< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright James Mair Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details 2427M C715VOY Location Link/s Date added to site 15/12/2020 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: Correcting what I said in the caption to an earlier photograph of this vehicle, the first Mercedes service vehicles used by London Transport were actually some specialised vehicles acquired in 1983/1984. These comprised a pair of Unimog road/rail trucks and three 310 bullion vans. However, the 307D trucks that followed in 1986 were perhaps the first 'normal' Mercedes service vehicles, having the standard grey livery and fleetnumbers. Delivered in the spring of 1986 were eight 307D trucks, of which six had dropside bodies. Three (edit: now four) of those six are being shown today, but they all carry different lettering. First up is this view of 2427M (fleetnumber not carried), parked outside Wembley Park Station on 12th August 1990. Originally carrying 'work force' lettering for LRT Builders (as seen on similar 2431M) and fleetnumbers, it later lost its numbers and received new lettering in two round-cornered boxes per side, the upper box containing 'Distribution Services' and the lower box 'Transport Contractors' along with a phone number. The remains of the lower box can still be seen in this photograph, but the upper box has been covered by a larger label for London Transport Distribution Services. This was already out of date, since the 01 telephone prefix had been changed to 071 in May 1990. Perhaps more interesting is the marking on the bodywork, this reading 'London Underground, Machine Shop, Lillie Bridge' in stencil lettering. 2427M was replaced by similar 2544M in 1993 and was exported.

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Posted By	Comments	Date/Time
Adam Floyd	That's some amateurish lettering on the body - it looks more like it should be read as 'London Machine Lillie Underground Shop Bridge'!	Sun 18/07/2021, 21:31