RF’s are a type of bus; not too different to the ones which we currently use however there are some significant differences. Firstly is the fact that that they were single deck buses operated in the 1950’s to the 1960’s. Also they had an engine under the floor rather that one in the rear, as the current buses do. However there is another major difference; most RF’s (particularly those coming out of Kingston) had bullet holes in the rear. It is not because they had been made out of scrap metal from shot down Spitfires nor is it because they had been used in World War 1 to carry soldiers out of Ypres (both ideas which my friends take credit for).
The main reason for this is because all the late terminating buses were parked on the Kingston garage forecourt. The “shift shunter” would then bring the buses through the fuel area and then would back them up against a wall. The “shift shunter” worked alone so when he came up against the wall he stopped however the “shift shunter” had the difficult task of manoeuvring three rows of very long buses. They had to keep the distance between each bus to the minimum so what often ended up happening was they ended up colliding slightly with the bus behind them.
“The holes?” you ask. The holes were created by the collision whereby the windscreen stud created a little dent in the rear of the hole behind it.
