50 years on, London remembers the RTL

Five preserved London Transport RTL-class Leyland Titan PD2 7RTs toured six routes associated with the type on 24 November to commemorate 50 years since the last of them ran in passenger service.

The final examples in revenue earning operation ran on 30 November 1968 on routes 176 and 226, after which AEC-built RTs took their place.

Leyland supplied 1,631 of these specially modified chassis, with preselector gearboxes and low bonnet line, between June 1948 and autumn 1954 with bodywork by Park Royal, Metro-Cammell and Weymann. Eighteen overhauled examples operated in Country Area green for 11 months in 1960/61, but otherwise the type was exclusively a Central Area red class.

The last arrivals were put straight into store and not released for service until early 1958 when withdrawal of the class also began. They were sold far and wide, both in the UK and abroad, particularly to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Yugoslavia, as well as Walsall Corporation, Jersey Motor Transport and prominent independents including A1 Service and OK Motor Services.

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