Originally Posted by
SpringHeeledJack
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The West London Air Terminal was an imposing building, funny I was in the supermarket that occupies the site only the other day. I used to find the buses towing the luggage wagon very interesting when younger, at least moreso than the LT Routemasters. I wonder if the luggage wagons were a standard model, or made specifically for BEA and BOAC ?
The luggage trailers that many remember were managed, like the buses that towed them, by London Transport, who designed them. There were two generations, they only lasted about 5 years each, the first ones were built by Marshalls of Cambridge, the same company who do a lot of aircraft overhaul work at the airport - they also have a long-established bus bodybuilding facility there. The second lot were built by Locomotors of Andover. The buses that towed them didn't last that long, they were only built in 1967 and the service ended in 1978 when the Underground opened.