When BBC Radio Devon’s David “Shep” Sheppard and David “Fitz” Fitzgerald took part in the “Miles for Money” challenge whereby they toured Devon on public transport the South Devon Railway was happy to help and so RM1872 was draughted in to cover for the railway services between Ashburton and Buckfastleigh lost in the early 1960s.

BBC Spotlight featured the story in the early evening news where Irene O’Sullivan remarked “That’s my ’bus!” because Irene and RM1872 worked together during the time the ’bus was located at Upton Park depot and used to work route 15 to Paddington via the Tower of London and Trafalgar Square.

Irene was put in touch with the South Devon Railway and she was brought to Buckfastleigh by Ashley Stonier of Newton Abbot Community Transport on Saturday 02nd November 2013 to be re-united with RM1872.

Neither she nor the SDRA (London Group) were aware that both had now retired to Devon, though RM1872 is on a bit of a ‘’busman’s holiday’ since she is still working. The work isn’t the daily slog around London’s busy streets but the more sedate charter work around sunny Devon.

John Keohane, a director of South Devon Railway Road Services who operate RM1872 for the South Devon Railway Trust, took our Gibson Ticket machine with him when Irene visited.  He commented afterwards “You should have seen how quickly she put it on and issued tickets.  It obviously all came flooding back !”.

If you’re interested in chartering RM1872 then please look at our website http://www.southdevonrailwayroadservices.com for what we can, and cannot, do.