@@SkaterStimm lol, have you seen how low modern busses are? They wouldn't make it a block on the old roads that those buses handled easily every day. It's fun to watch videos of when "developing" (lol, "developing" for the last 10,000 years) places get their hands on a modern bus and try to drive it down what they call "roads" and then end up tearing it all up and getting it stuck in the mud. Heck, a modern 4x4 "SUV" couldn't even keep up to a Ford Model T in most off road scenarios.
And yet ironically it was improvements in bus build and material quality requiring fewer full overhauls that was partly responsible for Aldenhams decline.
@@nzsaltflatsracer8054 That would have been considered a very good job, so there would not be much turnover. Typically, if you see a lot of young people at a place, it means it's either low paying and/or a toxic workplace.
@@mannythelimodriver6003 British industry was horribly inefficient, and labor had grown militantly lazy and socialist. Margaret Thatcher was a stern and forceful woman who made difficult decisions in order to put things on a sustainable path. And the lazy socialist detest her for it.
This was an era where public safety was considered above private profit. I worked for a coach company and we did the same thing except removing bodies. If it was removable, it was removed. Even road springs were stripped down. Proper maintenance, not the quick oil change and through it out as happens these days.
Today, in a world bent on sustainability, I see this video and see a bus built to last, built to be repaired, re-powered, rebuilt, and capable of being so for generations. There we were, in 1957, achieving something. Where are we today? We throw away everything, repair nothing, and any piece of equipment like this that gets bought for the job ends up over budget, can't do it as effectively, and is totally unsustainable in the long term. So much for progress!
People were much more friendly and polite. However train trip up to Waterloo although just as quick as today, was often a dirty experience. Also smoking on public service vehicles and tubes was smelly and awful to non smokers. However the mood of the people today is the difference. Too much imm igration of the wrong sort in the capital.
I was a coach and bus builder for 40 years. The Route Master was a fantastic bus design for a city like London. Todays (BORIS BUS) in my view is horrible and if you look at the bus from the front and imagine a face it looks like it has suffered a stroke. The RM should of been replaced with the same design with a new engine Londoners loved them. I understand the new RM cost £350,000 per unit from Wrights the ALEXANDER DENNIS ENVIRO DOUBLE DECKER WAS FAR FAR CHEAPER AND LOOKED BETTER. When I visit London I love to see the old RMs on heritage routes not many left now but some are in transport museums thank god.
@@danwoodhouse9290 Totally agree. I am no fan of the New Bus for London. I will however say one thing in its favour, they are being kept in very good condition, inside and out. They still look almost like new, and the first ones were introduced before the Olympics so they must now be approaching the end of their 14 year intended lifespan.
Excellent film. Such dedication, attention to detail, and professionalism. Most of the technicians in this film are part of the wartime generation and their dedication is clear. It is also interesting to see the public of London; all pre immigration, all British, all going to work. Sadly none of this remains; buses are boring boxes like any other bus and half the babies born in London are to mothers who were not born in the UK. All in the last 50 years.
Really enjoy,d this ,i started as an Engine boy apprentice,at Upton park Garage 1970 ,transferred into the Stores Dept,and then into Chiswick works on progress chasing,returned to the garage,s on the Float,eventually back to where I began at U,and then ,spent the the last years off Service,on decommissioning, U, WH,T L,RD,AP .then took Severence,shame it's all gone now,also spent time on the introduction off the Pilot fleet off Dms,SMS fleet also, visited Alderman on Progress work, "the good old Days".
Epping Ongar Railway operate RT type buses on their 339 service from Epping Station to Shenfield Station. Weekends from Easter to October. (Coronavirus permitting!)
They would have remained on the road if Aldenham had still been overhauling them.Since the advent of the DMS in 1971 it was decided that it was cheaper to make a bus that could be scrapped after a relatively short period of time rather than overhaul it.Because the Routemaster lasted so long as to out last Aldenham's closure the Routemaster had to be overhauled by private contractors to keep them running. I retired in 2024 after working as a conductor and a driver since 1974 and no bus I ever drove beat the Routemaster.
