Same here.... They would shut the road on a Saturday night to slide a section of new road into place. The night buses were sent round via Wanstead and Redbridge to get to Ilford!
My pleasure.....Local to me at the time as well! Last crew route that far out into east London, quite sad really as i remember Ilford full of RTs on routes like the 62 (Suns only), 86, 129, 139, 144, 147, 148, 150, 193......
Wow the old Whitbread building on the Romford Road. The clock was removed from whitbreads and fitted above the off licence seen in this vid at the junction with little ilford lane. Great vid many memories thanks for uploading.
My pleasure.....i remember the Whitbread Brewery well....and the days when Little Ilford Lane was a two way road....as were they all around there! Not to mention RT buses on the 147s.....they went in July 1971!
Great memories for me too. I grew up in Parkhurst Road opposite. I could check the time on the Whitbread clock from my front room. it is also good to see the building of the North Circular Road,
@@robotmad Yes, the 101s & 147 followed the same route from Gladstone Ave/High St Norh all the way along to the Royal Albert Docks (peak hour journeys on the 147)....
Indeed, I actually remember coming out of my primary school St Edwards at the Boleyn and seeing a no58 bus completely on fire, and it turned out to be the driver who lived opposite my mum in Plaistow
All the routemasters were garaged at Bow Garage (hence the BW sign on the side). My Dad worked at Bow for many many years and drove the 25s for quite a few of them
It used to be a Forest Gate Garage route but when Bow & West Ham Trolleybus Depot's were converted to diesel bus operation in 1959, LT shut Forest Gate and moved the 25s to the ex Trolley sheds. I was working at West Ham in November 1985 when we lost our half of the 25s (20 buses, all RMs) to Bow and they then worked the whole route......
My old Manor ilford really takes me back the new Sainsburys had not long been open and with the A406 Barking relief road being built and the 25s coming out of Hainault Street with the odd one going through to Beacontee Heath and more regularly at peak time's Winston Way being constructed and the pedestrianisation of the High Street
I grew up nearby in Manor park so remember Ilford when it had lots of RTs and in its original state. The 25s lost the Becontree Heath end to new route 225 in September 1982. Within a year or so it went OPO and RMs never went beyond Ilford.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus When I first left school the 25 used to run between Becontree Heath and Victoria - I used to get the 25 every day to Romford Road Manor Park for my first job
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I did have a Saturday job there just before I left school, but my first full time job was at a shop called Bensamon (doesn't exist now sadly - but not many radio shops do)
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus West ham garage, i can remember him taking me there to pay his union dues i think,but he may have operated from another garage.
The 25. One of my local routes. If only we had film at the same location from 1968. Then we would have had RTL and RT types which l used to see on my way to school 😁
@@1973ts It was a long route in its day. Victoria to Becontree Heath (normally run Vic-Ilford and Aldgate-Bec Hth plus peak hour workings to Dagenham Fords Works) but like most routes has been cut back over the years to just a small rump (think route 15)
@@1973ts in my youth they ran from Becontree Heath to Victoria with a lot of trips only going as far as Bow Church. Then there were the workings to Dagenham Ford's. This though was in the it's 60's. Used to spend many a happy hour at Becontree Heath terminus watching the comings and goings 😊
In LT days every new recruit went through the Chiswick Driving School, even if you had a PSV license, you still had to pass with an LT instructor to be a London driver!
Yes, this was local to me at the time. When i was a young child Ilford still had plenty of RT buses running as well as Routemasters....The OPO buses back then were DMS and SMS types.....
Driving an RM is slightly different to an RML. A bit less weight plus a 3ft shorter wheelbase for getting around corners! There must be plenty of vids you haven'y yet seen, there are nearly 480 up to date!
Soi Buakhao they looked quick and we're talking about 1950s tech with AEC mechanicals making a heavy duty bus handle nimbly like today's high tech equipment. I'm talking only about your uploaded pre 2000s videos on London buses I seem to have seen nearly all of now.
What on earth is that US car doing at 2:38?! Odd to see such a stereotypical American car on this side of the Atlantic Great video, really happy to see how things looked when my Parents and Grandparents were living in Manor Park
There’s at least three US cars in that video. A Mustang 2 just in shot right at the start, the Cadillac Seville and a Pontiac later on turning out of a side road.
