History RM1357 ( Registration 357 CLT )

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RM1357 (otherwise known as Marina) was built 48 years ago in 1962. RM stands for Routemaster – it is 27ft long with 64 seats. It is one of the few RM's that still retains a Leyland 600 engine, it is believed that there are only around 34 remaining that were originally Leyland built, most Routemasters were manufactured with AEC engines.

RM1357 began service in December 1962 operating from Stockwell Garage in London. Its last overhaul at Aldernham was in July 1983. It worked on various routes around London until at least 1985.

In 1988 she was sold to Blackpool Transport and painted in their 1930's livery, given fleet number 528 and used on the Beachroamer service until 1994, she was then put into store again until 1996.

Reading Mainline bought RM1357 in 1996 and painted her in their own red and cream livery and she was given the fleet number 34 remaining with Reading Mainline until 2000.

In 2000 she was purchased for use by the Navy as a Sea Cadets Training Unit. The interior was converted to a submarine interior complete with periscope and torpedo (hence the name Marina). The exterior was painted in blue and white navy colours as shown in the above picture. The Navy owned Marina for the next 9 years, they used her to tour the country for the first few years, she then became unused, parked up and neglected.

In 2009 Mike Fuller of the Routemaster Association rescued her. The first thing he did was to have her bodywork resprayed back into London Livery and he then reinstated the interior with its original features. In March 2010 RM1357 arrived with us and is undergoing completion of her restoration.