What a fantastic little doc. Thanks for posting. ❤ Funny watching this. They said the RT's were replacing the trolley busses. Interesting how they were replacing a less locally polluting vehicle with a diesel powered one. Now we have electric ones but at what cost? I think we should have kept trolley busses longer until we figured out a better one for the local and wider environment. We should have kept trams too. Now it costs countless millions to re-establish them. Crazy.
As a recently retired Marine Engineer, this was an absolute delight to watch and I enjoyed every minute of it. But, it is a difficult watch when you consider the skills, capabilities and confidence we have lost in our once great organisations and institutions. Having said that, a lot of the activity shown in the video, was even in the the 1950s totally uneconomic. They were rightly proud of their organisation, methods and measurable efficiency and doing what they did - but they were in the process burning cash unnecessarily and it was unsustainable. I regularly repair my cars, motorcycles, domestic appliances but my labour is free if I was paying someone to do it- it would be ruinous. London Transport probably thought the labour was free in those days.😉
It would be good to study which aspects of that era should have been retained and which aspects should have been modernised. Modern computer systems and production technology could have vastly improved efficiency without taking away the core skills, work ethics and sense of purpose people seemed to have back then.
It is remarkable to read what you describe when you talk about work ethics and sense of purpose of the workers of that time. It seems to be a global problem. I am from Argentina where we had excellent work capacity and labor and today it seems impossible to prepare a young person and teach them a trade or make them understand that their work is important. Clearly world society has changed drastically, but you have to understand that artificial intelligence in the future will not repair your kitchen faucet, we will always need the hand of the human being. greetings.
And that's why everybody loved those old buses, they had a soul as they were not just throwaway objects. Treated that way with pride and TLC they could be used and re-used indefinitely.
Same was done to the railway. Despite the obvious efficiency of modular replacement using standardised parts across much of British Rail's fleet, the Thatcher government turned public opinion against inefficient, lazy, nationalised monopolies that ran old, dirty, smoky and unreliable transport operated and maintained by heavily-unionised workers who hated any change, wasting taxpayers' money by going on strike every five minutes....
As a Kiwi, my guess was 1955 from the cars, a great video. A hell of a lot of moving things around, Henry Ford should have been consulted. No sign of Health and safety those days.
When workers were WORKERS, and when buses were BUSES. None of those two exist today. Quite the impressive factory too. Britain was once the envy of a lot of countries for having the best....shame its not that way now.
Amazing, what an operation. Surely the envy of the world at the time, one bus out every hour. Very interesting this, I wonder how many people were employed by London Transport at its peak?
Yes, and here you are replying on your computer at home. Something that hadn't been invented yet. What makes me laugh about you boomers is that you hark back to a "simpler time", all the while not understanding the irony that you're sharing your opinion (pointless opinion at that), on a digital platform.
Look at London now..horrid place, will never be the same again, and wear a stab vest when visiting and hope you don't get mugged by our new third world visitors.
@@Thecrazyvaclav Um, now a college education gives you less purchasing power than a minimum wage job did then. (edit)(addendum) as someone pointed out, although it seems youtube didn't like something they said as I don't see the comment now, "minimum wage" probably wasn't a thing then. The study I'm referring too, IIRC compares the 1980's or so to today. Back then things would have been _even better,_ although there were drastic changes from decade to decade in those days as well.
The AEC works also overhauled the underfloor engines that powered some of British Rail's once vast fleet of diesel multiple units (DMUs) built in the late 1950s/ early 1960s. They were essentially a 150hp horizontal version of AEC's bus engines. It wasn't by accident that BR built a DMU depot at Southall; engines could almost be 'swung over the fence' to/from AEC next door.
Oh gosh, I recall seeing pictures of railway lines going to the works. It was appalling their main rival bought them. It should have been prevented on national interest grounds. Joint ventures only, like the road train. Kept autonomous otherwise.
British standards in those day were quite high, also the kitemark on products. I have noticed things made in china using uk brands like washing machines using 1/3rd of thickness cable, so they get quite warm when heating water and motor running.
This was at a time when it was realised that state enterprises could in many cases be tun more efficiently than fractionated private ones and without siphoning away tax funds in profit to tax havens. Such state enterprises were good for our economy and society and for the people that worked in them.
