THE SHOWBUS LONDON GALLERY
Londoner DMS Class | London red livery
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 On display at the Year of the Bus pageant in Regent Street in 2014 is DMS1 (EGP1J) which was displayed at the Commercial Motor Show when new in 1970. It entered service the following January on the 220 out of Shepherds Bush garage, replacing the RT class used previously on the 220. A DMS theoretically holds 50% more passengers than an RT so they reduced the allocation by a third to provide the same capacity on the service. This took no account of the nimbleness of the crew operated lighter weight RT, and the automatic fare collection machines installed were temperamental and needed getting used to so dwell times at stops was much greater. An all round disaster. The bus survived the pilot overhaul at Aldenham in 1976 and was used in service up until 1982 before passing into the care of the London Transport Museum in 1984. Picture ref A3448 |
 In January 1971 DMS25 (EGP25J) is seen on the pioneering days of service on the 220.
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By the time DMS614 (MLK614L) the full horrors of operating the DMS had sunk in at London Transport. A gentle start to life on the Round London Sightseeing Tour avoided some of the problems. Unfortunately the safety boffins had gone into overdrive on the DMS with interlocks on every body part. You certainly do not want the bus driving off with the centre doors open, but every openable panel was wired in and this was in the early days of sensor technology so buses were often marooned in service until a fitter came out to bash the right panel so it could start again! When DMS buses reached provincial operators not only did most remove the centre doors, but also the sensors! Withdrawn after seven years Ensignbus sold DMS614 to Wrights of Penycae in Clwyd where it served until 1986, then used as a storeshed in Ruabon until sold to Wacton (Bromyard) for scrap in 1989.
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 MCW bodied Leyland Fleetline DMS2177 (OJD177R), though seen in the Red Rover yard amidst several Caetano bodied Beford YMT caoches is in fact an LT bus. London Transport's Aldenham Works became BEL Engineering on privatisation. Both used to garage a vehicle in the Red Rover yard to ferry workers to Aldenham. Prior to the DMS an RMA Routemaster was used. In 1987 DMS2177 was sold to the London Borough of Haringey and converted as an exhibition bus fitted with wheelchair lift in centre doorway, painted yellow and numbered 9191. In 1995 it passed to Surrey County Council moving on to the Mole Valley Detached Youth Group as the Proix Youth Bus in 2004 and later that year became a mobile youth club as the Croydon Community Bus. Unfortunately it suffered accident damage at the end of 2005 and was probably scrapped. |
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