Route 9 itself lost its Routemasters on the 'Black Friday' of the 3rd of September 2004, but these gestures were introduced on the 14th November 2005. After many years of underuse, Route 9H has been withdrawn, replaced by a hot, bland and blunt political weapon. Indeed, the first full 9H was on its last day (except Tube Strike day). Personally, I'm not totally against the LT, but calling it the 'New Routemaster' is an insult to what is one of the classic London buses. Speaking about this reminds me of the London Bus Page article on the last day of Routemasters on the 38 - the penultimate conversion, that was replaced by a hot, bland and blunt political weapon. Only that time, it was the bendy bus, suitable as quick people movers, not designed for lengthy London trunk routes. Both were/are free boarding, thus fare evasion can be a problem for both. Oh how things come in full circle!
Tower Transit RM1218 on Route 9H, Hyde Park Corner
The first photo of the day was one of the usual buses taking the rounds, with no indication that it was the last day of the 9H. RM1218 started on the 37 at Putney, then eventually went via Norwood and Holloway into preservation. The irony is that at Holloway under MTL London Northern, it'd be on Route 10, hence running along this exact stretch of road! Afterwards, it entered preservation, went out with a Marshall refurbishment and ended up on the 13 before transferring to First for Route 9H.
The Silver Dart, Tower Transit SRM3/RM1650 on Route 9H, Hyde Park Corner
This bus will go on and have further service with Stagecoach, as three Routemasters from the 9 will move to the 15 as 'overhaul cover' and future service. It was repainted silver in the mid 2000s as per 1977 Silver Jubilee, but when the Olympics was near, this livery succeeded that, making it pretty bland, but stand out from the crowd. The silver LTs cannot and will not even match this.
Tower Transit RM1913 on Route 9H, Trafalgar Square
Another bus showing the usual foray of Routemasters, with clearly no indication of it being the last day. This Routemaster started at Putney for the 30, before transferring to Stockwell, Tottenham, Clydeside Scottish and once was even earmarked for preservation. But due to Ken Livingstone wanting more Routemasters on the road, this bus became part of the Marshall rebuilds, ending with a Cummins engine the same as in a Euro 2 Dennis Dart, hence the nickname Dartmaster. It spent the whole time with most of the rest of the Marshall lot, on the 13.
Tower Transit RM1627 on Route 9H, Trafalgar Square
This bus had only seen Stockwell service before being sent off to the provinces, being sold to Blackpool Transport before going to the famous Reading Mainline operations. Competing with Reading Buses, it used letters as route identifiers, and the crewed operation proved to be so quick, Reading Buses bought them out! After a year of being separate (and one Routemaster straying onto the 17!), they were sold by 2000. It underwent the Marshall refurbishment before heading off to the 13 then the 9H.
Tower Transit RM1204 (Meal Relief Bus), Kensington Holland Road
Initially starting at Rye Lane (Peckham), it had travelled to Hounslow by 1963 for Route 81B until 1966 for Norbiton, New Cross and Finchley before going to Halifax Joint Committee. It stayed there for three years before it underwent the Marshall refurbishment before doing the usual 9H via 13. This bus did not see service today, but instead was the meal relief bus.
Excusing the fellow enthusiast on the right, and the professional photographer on the left, the Tower Transit staff were in sad, but buoyant mood throughout the day. There was even a first on that day, where the driver and conductor (both drivers) of RM1627 swapped for one round, and we had a first time conductor on the back!
Tower Transit SRM3/RM1650 on Route 9H, Kensington Holland Road
A quick round on SRM3 was next, to get the sole 'special' in service out of the way!
This bus has had a varied and interesting story. It started at Cricklewood, where it gained the Silver Jubilee livery sponsored by Air Jamaica. It went via Blackpool to Reading Mainline before going to Marshalls for a refurbishment, not to go to the 13, but to the 23. With First, it was liveried gold vinyl for the Golden Jubilee, before going to silver for RM50 in 2004. It was then part of the touring set of buses that went to most routes losing Routemasters post 2004. It was used on the last day of RML day of the 8, last Routemaster days of the 7, 9 (proper), 36, 38 and First's last day on routes 25 and 27 before settling on Route 9H (and at times, 15H) before getting the Olympic rings (since gone) and the white band (as shown).
SRM3/RM1650 served to be the duplicate for RM1627.
Tower Transit RM1627 on Route 9H, Kensington Holland Road
The penultimate rounder for this bus, it is decorated as shown with small bunting and via point blinds. Small, but better than nothing!
The crew of RM1627 stand proud in front of their bus on a photo opportunity place for the last time near Trafalgar Square. The conductor, who does like a small joke when announcing the stops, is being made redundant, sadly. One of the jokes include the first thing to buy from Harrods would be to buy a drill for the credit cards (and thus stop spending). Oh well, conductors aren't as good as this usually on the back of the LTs!
Then out of the blue, from an earlier private hire, RML2683 from Red Routemaster of Brentford appeared:
Tower Transit RM1627 (Route 9H), Red Routemaster RML1683, Charing Cross/Embankment
The proud conductor standing in front. RML1683 mainly shadowed ahead of RM1627, not in service.
The bus continued non-stop from Trafalgar Square to Kensington Holland Road full of bus enthusiasts, SRM3 being ahead for quite some time! The actual last Routemaster on Route 9H, a sad moment, even if it is a 'Disney' route. Half the gesture is gone.
London United LT81, Tower Transit RM1627 and Red Routemaster RML2683 all displaying Route 9, Kensington Holland Road
RM1627 pulled side by side with RML2683, before LT81 stopped for photo opportunities. Progress? In summer, it's in the negative direction, as the 'Roastmasters' are usually hotter with non-working air conditioning!
No one cares how this line-up happened, but it did. It's an epic quartet.
London United ADH33 (Route 27), LT81 (Route 9), Tower Transit RM1627 (Route 9H - Final Routemaster), Red Routemaster RML2683, Kensington/Holland Road
LT81 pulled up as shown, then ADH33 tried to overtake the trio of buses, before stopping because the driver realised what was happening. Holding up Kensington High Street for that photo. Thanks to the two drivers of Stamford Brook on the 9 and 27 who stopped to help make this photo happen.
Thanks to the Tower Transit staff who made this day live long in the memory, and Red Routemaster for supplying the photo extra. A flourish for the last West London Routemaster route, and a dreaded wait until whether the 15H will get an exemption or be withdrawn by 2017. Knowing the government, it won't get an exemption. It seemed such a short time ago that Peter Hendy 'wanted' to get rid of the Routemasters in normal service. Now he owns one and wants to keep them in service. Irony.