Good luck getting this level of service in our present times. Too costly I would think. Back then employing folks wasn't in crime to be punished by the market forces.🤔🤔
Imagine being caught without a necktie in this place with many hazards?! A modern WHS practitioner’s nightmare, but at least they were trying. This looks very much like the advent of “just in time” logistics. Quite a sophisticated and efficient operation. 👍🏻
Nearly everybody went to work in collar and tie back then.So much so that London Transport didn't start issuing shirts and ties to drivers and conductors and their underground staff until the early 1970s.It was taken for granted that all staff would arrive for work smartly dressed.
Just think....alot of those people working there were probably previously building War Planes...Spits and Lancasters. Skilled workers...understood what good workmanship was.
Vary impressive, I wonder if they still do that for the Buses, if they have that factory still and how much did they get paid back then. I feel like this is a good system, it creates jobs, and keeps public transport operational. Any Brits in here, I would appreciate some Insite. Thank you.
Unfortunately the whole industry has been privatised and buses are not as well looked after as they once were. Once privatised the only concern for any company is profit
It was decided many years ago that it was cheaper to scrap buses and get new ones rather than overhaul them.This decision was made from the 1970s with the advent of the DMS type bus.Most were sold on to other operators. Aldenham remained open to overhaul Routemasters and closed(I think) in the1980s.
There are a few Routemasters that were taken to America. I am amazed that they are allowed to operate there, with an open platform on the ‘wrong’ side of the bus. They are used as a sort of British novelty, not for normal service.
I worked at both Chiswick and Aldenham bus works sometimes you could sit on the buses when doing the tilt test and skid test Fun times with little health and safety Also remember working with a couple of guys that were extras in the Summer Holiday movie
Brilliant, but how did they overcome the regulations regarding chassis/engine numbers relating to that vehicle as they would be different when the bus left the works?
In short, they didn't bother with mere regulations! London Transport being a quango were a law unto themselves. When I was a driver on route 207 in the early eighties, I remember being told by an inspector en route to change buses at Hanwell, because the bus I was driving was supposed to have gone to Aldenham. Upon pulling onto the forecourt at Hanwell fully loaded, the maintenance staff not only swopped over the number plates, to the newly re-conditioned Routemaster that was waiting for me on the forecourt, they swopped the tax disc too! Wouldn't get away with that nowadays I suspect.
I imagine chassis number remained the same regardless of what body was used, engine swap would be the same as with any vehicle it was just performed and no one cared.
Remember when you could rebuild things? Good times. Now days the body control modual would flip shit if you tried any of that, the seat structure wouldn't hold up long enough to warrent rebuilding, and the motor would have to have a rod hanging out the side before theyd even consider pulling it from service
What a wonderful video. I wonder if they do buses here in the states like that, or, do they crush them and buy new ones? I don't think I have seen a video like this made here.
I doubt they do it anywhere now, including London. Now they only give a respray once or twice in their lives, replace an engine here and there and run it into the ground and throw it away!
@@TheDoosh79 It's more than just maths and cost; this facility ensured that London's buses were kept in excellent condition, lasted a long time and ultimately provided passengers with reliable transport. In today's world of concerns about the environment, repairing and maintaining what we already have is far less damaging to the environment than buying new every few years.
Buses are just replaced rather than overhauling them these days.Not only is it considered cheaper but the specification of Buses changes at a much faster rate - wheelchair ramps fully electric - it won't be long before these buses will be obsolete. Even the Borisbus,the New Routemaster, only introduced in 2012 is now obsolete although a partial overhaul was done on them but certainly not as thorough as an Aldenham overhaul.
An era when things were designed properly, designed to be maintained not just thrown away.
Buses in use today see service just like this, but they have better paints that last a lot longer.
@@SkaterStimm lol, have you seen how low modern busses are? They wouldn't make it a block on the old roads that those buses handled easily every day.
It's fun to watch videos of when "developing" (lol, "developing" for the last 10,000 years) places get their hands on a modern bus and try to drive it down what they call "roads" and then end up tearing it all up and getting it stuck in the mud.
Heck, a modern 4x4 "SUV" couldn't even keep up to a Ford Model T in most off road scenarios.
