London Buses 1986-Routemasters at Shoreditch & Bow Garage

It's June 1986 and i'm out to video Routemasters on route 8A as it was due to be converted to OPO. We start at Bow Garage with a few shots of routes8 & 8A before heading off to Shoreditch. There were plenty of Routemasters still at work back then, all AEC engined, and we see them on routes 6, 8, 8A, 9, 22, 35, 55 & 149. Broad Street Station was still open at this time and we see the now removed railway bridge in Great Eastern Street. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@TomRelubbus]

Nice to hear the distinctive sound of an old AEC engine again

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

There were plenty around back then, and even a few Leylands still.....

[@TomRelubbus]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus For a while, I drove a Plaxton coach with an AEC 760 in it. They've got a sound all of their own

[@ccjelley2390]

Brilliant location and filming. Looks weird without the new Overground bridge, but quite a lot of the old buildings survive, amazingly.

[@craigsibley8161]

👍👍👍 What a time capsule. I was 12 when you filmed this....

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I'm pleased you enjoyed it..... i was only 19 myself at this time.......

[@craigsibley8161]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Very much so...

[@jamesfrench7299]

13 here.

[@jamesfrench7299]

Real London with real RM action. Nice street shots in the last decade with rich atmosphere.

[@craigsibley8161]

Yes the 80s were great... No doubt 👍

[@JO2GALORE]

I was passing through shoreditch yesterday snd a lot of the buildings stayed the same but it’s different without the overground bridge

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

And the roads have all been changed back to 2 way streets.....

[@West.Ham1964]

Really threw me at first trying to work out your location. Shoreditch was so different back then, Great Eastern St appeared to be on way and yes, that railway bridge is no more. Great time capsule.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you..... the area has changed a fair bit. I may go back this year and film from the same spot again to see how its changed in the last 36 years.....

[@deepestdub]

Enough to bring tears to a glass eye. Where did it all go wrong.... etc etc Fantastic footage

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you.....

[@stephenport4768]

I have to say Shoreditch wasn't the Hipsters hangout back then like it is today

[@jamesfrench7299]

Yeah, it was genuine not contrived BS.

[@greigs9384]

The Shoreditch triangle. When it was in a one way gyratory. Buses moved, commercial traffic flowed, then along came TfL, narrowed it down, made it 2 way, removed old st roundabout, and now everyone sits in perpetual gridlock. TfL: Totally F’ing London

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, the London Transport of today hate all traffic in London..... I mean, if the cars and vans ect are gridlocked then to a large degree, so are the buses! And of course all those idling engines help the air quality no end!

[@wwof1646]

worst thing they ever did getting rid of LT like it was and old RM/RML. I was 11 in April 86 ...... loved these times wished I could go back now.,,, to being 11 again.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Don't we all........ Happier times indeed!

[@articeddie5494]

Bit confused here, buses showing CT and AG in 86 ? Didn’t AG replace CT then reopen in the 90s ? The rear blinds on the 55’s look like side blinds ? Great 👍🏼

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thanks for your comments..... Ash Grove replaced Dalston and Hackney Well Street garage's. Clapton was closed for a few years in the mid 1990s but was re-opened again as was Ash Grove. Dalston was demolished and Well Street was in council use for years but has now also been demolished......

[@benwesley1899]

Soi! Another great video, do you have any footage of South London RM’s on Service 2/2B from around 1992/3/4 please?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I have some from around 1986 time but not much from the early 90s. I'll see what i can find for a near future upload......

[@matthewbrown3420]

The advert should say Green means stupid.

[@trainrover]

Share your impressions with me, please, but might today's juggernaut redevelopments of inner London seem to strip the city of any of its Londonish likeness..?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Definatly! Like Bangkok, the old world, which had charm and gave an area it's individual charachter, is disappearing fast!

[@trainrover]

Ouch! very true..I hadn't bothered contemplating how other OLD places must be criminally altered......

[@trainrover]

this is why I'm dying(!) to snapshot another 'trail-blazing' slideshow (series) of jaunt(s) featuring real, actual cityesqueness that COULD DISAPPEAR AT ANY MOMENT (too cold! [cold snap of overnight lows of around -25°C for over a week already]) :(

[@trainrover]

a nippy jaunt around another townie part Island of Dr Seuss from last year -- actually, it happens to intersect the summery one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5DHYpl_l51_p7s 🍸 This one happens to capture a snow-clearance operation, a practice we used to be renowned for here.

[@lucythemoggy1970]

conductor was useless couldnt even display 8a properly in garage!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i thought that at the time!