Celebrating a British icon 49
clearly calibrated adjustment
mechanisms that allow drivers
to set the seat to suit their own
comfort requirements.
Once all of the bodywork
repairs have been completed the
bus is given a deep clean and
masked up before being painting
in London bus red with a white
roof. After this, new vinyl logos
and lettering are applied and
a final exterior clean is carried
out before the bus returns to
London.Two noteworthy jobs
Although the vast majority of
refurbishment work for London
bus operators follows broadly
the same pattern, Hants &
Dorset Trim has undertaken two
particularly noteworthy jobs inmore recent years.
In 2015 it was selected to
undertake a major refurbishment
programme of the Routemasters
employed on heritage route
15, linking Trafalgar Square
and Tower Hill. Although not
intended to be a restoration, the
opportunity was taken to try and
recreate a traditional look for
these iconic buses.
Around a dozen years ago, a
superficial spruce up included
new seat coverings and fitting
fluorescent lights. That has all
been swept away, replaced with
an original look of burgundy
sidewalls, grey window
surrounds and seat backs,
yellow ceilings and traditional
Routemaster seat moquette.
Even the shape of the tungstenlight bulbs has returned and
the staircase has been treated to
traditional burgundy metal step-
edgings.
The previous refurbishment
work was found to have lacked
treatment to component
undersides, which led to
corrosion setting in, so new fully
treated panels have been fitted
where necessary.
Externally, LED driving lights
helped combine traditional
aesthetics with modern
performance. Following a repaint
in traditional red with a cream
relief band, fleetnumber, London
Transport fleetname and other
lettering have been carefully
copied and measured from
preserved vehicles at the London
Bus Museum and reproduced to
a high standard in vinyl.
Sadly, Transport for London
suspended the programme for
financial reasons after only four
of the 10 buses were completed.
Hants & Dorset Trim has
also recently completed the
refurbishment of 11 Wright
Eclipse Gemini 2-bodied Volvo
B9TL double-deckers for the
high profile X26 service linking
Croydon and Heathrow Airport
(see p110). A new contract
awarded in April 2017 saw
operation pass to Go-Ahead’s
Metrobus operation and, for the
first time, double-deckers wereModernising London’s buses
LEFT: New foam
cushions ready to
go into seats.BELOW: RM1933
was one of four
Routemasters that
Hants & Dorset
Trim refurbished
for the heritage
service on route 15.