And yet ironically it was improvements in bus build and material quality requiring fewer full overhauls that was partly responsible for Aldenhams decline.
@@Meal-deal555 Capitalism 101. That's just how Capitalism works. That's why it always burns itself out.
What a great programme to watch when Britain was great
These types of jobs kept the youth busy and taught them valuable skills , instead of running around the street aimlessly!
They ran around aimlessly as well...in their spare time!
No young guys working in the video, most would have been WW2 vets in 57.
@@nzsaltflatsracer8054Apprentices mate, look closely. You can see them.
@@nzsaltflatsracer8054 That would have been considered a very good job, so there would not be much turnover.
Typically, if you see a lot of young people at a place, it means it's either low paying and/or a toxic workplace.
Best thing I’ve watched in ages. A glimpse back at a better London.
The London of my youth, grieves me to see how that clean well ordered world has gone, fantastic time.
Thanks for archiving all these vintage documentaries, Joanne - it's a real joy to watch these films.
It's a pleasure
The scale and capability of these engineering workshops is mind-blowing what a fascinating piece of film, many thanks for posting ....
Brilliant film, I’d loved to have seen Aldenham working. Thanks for sharing.
I never really tire of seeing this video...
Was an apprentice welder at Aldenham made redundant in 1985 thanks Maggie. A fantastic place to work, the good old days.
Why thanks to a Aggie? To young to know
He is referring to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her controversial reforms during her mandate.
@@mannythelimodriver6003 British industry was horribly inefficient, and labor had grown militantly lazy and socialist. Margaret Thatcher was a stern and forceful woman who made difficult decisions in order to put things on a sustainable path. And the lazy socialist detest her for it.
Love to know what a Aggie is.
Open your eyes Simon, it says Maggie.
This was an era where public safety was considered above private profit. I worked for a coach company and we did the same thing except removing bodies. If it was removable, it was removed. Even road springs were stripped down. Proper maintenance, not the quick oil change and through it out as happens these days.
Il n'y avait pas l'esprit du "jetable" dans les moeurs à cet époque. Beau reportage historique
Today, in a world bent on sustainability, I see this video and see a bus built to last, built to be repaired, re-powered, rebuilt, and capable of being so for generations. There we were, in 1957, achieving something. Where are we today? We throw away everything, repair nothing, and any piece of equipment like this that gets bought for the job ends up over budget, can't do it as effectively, and is totally unsustainable in the long term. So much for progress!
What an amazing place and time to have lived
I world have loved to have lived in London during that era. I love everything about it.
Yes it was special,
Changed a bit these days..
People were much more friendly and polite. However train trip up to Waterloo although just as quick as today, was often a dirty experience. Also smoking on public service vehicles and tubes was smelly and awful to non smokers. However the mood of the people today is the difference. Too much imm igration of the wrong sort in the capital.
Aldenham really was world class when it came to the Routemaster depot 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Not many Routemasters yet. These are their simpler predecessor the RT(L).
Fantastic film showing the 1950's in colour as most footage from that era is only black & white.
I remember watching this film among others when they were used as Colour TV trade test films when I was young.
I was a coach and bus builder for 40 years. The Route Master was a fantastic bus design for a city like London. Todays (BORIS BUS) in my view is horrible and if you look at the bus from the front and imagine a face it looks like it has suffered a stroke. The RM should of been replaced with the same design with a new engine Londoners loved them. I understand the new RM cost £350,000 per unit from Wrights the ALEXANDER DENNIS ENVIRO DOUBLE DECKER WAS FAR FAR CHEAPER AND LOOKED BETTER. When I visit London I love to see the old RMs on heritage routes not many left now but some are in transport museums thank god.
Three words really, Wheelchairs, Buggies and disabled. The routemaster couldn't really deal with that so had to go in the end, sad though that be
@@windbag45 Yes, heaven forbid we make vehicles more accessible...
Yest but the regent type
One thing that was wrong was branding it as "New Routemaster" When in reality it had nothing to do with the proper Routemaster.
@@danwoodhouse9290
Totally agree. I am no fan of the New Bus for London. I will however say one thing in its favour, they are being kept in very good condition, inside and out. They still look almost like new, and the first ones were introduced before the Olympics so they must now be approaching the end of their 14 year intended lifespan.
