More on the 1953 RT bus visit

Following up on the recent item on the 1953 visit of two RT buses to Zürich, I have discovered this fascinating Flickr page collecting pictures of this and other worldwide goodwill visits by London buses. The RTs almost literally went to the four corners of the Earth, including a phenomenal 12,000 mile tour of the USA and Canada by three of them in 1952 (without any failures) making the road trip to and through Switzerland seem a home game in comparison. The picture above, taken from that photo stream, shows the two Zürich-bound buses (RTL1459 and RT3710) crossing Putney Bridge at the start of their minor odyssey. The stream includes several other shots taken during this tour.

In later years, the RMs were to continue the tradition of goodwill tours for a while, but closer to date similar activities by Fleetlines, Metrobuses and Citaros were to become far scarcer (to put it mildly). Maybe it was because goodwill (or even buses) fell out of fashion in a globalised and rationalised world. Or maybe it was because a mass-produced and interchangeable bus can hardly be an ambassador of any city. Let us see whether Boris Johnson's revival of the true London bus will help reverse that trend.

www.flickriver.com/photos/23875695@N06/sets/72157624015923799

this item was added on 03.01.2013 (4131 days ago)
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