. Besides, Upminster’s way out in Zone 6, I’m not Superman.
The Open Day was being held in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the depot, which was built as part of a major investment programme by London Transport. Therefore, this was an excuse for a big old display devoted to the District Line. The fact that they were holding engineering works between Barking and Upminster meant that a) the current was switched off, making the depot safe for visitors and b) that there was no District Line service to the depot. Ho hum. Instead, the Da and I took the c2c service from Fenchurch Street to Upminster Station. From there, classic buses were laid on to take us (not just us, obviously) to the depot itself.
RT bus. Predecessor to the Routemaster, as I have discussed previously within these pages.
We got the AEC RT seen on the left. In layman’s terms, this is the type of bus used in Summer Holiday and, with one or two modifications, as the Knight Bus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Riding in it is a very different experience from a modern bus. It’s more cramped, but the seats are so much more
DO NOT SPIT: PENALTY £5. You've been warned.
comfortable. It’s also a rather noisier, bumpier ride and on the top deck there’s a distinct tendency for the bus to sway on corners, on bumpy roads or just for the hell of it. I quite liked it, but I can kinda see why modern buses don’t ride like that. Still, the growl of the engine is quite something.
RLH - like an RT, but with a flatter roof.
The depot was a lot cleaner than I imagine these things. But then, most of the working railway depots I’ve visited have been steam ones, with the associated soot and grime. I suppose Health and Safety wouldn’t allow that sort of thing today (n.b. the first person to use the term “nanny state” gets a clip round the ear ‘ole). The staff were very friendly and helpful, very willing to explain what everything was and how everything worked.
Under a District Line train. That boxy thing in the middle is the driver's air conditioning unit. Yes, the driver has air conditioning.
As I have said many times before, I live in Colliers Wood, near Wimbledon. I used to live in Twickenham, near Richmond. When I was born, I lived in a flat in Barons Court backing on to the Underground. I’m therefore no stranger to the District Line, which has used the same trains (give or take a refurbishment or two) since before I was born. I’ve come to take these things for granted – they’re just the not-very-interesting trains that go into London via the respectable suburbs.
A row of D and C stock. That's District Line trains in laymen's terms. At the far end is a battery locomotive, used for maintenance trains.
So the chance to look underneath one, to go into the cab and to watch the staff going over the various controls and equipment was something of an education. For instance, I never knew that the seats could be lifted up to access the various electrical gubbins that power the train – if there’s a breakdown, the driver can isolate individual systems in order to get the train going again. And you know when you’re on the train and it suddenly hisses really loudly?
The prototype Routemaster, RM1.
Turns out that what that actually is is the safety valve for the compressed air reservoir, the thing that powers many systems on the train. Looking in and around these trains, you come to realise that actually, they’re a pretty ingenious bit of kit. There are all sorts of odd little devices to ensure that the train can keep going or, if necessary, stop in an emergency.
R Stock, predecessor to C and D stock.
All this was related clearly and engagingly by the staff. The chap showing us the underside of the train apologised for not being sufficiently up on the technical side to go into massive detail, but he was informative enough for Yr. Humble Chronicler, who doesn’t know his brown boxy things from his brown cylindery things.
There was a display a bit further on of wheel-turning equipment, which I don’t think would be particularly interesting to anyone who isn’t as geeky as me. Suffice it to say that it is possible for a Tube train to get a flat tyre.
Early four-wheeled wooden carriage from the Metropolitan District Railway - what is now the District Line.
As well as the modern day-to-day equipment, there was a fine display of historic District Line equipment. On the right is a Metropolitan District Railway coach from around 1865. If it looks a bit familiar, that might be Thomas the Tank Engine’s coaches, Annie and Clarabel, look almost exactly like this.
The silver carriage above is R stock, which came before the C and D stock. For a while, London Transport decided not to bother painting their trains as a cost-cutting measure. The bodywork was aluminium and so didn’t need rust-proofing. A similar experiment with buses was a dismal failure, as on foggy days the buses became invisible. You’ll notice that the bodywork swoops outwards at the bottom – that was a safety measure to prevent people falling into the gap between the train and the platform. It’s the train that minds the gap for you.
Interior of a Q Stock carriage. Hell of elegant.
I couldn’t get a decent exterior shot of the Q Stock carriage behind the R Stock, so you’ll just have to make do with this interior shot. I absolutely love the interiors of these old Tube trains, and this one, with its inlaid wooden panelling, might be my favourite. The dark green is a pleasant contrast with the deep red exterior. The Q Stock, as you might guess from the decor, was built in the 1920s and 30s. It also has a rather old-skool clerestory roof.
On a siding outside was a 57xx. It’s an interesting fact that London Underground was still using steam engines for odd jobs long after most of the Underground had been electrified. In fact, not only that, but they were using them three years after British Rail had got rid of steam.
Great Western Railway 57xx class
The Underground used various types of steam engine, but in the later years the engine of choice was the 57xx pannier tank, so called because it carries its water in high-slung tanks that look, yes, like panniers. To return to Thomas the Tank Engine references, Duck is based on this type of engine. They were built by the Great Western Railway and were, simply, a damn good engine. Rugged and versatile, they were as at home shunting in a yard as they were on commuter trains. As the GWR sold them out of service, there was no shortage of willing buyers, and as a result several members of the class survive today – no fewer than six being ex-Underground. In London Transport service, they wore a rather handsome brick-red livery that suited them well.
Having shown us past and present District Line trains, it was only fitting that they should also show us some future stock. This took the form of a mock-up of the S Stock, seen on the right. The S Stock is currently under construction and, when complete, will replace the current trains on the District, Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City Lines. Probably its most notable design feature is that it’s open-ended, with corridors linking the carriages. What this means in practical terms is that passengers can move from coach to coach without having to leave the train. It also allows a little more room. The seating layout is rather similar to that on the Docklands Light Railway, if you’re familiar with that. For some reason, modern Tube and bus seating seems to have been designed with the express purpose of numbing the buttocks, and the S Stock is no exception. It’s a bad idea to let people sit down in historic stock before you’ve let them sit in your new train, those old seats were comfortable as the dickens.
The tour, coupled with the aforementioned purchase of a destination board formerly at Camden Town, left me with a feeling of immense goodwill towards the Tube. A sense of goodwill that evaporated on the way back as soon as I discovered that line interchange at Bank is still out. Still, that was a pretty positive fifteen minutes.
Further Viewing
- Some footage of the Underground in the 1960s, including a fair bit of Upminster.
So I see they finally got rid of the last of those bendy buses. There don’t seem to be all that many mourners.