Excellent film. Such dedication, attention to detail, and professionalism. Most of the technicians in this film are part of the wartime generation and their dedication is clear. It is also interesting to see the public of London; all pre immigration, all British, all going to work. Sadly none of this remains; buses are boring boxes like any other bus and half the babies born in London are to mothers who were not born in the UK. All in the last 50 years.
Change the record. Xenophobic halfwit. There were thousands of immigrants behind the rebuilding of the UK.
@@Eddiecurrent2000 Simp
I agreed with you until the part where you started banging on about immigration. Sad.
@@GeorgeSmith1066 Someone's got an internet bride 🤣🤣
Wow, how quickly a film about buses stirred up all the bigots! Surprised not to see the word "indigenous" thrown around.
Impressive maintenance procedure, I was born this year in 57, at UCH .Great piece of film,enjoyed the whole thing,
Really enjoy,d this ,i started as an Engine boy apprentice,at Upton park Garage 1970 ,transferred into the Stores Dept,and then into Chiswick works on progress chasing,returned to the garage,s on the Float,eventually back to where I began at U,and then ,spent the the last years off Service,on decommissioning, U, WH,T L,RD,AP .then took Severence,shame it's all gone now,also spent time on the introduction off the Pilot fleet off Dms,SMS fleet also, visited Alderman on Progress work, "the good old Days".
Glad you liked it.
Amazing logistics organisation bringing all those components together at the end
I remember it all too well with those wonderful RT’s both green and red, all gone to pot, if only they could have remained on the road in 2020.
Epping Ongar Railway operate RT type buses on their 339 service from Epping Station to Shenfield Station. Weekends from Easter to October. (Coronavirus permitting!)
They would have remained on the road if Aldenham had still been overhauling them.Since the advent of the DMS in 1971 it was decided that it was cheaper to make a bus that could be scrapped after a relatively short period of time rather than overhaul it.Because the Routemaster lasted so long as to out last Aldenham's closure the Routemaster had to be overhauled by private contractors to keep them running. I retired in 2024 after working as a conductor and a driver since 1974 and no bus I ever drove beat the Routemaster.
What a fantastic little doc. Thanks for posting. ❤
Funny watching this. They said the RT's were replacing the trolley busses. Interesting how they were replacing a less locally polluting vehicle with a diesel powered one. Now we have electric ones but at what cost? I think we should have kept trolley busses longer until we figured out a better one for the local and wider environment.
We should have kept trams too. Now it costs countless millions to re-establish them. Crazy.
As a recently retired Marine Engineer, this was an absolute delight to watch and I enjoyed every minute of it. But, it is a difficult watch when you consider the skills, capabilities and confidence we have lost in our once great organisations and institutions. Having said that, a lot of the activity shown in the video, was even in the the 1950s totally uneconomic. They were rightly proud of their organisation, methods and measurable efficiency and doing what they did - but they were in the process burning cash unnecessarily and it was unsustainable. I regularly repair my cars, motorcycles, domestic appliances but my labour is free if I was paying someone to do it- it would be ruinous. London Transport probably thought the labour was free in those days.😉
It would be good to study which aspects of that era should have been retained and which aspects should have been modernised. Modern computer systems and production technology could have vastly improved efficiency without taking away the core skills, work ethics and sense of purpose people seemed to have back then.
It is remarkable to read what you describe when you talk about work ethics and sense of purpose of the workers of that time. It seems to be a global problem. I am from Argentina where we had excellent work capacity and labor and today it seems impossible to prepare a young person and teach them a trade or make them understand that their work is important. Clearly world society has changed drastically, but you have to understand that artificial intelligence in the future will not repair your kitchen faucet, we will always need the hand of the human being. greetings.
@@germanturchetti6351 Thank you for telling me what I need to understand.
When England was English. This is how we like our country.
Fantastic upload.
Lack of diversity was our strength.
A film about buses, but it's still fair game for the racists, pitiful.
@@jerrypartington3650cry me a river
@@DaysOfDarknessUK most british reaction to that comment
Good old asbestos brake linings, lead paint and no meaningful protection from it. ... Maybe not so great days.
