Routemaster bus RM577

English: Routemaster bus RM577 (reg. WLT 577) was delivered to London Transport in February 1961. It was a standard red-painted RM class Routemaster bus, and on the surface it remained as such until being withdrawn from London service in September 1987. Notably however, the body it wore at the time of withdrawal was not originally red, having been originally fitted on RM644 (WLT 644), becoming known as the 'Silver Lady' (or 'White Lady'). RM664, was a one off experiment by LT to assess unpainted buses. As was already happening for Underground trains, this bus emerged (in July 1961) without any paint, i.e. with just the bare aluminium (although some red plastic components were painted silver). This was an experiment to see how the bus would perform (in terms of fuel saving and wear), and how it would be perceived by the public (being a radical shift from the traditional red). It wasn't adopted, and RM644 re-entered service repainted into ordinary red in August 1965. The body was removed from RM644 as part of its first overhaul in January 1967, and was fitted to at least two other buses before finally being fitted to RM577 in its last overhaul, in October 1983. RM577 remained in London service until being withdrawn in September 1987, after which it saw further public transport use outside London in the fleets of Southend Transport (No. 103) and then Reading Mainline (No. 6). On withdrawal in January 1999 it was bought for preservation, although ultimately it ended up in long term storage. Restoration finally began in 2010, with the bus being painted silver and with replica Daily Express adverts, to resemble its original unpainted condition. It made its rally debut at Showbus 2010. In 2013 it was apparently sold, and although it has remained silver, it has had its Daily Express adverts replaced for contemporary ones.

In preservation

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  Showbus 2012