Prepared on Notepad by Ian Smith,
This page created on 27th August 1998, updated 27th January 1999.
Since then it has been repainted, and appears regularly at RM rallies.
But the major innovation for London was that 20 of the RMs were open-toppers.
Aldenham, in its last major job,
had decapitated them and rebuilt the top decks.
The front windows and the rear dome were kept,
with a wind-hood formed of the front two bays each side.
Waterproof seats and floors were fitted, and extra drain-holes inserted.
The front display panel was altered to RCL style.
On the mechanical side,
they were converted from full-automatic to semi-automatic gears,
to match the RCLs.
The vehicle weight went UP, suggesting that there was hidden work to redistribute the vehicle stresses.
After all you can't just cut the top off an integral body shell without affecting its stiffness!
The original twenty open-toppers were:
RM 49, RM 68, RM 80, RM 84, RM 90, RM 94, RM 143, RM 235, RM 242, RM 281, RM 313, RM 398, RM 428, RM 438, RM 562, RM 658, RM 704, RM 752, RM 762, RM 925.The twenty open-toppers were a great success with the public, and it soon became apparent that some of the other thirty RMs should be converted too.
A further seven of the unit's closed top RMs were converted in early 1988,
ready for the summer,
and included two fitted with wheelchair access through a pair of nearside
doors and a wheelchair lift.
The removal of seats from the front two bays, leaving four normal seats plus the six above the wheelarches,
left space for four wheel-chairs.
RM 307, RM 450 were converted by Carlton PSV, (with wheelchair lift) RM 237, was converted by Carlyle, RM 377, RM 572, RM 644, RM 753 were converted by Kent Engineering.
Photos by Ian Smith. Click for larger versions.
In 1990 two of the remaining standard RMs in the sightseeing fleet
(RM 313 and RM 398)
were rebuilt with RMC style rear ends and closing doors,
enabling them to be fitted with tape facilities.
Two more (RM 479 and RM 710) received the RMC platforms and doors in 1991,
and together with RM 313 and RM 398 were rebuilt to convertible open-top.
Also in 1991 a new livery of red and white was adopted.
London Coaches, the operating unit for the sightseeing fleet,
became a separate subsidiary company under London Buses,
and was then sold to its management in May 1992.
The buses were relabelled as "The Original London Sightseeing Tour",
with the labels mounted in frames, on the sides
and also covering the destination blinds.
(This gives a weird effect at night, as the original panels shine through the adverts!)
London Coaches made the most of the RM modular construction in 1990,
when ten of the standard RMs had an extra full-length bay inserted,
making them the longest RMs (yet!)
The ten were reclassified as ERMs: ERM 80, ERM 84, ERM90, ERM94, ERM143, ERM163, ERM235, ERM237, ERM242, ERM281.
Subsequently some of the ERMs were reregistered,
and the fleet numbers adjusted to coincide with the last two digits of the new registration numbers.
After the takeover by Arriva the fleet livery was altered too,
becoming a variation on the Arriva ice-cream scoop livery.
(ERM46, seen at Charing Cross on 26th October 2001 shows both reregistration and the later livery).
All the ERMs were sold by TOLST in early 2002, and were snapped up by Mac Tours for Edinburgh Sightseeing duties. Even one that had been bought for private preservation was soon added to the Mac Tours fleet (along with other RM types: RM, RCL, RMA).
It later became a chemistry demonstrator in Kent, acquiring a London Transport livery style and prominent Nose Bus adverts.
In 2001 it was bought for preservation by Mike Dawes, and appeared at East Grinstead Running Day in 2002, where its hospitality area was much appreciated by crews.
Nationalisation and Privatisation
Re-engineered RMs
RMs Resurrected: Marshall Rebuilds
Bus Stop
RM Contents
production RMs
Photo references.
Bus Histories..