And that's why everybody loved those old buses, they had a soul as they were not just throwaway objects. Treated that way with pride and TLC they could be used and re-used indefinitely.
No doubt about the London Buses each a work of art of practicality and good engineering
Fantastic film for a fan of transports and history, advanced concept at Aldenham Works, and a víctim of thatcherism I suspect....
Same was done to the railway. Despite the obvious efficiency of modular replacement using standardised parts across much of British Rail's fleet, the Thatcher government turned public opinion against inefficient, lazy, nationalised monopolies that ran old, dirty, smoky and unreliable transport operated and maintained by heavily-unionised workers who hated any change, wasting taxpayers' money by going on strike every five minutes....
These Buses are Legend now...
Execelent!! Vídeo! Fantastic I Love Bus!!!! Joanne this vídeo is a present! Thanks !!! Thanks!
Why does everyone think these are Routemasters? Every single one is an RT (Regent). The film was made in 1957. The Routemaster dates from 1959.
At last someone who knows the difference!
As a Kiwi, my guess was 1955 from the cars, a great video. A hell of a lot of moving things around, Henry Ford should have been consulted. No sign of Health and safety those days.
Also RTLs, (Leyland Titan PD2), RFs (Regal IV) and a GS (Guy Special).
Thank you for the video, memories a the days when work meant achieving something. You struggle to find skills like this now.
When workers were WORKERS, and when buses were BUSES. None of those two exist today. Quite the impressive factory too. Britain was once the envy of a lot of countries for having the best....shame its not that way now.
Absolutely first class video. Thank you. Great memories of GREAT BRITAIN.
This is why i love English engineering!!! They know how to build and do it with great skill !
Amazing, what an operation. Surely the envy of the world at the time, one bus out every hour.
Very interesting this, I wonder how many people were employed by London Transport at its peak?
London Transport was the envy of the world. Now, thanks to its destruction and dismemberment by Thatcherism, what is left doesn't even rate any more.
Superb! This was highly interesting!
love watching programs about Aldenham
Well put together video love the RTs
Tyburn Road in Birmingham did exactly the same hi quality work
Love it. Back then, when things were made to last and were taken great care about. Nowadays this is just unimaginable...
Thank you for posting this !!! Such a fantastic insight into a different time ❤
Beautiful film. Thank you from Nottingham Uk
Another majestic British Transport film
I'd almost forgot the Tapley meter ! Used for brake testing on MOTs before rollers became the norm. It's been decades since I last saw and used one !
The route master was built well, so was able to be maintained. Thanks for a view of these fine Machines.
The buses shown in the film are Route Traders the predecessor of the Route Master which was introduced in 1956.
@@jerrypartington3650What's a Route Trader? RT - Regent three.RTL - Regent three Leyland.
Simply Incredible this is, sad to think of how it is now ! Thank You for the Look Back! Cheers!!! from across the Pond : )
Craftsmen everywhere
Amazing factories, brilliant British engineering of the past .
Fantastic viewing. ❤
Thanks for posting 👍
Such a great example of an all encompassing system..
Makes me wish I could have been around back then. Had to be better than now.
Yes, and here you are replying on your computer at home. Something that hadn't been invented yet.
What makes me laugh about you boomers is that you hark back to a "simpler time", all the while not understanding the irony that you're sharing your opinion (pointless opinion at that), on a digital platform.
Yea the smog, cold non central heated houses, warm beer, poor wages, must have been great
Look at London now..horrid place, will never be the same again, and wear a stab vest when visiting and hope you don't get mugged by our new third world visitors.
@@TheMusicalElitist He has to, because it's no longer safe to go outside. I grew up with no internet, it was awesome.
@@Thecrazyvaclav Um, now a college education gives you less purchasing power than a minimum wage job did then.
(edit)(addendum) as someone pointed out, although it seems youtube didn't like something they said as I don't see the comment now, "minimum wage" probably wasn't a thing then.
The study I'm referring too, IIRC compares the 1980's or so to today.
Back then things would have been _even better,_ although there were drastic changes from decade to decade in those days as well.
