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The AEC Routemaster is a model of double-decker bus that was first built by Associated Equipment Company (AEC) in 1954 and was produced until 1968. Primarily front-engined, rear open platform buses, a small number of variants were produced with doors and/or front entrances. Introduced by London Transport in 1956, the Routemaster saw continuous service in London until 2005, and currently remains on one heritage route in central London. In all, 2,876 Routemasters were built with all but a few delivered to London Transport. Approximately 1,000 are still in existence.
A pioneering design, the Routemaster outlasted several of its replacement types in London. The unique features of the standard Routemaster were both praised and criticised. The open platform, while exposed to the elements, allowed boarding and alighting away from stops; and the presence of a conductor allowed minimal boarding time and optimal security, although the presence of conductors produced greater labour costs. The traditional red Routemaster has become one of the famous features of London, with much tourist paraphernalia continuing to bear Routemaster imagery, and with examples still in existence around the world. (Full article...)
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Selected biography
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Sir Charles Herbert Bressey CB, CBE (3 January 1874 – 14 April 1951) was a civil engineer and surveyor who specialised in road design. Bressey was Chief Engineer for Roads at the Ministry of Transport from 1921 to 1938. Between 1935 and 1938 he carried out research on road planning and motorway design in preparation for his Highway Development Survey, 1937 for Greater London published in 1938. He served as President of the Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1938-9.
During World War I, Bressey served in the Royal Engineers and spent time in France and Flanders constructing military roads attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel before he left the army in November 1919, when he joined the Ministry of Transport. His 1938 report proposed a series of high capacity motorways radiating outwards from the city and made recommendations for a series of circular routes around the capital and major road improvements in the central area, including tunnels under Kensington Gardens, Victoria Park and Islington High Street and a viaduct from Rotherhithe to Forest Hill. Although World War II delayed the implementation of any of the recommendations, they were subsequently featured in a number of post war reports such as Sir Patrick Abercrombie's County of London Plan and the Greater London Council's 1960s London Ringways scheme and were the origins of plans that were later combined to create London's orbital motorway, the M25. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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- ...that the "Mind the gap" announcement is played when trains stop at stations with curved platforms to warn passengers of gaps between the platform edge and the doors?
- ...that sculptor Henry Moore's first public commission in 1928-29 was a relief sculpture West Wind for the Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway?
- ...that an estimated half a million mice live on the Underground system, and can often be seen running around the tracks?
- ...that at Euston Underground station, a passenger changing between the Victoria line and Northern line Bank branch will find that trains on adjacent platforms travel in opposite directions even though both are either northbound or southbound?
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Image 2Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
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Image 3London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
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Image 4Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
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Image 5Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
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Image 6The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
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Image 755 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
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Image 8A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
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Image 9The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
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Image 10Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
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Image 13The newly constructed junction of the Westway ( A40) and the West Cross Route ( A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
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Image 14Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
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Image 15London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
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Image 16The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
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Image 18Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
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Image 19The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
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Image 20Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
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Image 21View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
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Image 22Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
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Image 24Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
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Image 25Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
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Image 26Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
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Image 27Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
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Image 28Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
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Image 29The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
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Image 30Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
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Image 32Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
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Image 33Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
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Image 35Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
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Image 36London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
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Image 37Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
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Image 39Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
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Image 41TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
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Image 42"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
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Image 43Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
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Image 44Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
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Image 48The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
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Image 49Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
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