ex London Transport RTL547

[The Inspector]

finally got around to posting

[Tim Williams]

RTL's (Leylands) are reasonably rare, even in the UK - most of the buses preserved of that "shape" are RT's (AEC Regent III's) of which there were 4,825, including the pre-war ones.

So it would be a tragedy to see this RTL simply rot way. Would the Sydney Bus Museum be interested in acquiring it, if the price was reasonable and it was for sale, of course. Perhaps a campaign for donations might be worthwhile.

[Swift]

It would be fantastic if they could add this. I love the RTL.

[Herbert]

2nd bus I drove; conducted on it many many times. All very depressing. Some things won't be forgiven.

[Tim Williams]

The photos from Scott were taken sometime in 2017 and now its condition would be worse than shown. It really does need some undercover and safe (from vandals) storage, with the hope of a full restoration etc.

1. Does anyone know the owners personally?
2. Do Sydney Bus Museum people review this site?

I would love to get something going with this rare bus, but it is difficult living in Adelaide and being over 70 years of age.

[Swift]

I'd love to see it become a Bustech RTLi.

[The Inspector]

The owner has had numerous offers for it but has no intention on selling it.

[Swift]

Has he said he won't donate it though?

[The Inspector]

Has he said he won't donate it though?

If he was going to do that then he would have done it by now before its to late

[BroadGauge]

Fairly recently it was being advertised as a motorhome for hire, albeit not one that you can drive yourself:

https://www.camplify.com.au/rv/a-class- ... cker/12423

[Swift]

Haha, Cliff Richard would have a chuckle.
I wonder if he will let you drive it if you have an MR licence?

[Rclasstramcar]

Needs some love by the looks of it.

Ben

[The Inspector]

I wonder if he will let you drive it if you have an MR licence?

He won't let anyone drive it, it clearly says that he delivers it

[Swift]

He won't let anyone drive it, it clearly says that he delivers it

I guess he doesn't want any clown driving it around, despite what it says on the back.
This is a clever way to hire it out without racking lots of mileage onto it.

[boronia]

I'd guess that "dry hiring" it would increase the insurance premiums with "unknown" drivers.

Also there would not be too many people around who could handle a pre-selector box correctly, so maintenance costs would be an issue.

Just a shame it is not presented better,

[Tim Williams]

I know I have said it previously, but RTL's are rare and it would be a total shame to see this bus just rot away.

Could the owner be tempted to exchange this RTL for an old Sydney Regent III or a Leyland Atlantean. If not, perhaps we should request donations to purchase this bus and get it into the Sydney Bus Museum, to secure its future.
Has there been recent contact with the owner??

[boronia]

The owner is a Brit, and I think he knows the "value" of it. I met him many years ago, when he first acquired it. He didn't seem to have any predilection towards preservation.

Perhaps he would only react to an "over the top" offer.

[Tim Williams]

Thanks, I wonder what sort of figure might tempt him?

The other point is that do you think that he might be interested in a swap with a DD that is not rare and maybe even in better condition?:

[Swift]

I know I have said it previously, but RTL's are rare and it would be a total shame to see this bus just rot away.

You wouldn't know it from this YouTube video from 2016.
https://youtu.be/UKYljHcekFk

Could the owner be tempted to exchange this RTL for an old Sydney Regent III or a Leyland Atlantean.

I have heard that the AEC Regent III is more finicky to maintain compared to the Leyland OPD2, but even so, when the STA ran a couple of vintage Leylands for charter in the 1990s, they regularly needed to enlist the assistance from the Bus Museum to keep them in order.
This bloke had done well to keep this girl on the road. It must be quite a cash cow for him to have this iconic type of bus to hire out, which probably explains why he has no desire to accept offers for it.
As for an Atlantean, they aren't going to have the mass appeal of a rear platform front engine decker and be more difficult to maintain and have more things go wrong over the relatively straight forward OPD2. Rear engine layouts were not the forte of the British bus manufacturers, except for the Bristol VR, Leyland Olympian and MCW Metrobuses. Front and mid engine buses are where the British excelled.
It would be lovely for the museum to have one of these a an addition to their stable, but they already have this body on a Regent III chassis that has been recently revitalised to a professional standard and the Museum has examples of Sydney deckers (their main focus) with the same chassis. As seen in the clip, London has some examples preserved and expertly maintained to a high standard.

[The Inspector]

Could the owner be tempted to exchange this RTL for an old Sydney Regent III or a Leyland Atlantean. If not, perhaps we should request donations to purchase this bus and get it into the Sydney Bus Museum, to secure its future.
Has there been recent contact with the owner??

I doubt it very much, he has had quite a few offers to purchase the bus and even 1 I know off that was a bus swap for something in far better condition.

The fate of RTL547 is very much sealed and it's not a good one

[Swift]

Hence:

2nd bus I drove; conducted on it many many times. All very depressing. Some things won't be forgiven.

[boronia]

I know I have said it previously, but RTL's are rare and it would be a total shame to see this bus just rot away.

You wouldn't know it from this YouTube video from 2016.
https://youtu.be/UKYljHcekFk

What beautiful music. Leyland's 600th Symphony.

There were just 7 in this clip, concentrated in one place. In the overall scheme of LT bus preservation, the Leylands are in a minority compared to AECs. Not surprising considering a build ratio ratio of only 2:5 and I recall many of the Leylands got shipped overseas?

Just as a diversion, looking at Wikipedia article on RTs, it mentions

RT 1787 registration number KYY-625 now lives in South Australia and is just about all original still. It is owned by the South Australian government.

Can Tim or The Inspector clarify this

[Tim Williams]

Whilst I haven't checked the actual number, it is probably one of 2 RT's that were purchased by the erstwhile John Martins Department Store for use in the annual Christmas pageant. While John Martins no longer exists, the pageant is as strong and popular as ever, all the many floats, including the 2 RT's are securely stored under cover, maintained and updated as required and just brought out each November (?) for the pageant. One of the RT's has been de-roofed and has been painted up in various wild colour schemes over the years and the other one has remained more or less original.

I have some photos by the late Neil Mackintosh somewhere - I will try and find one to post

[Tim Williams]

IMG_edited-1.jpg (78.11 KiB) Viewed 3673 times

Here is one of the two RT's in South Australia - the one that remains in it's original condition. I think photo taken beside the ex City of Oxford AEC Renown was taken at the St Kilda Tram Museum, many years ago - if my memory serves me correctly, I drove the Renown to the museum and probably took the photo. The other photo was taken (also on the way back from the museum) - this is a Neil Mackintosh photo and I also think he has a hand in destination display, which is just about accurate Johnson's San Serif - pure LT style! I think that I was driving a Lewis Bros ex MTT Regal IV. The RT is correctly regarded as precious and is normally only allowed out for the Pageant now. I think that desto is the only thing that is altered from time to time on the bus.

[Tim Williams]

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The other photo!