One of the three pillars of London buses now history. Aldenham, Chiswick and AEC Southall.
The AEC works also overhauled the underfloor engines that powered some of British Rail's once vast fleet of diesel multiple units (DMUs) built in the late 1950s/ early 1960s. They were essentially a 150hp horizontal version of AEC's bus engines. It wasn't by accident that BR built a DMU depot at Southall; engines could almost be 'swung over the fence' to/from AEC next door.
Oh gosh, I recall seeing pictures of railway lines going to the works. It was appalling their main rival bought them. It should have been prevented on national interest grounds.
Joint ventures only, like the road train. Kept autonomous otherwise.
@@ChangesOneTim did they overhaul other engines as well as their own?
@@jamesfrench7299
IDK for sure, but it's possible that B.U.T. derivatives were
British standards in those day were quite high, also the kitemark on products.
I have noticed things made in china using uk brands like washing machines using 1/3rd of thickness cable, so they get quite warm when heating water and motor running.
It looks like a superior civilization compared to Britain of today.
A superior civilisation. I'd like to point out that the workforce was made up of men that had defeated Hitler so yes.
This was at a time when it was realised that state enterprises could in many cases be tun more efficiently than fractionated private ones and without siphoning away tax funds in profit to tax havens.
Such state enterprises were good for our economy and society and for the people that worked in them.
Love the pride passion in their work 🇬🇧🙏
Love this.
Good luck getting this level of service in our present times. Too costly I would think. Back then employing folks wasn't in crime to be punished by the market forces.🤔🤔
Brilliant!
Good old days
Imagine being caught without a necktie in this place with many hazards?! A modern WHS practitioner’s nightmare, but at least they were trying. This looks very much like the advent of “just in time” logistics. Quite a sophisticated and efficient operation. 👍🏻
And everybody looks about 70 whatever age they actually are 😊
Nearly everybody went to work in collar and tie back then.So much so that London Transport didn't start issuing shirts and ties to drivers and conductors and their underground staff until the early 1970s.It was taken for granted that all staff would arrive for work smartly dressed.
No computers and it worked very well
This overhaul shop was highly organised I see brilliant I think and plenty of jobs for people is this similar to to day 2022
Just think....alot of those people working there were probably previously building War Planes...Spits and Lancasters.
Skilled workers...understood what good workmanship was.
Beautiful
Vary impressive, I wonder if they still do that for the Buses, if they have that factory still and how much did they get paid back then. I feel like this is a good system, it creates jobs, and keeps public transport operational. Any Brits in here, I would appreciate some Insite. Thank you.
Unfortunately the whole industry has been privatised and buses are not as well looked after as they once were. Once privatised the only concern for any company is profit
@@windbag45 Sad but true.
It was decided many years ago that it was cheaper to scrap buses and get new ones rather than overhaul them.This decision was made from the 1970s with the advent of the DMS type bus.Most were sold on to other operators. Aldenham remained open to overhaul Routemasters and closed(I think) in the1980s.
I wish we had these in America
If you guys hadn't opted for independence, you may have. Instead you became a country of GMs (for many decades).
There are a few Routemasters that were taken to America. I am amazed that they are allowed to operate there, with an open platform on the ‘wrong’ side of the bus. They are used as a sort of British novelty, not for normal service.
wonderful.
Very intéressant document
I worked at both Chiswick and Aldenham bus works sometimes you could sit on the buses when doing the tilt test and skid test
Fun times with little health and safety
Also remember working with a couple of guys that were extras in the Summer Holiday movie
3:02 "Now like a shotgun cartridge going into the breach, the bus moves towards disintegration". Poetry!
The good olds day - when Great Briton was GREAT !
So was their spelling - Britain.
FIRST could learn a thing or two watching this .the buses round Sheffield are clapped.
As a joiner in a workshop it was very interesting and to see yanke pump screwdriver my dad used one of those 😊l wonder if this place is still there
Fantastic
Skilled craftsmen Jobs people could take pride in. Such a shame we have lost those skills and have replaced it with a throw away society.
My grandad used to drive a routmaster in Lancaster.... :)
Are you sure it was a Routemaster?
All done in a shirt and tie. I was taught to drive in a shirt and tie 👔. Dear boy!