If this was filmed in 1988 then the 1960 bus at 9:19 VLT 164 was driving around without tax as its last ever tax ran out in November 1987 Love these old videos by the way, did you film any in swansea by any chance?
well spotted! I have checked my records book and these shots were taken in March 1987. I though i had filmed them when the route was due to be converted to Titan which did happen in early 1988. I wil amend the upload now, thank you....
Growing up in Manor Park and travelling on the 147s i too remember the old brewery.... lots of RT's running along the Romford Road on the 86s...... happy days!
When the bus gets to the lights you see the mock Tudor off licence now gone . I used to work by third avenue in 84 . Used to walk to ilford to by records
It's original home was Forest Gate garage in Green Street near Upton Park. The route moved to Bow and West Ham when they stopped being Trolleybuses Depot's and became bus garages, and Forest Gate closed. I was at West Ham in November 1985 when the route was fully allocated to Bow when Poplar also closed.
AMS AMS I had a dream about the titans I like sitting at the back of the London Titan bus (down stairs), hearing the engine when the driver is driving, I remember one time in may or June 1986 on the 69 bus (Titan bus), from West Silvertown the driver drove it speed, me and my family were at the back of the Titan bus down stairs and it was good sound, we were heading to North Woolwhich
@@leonardssenkindu5802 I have worked on Titans that were on the 69s back in 85/86 when i was on the inside staff at West Ham Garage (the original in Greengate Street) and when they were first on the route still had conductors, OPO came later in 1985.
It was a better journey when it was straight through ilford up the high road to Romford. It used to be Green line buses on that route in 1971 and I used to get sick on there every time asa kid
I remember the Green Line 721s although they were single deckers by the mid 1970s.... And i do remember Ilford High Road fully open as a through route with RT's on the 86 & 193s.....
After the RMs came the lumbering Titans, slow and stodgy. Worse was to come with the abomination that was the "bendy bus" - the gift to fare dodgers. Don't know what they have now.
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus those videos are like gold dust at first I thought it was bizarre but the more I thought about it you have something very special with these videos they are each like time capsules I'm obsessed with the videos now I've shared them to friends 😊 we all love them ❤️
@@richuk69 Thank you.... i was focusing on the buses, but viewers now look at what's beyond, the other traffic, the people, the way places have changes in the last 30+ years...... happy viewing!
I remember it being built! Before the A406 by-pass opened the North Circ went right along East Ham High Street, great big lorries on their way to the A13 or the Royal Docks and the Woolwich Ferry and an endless stream of traffic.....
@@Abdul.M. I'm not sure where the 8 goes now but it used to go to Willesden Garage with peak hour journeys to Wembley. When the 25 was cut back to Oxo, the 8 was diverted to Victoria while the Willesden end was covered by a new route 98. This was done so as to sort out garage allocations before selling off London Buses which had been split up into various small operating centres.
It's real home was Forest Gate Garage in Green Street near Upton Park Station. After the Trolleybuses finished and Bow & West Ham Trolley Depot's were converted to motor bus operation Forest Gate was shut and the route transfered to them. Forest Gate survived for years and was used by the Underground for storing engineering equipment in. I believe is has now been demolished (but am not 100% sure.....)
Great video showing of my old haunts including Pizza Hut! I remember that big flyover over the Romford Road being built!
Same here.... They would shut the road on a Saturday night to slide a section of new road into place. The night buses were sent round via Wanstead and Redbridge to get to Ilford!
Awesome footage! Takes me right back to the Ilford I grew up in.
Thanks for uploading and sharing.
My pleasure.....Local to me at the time as well! Last crew route that far out into east London, quite sad really as i remember Ilford full of RTs on routes like the 62 (Suns only), 86, 129, 139, 144, 147, 148, 150, 193......
RIP Bob Grant (Jack Harper) and Reg Varney (Stan Butler).
Every time I see old buses I think of you both laughing.
Thanks for making me laugh too.
I understand that Reg Varney was born in Manor Park, which is just along route 25 from Ilford heading into central London.....
Wow the old Whitbread building on the Romford Road. The clock was removed from whitbreads and fitted above the off licence seen in this vid at the junction with little ilford lane. Great vid many memories thanks for uploading.
