Off course

I certainly wasn't expecting to see this parked round the corner from my office this morning.
I worked for London Transport for exactly one year, from July 1995 to July 1996. On my first day at work we received an announcement to the effect that London Transport Facilities Department would be merged with London Underground Limited Facilities & Catering Dept. To the outsider this may not sound like a very big deal, but on the inside it was a complete meltdown and by lunchtime on that first day in the new job my entire management team had resigned.

London Transport had been a patron of the decorative arts for over a century and had commissioned some wonderful buildings and equally wonderful artworks. They even have their own font. That was the reason I was so thrilled to have been offered a place there, to take care of their heritage. But it was not to be. The resignation of the entire LT Facilities management team meant that the only person left to head the new merged department was the head of the LUL team, whose focus was catering. The departing managers all had art and design qualifications, the new head of dept had worked her way up from restocking vending machines on subterranean platforms. Yes she may have known at what temperature a chocolate bar spoils and learned everything she needed to learn about team leadership, but she knew nothing at all about bronze doors, bas relief or creative minds.

But there it is. Walking round this lovely beastie it was immediately obvious that it was one of the last LT buses. Post Routemaster but pre TfL (Transport for London – the eventual name for the merged LT and LUL) The Routemaster was a hop-on, hop-off bus with isolated driver and ambulant conductor. This is an Olympian which can be driver only, but it still has the pre-merge logo on the side (extra)

First I Googled the number plate to confirm its year of registration – R = 1997
and then I found this - it has its own page!