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THE ILL FATED SRT CLASS ... The SRT class was Introduced by London Transport to solve dual issues due to the post war shortages of new buses. This is SRT37, FXT72, new in May 1949 with the chassis from STL2624 and a new body.
It survived until early 1954 when the body was mounted on RT4447 and the chassis was scrapped.

The first issue was that in 1948 the supply of bodies for the then standard RT was vastly exceeding the supply of chassis. The second was that many of the pre war STL class had bodies, especially the metal framed examples, which had deteriorated to the point of no return. So the plan was to modify, this required extensive work, a number of late model STLs to take new RT type bodies. The "new" buses would have new RT style driving controls but retain the overhauled engine, braking system and gearbox of the STL.
However in practise the SRTs , did not compare favourably with the standard RT, were disliked by the driving staff and proved ultimately to be a costly failure. The smaller 7.7 litre engine lacked power, the vacuum brakes lacked the efficiency of the air brakes on an RT, and the gearbox was presumably spring operated unlike the air pressure system of the RT. So they were withdrawn prematurely, all having gone by 1954. Their relatively new bodies were removed and mounted on new RT chassis, whilst the SRT chassis were scrapped. A bit sad really, it must have been intriguing to hear STL sound effects being emitted by an RT type vehicle.
Similarly, I have little doubt that most readers of SCT will find the Austin/Kennex (?) coach in the foreground more interesting than the SRT.

Photo taken by the late Arthur Hustwitt, via David Daniels, 1953, Hyde Park Corner, London

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