My pleasure.....i remember the Whitbread Brewery well....and the days when Little Ilford Lane was a two way road....as were they all around there! Not to mention RT buses on the 147s.....they went in July 1971!
Great memories for me too. I grew up in Parkhurst Road opposite. I could check the time on the Whitbread clock from my front room. it is also good to see the building of the North Circular Road,
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus There was another bus which ran along the 147 route or part of was it the 101 bus ?
@@robotmad Yes, the 101s & 147 followed the same route from Gladstone Ave/High St Norh all the way along to the Royal Albert Docks (peak hour journeys on the 147)....
So glad people took pictures and videos of the past it’s great watching them back, remember being in Grantham road children’s home in manor park in 87
So you may well have seen these very buses passing by?......
Indeed, I actually remember coming out of my primary school St Edwards at the Boleyn and seeing a no58 bus completely on fire, and it turned out to be the driver who lived opposite my mum in Plaistow
Wow memories of ILFORD and Route Master.
Gosh, I miss those good old days.
Many Thanks for this. Cheers.
Yes, it's a real blast from the past! I hope to go back some time this year and do some more filming to see what has changed....
All the routemasters were garaged at Bow Garage (hence the BW sign on the side). My Dad worked at Bow for many many years and drove the 25s for quite a few of them
It used to be a Forest Gate Garage route but when Bow & West Ham Trolleybus Depot's were converted to diesel bus operation in 1959, LT shut Forest Gate and moved the 25s to the ex Trolley sheds. I was working at West Ham in November 1985 when we lost our half of the 25s (20 buses, all RMs) to Bow and they then worked the whole route......
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Good to hear more of the story. Thanks
Wow I remember when that A406 flyover was being built. The yellow girder frames eventually became grey
Same here, i remember when the girders were put up at night they would shut the road and divert traffic via the Barking Road and Ilford Lane......
Was due to open early 1988 but ended up opening ahead of time. December 1987 I think @@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus
My old Manor ilford really takes me back the new Sainsburys had not long been open and with the A406 Barking relief road being built and the 25s coming out of Hainault Street with the odd one going through to Beacontee Heath and more regularly at peak time's Winston Way being constructed and the pedestrianisation of the High Street
I grew up nearby in Manor park so remember Ilford when it had lots of RTs and in its original state. The 25s lost the Becontree Heath end to new route 225 in September 1982. Within a year or so it went OPO and RMs never went beyond Ilford.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus When I first left school the 25 used to run between Becontree Heath and Victoria - I used to get the 25 every day to Romford Road Manor Park for my first job
@@algiles881 You didn't work in the Army & Navy Stores did you?.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I did have a Saturday job there just before I left school, but my first full time job was at a shop called Bensamon (doesn't exist now sadly - but not many radio shops do)
That could be my dad in one of those shots,he drove the 25 route.
I imagine he was at Bow, before November 1985, West Ham Garage (the original in Greengate Street) ran half the route.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus West ham garage, i can remember him taking me there to pay his union dues i think,but he may have operated from another garage.
@@patjarvis9929 I worked there as well, on the inside staff. And at the time the Routemasters left in November 1985..... small world!
Wow so eerily similar yet different!
And Ilford was already a changed place from when i grew up in the 1970s, Ley Street was open all the way to Ilford Station then.....
The 25. One of my local routes. If only we had film at the same location from 1968. Then we would have had RTL and RT types which l used to see on my way to school 😁
I note that the 25 has been cut back yet again; now only as far as City Thameslink instead of Oxo.
@@1973ts It was a long route in its day. Victoria to Becontree Heath (normally run Vic-Ilford and Aldgate-Bec Hth plus peak hour workings to Dagenham Fords Works) but like most routes has been cut back over the years to just a small rump (think route 15)
@@1973ts in my youth they ran from Becontree Heath to Victoria with a lot of trips only going as far as Bow Church. Then there were the workings to Dagenham Ford's. This though was in the it's 60's. Used to spend many a happy hour at Becontree Heath terminus watching the comings and goings 😊
Driving skills are appreciable.
In LT days every new recruit went through the Chiswick Driving School, even if you had a PSV license, you still had to pass with an LT instructor to be a London driver!
