This week's picture comes courtesy of Darren Cunningham, owner of the show stealing Greyhound Scenicruiser at SHOWBUS two weeks ago. Prior to acquiring the Scenicruiser, Darren bought former BEA Routemaster KGJ621D. The bus had been used by London Transport in BEA livery as RMA1 on route 175 (Dagenham - North Romford), soon being repainted into LT red. Sold in 1985, Darren acquired the bus at the end of 2007 and restored it to 175 LT red bus livery. In 2010 he took the bus coast to coast across the United States. The bus was modified for the trip with great care to safely remove all the interior fittings so that could be restored to original condition. Because of height restrictions across the States, the roof was lowered by removing it above the top deck windows and replacing it with a flat lid. Upstairs bedrooms were given headroom by four electric jacks which raised the roof when the bus was parked up. The London taxi accompanied the Routemaster, and though Darren owns a genuine BEA luggage trailer, the bus towed a triler of different design on the transcontinental journey. The bus had a minor breakdown in Texas on a detour to visit relatives, but an ignominious failure just short of Los Angeles. It had to be towed to Long Beach docks to be shipped home for repair. Somewhat amazingly it shared the quayside with two of TfL's Wright Hydrogen fuel cell buses which had been shipped to California to have their high tech equipment fitted, prior to entering service on the RV1. All three meandered their way to Britain via the Far East. |
