Double Deck Tours

Now I can hear you all saying "where abouts on the Thames is that?" No, wrong river, wrong country. This shot was taken July 2004 at the Horseshoe Falls, Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada it shows one of twenty ex London Transport Routemasters operated by Double Deck Tours.

Double Deck Tours owns and operates 20 RCL/RM/ & RML's on tour service around Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. As you will see they are immaculately maintained, repaint alone costs C$600 per gallon. They operate approximately 9 months of the year only stopping after Christmas for a few months in the winter. Every vehicle is stored under cover, nothing is left outside except the carcase of RM872 which has been dismantled for spares.

All but one of the RCLs and RMs have AEC engines, the odd one out has a Leyland engine and the RML's are all Cummins engined. The only bodywork change has been the addition of a folding rear door to meet Ontario safety regulations. Double Deck Tours also owns the only front roof dome mould.

The owner is fan friendly and if you ask, he is willing to allow you around the yard in Chippewa, Ontario to take pictures. The buses operate from 9am untill 6pm so the drivers all keep office hours.

The current fleet list has lost several vehicles recently sold to companies in Toronto, No. 3 & No. 20 have gone and the current list does not show the 3 RML's that I arranged to bring over from Ensign Motors a few years ago.

Here is the fleet list as it was before the RML's arrived and before the sale of 3 and 20.

1	RCL2255	7	RM2206	14	RM2162	20	RM2209
2	RCL2252	8	RM1242	15		21	RM187
3	RM1651	9	RM1888	16	RM1676	22	RM1676
4	RM2165	10	RM1618	17	RM797	23	RM1221
5	RM583	11	RM1548	18	RM1604
6	RM1909	12	RM2174	19	RM1102

That's it just about, I hope you enjoy the shots.

Ray Soper
02/2011

Click on a small shot below to see a larger version of it.


1	2	1, 2 & 10

2	3, 8 & 23	4

4	4	5

5	5	7

7	8	9, 6, 3 & 22

10	10	11

12	14 & 3	16, 17 & 19

17	18	18, 21 & 1

19	19	22

22 & 6	22 & 8	24

21/02/11

It never ceases to amaze me how many different cities in the world that one can go too and you are more or less guaranteed to come across an ex London Transport bus, be it an RT or the Routemaster. Great shots Ray

Spencer

15/12/13 - 08:22

Saw the photos of the Niagara RMs - when I was there in 2007 there was the remains of a Routemaster - well her rear end really dumped in their yard - all panelling stripped off so hard to tell even what livery it would have been in - anyone any ideas?

Paul Ch

07/07/14 - 10:20

I stumbled across your website featuring Routemasters in Canada, or Niagara Falls to be precise, having just returned from there having sampled the delights of a tour on board one. Prior to my visit I wasn't aware of their former identities and whilst enjoying a lull of the tour with No.18 of their fleet I took a closer look.
On the bonnet side under the paint I was able to see that RM2165 was visible when allowing the light to catch it. That was good news for me as RM2165 was a one time 'ON' resident and a bus I knew as a kid as Alperton garage was my local.

On viewing your website I noticed that RM2165 was indeed in your list but as No.4. OK, the bonnet flap could easily be interchanged but then studying my photos and yours I noticed something else. The trafficators on Nos.4 and 18 in your photos are the original style, while on "my" No.18 they are the later version. Are the Canadians changing them?
Something to mull over.

Also, I photographed No.23 which was very much a RML although you have it as a RM.
Thanks for an interesting site and I would be interested in any views of the above.

Paul Gildersleve

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