Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesPB
Hello all, this is one of my first threads here, so apolgies if I'm on the wrong forum.
One of my younger brothers used to drive London AEC Routemasters a few years ago, specifically Nos 23 and 7 out of Westbourne Park.
Now one thing he has never been any good at is explaining mechanical engineering or technical things.
So he could never explain properly to me about the pre-select gearbox on the Routemaster.
Thanks
James
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The Routemaster never had a pre-selector gearbox and certainly no clutch or operating pedal. The RM had a fully automatic gearbox which operated in auto when the selector lever on the steering column was in 4th gear. It was possible to override the auto by using the gear selector to select a lower gear and reverse. On some buses notably the Green Line Rms the auto was de-activated and gear selection weas necessary, this was called semi-automatic mode. Pre-selection geraboxes were fitted on the RT family and required the operation of a pedal on the left to operate into the selected gear. The gear selector could then be moved to the anticipated next gear position without changing the gear.