On 9th December 2005 London said farewell to one of it's most loved icons in regular front line Bus services.... The Routemaster Bus.
Seen and known as being "London" all over the world, the Routemaster was built and designed by London Transport specifically for use in and around London and the suburbs. The last route they operated on in front line service was the 159 which runs between Streatham and Marble Arch. thankfuylly you can still ride a double decker bus on this route ( other routes having succumbed to the dreadful "bendy" buses which are more like cattle trucks than buses) but alas you cannot do it on a Routemaster .
Below is a pictorial record of the last day of Routemaster running on 9th December 2005. The pictures were taken by my good friend Chris who graciously froze his privates off to take the pictures for me as I was unable to be there on the day.
To see the full picture just click on the thumbnail picture
More pictures will be added to this gallery soon
Al;though the 159 was the last day of the RM in front line service there are still two "heritage" routes running Routemasters in London.. The buses used are ones that were refurbished by "marshall" when Transport for London had decided to keep Routemasters going. However as is all now apparent the RM is effectively dead in london now and the ones that remain although look nice they sound awful with their "clean" and greatly underpowered new engines.