About the Big Red Bus

You might have seen Big Red before!

Yes, Big Red had a previous life, not only as a London Bus, but also as a movie star! Here she is, starring in Who Dares Wins:

Bodie This 1982 movie featured Big Red with Lewis Collins ("Bodie" from TV's The Professionals). That's him on the right with a baddie just boarding and about to clobber him.

Big Red is built on a Leyland Titan chassis, designated "RTL" by London Transport, who bought over 2000 for working London's passenger routes after the Second World War. The RTL is very similar to the more numerous AEC-built "RT", the radiator shell being the most obvious difference.

Big Red was born in late 1948 and designated RTL68. During an overhaul in 1964 she received an updated RT10 roofbox body.

In the Late 1970's she was retired from active service but instead of being scrapped - as so many of her sisters were - she was preserved and used for training purposes. In the early 2000s she came over to New Zealand and was lovingly restored to her present condition.

Here she is in London's Islington in 1965:



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You might have seen Big Red before! Yes, Big Red had a previous life, not only as a London Bus, but also as a movie star! Here she is, starring in Who Dares Wins: This 1982 movie featured Big Red with Lewis Collins ("Bodie" from TV's The Professionals). That's him on the right with a baddie just boarding and about to clobber him. Big Red is built on a Leyland Titan chassis, designated "RTL" by London Transport, who bought over 2000 for working London's passenger routes after the Second World War. The RTL is very similar to the more numerous AEC-built "RT", the radiator shell being the most obvious difference. Big Red was born in late 1948 and designated RTL68. During an overhaul in 1964 she received an updated RT10 roofbox body. In the Late 1970's she was retired from active service but instead of being scrapped - as so many of her sisters were - she was preserved and used for training purposes. In the early 2000s she came over to New Zealand and was lovingly restored to her present condition. Here she is in London's Islington in 1965:
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