London Buses-The Scrapping of RM 1035, Barnsley October 1985

A brutalistic video now, taken back in October 1985. What happened to a lot of London Transport's Routemasters? They ended their days in the scrap yards along Wheatshaws Lane, Barnsley, that's what!. There were several yards there that took various amounts of Routemasters, RM, RMA & RCL's, and broke them up. Some parts were returned to LT but mostly they were smashed to pieces by a giant grab crane. Unlike the DMS buses that had been broken before them the Routemasters proved harder to dismantle, the first time the grab smashed into the roof of one and gripped it to pull it apart all it did was pick the bus up! After that they had to cut through the tops of all the windows on the upper deck in order to rip the roof apart. And even then it took some time to dismantle these well built vehicles as the video shows. The best part of 1000 Routemasters met their fate here and future uploads will show other scenes around the place taken on the three trips i made there over the winter of 1985/86. So sit back, grab a tissue and watch in morbid fascination.......If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@LinesideSouthEast]

Tough machines those old Routemasters! So many memories of my youth riding around London in them, this is painful to watch.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I've worked on Routemasters and grew up with them (and RTs), think how bad it was for me filming this!!! History but brutal history.....

[@johnmills7716]

Such a well constructed bus. Apparently the Routemaster took twice as long to scrap as a more modern bus. Sitting in my own preserved Routemaster watching this video. A shocking waste of a vehicle that today would bring someone so much enjoyment.

[@1961Jezza]

Thank you for posting this video many bus fans on here will not realise that the machine breaking up the Routemaster is also now a classic, a Hy-mac 880C, this one like the bus it is breaking has probably long been cut up for scrap.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure....and thanks for the info on the Grab!

[@EdVanMeyer]

A lot of those buses could have gone on for years more.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Agreed, they wern't withdrawn because they had worn out, just because LT wanted more OPO bus routes.....

[@EdVanMeyer]

Very sad to see, makes it worse that when I was restoring an RML about 8 years ago that parts were so hard to find. Many of these could have been sold on and had years of life left in them. The best bus ever.

[@declangaming24]

Problems where always going to be accessibility to people with wheel chairs or reduced mobility if they made it with a ramp without the massive Pole and a wheel chair space they could of run well into the next decade.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Excellent footage. Good to see this old scrap being recycled. The RMs were better built because they were designed to be refurbished and rebuilt over a longer lifespan like a large locomotive. Whereas more modern buses are built for a 10-15 year life and then scrapped. It's not that we cant build them tougher now, it's just a different lifecycle philosophy.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The scrapmen wern't too impressed, it took quite a while to scrap an RM compared to older buses and indeed newer vehicles. Apart from Leyland Titan's (B15), but then again LT had a hand in their design so that probably explains it!

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

​@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Some RMs were rebuilt once, even twice, and an almost new bus emerged from the works ready for another 10 year plus service. Notice they were built much tougher. The torchman had to cut all the window pillars and weaken the structure on the next bus to be broken. Whereas today the grab would be straight in and tear it apart complete without the need for preparation work.

[@razorheadinjapan73]

They were so well maintained with the Aldenham overhaul system they could have just gone on and on. Total waste.

[@watchhans]

As a young guy I worked on a scrapyard in the early 80's and I loved the job! I didn't have to avoid scratches....🤣 I can still remember, the claw was not easy to operate. I mainly used it as a kind of sledgehammer, like seen here. Today, these are high-tech computerized, joystick operated, precision and fully manouverable destruction-instruments. In the 80's you just could operate the claw by opening, closing and turning them. That was it. That's why scrapping large vehicles was more 'brutal' than today.

[@ussvoyager8650]

I've liked buses since I was a kid back in the 80s & seen these great buses been scrapped is very sad a great video but @ the same time very sad

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i grew up with these buses and it was sad to film them being smashed up. As you can see it was hard work compared to more modern buses that fell apart easily, well, apart from Titans, they were like an RM and constructed well!

[@ussvoyager8650]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I'm from the North East I was born in 1979 & I've never been on a RM but I saw 1 @ a classic vehicles & bus show @ seaburn in 2019 they R really great looking buses

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@ussvoyager8650 Back in the 60s & 70s Northern General had their own fleet of Routemasters. They were 30ft long with Leyland engines and doors right behind the engine, and stairs at the front.....Some survive in preservation.

[@ussvoyager8650]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus R they the 1s on the tv series On The Buses

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@ussvoyager8650 No, the only Routemaster ever seen in On The Buses was in the first film, RM 200 on the skid pan at Chiswick Works......The green buses in the TV show were Eastern National Bus Co Bristol FLF type vehicles.

[@doveronefoxtrot4417]

What a tragic waste. And to think of all of the modern junk plying the streets now.

[@declangaming24]

True when you see bus companies like first, stagecoach, Arriva get the latest bus and scrap those older buses it's sad

[@chrisstocks7137]

If this was stagecoach they would put it in service the next day

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

"bit draughty this one mate but she'll go alright".....lol

[@watchhans]

With today's modern, heavy grabbers, dismantling would just take 10 - 15 minutes.

