View allAll Photos Tagged rt
Squaring the Circle, 2 of 4, per flickr's squared circle and squareFormat groups.
It was a heavy summer day on foot from Chelsea Market to the Village. I had been searching for a shot that showed the subway's age without it looking decrepit. RT NYC was 103 years old that year.
For a squaring the circle, I especially like that the walkway around this manhole cover was comprised of squared bits with edges rounded by wear.
Of al, the RT-family derivatives, the ones which deviated most from the standard were the 120 Cravens bodied RTs. One of only two that have survived into preservation, RT1431 is seen arriving at the 'RT 75' event at Ash Grove Garage on 12th April, having participated on a road run from Piccadilly Circus, mostly over roads which were formerly part of route 22.
Most of the RT family was bodied by Park Royal or Weymann to London Transport's standard designs. However during the late 1940s when production resumed past-war London Transport realised that chassis production was running ahead of what the bodybuilders could manage, and placed contracts with Saunders Engineering of Anglesey and Cravens of Sheffield.
Whereas Saunders took great trouble to manufacture their design as close to the Park Royal/Weymann standard as possible, Cravens appeared merely to graft an RT cab onto their own standard design! The most obvious difference is the number of window bays - there are five on the lower deck and seven on the upper as opposed to the normal four and six respectively - but there are numerous other differences in the detail.
RTs 1402-1521 appeared in both Central red and Country Area green during 1949 and 1950. As non-standard vehicles they were candidates for early withdrawal as passenger numbers fell and service cuts started to bite during the 1950s, and most were withdrawn during 1956. Most were sold to other operators outside London, for whom a brand-new RT would have been too expensive but a seven-year-old second-hand one represented an absolute bargain.
RT1431 is one of the two examples which has survived into preservation (the other being RT1499 which is preserved in Country Area green); both are now in the Heritage fleet of Ensignbus in Purfleet.
**********************************************
'RT 75' is the first of the '2014 - Year of the Bus' celebrations, and marks the 75th anniversary of the entry into service of the first RT-types on route 22.
The event featured a number of runs by RT-family vehicles between Piccadilly Circus and Homerton, which was once part of the 22 route. Some buses also ran to and from Ash Grove Garage, where there was also a display of RT-family vehicles, including an ex-St Helens example which had come down all the way from the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum in Lathalmond, Fife.
RT 4505 was also one of the vehicles in the same batch as RT 4502 to go to Grays as a Green Line liveried vehicle, being downgraded to bus duties after RMCs took over. It is seen here at Warlingham Green on the 403 having turned short, instead of going the extra half mile to Chelsham garage. Wednesday 15th May 1974. S-10.
RT 3232 Reg No KYY 961 at Thurrock Lakside Bus Station in full Greenline glory on the Heritage Running Day 1st Secember 2012. Photo by Richard Delahoy.
With grey plastic kept to a minimum here, being used only for its interior which isn't really an issue and its baseplate, this 2018 recolour of the Matchbox Dodge Viper RT/10 certainly looks a lot less cheapo than some of its brethren.
Its an ageing casting originally dating back to 1994 which has been revived thanks to its gloriously deep and shiny new coat of paint which really smartens it up massively. With so many Vipers in the HW line up I'm not too sure why Matchbox bothered bringing it back but it does cut quite a dash and at least its not a generic!
Part of a new five vehicle set which have surprisingly begun to appear at ASDA in a timely fashion, probably to placate angry British collectors not being able to find new singles to buy!
Mint and boxed.
A long day travelling around London on a Red Rover is coming towards it's end. From the other side of Petts Wood station I would catch another RT on the 161A heading north to Woolwich. Then over the ferry, and Routemaster on the 101 to pick up an RT on the 86 to Romford.
One of the last RTs in London Country service, it reappeared in red livery in preservation. Oddly this was the only photo I have of the AEC rally at Watford that yeasr.