Comments on: London Buses Spotted in Japan

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:59:18 +0000

Wow, thankyou very much for this most fasinating piece of history, i did not know about the buses and it just shows that my posts bring history back, this is fantastic, thankyou very much Jon, much appreciated. Kind Regards, Mark.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:48:17 +0000

The bus with the door towards the front (SRB 65F was its British registration) is a Bristol FLF ‘Lodekka’ (that’s how they spelt it) new in 1967 to Mansfield District, Mansfield Notts.

It spent from 1985 to 2000 in the USA. Quite a lot of this type of bus got exported in the 80s, being about a foot lower in height (hence Lodekka) than standard London buses, and able to get under low bridges etc.

Bristol Lodekkas were operated by most of the UK bus companies that were nationalised prior to 1968 – i.e. Scottish Bus Group and the British Transport Commission companies.

Similar buses ran all over the UK from Scotland to Essex and Cornwall, but not so much in the big cities that had their own corporation fleets.

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:05:58 +0000

Hi Okarafire, you sure know your buses! Thanks for the clarification. You have to admit, though, I bet even you were surprised to see these in Japan!

By: Okrafire

Okrafire — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:07:30 +0000

Although I may have misread what you said, maybe I am confuzedd

By: Okrafire

Okrafire — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:06:29 +0000

The first two buses are not Routemaster buses. The only Routemaster on this page is the one at the bottom with ‘Arriva’ on it.

The first two buses were never used in service in London, but rather Birmingham and the northern cities of the UK.

You can see how different they look to each other when you see the grill on the front and the positioning of the doors

By: Laurence Wiles

Laurence Wiles — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:36:17 +0000

The cafe bus is a Route Master bus but the sightseeing bus is a Bristol Lodecker British Provincial bus fom outside London.

By: www.japansoc.com

www.japansoc.com — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:06:43 +0000

Route Master London Buses in Gifu…

Ever wondered what happened to those old Route Master double-decker London buses? Well I’ve found a couple of them in Gifu prefecture, one retained as a sightseeing bus in Takayama, the other serving as a cafe in Gifu city. Have you spotted a London b…