London Transport

The story of perhaps the greatest public transport organization in the World. Created in 1933 but with roots stretching back to the nineteenth century, it attracted a remarkably diverse but dedicated, loval, highly organized workforce which proved capable of performing miracles of dedication and bravery throughout the horrors of the Blitz. Apart of its huge fleet of trams, the last of which disappeared in 1952 and the largest trolleybus fleet in the world which operated from the ealy 1930s until 1962, London Transport was best known for the iconic red double deck bus typified by the RT. The first of these, now preserved, apread in 1939. The type was multiplied in the immediate post-war years to over 7,000 and served the capital, its suburbs and the Home Counties until 1979.

This followed an even longer lived Routemaster, which still operates two heritage routes through Central London. London Transport has always been at the forefront of design, not just of buses and coaches, but of buildings, posters, graphic design in all its forms and over the years employed many of the greatest artists and architects as well as engineers of the 20th century.

Michael H. C. Baker has written more than fifty books and a hundred articles about buses, trains, people, and places and is Editor of the Magazine of the London Bus Museum at Brooklands.