Brilliant, but how did they overcome the regulations regarding chassis/engine numbers relating to that vehicle as they would be different when the bus left the works?
In short, they didn't bother with mere regulations! London Transport being a quango were a law unto themselves.
When I was a driver on route 207 in the early eighties, I remember being told by an inspector en route to change buses at Hanwell, because the bus I was driving was supposed to have gone to Aldenham.
Upon pulling onto the forecourt at Hanwell fully loaded, the maintenance staff not only swopped over the number plates, to the newly re-conditioned Routemaster that was waiting for me on the forecourt, they swopped the tax disc too!
Wouldn't get away with that nowadays I suspect.
Regulations different for LT, they have to be for large fleets, as long as it's all documented.
@@christopherhulse8385 London Transport weren't insured either. They used to cover their own liabilities. Wouldn't be allowed now either
I imagine chassis number remained the same regardless of what body was used, engine swap would be the same as with any vehicle it was just performed and no one cared.
@@xanadudawn Same as the Police
imagine all of this hard work just to be gone because most of them is scrapped
Remember when you could rebuild things? Good times. Now days the body control modual would flip shit if you tried any of that, the seat structure wouldn't hold up long enough to warrent rebuilding, and the motor would have to have a rod hanging out the side before theyd even consider pulling it from service
Oh you can hear Mr Khan saying cant have this , to many indigenous English men there we will have to change this . I miss this England .
We're you actually part of it,I suspect not.
Good grief the future looks brilliant doesn't it.
Workers and ties ❤
What an amazing time. I wonder if our children will look at the 80's the same 🤔
The only thing to look back on now is how senseless everything is. Mind you, there may not be many people around to look back.
What a wonderful video. I wonder if they do buses here in the states like that, or, do they crush them and buy new ones? I don't think I have seen a video like this made here.
I doubt they do it anywhere now, including London.
Now they only give a respray once or twice in their lives, replace an engine here and there and run it into the ground and throw it away!
@@jamesfrench7299 I do believe you hit that one right on the nose ! Throw them away, and yes, the tax payers will buy the new ones.
@@d.chance Well they will have done the maths against running a maintenance shop on the scale of this one, Vs the cost of just replacing them.
@@TheDoosh79 It's more than just maths and cost; this facility ensured that London's buses were kept in excellent condition, lasted a long time and ultimately provided passengers with reliable transport. In today's world of concerns about the environment, repairing and maintaining what we already have is far less damaging to the environment than buying new every few years.
@@jamesfrench7299 I know Saint-Petersburg does something like that for trams
Life was so different then..;
Does anyone know if this repair facility is still doing this kind of work? If so, it would be fascinating to see a modern version of this film.
According to Wikipedia, it closed in 1986 and was demolished in 1996. The article makes for interesting reading as to the reasons for its decline.
@@Zeem4 Thank you.
Buses are just replaced rather than overhauling them these days.Not only is it considered cheaper but the specification of Buses changes at a much faster rate - wheelchair ramps fully electric - it won't be long before these buses will be obsolete. Even the Borisbus,the New Routemaster, only introduced in 2012 is now obsolete although a partial overhaul was done on them but certainly not as thorough as an Aldenham overhaul.
Carpenter 🪚 Wearing Suit and Tie while working
Most British thing ever seen
Full overhaul every 4 years! Not a long time that!
Hello hello hello !!!! That’s because buses where much used, Fuller in them days
@@unions100 but only 150,000 miles in those 4 years, not much by today's standards.
That's how long the rust prevention lasted!
It's London of course they needed an overhaul every 4 years and looked better for it
Where have all these skills gone ?
..to robots..
@2:58
"like a shotgun cartridge going into the breach, the bus moves towards disintegration"
Goes a lot harder than it has any right to
The past is, indeed, a foreign country. 1957, that's five odd years before Cliff Richard worked at Aldenham.
Most of them wears a tie.
Muito legal 👏👏👏😃
Influence of WWII manufacturing evident in this civil production system
Great step back in time. Look no white lines on the roads…however did they cope! Cos they had common sense :)
Does this plant still exist nowadays?
No it has long gone with most routes now privatised