When it was introduced, The RTW class was 6" wider than London Transport's normal vehicles and the Metropolitan Police would not allow any of these 8' wide vehicles into central London, so initially they were used only in outer London.

Eventually the Police consented to a limited trial in the central area during the summer of 1950. This was successful and the vehicles entered daily service throughout central London from early 1951.

500 of the type were built by Leyland for London Transport to LT's own specification.  The bodywork looked almost identical to the RT class, even the extra width being hard to detect.  However, the RTWs were actually a wider version of the RTL class, of which LT had 1000.

Although the conductors liked them, the RTWs were far less popular with the drivers, who generally preferred the RTs.  They regarded the steering as heavier - the vehicle weighed half a ton more than the RT.

This may have contributed to the fact that from 1964 onwards, the class began to be withdrawn and replaced by Routemasters.  Two hundred and seventy nine of the class were sold to Sri Lanka where they continued in use for many years, and others found second careers with other UK operators. By the end of 1969, only sixty-nine RTWs remained in use, and all these were driver-training buses.  Even they were withdrawn during 1970.

Only eight of the original five hundred vehicles still exist in the UK.  They are RTWs 29, 75, 151, 178, 185, 329, 467, and 497.

Copyright © 2005 Bristol Vintage Bus Group. All rights reserved.
Revised: 23/03/2009