London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Testing of Prototype Routemaster Bus, 1955
The prototype of the revolutionary London Transport Routemaster bus is put through its paces at a test circuit in the Midlands.
From the collection of:
Overview
London Transport’s new Routemaster bus design boasted an aluminium construction based on their experience of building Halifax bombers during the Second World War. After its unveiling at the Commercial Motor Show in 1954, the first prototype clocked up 7,000 miles in rigorous tests during 1955 before entering passenger service the following year. Here it is seen undergoing performance tests at the Motor Industry Research Association’s Nuneaton circuit.
This film is from the collection of London Transport Museum, a member of the London's Screen Archives Network.
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