I honestly think its better to concentrate on new inventions that really are
measured out/contstructed in metric rather than find older things like
buses, trafalgar sq, big ben, pints etc and pretend they are metric.
As someone "in the middle" it makes me chuckle when either 'side' persist in
illusions like this.
Just for clarity, older vehicles like this (and particularly train
[carriages] etc) have their dimensions scored/stamped/written on them.
From: Pat Naughtin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:35807] Re: London Buses
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:17:30 +1100
On 24/01/06 4:34 AM, "Anon Anon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> routemaster specification
Thanks Terry,
Using the word 'specification' in my Google searches was the word that I
missed.
It looks like the Routemaster bus was manufactured to metric specifications
and then dumbed down to Imperial words for the use of the British public.
In
short, it looks like the Routemaster was a nominal '30 feet'.
Although it's difficult to wade through the conversion confusion and sundry
obfuscation that conversion usually brings, it looks to me like the story
goes like this:
The Routemaster used an AEC AV590 engine with a 9.6 litre capacity or a
Leyland 0600 diesel with a 9.8 litre capacity. These specifications were
then dumbed down for the public as engines rated at 115 bhp¹.
The overall length of most of the buses were designed and built with an
overall length of 9.1 metres. This was then converted to 358.2677
(post-1959
metric) inches, which were divided by 12 to give 29.8556 feet and this was
the number that was rounded to 29 feet 10 inches, and then given the
nominal
name 30 feet¹.
Most descriptions of Routemaster buses are given as 30 feet¹ buses with a
engines rated at 115 bhp¹, and by using only 115 bhp and 30 feet as
specifications of the Routemaster for the public you foster the illusion
that (as I once heard in the USA), English units are for the best in this
all English units world¹.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter,
'Metrication matters'.
You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
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printers'. He is a Member of the National Speakers Association of Australia
and the International Federation of Professional Speakers. He is also
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