Celebrating a British icon 17
Union of Railwaymen (NUR),
which declined the invitation to
support its TGWU brothers.
Virtually all main line termini
were served by one or more
Underground line and those
that were not invariably were
within walking distance of
one. Additionally, there was a
comprehensive suburban system
provided by British Railways,
particularly in south London and
the outer suburbs in Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire, Essex,
Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey,
thus the bus strike was never
ever going to be 100% effective,
thereby taking much of the wind
out of the TGWU’s sails.Fleet changes
While the dispute was brewing,
the two Leyland-powered
Routemaster prototypes went
into service in January 1958,
CRL4 from High Wycombe
garage on Green Line route
711 from 8 January and RML
from Willesden on route 8 from
22 January.
Released from store the next
month were the final RTs and
RTLs stockpiled since 1954,
the operation being completed
in March. All entered service
with unpainted wheeltrims and
without any exterior advertising.
This permitted the disposal
of older RTs and RTLs in
an apparently illogical and
haphazard manner. This plan tookno heed of the Aldenham overhaul
system whereby, for example, a
bus could enter the works as a
1949 chassis with a 1953 body
and fleetnumber RT4237 and
emerge as RT205 with a 1954
chassis and 1954 body. Thus were
sold many low-numbered buses
that had not even been built in
1947 and which were relatively
new, say only three or four years
old. That situation prevailed for
most of 1958 until somebody in
the organisation realised what
was going on.
During the strike, and
in revenue service for a little
over two months, Clay Hall-based
RTL1581 was burnt out beyond
repair in what were described
at the time as ‘mysterious
circumstances’.
Arguably the most interesting
development during the strike
was the granting by London
Transport of a short-term licence
for the operation of seven bus
routes by The People’s League
for the Defence of Freedom, one
of whose founders described
himself as an ‘independent right-
wing’ former Liberal. The routes
included one in central London
and six in various suburbs;
it used a mix of secondhand
vehicles provided by a dealer
based in south London.
After negotiations, the strike
was called off on 19 June and
services resumed two days
later. Central Area drivers andconductors were paid the extra
8/6d proposed by the Industrial
Court, while all other grades
received five shillings (25p, or
£5.75 today).
As in many industrial disputes,
there were no winners, possibly
the worst affected being London
Transport. While pre-strike staff
shortages totalled 10%, the
strike had exacerbated
this situation, with many
bus workers leaving the
organisation’s employ.Routes are withdrawn
Such was the aftermath of
the strike that 20 Central
Area routes were withdrawn
completely in August 1958,
resulting in the withdrawal of
175 RT, RTL and lowbridge RLH
double-deckers on weekdays, 125
on Saturdays and 18 of them on
Sundays.
Further cuts in the November
involved complete or partial
revisions to 33 more Central
Area routes, while cuts caught
up with the trolleybus system on
9 January 1959 when routes 664,
683 and 695 were culled.
Three garages, Clapham
(converted to a bus garage only
eight years earlier), Putney Bridge
and Old Kent Road, were closed.
Strike-bound passengers had
found alternative means of travel
and passenger loadings dropped
alarmingly, taking around 50
years to recover. ● MJD60 Years Ago
LEFT: Sold in
February 1958,
before the strike,
was RTL49, which
went to Scotland
and the Perthshire
independent
operator
A. & C. McLennan
of Spittalfield,
which kept it in
service until 1972.BOTTOM LEFT:
Among the
vehicles sold in
1958 were five
RTLs bought
by Walsall
Corporation,
whose general
manager had
once worked for
London Transport.
This was Park
Royal-bodied
RTL1494, new in- The picture
is from perhaps
10 years later, the
advertisement on
the bus promoting
the domestic
revolution that
was an electric
clothes dryer,
while those
behind the bus
are a reminder
of a time when
colour television
was new and most
people rented sets
rather than owning
them, and when
Bristol and other
cigarettes could
still be advertised
without a hint of a
health warning.