London Necrobus

The London Necrobus Routemaster buses operated by The Ghost Bus Tours Ltd. They're used on ghost bus tours in London, Edinburgh and York, as well as on other tours and private hire work. They're presented as hearse buses of original 'The London Necrobus Company', which plays on a fictional back story in which that company ran Routemasters on funeral services from 1957 to 1967, inspired by the real funeral services provided by the London Necropolis Railway (1854-1941).

London Necrobus fleet

All buses are of the open rear platform RM or RML class. They are painted in a livery of 'midnight black' with silver relief band, and the silver 'London Necrobus' fleetname presented in London Transport underlined style. Feeding into the fictional back-story, it is claimed their original bus was the sole survivor of a depot fire at the original The London Necrobus Company in their 'South Dulstead' depot, which they re-activated after being locked away in storage for 40 years. This is also fiction, but it perhaps is based on the fact that this first bus has actually been destroyed by fire. Legal lettering on all buses is of the London based company, namely 'The Ghost Bus Tours Ltd, 33 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1BH'. Inside, to complete the hearse theme, the buses have lengthwise seating downstairs and velvet curtains on the windows. Upstairs, the seating has been modified to accommodate tables. Interior audio-visual equipment links all passengers with the tour guide via cameras and TV screens. The real London operating base is the former Youngs brewery in Wandsworth. Whether intentional or otherwise, there are other spooky elements to the fleet - the '666' in the fleetnumber of RM1666, the history of cannibalisation and resurrection of RML2516, and the prior ownership of RML2528 by 'Dread'nought Coaches of Alnwick.

• 
  RM1101
  (KFF 367)
  purchased 2009
• 
  RM1666
  (KGJ 341A)
  purchased 2011
• 
  RML2516
  (JJD 516D)
  purchased 2013
• 
  RML2528
  (JJD 528D)
  purchased 2013
• 
  RML2566 Angela Mary
  (JJD 566D)
  purchased 2008
  destroyed 2012

Individual buses

RM1101 (KFF 367)

• RM1101 was purchased in 2009 from the Wirral Transport Museum. Having been withdrawn from London in 1994, the museum had owned it since 1998. The registration KFF 367 was applied in 1995, replacing KGH 969A, which had itself replaced its original plate, 101 CLT, in 1994.

• 
  5 February 2011
  13:52
  London
  New Oxford Street (empty running?)
• 
  29 December 2012
  18:00
  London Ghost Bus Tour
  Northumberland Avenue departure point
• 
  27 October 2012
  14:44
  London
  Parked up at 101 Westminster Bridge Road

RM1666 (KGJ 341A)

• RM1666 was purchased in 2011, having been used in London until the last day of Routemaster operation on route 36 in 2005. At some point, the KGJ 341A plate replace the original, 666 DYE

• 
  13 July 2013
  18:34
  Edinburgh Ghost Bus Tour
  Waverley Bridge departure point

RML2516 (JJD 516D)

• RML2516 was purchased in 2013. It had been used in London route service until 1991. Its history from then is complicated and involves various renumbering and re-registrations, and a period of running fitted with real platform doors - see Routemaster buses RML2516 / DRM2516 / RML2283. At some point it was purchased for preservation, restored to its original form and number, after which it was sold to ghost bus tours.

• 
  19 March 2014
  00:07
  ?
• 
  17 April 2014
  15:24
  London
  London Time Tour
  Mansion House Street
• 
  17 April 2014
  15:25

RML2528 (JJD 528D)

• RML2528 was purchased in 2013 from dealer Ensignbus. It had run in London until 2005, after which it was owned by various companies before becoming a Necrobus.

• 
  12 July 2014
  At the Routemaster 60 bus rally in Finsbury Park

RML2566 (JJD 566D)

• RML2566 was purchased in 2008 from Andrew Penn , and was in service as a Necrobus by 2009, bearing the name "Angela Mary" on the front silver band, in luminous lettering. It had run in London until 2004, after which it was exported to Guernsey to run for Universal Limos (reg. 53948),imported back to the UK by Andrew Penn, discovering on changing ownership a legal dispute with it's previous owner found it was never actually paid for when originally sold by metroline concluding in having to pay metroline the original purchase price to resolve the issue , arriving still in red livery with heavy roof damage from the island .Repairs and a repainted carried out . Sadly Destroyed by fire in an accident.

• 
  3 February 2012
  16:21
  ?
  Regent Street
• 
  8 October 2010
  16:01
  Parked up? outside Burleigh Mansions, 20 Charing Cross Road, London
• 
  11 May 2012
  17:28
  London Ghost Bus Tour
  Northumberland Avenue departure point
• 
  7 March 2009
  22:00
  London Ghost Bus Tour
  Approaching Big Ben
• 
  15 April 2012
  15:56
  ?
  Northumberland Avenue departure point
• 
  30 March 2011
  15:19
  ?

Ghost bus tours

The ghost bus tours (http://www.theghostbustours.com) run in the evenings, combining an on-board theatrical performance with information about haunted places on the route.

London Ghost Bus Tour

The London tour is the original Necrobus tour, launched in 2009. Tours depart from Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square.

• 
  RML2566
  7 March 2009
  22:00
  Approaching Big Ben
• 
  RM1101
  5 February 2011
  18:00
  London
  Northumberland Avenue departure point
• 
  RML2566
  11 May 2012
  17:28
  Northumberland Avenue departure point

Edinburgh Ghost Bus Tour

Edinburgh was the second tour location, launching on 1 June 2013. Tours originally used the stop on Waverley Bridge, the same used by all other bus tours in Edinburgh (run by Lothian Buses), including a sizeable fleet of other Routemasters in Edinburgh. The departure point has since been changed to Chambers Street, beside the tower of the National Museum of Scotland building.

• 
  RM1666
  13 July 2013
  18:34
  Waverley Bridge departure point

York Ghost Bus Tour

York was the third tour location, launched on 12 August 2014, with buses departing from Exhibition Square

Other work

London Time Tour

The London Necrobus vehicles are also put to use on the Time Tour (http://www.timetour.co.uk/), which is run in London during the day, with a time-travel theme, using a character called Professor Quantum. For these tours, the buses are fitted with alternative blinds, to display the timetour web address, and the destinations '1666 The Great Fire Of London', '1066 Battle Of Hastings' and '2142 First Contact' (as opposed to the ghostbus address and their scarified London destinations).

• 
  RML2516
  17 April 2014
  15:24
  Mansion House Street
• 
  RML2516
  17 April 2014
  15:25
  Mansion House Street

London Dungeon shuttle

On 28 March 2013, the company also began a shuttle bus service in partnership with the London Dungeon, linking their old site in Tooley Street, London Bridge (which closed in January 2013), to their new site near County Hall and the London Eye (opened in March 2013).