[@ANDREWLEONARDSMITH]

This would not be allowed now as all those that remain are now thankfully or should be protected by law as heritage vehicles in the same way that buildings are listed.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Most preserved buses are generally delayed scrappage . There is nothing to stop any old bus being scrapped.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Andrew, steam locos are now protected as heritage items, in the UK at least. But it is quite possible to scrap a bus which has been temporarily preserved. This has also happened to older diesel locos, which have been "preserved" then later scrapped as the owners ran out of cash or it became clear they were not viable projects in term of cost versus interest/revenue.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@PreservationEnthusiast Lots of 'preserved' buses end up getting the chop. Once the owner dies (or runs out of cash or somewhere to park it) and no one wants to take it on (if you grew up loving Nationals or Darts what relavence is a 1950s Guy Arab to you?) it ends up in Barnsley sadly.....

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Buses and coaches are much more stable if attached to a larger organisation such as a heritage railway or working museum.

[@harrymcandrew1447]

@@PreservationEnthusiast not everything can be preserved.........

[@sandrafowler6717]

What happened to the bus that Reg Varney drove in the series On The Buses?

[@TheGodParticle]

They buried him in it. Apparently it was a very expensive funeral as it took up half the cemetery.

[@Streetlamps90]

It makes me feel sad When buses get Scrapped! But these Routemasters are old!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They weren't that old when they were chopped, only around 20 years old then and absolutely nothing wrong with them! Just de-licensed and in a lot of cases driven to the scrapyard.....

[@Streetlamps90]

Ok Thanks I did not know :)

[@Streetlamps90]

But yeah They weren't that old STILL Absolutley nothing wrong with them! >:(

[@tl50camiva]

Great video showing just how tough a Routemaster is to break up- even with the cutting through of various body pillars using the gas-axe. It looks to be quite hard on the excavator and grab too!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The scrappers admitted they were the toughest buses they had ever had to break up! In later years when Titan's started to appear there they found they were hard work as well!

[@tl50camiva]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I'd heard that about the Titans too- obviously the PRV build quality was very good!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@tl50camiva Supurb quality, better than the sh**e built today!

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

I don't think the grab operator was the best I've seen. Some are very efficient and would work quicker than this. The RM was designed to be rebuilt and refurbished over a longer life than today's buses. So naturally was better built. No magic there, but a lighter bus uses less fuel per passenger mile. It's not all about weight and strength.

[@jadenamoako5731]

It just makes feel bad for bulgy's kind and bertie's kind and its even worse the what gose on at vic berry

[@zebedep]

This is too distressing, I just can't watch! ;-)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Definatly a tear jerker this one, if you like old buses that is........

[@juliesmith5567]

Why are you doing this hope you are building more it make me feel not good good looking at these being scraped I'm a bus spotter not a bus scrapper 😮😢

[@elementalb3m957]

It's from 1985

[@jamesfrench7299]

They would have got their fill of alloy metal out of those, and a bit of copper thrown in! I do hope the good mechanical bits were set aside for resale. AEC had closed down permanently 6 years prior.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Some parts were returned to LT but most were scrapped sadly.....

[@oforid2227]

This Video was featured on a Islington Gazette news article about Buses going to the scrapper

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They never asked me to use my vid.... bet my channel never even got a mention.....

[@oforid2227]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus they did mention your name and your youtube profile pops up on the video so anyonr can click it

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@oforid2227 That's great, thanks for the info. A Scottish newspaper onceasked to use one of my Routemasters in Dundee uploads, all i wanted then was a link to the YT vid.....

[@oforid2227]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus No Worries! 😊 and ikr it's so annoying like we just want you to credit us no more than that it's like they think we're demanding a raise 😂😂😅

[@alfiewhittaker3763]

proof the old RMs were made of tougher stuff but also it seems they need to get a hydraulics engineer to look at that grab eh ;)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They were hard buses to scrap the staff told me....DMS types folded with a clump or two but Rms were sturdy things!

[@wharris302]

Made of the same stuff any other bus is made of, fibreglass! Like new buses!

[@johnpiper3416]

A total waste of buses that were good for many more years of service. It was political that they were sent all the way to Yorkshire for scrap.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I agree there was nothing wrong with them, they were indeed fit for many more years use as the RML fleet showed. But scrapping buses in Yorkshire was pretty much always the case, as there were lots of scrapyards in that part of the world with contacts who took all the scrap. Most RT's sent for scrap ended up at Wombwell Diesels near Barnsley so it was nothing new going North!

[@richardmcgowan6383]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus how did the buses get there? Were they driven to Yorkshire under their own power or were they towed? It's a long old way.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Most were driven to Barnsley, running on trade plates others had been in accidents or were unfit mechanically and they were indeed towed. Shows you that most RMs were not withdrawn because they had worn out but for political reasons. Some had been in accidents like ex West Ham RM 972 which hit a bank in the City of London which unsurprisingly sealed its fate!

