Buses of England 1989-United Counties Routemaster's in Bedford

A bus vid for a subscriber now, United Counties ex London Routemasters at work on route 101 in Bedford. The town's road layout has changed a bit since 1989, i'm sure one of the roads we see buses on is now a pedestrianised zone. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@Mitch-Hendren]

Good to see the old dears have a second lease of life. they look great in green and love the routemaster decals. loud and proud. unlike the ones magicbus used in Glasgow trying to hide what they were. ending up looking like bulbous sticks of Blackpool rock! . And I'd forgotten how ubiquitous milk floats were too .part of the streetscape.

[@grlef2272]

Wow - I am probably in this video as I was driving these for two years in Bedford from about 89-91. That brought back a lot of memories. There were about 15 drivers on the Routemaster rota and that was the only route we did every single day. Just about all of us had started on the Street Shuttles and this was the next step up - literally as well to get in and out of those cabs! I will add - forget air-con! Those cabs had the best air circulation you could possibly imagine. We had a sliding door that was always open on a hot day and even the front window had a handle so you could open it to at least a slight angle to let more air in. The Bedford Routemasters were designated with numbers from 701-712 if my memory serves me correctly. 706 I believe was the only one in the fleet that was a bit of a wreck. They were all quite noisy but that one - oh boy. I hit black ice one day coming along Queens Drive - the bus made a 90 degree slide/turn and I ended up sideways on with the road - my conductor did not even realise what had happened - the passengers certainly did! Shame you did not get to the Kempston end of the route too - the 3.30 bus from Williamson Road was nearly always a nightmare as the bus was filled with misbehaving Hastingsbury school kids - I remember them well. Mentioning no names but a driver one day was running well late and having reached Kempston decided to go off route to try and pick up some time. His clippie was completely oblivious to what was going on and just sat there reading his newspaper as he heard an almighty crash. The driver had attempted to come back into town via Ampthill Road which meant going under the Elstow Road bridge! There was one less Routemaster in service following that incident! Thanks for sharing the video.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure! I was having problems with my video camera at this time so although i did film in the garage and the other end of the route it never came out! I did plan to go back but shift work and chasing the other operators around the country got in the way.....

[@80srenaissance67]

Awesome 👌🏻

[@Starman2319]

The opening shot shows the RM turning to its left into what is now a fully pedestrianised area outside the Harpur Centre shopping centre. Another great time capsule, Soi. Thank you for sharing that with us.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I seem to recall on recent visits to Bedford that road is now pedsestrianised.

[@Starman2319]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus As I said above, it is pedestrianised. Where the RM approaches the junction now is a dedicated bus lane. The flats in the background are gone, too. Hope to see more Bedford footage in the future. Do come back soon to shoot current footage to be more time capsules in 20 years 😁

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@Starman2319 I think i will when i get the chance, KZbin has given me a new lease of life re making video's.....

[@Starman2319]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Fantastic! Give me a shout. Would love to meet you filming in my home town.

[@Springamatul]

C&A I miss them.

[@DANEBLUEGNOME]

Wow, what a lot of green routemaster buses see it is! 😯

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i think they looked good in these colours, a bit like NBC green that the London Country Routemasters wore.

[@nbavister]

Took me a while to figure out what the massive building in the background at 7:50 was. Too young to remember it, but assume its the old power station. Must of dominanted the skyline!

[@skellertons113]

4.12, that is an accurate stop with no re coil. The stability of the RM is second to none, look at the way the Drivers are cornering without a hint of body roll, then using the power hydraulic brakes to smoothly pull up. A modern bus would be all over the place, and even an RT would be giving a 35 degree lean.

[@jamesfrench7299]

Independent front end comes to the fore!

[@ccjelley2390]

Great stuff, I started school in Bedford, took the 101 on the first day. I think I cried. Not because it was a Bristol KSW.... more than 60 years ago, School was opposite the bus station 🙂 Woodside didn't exist then, all fields..

[@80srenaissance67]

Jumpers for goalposts

[@trainsontuesday]

This brings back memories.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

30 years ago now, it seems like only yesterday i filmed it!

[@robsterbob580]

What a great trip back in time this was. Remember these in my hometown so well. Hard to believe it's 30 years ago now! And the lovely old sound of the original AEC engines too. Many thanks for filming these buses at the time and uploading!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure, it's about time they were seen by a larger audience!

[@MikeGMcDermott]

This brings back memories of seeing Routemasters in Bedford when I visited the town with my parents on a Network Day in 1988 and again in 1990 - in the spring of 1990 my parents and I travelled on one of the Routemasters on route 101 from Bedford town centre out to Kempston and back and for a 15 year-old at the time it was heaven! Just a shame that when Stagecoach took over United Counties in 1990 the standards on this Routemaster service started to slip with the vehicles looking scruffy and dowdy. A great shame that this had to happen as it seemed that someone in Stagecoach's management over at United Counties felt that the Routemaster operations at Bedford and Corby had ran their course by the early 1990s. Nowadays route 101 no longer exists as the route is covered by two separate routes with different numbers.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

That happened all over with Routemaster operations even if they paid their way, some managers just had a hatred of crew operation and did all they could to bring it to an end.....

[@ImpressionsArt]

Wow, great - I really love your historic-nostalgic footage. *LIKE

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you! There is plenty more to come, both old and new. (sorry for late reply, been away on hols and lost track a bit!)

[@si002]

Another great routemaster video. I know you've got another one coming soon...!!!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

There is a new London one up to day kzbin.info/www/bejne/jomwe4B3rLB8f9E. I will sort out another provincial one soon......

[@si002]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus that is a good one as well, you've got one of routemasters in Corby haven't you?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@si002 Yes, i will get up at some point....i've not long uploaded a Titan one there.

[@jamesfrench7299]

AECs being run in Bedford ha! I doubt Bedfords were run in Southall!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

No, Leylands and AEC's mostly!

[@MikeGMcDermott]

RM 1647 later ended up as a mobile disco and bar in the city of Cancun in Mexico.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

That's good to know, Routemasters have been spread throughout the owrld. I have seen one on sightseeing work in Hamburg, Germany and tracked 3 RMLs down at the Jesada Technik Museum near Bangkok Thailand....see my upload here kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHapaGimdrKebpY

[@benwesley1899]

Thanks for this!

[@johnpiper3416]

I can think of only one problem with this video. It would be great to watch more, the green livery suited the RM's well. Who remembers the coal Lordy? Another great look back in time.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I have more provincial Routemasters, no more at Bedford but i did catch a few at Corby (and in later years ex LT Titans there as well!).

[@amberkhan7162]

Lovely roar from the engine. Great bus, but seen here in a horrible livery.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, not quite NBC leaf green livery but Routemasters did run in green with both LT and London Country.....

[@amberkhan7162]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus colour not so bad, it's the use of graphics which wreck the bus's appearance. Totally out of keeping with the classic design of the bus. It's really dreadful.

[@federicoostapchenco1054]

Que sonido perfecto

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you, i'm pleased you like it.....

[@simonkalavazides6422]

Did any of these return back to London?

[@MikeGMcDermott]

RM 2122 did along with RM 2060 from Corby. Both were rebuilt as Dartmasters for TfL in the early 2000s.

[@jacksugden8190]

No other bus route other than 101?.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Only the 101 was Routemaster operated, and i went around the UK chasing the Routemasters so that's all i filmed. Now of course i wish i had just filmed everything i saw!.......

[@danwoodhouse9290]

4:04 whats happening with that blind?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It looks like the conductor is changing the blind. Perhaps he was new and got confused as to where the rear destination blind was?.....