Them old routemasters would have run for another 200 years no probs.
Yep. They are tough as old boots
Wow..great memories when i went to school and lived in that area.
Yes, this was local to me at the time. When i was a young child Ilford still had plenty of RT buses running as well as Routemasters....The OPO buses back then were DMS and SMS types.....
Love this footage - thanks for sharing!
You're welcome! There is plenty more classic footage to upload.......
Yes!! One I haven't seen yet!
They could be thrown around like a car. That light weight alloy body gave the 590s a leg up!
Driving an RM is slightly different to an RML. A bit less weight plus a 3ft shorter wheelbase for getting around corners! There must be plenty of vids you haven'y yet seen, there are nearly 480 up to date!
Soi Buakhao they looked quick and we're talking about 1950s tech with AEC mechanicals making a heavy duty bus handle nimbly like today's high tech equipment.
I'm talking only about your uploaded pre 2000s videos on London buses I seem to have seen nearly all of now.
@@jamesfrench7299 Have no fear....i have a LOT more to upload!......
Sounds good😳
Going Past My Old Gaff at The Start 784 Romford Rd Manor Park E12
What on earth is that US car doing at 2:38?! Odd to see such a stereotypical American car on this side of the Atlantic
Great video, really happy to see how things looked when my Parents and Grandparents were living in Manor Park
I used to live there back then too! Even the time seen here there had been massive changes to the area........
There’s at least three US cars in that video. A Mustang 2 just in shot right at the start, the Cadillac Seville and a Pontiac later on turning out of a side road.
It looks like everyone drove faster back then, especially the buses
Yes, LT trained drivers and the roads were a bit emptier!
You can't drive like that down Romford Road nowadays
If this was filmed in 1988 then the 1960 bus at 9:19 VLT 164 was driving around without tax as its last ever tax ran out in November 1987
Love these old videos by the way, did you film any in swansea by any chance?
well spotted! I have checked my records book and these shots were taken in March 1987. I though i had filmed them when the route was due to be converted to Titan which did happen in early 1988. I wil amend the upload now, thank you....
And no, i have never filmed in Swansea, either bus or railway.
Ha, the building on the left facing Ilford is the old Whitbread brewery, I used to go to school just out of view on the right.
Growing up in Manor Park and travelling on the 147s i too remember the old brewery.... lots of RT's running along the Romford Road on the 86s...... happy days!
I was living in Ilford in 1987
I wasn't far away then, in Manor Park.....
I’m keep getting dreams of the London Titan buses lately, lol
Well, i have plenty more on film, so keep an eye out and i'll add to your dreams! lol......
When the bus gets to the lights you see the mock Tudor off licence now gone . I used to work by third avenue in 84 . Used to walk to ilford to by records
I grew up in Manor Park and the area has changed massively since the late 1960s and 1970s.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus
Not many
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus
The whole ilford/Manner Pk has changed not for the better mate
I forgotten 25 used to go to victoria
Back at its spiritual home of Bow from next May when Stagecoach London take it plus the 425 from Tower Transit.
It's original home was Forest Gate garage in Green Street near Upton Park. The route moved to Bow and West Ham when they stopped being Trolleybuses Depot's and became bus garages, and Forest Gate closed. I was at West Ham in November 1985 when the route was fully allocated to Bow when Poplar also closed.
My lovely Titan buses, I miss them
I'll get some more Titan vids up when I get back from my current trip away.
Me too! nothing more i would love to own.
Soi Buakhao ok, thanks
AMS AMS I had a dream about the titans I like sitting at the back of the London Titan bus (down stairs), hearing the engine when the driver is driving, I remember one time in may or June 1986 on the 69 bus (Titan bus), from West Silvertown the driver drove it speed, me and my family were at the back of the Titan bus down stairs and it was good sound, we were heading to North Woolwhich
@@leonardssenkindu5802 I have worked on Titans that were on the 69s back in 85/86 when i was on the inside staff at West Ham Garage (the original in Greengate Street) and when they were first on the route still had conductors, OPO came later in 1985.
Excellent video as usual, I don't suppose you've got enough Titan footage taken here to make a video of them?
I will in the near future upload an Ilford vid from 1998 and there are quite a few Titan's on that (amongst other vehicles).