[@richardmcgowan6383]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Driving a Routemaster to Yorkshire sounds like a fun job. A chance to pretend to be Cliff Richard and Una Stubbs

[@johnpiper3416]

Soi Buakhao I agree to some extent, but keep in mind the political situation in London at the time. The biggest problem with the RM was it needed a crew of two. I remember one of the lads at this yard ( PVS ) saying how well built these were and how difficult it was to break them. This was a situation that the paymasters did not want the press getting hold of at the time.

[@alfiewhittaker3763]

still a brilliant video though "sad but spectacular

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It was quite something to stand there while they were doing this, dirt & dust flying everywhere, making sure that no bits of bus came flying in my direction. As the grab rips the bus apart it still resists, the grab tugging away and still the RM won't let go until sheer brute force overcomes and a bit more of its life ebbs away! All that is left now is the rear reg plate that i rescued once they had finished ripping the bus apart......

[@harrymcandrew1447]

3:33 why destroy a perfectly re usable destination blind ?or salvage and sell it or it could have been put in a modern london bus's blind witch was for use on the route

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

If it was reachable i would have had it out but some buses did escape to the scrap yards with blinds in them, sometimes garage's would loose all their RMs so no longer needed the blinds.....

[@NC-002]

Routemaster scrapping causes people’s infinite sadness. StreetDeck scrapping causes people’s infinite happiness. #ScrapDecks?

[@StBlazeyModelWorld]

A great video but very sad to see

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, it was quite an experience to be there to see this, i was working on the buses at the time and we spent our time keeping them running!

[@Fcutdlady]

Some are preserved, a couple still ran here in Dublin until the lockdown started and tour buses were stopped. Not every Routemaster can or should be saved. Tell you a little story to Illustrate my point . The bus in my avatar is a preserved PDR 3 CIE Bodied Leyland Atlantean in the early monstral blue and cream livery. A few years ago a friend of mine found another one in Dublin Bus green in a field in nothern ireland acting as a grandstand for a riding school. He was all ready to buy and preserve, the owner was ready to sell, until he took a closer look underneath. The chasis had major cuts in several places. That was normal at the time. when the Atlanteans were sold for scrap the idea, was cutting up the chasis prevented the buses being sold on for futher use. It only changed in the last 20 years when Dublin Bus realised there is a few bob to be made selling on thier used buses. Anyway my friend showed photos of the chasis cuts to his insurance company (at that time my friend was in his early 30s , he had a bus and a fire engine already preserved. Now he's in his late 30s he has 4 buses and a fire engine so he wasn't inexperienced in bus preservation ) he was told by his insurance company if the chasis was welded in all the places where it needed it the bus would be classed as a cut and shut and would be uninsureable therefore couldn't be run. As my friebd said he doesbt buy static museum pieces and pulled out of the sale .

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

A wise move i think. Best buy a preserved bus direct from a company as a runner or a trusted friend/owner who has had it running......Never heard about chassis cuts before but makes sense to stop re-use as a bus. First at one time let very little buses be sold on for use in the UK, they didn't mind export re-use but not in UK, in case of competition against them. The odd bus for preservation slipped through if they thought you were genuine.....

[@thefatcontroller4094]

Ouch...

[@LiftEnthusiast2020OFFTOPIC]

Just makes me sick that these beautiful buses are just torn apart like nothing by a machine.

[@trainman86trainstramsandmore]

Rip Routemaster

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

One small part remains...... i have the rear reg number plate section!

[@trainman86trainstramsandmore]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Wow! whats the reg?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@trainman86trainstramsandmore 35 CLT. I had one of the workers cut it out for me.....

[@trainman86trainstramsandmore]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Ok thanks

[@jacksugden8190]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Should have given you the whole bus instead 👍

[@razorheadinjapan73]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Quite a brutal upload, more so for me standing there filming it, feeling every knock and scrape!

[@olurayramond5382]

RIP RM 1035; ????-1985

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It was built in 1960, so lasted 25 years. The only bit left is the rear reg plate which i salveged!

[@uktransportgames]

Yikes…

[@adammoorby99]

PVS Barnsley?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, this was PVS back in 1985.

[@adammoorby99]

Soi Buakhao ahhh i’m in a group on facebook called “off to PVS barnsley” and they just post buses with something wrong that need scrapping

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@adammoorby99 There was nothing wrong with these Routemasters apart from being a crew bus....

[@adammoorby99]

Soi Buakhao oh no i have nothing against routemasters

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@adammoorby99 I didn't think you had, it's just that these were perfectly sound buses (in the main, there was the odd accident damaged one) that were around 5 years old mechanically (Aldenham re-built them every 5 years, although perhaps 20 years old on paper) and were scrapped purley because they were crew buses.....

[@jacksugden8190]

Ken Livingstone

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Not at this time, it was the Law Lords ruling over the Fairs fair policy that led to LT making massive cuts. And so 200 serviceable Routemasters were withdrawn at once. It too 23 years to remove them from service.

[@jacksugden8190]

Many thanks for correcting me.

[@jamescridland6330]

none of the RMs should have been scrapped such a waste

[@alfiewhittaker3763]

pretty sure this is murder.........

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Couldn't have put it better myself......