London Bus Red

London Bus Red, the red of London transport

The shade refers to one of the best-known transport symbols of all. Red double-deckers have run through London since the days when a common administration unified the city's transport, and a uniform finish was meant to tie the vehicles from different garages intelligibly into one network. To this day it holds that a passenger recognizes a service by its color sooner than by the number of the route.

The subject of the shade

The most famous bearer of this red is the AEC Routemaster, built from the middle of the 1950s and used on ordinary routes until 2005. Its open rear platform and light construction made it an icon that later types replaced in service but not in appearance. Today's London buses carry the red as well, including the modern variant that deliberately returns to the forms of the Routemaster. For a modeler it matters that this is a service color rather than a ceremonial one: the vehicles wore it every day in rain and fog, so faithfully graded weathering on a model is not overdone.

Where the red is used

• double-deckers in the common collector scales
• accessories of an urban scene, for example telephone boxes and mailboxes
• advertising bands and panels on the flanks of vehicles
• British civilian machinery that a deep transport red suits

Who the paint is for

Anyone who builds British city transport or puts together a scene from a London street and needs one leading color for the whole scene to turn around will reach for it. It also works well as a counterweight to gray buildings, because it tends to be the only truly deep surface in the whole scene. The depth of the red on double-deckers is underlined by a light band around the windows and a dark lower edge, and it pays to keep both of those apart.