History:
RT8 is a true survivor and
has had one of the most colourful lives of any RT. It all started
when the chassis was one of the first delivered to Chiswick on
the 11th November 1939. Unlike later bodies, that were built by
commercial body builders, RT8 and all the pre war RT's were all
built by London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) at their main
Chiswick works in West London. Entering stock on 25th February
1940 with LPTB body 339 she was initially used for testing on
what was at the time a revolutionary new design so good that RT's
would soldier on in service until 1979!
She eventually completed her testing
phase and was transferred to Chelverton Road Garage (AF) Putney
for passenger service on 30 April 1940, she entered service the
following day alongside other brand new 2RT2's that were grouped
together at this garage. It was quickly found that the RT's in
service did not have brakes that were entirely up to standard
and the entire batch required modifications. Some were done almost
immediately whilst the majority had to be pulled off service and
stored as due to war shortages the parts required to carry out
the mods were in short supply. RT8 was de-licensed on 1 August
1940 and sent to Reigate Garage for storage. Some of the batch
were used for basing Home Guard units in at key road junctions
or buildings of importance but its not recorded if RT8 was ever
used for this purpose.
RT8 was eventually returned to Chiswick
for her modifications which were carried out during April and
May 1941 and she was returned to Chelverton Road on 10 June 1941
where she immediately picked up passenger carrying duties once
more. Having had these modifications she was reclassified as a
1/2/RT/2/1
On the 28th October 1942 she transferred
to the other Putney Garage which was also a user of the 2/RT/2
which was Putney Bridge (F). She then returned to Chiswick on
27 January 1944 for 'overhaul'. As overhauls had largely been
stopped for the duration of the war, and unlikely to be absolutely
necessary for a bus as new as RT8, why it returned can only be
guessed at but it was released some 8 days later on February 2
1944 so damage caused by bomb blast is probably a likely cause
that was beyond the ability of the home garage to rectify with
so many shortages.
The end of hostilities bought
a huge demand for leisure travel but London's war weary fleet
were struggling to take the strain until the new batch of post
war RT's could be delivered. In March 1947 RT8 went for its next
overhaul returning to Putney Bridge just over a month later to
help fight the 'Battle of the Queue' as people started to shake
off the wartime dreariness and indeed the London Olympics of 1948
again increased demand and many of the 'newer' RT's or recently
overhauled ones were used to transport the athletes between venues.
Her next overhaul was three years later in February 1950 from
when she again returned to her home garage of Putney in April
1950 but then followed a brief stint at Hendon, training tram
drivers to drive buses, before returning to Putney Bridge. This
stay at Putney was however to be brief arriving on June 1 1953
she returned for overhaul on 8 June 1953 and eventually was released
for service on 5 August 1953 this time being despatched to New
Cross Garage (NX) although as this was still being finished much
of this stint would have been from Peckham.
She continued to work in New Cross
until the 31 May 1955 when she was readied to be used a training
bus, she was transferred over to Clapham on 1 July 1955 As a trainer
the vehicle had stints at Southall 1956, Leyton 1957 and Wandsworth
1959 before being withdrawn on 10 September 1959. A picture has
also been found of RT8 working on an Epsom Race Day Special from
Streatham Garage (AK) but this does not show on any of her records
but the photos prove it happened!
Storage then followed in Stockwell
April 1960 and then Walworth June 1960, she was then sold to Birds
Commercial Motors Ltd on 23 September 1960.
Along with 50 other 2RT2's RT8 awaited
her fate in Warwickshire. Unlike many others she was not scrapped
and was still there in March 1961. It was eventually sold on July
28 1961 and was readied for its new owner Caron Pirie Scott &
Co of Chicago in the summer of 1961 and arrived (along with two
London taxis!) in Chicago onboard the ship Pinemore in early August
1961. She was then used in conjunction with the store and airline
BOAC in promoting British goods on sale in the store.
Following this promotion it
was then used in the City of Peoria for the British Fortnight
celebration in September/October 1961. It was then routed back
via St Louis to particpate in the 'British Affair' which was sponsored
by the store Stix Baer and Fuller. It was then involved in some
promotion work with the airline BOAC who based it in St Louis
from where it also did work for the Missouri Historical Society
among others. Following these jobs it was decided to donate the
vehicle full time to the Museum of Transportation, St Louis Missouri
and title was duly passed to them on July 17 1962. Whilst in St
Louis it was used a number of times in 1962/3 on various promotions
and shuttle services many of which received wide spread publicity.
On September 9th 1965 the bus returned to Carson Pirie Scott via
low loader train to be used in conjunction with another British
fortnight and Import Fair at the store, eventually returning to
the Museum of Transportation on 29 October 1965.
Following this last jaunt to Chicago,
RT8 was to stay with the Museum of Transportation in St Louis
for the next 40 years. Initially used for various publicity events
but later to fall outside of the collections policy the vehicle
was put into long term storage.Initially from around 1970 this
was outdoors but in the mid 1990s she was moved to an under cover
facility whilst it was decided what should become of the survivor.
In 2004 Ensignbus approached the Museum with a view to finding
out the condition of the bus and whether there was any possibility
of acquiring the bus to bring back to London to join the Ensign
Vintage Fleet.
In late 2005 an agreement was reached
that would see the bus able to return home and in late Feb 2006
an engineer was despatched to get the vehicle up and running for
its journey home, this was started on March 7th and completed
on March 13th when the bus was loaded onboard a ship destined
for Southampton.
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