Celebrating a British icon 47
Workshops have closed
Large bus operators — outside
London as well as within —
used to maintain large central
workshops to overhaul and
substantially rebuild their
buses every few years. London
Transport’s works at Chiswick
and Aldenham did this on an
industrial scale.
Chiswick undertook the
mechanical work, overhauling
engines, gearboxes and other
vital parts, while Aldenham did
the bodywork. Both ran on a
production line basis and the RT
and Routemaster double-deckers
of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s
were designed to be overhauled
at these facilities.
Originally intended as adepot for a planned extension
of the Northern Line that
was abandoned in 1949, the
Aldenham site took each bus
apart and returned it virtually to
new condition to such a degree
that it was highly unlikely that it
would leave the works with the
same body, engine or gearbox
that it entered with. As London’s
bus fleet became both smaller
and less standardised during the
1980s, the maintenance of such
a large facility became difficult to
justify and it closed in 1986.
Most other operators have also
closed their central overhaul
facilities and specialist providers
have emerged in their place.
These include Thorntons in
Ashington, Northumberlandand Bus & Coach World in
Blackburn, Lancashire. In
addition Alexander Dennis, the
UK’s largest bus manufacturer,
has workshops in Harlow, Essex
and Anston, South Yorkshire
where buses are refurbished for
London.
Many operators lease their
vehicles for the duration of a
route contract. At the end of
the contract, if they retain the
route on the basis of using
existing vehicles, the lease may
be extended. If not the buses will
return to the leasing company
and, in most cases, they will be
refurbished for further use.
Specialist dealers such as
Purfleet-based Ensignbus usually
take on the task of refurbishing
and selling vehicles. Although
the vast majority of such vehicles
pass subsequently to operators
outside London, usually after
special London features like the
second door are removed, others
may find their way back to the
UK capital.Hants & Dorset Trim
One of the largest bus
refurbishment companies is
Hants & Dorset Trim, based at
Eastleigh, Hampshire. It was
established in 1986 by Peter
Drew, who had been works
superintended at Hants &Modernising London’s buses
ABOVE & BELOW:
Before and after:
TransBus Trident
DT22 as delivered
new to Armchair
in 2003 and as
refurbished by
subsequent owner
Abellio as its
number 9843.