Did the 8 only run the RML as the 25 seemed to be only RM ?
The 1961 bus (WLT 765) at 8:07 is showing as currently taxed and MOT'd on the GOV website!
is it on a bus or a car? Or maybe even a new coach? A lot of RM reg numbers are on other vehicles these days.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus A google search shows RM765 owned by Routemaster4hire in Wrexham and can be hired for weddings etc.
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus still showing as a red AEC Routemaster
@@markdavies7154 That's a result! thank you Mr RM 158?......
@@andythebud I've met the bloke who runs that company, at the Wirral Tram Show. The one he had with him that day was in good condition.
It was a better journey when it was straight through ilford up the high road to Romford. It used to be Green line buses on that route in 1971 and I used to get sick on there every time asa kid
I remember the Green Line 721s although they were single deckers by the mid 1970s.... And i do remember Ilford High Road fully open as a through route with RT's on the 86 & 193s.....
After the RMs came the lumbering Titans, slow and stodgy. Worse was to come with the abomination that was the "bendy bus" - the gift to fare dodgers. Don't know what they have now.
Some sort of low floor double decker.....
So must the upper deck on that training bus have ever got cleaned, because I saw no stairwell down to the lower one?
No, in order to use the RMA's as training buses the staircase had to be removed. Short of climbing up a ladder there was no way up.
This has to be the strangest thing to appear on my feed ever!! Im just intrigued what is it out the 25 bus route? Why only the 25 and not the 86? 😂😂😂😂
I was only filming Routemasters, the 86 had been converted to OPO and was worked by Leyland Titans.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus those videos are like gold dust at first I thought it was bizarre but the more I thought about it you have something very special with these videos they are each like time capsules I'm obsessed with the videos now I've shared them to friends 😊 we all love them ❤️
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus it's amazing what you forget growing up
@@richuk69 Thank you.... i was focusing on the buses, but viewers now look at what's beyond, the other traffic, the people, the way places have changes in the last 30+ years...... happy viewing!
Wish we'd had Routemasters when I drove on the 25, instead of the TN, TAL and M classes First Capital used.
At times when i have driven Routemasters life was a lot easier. It may have only been rail replacement but made the day go a whole lot better!
I was driving the 25 then
Back when Bow was almost all Routemaster work, just a handful of Titan's for the 10!
I live in Manor Park
So this upload will either remind you of times past or show you what you missed!
The A406 expansion flyover opened end of 1987
I remember it being built! Before the A406 by-pass opened the North Circ went right along East Ham High Street, great big lorries on their way to the A13 or the Royal Docks and the Woolwich Ferry and an endless stream of traffic.....
How did the Titans get away with black and white number plates ? There not old enough
It was a London quirk to have them.
The old pizza hut
Woow use go Victoria Shocked imagine if still went Victoria and use be RM
A lot of routes have been cut back from their prime, 12 South Croydon-Wembley and the 15 East Ham-Richmond!
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I Remember
8 use to go Victoria maybe it be to long
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus imagine now if 25 went Victoria to Ilford that be to long and take hours
15 to East ham to Richmond mate wooow
@@Abdul.M. I'm not sure where the 8 goes now but it used to go to Willesden Garage with peak hour journeys to Wembley. When the 25 was cut back to Oxo, the 8 was diverted to Victoria while the Willesden end was covered by a new route 98. This was done so as to sort out garage allocations before selling off London Buses which had been split up into various small operating centres.
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus 8 goes to now Church to Tottenham court Road
N8 hainult the lowe to Oxford circus
More shocking going back to Stagecoach real home
It's real home was Forest Gate Garage in Green Street near Upton Park Station. After the Trolleybuses finished and Bow & West Ham Trolley Depot's were converted to motor bus operation Forest Gate was shut and the route transfered to them. Forest Gate survived for years and was used by the Underground for storing engineering equipment in. I believe is has now been demolished (but am not 100% sure.....)
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus. I did not even know forest gate had depot. Maybe they destroy it make it in to home
Nice like how I said 😂. Now like u said do 1998
Yes, that will be a future upload.
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus okay thx 👍
2020
This was filmed in 1988. There are no Routemasters running in Ilford in 2020......