On February 8th 1956, passengers boarded what was to become not only a national icon but an internationally recognisable symbol of Englishness along with the 'Red Telephone Box', the 'Mini Cooper', and Big Ben.

That cold and snowy February morning back in 1956 the Route 2 departed from Golders Green to Crystal Palace transporting its first passengers not only to their destinations but also into the annals of British transport history.

The Routemaster bus was designed on behalf of London Transport by the designer Douglas Scott and his team including the bus engineer Albert Arthur Durrant between 1947 and 1956. The Routemaster bus was commissioned to replace London's fleet of 'Trolley Buses'. Reminiscent of the thinking behind Henry Ford and his 'Model T' the Routemaster was designed with the aim of mass production. Not only was it designed to be mass produced but it was also built with the latest automotive technology of the time. Four prototypes of the Routemaster buses were built between 1954 and 1957. Two of them were built at the London Transport works in Chiswick.